Friedman — who has posted over 50,000 photos and videos of dogs (and their humans) online since 2013 — is hosting a meetup on Sunday morning on the Schuylkill Banks. Hundreds of hounds are expected to attend.
“We’re going to meet at the Schuylkill River Dog Park,” said Friedman, speaking via Zoom from his Manhattan apartment, “and then we’re going to walk along the river up to the Art Museum and climb the Rocky steps for a group photo.”
Friedman will be there with his dog, Elsa, the Instagram-famous white husky mix who was dog of honor at his 2025 wedding to Samantha Cutler, his fellow alum of Wynnewood’s Friends Central High School. The wedding was featured in the New York Times’ Vows column.
“It’s a little crazy for me,” said Friedman, “because I feel like I’m a prophet, or” — he laughs — “some sort of dog evangelist, where everybody’s gonna follow me. It’s like I’m leading a march.”
“It’s a very joyful thing to have people meet up around a shared love of dog. They get to know each other, and make a lot of connections. It’s an amazing show of the power of not just the dog community, but the Dogist community.”
Sunday’s walk with Friedman is part of a Dogist tour tied to the launch of the Dogist Company, a canine wellness brand whose first product is Vitality, which is advertised as a “Board-Certified Vet-formulated antioxidant chew that supports brain, joint and immune health.”
“It’s salmon flavored so a dog might consider it a treat,” Friedman says of the product he developed with veterinary nutritionist Angela Rollins, which is available at thedogistcompany.com. “But it’s not a treat, it’s a supplement.”
Elias Weiss Friedman, a.k.a. the Dogist, holds a package of his newly launched canine wellness brand, The Dogist Company’s Vitality supplement, during a Zoom interview.Dan DeLuca
“Everybody wants more years with their dog. But it’s also about having good years with your dog,” says Friedman, who credits Elsa, 6, as “chief wellness officer” on the Dogist Company website.
“I’ve spent the last 13 years of my life showing the world how amazing dogs are. So the next evolution of the Dogist ecosystem is creating products that make dogs’ lives better — because it’s the least we can do for them for all they do for us.”
“They’re based in Narberth where I grew up,” Friedman said. “They raise service dogs to work with teenagers and children who are clinically diagnosed with depression, or PTSD, or are on the autism spectrum.”
Friedman also has a show on YouTube — simply called Dogs — where he strolls around meeting pups with celebrities, such as actors Zooey Deschanel and Sarah Paulson, and comedians Roy Wood Jr. and Lewis Black.
Elias Weiss Friedman, photographer and founder of the Dogist, holds onto his dog named Elsa, while photographing Michael Rey and Rosie, in his childhood neighborhood on May 20, 2025, in Narberth.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Last year, Jane Goodall was a guest in an episode recorded a week before her death. Meeting the English primatologist and anthropologist “was the biggest honor, probably, of my life,” said Friedman.
The Dogist origin story dates back to when he was a 2 year old and wandered away from his grandmother’s house in Narberth toward traffic on Montgomery Avenue. Oreo, his grandmother’s dutiful black Lab, kept him from walking into speeding traffic.
Most of the Dogist’s photos are taken in New York, but Friedman’s content-gathering travels have frequently brought him to Philadelphia, where he’s found four-legged subjects in Manayunk, Rittenhouse Square, and the Main Line.
“Negativity is easily found on the internet,” he said. “Dogs are an antidote or a respite to all that.”
At group meetups like Sunday’s — where walkers without dogs are also welcome — he can connect IRL with members of the digital Dogist community.
“I always enjoy going out and meeting people and talking to them about their dogs,” said Friedman, who has published three books including last year’sThis Dog Will Change Your Life.
“Dogs don’t have an ego, right?” he said. “They’re not burdened by one like we are. So part of the joy of seeing that they’re so free is that it allows us to transcend our ego for a few minutes. And that’s a very liberating experience.”
The Dogist Company Vitality Walk at Schuylkill River Park, 30 S. 25th St. at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4, Instagram.com/thedogist
The Lower Merion school board on Tuesday selected a Tredyffrin/Easttown teacher and former Narberth Borough Council member to fill a seat left vacant by a school board member who was arrested.
The board picked Muna Elshakhs from a group of 17 applicants, after interviewing her and fellow applicant Andrea Gosfield during a special meeting Tuesday. The board had selected four candidates to be interviewed Tuesday, but two withdrew their names from consideration before the meeting.
The board did not release their names, or the names of the other candidates who had applied to fill the seat. The position became vacant after Jen Rivera resigned after she was arrested last month on charges of stealing more than $50,000 from her employer.
Some community members accused the board of a lack of transparency in appointing a new member to the term, which runs until December 2027.
“Table this appointment, give the full list of applicants, and enter them into the public record,” Matthew Posey, who is among a group of parents challenging the district over its use of technology, said during public comment Tuesday, as he accused the board of “backroom deliberations.”
District spokesperson Amy Buckman said before Tuesday’s meeting that the eight board members had “individually notified the board secretary of their top choices from among the applicants to be publicly interviewed.” The secretary tallied the selections, and “the applicants with the most selections” were scheduled to be interviewed, Buckman said.
Those who were not selected included at least two people who ran for the Democratic-led board unsuccessfully in 2025: Rich Lester, who ran as a Democrat but was not endorsed by the local Democratic Party, and Deena Pack, who ran as a Republican.
In an interview Tuesday, Lester said he was unsure how board members had made their selections for filling the vacant seat. He said he was told there was no scoring rubric used.
“To have no sort of what we’re looking for is disappointing,” said Lester, who had proposed more accountability and financial analysis from the board.
Pack, who addressed the school board during public comment Tuesday, said she was the only applicant who had received more than 7,000 votes, and had already been scrutinized by community members during the campaign process.
“Should the board change its mind, I’m ready,” she said.
When it was time for the board to nominate candidates, board president Kerry Sautner nominated Pack. But she did not vote for her.
Sautner voted for Elshakhs, as did board vice president Todd Ridky and members Shayna Kalish and Sarah Thomas. Board members Anna Shurak, Juanita Rivera, and Jason Herman voted for Gosfield.
Board member Abby Rubin, who has clashed with board leaders, including around the district’s technology policy, nominated and voted for Lester.
That gave Elshakhs four votes, but five were needed for a majority. The board voted again with the same result.
Elshakhs then withdrew her application, though some board members told her she did not have to do so, and solicitor Kenneth Roos told board members they could still vote for her.
“There’s nothing wrong” with the board’s split, Sautner said, calling the debate “healthy tension.”
“This is a good problem to have,” Ridky said, later adding, “I wish we had more seats to offer tonight.”
Shurak said that Gosfield, a lawyer, had been involved in the district’s equity policy and had children in district schools that were not currently represented by other board members.
Thomas credited Elshakhs’ perspective as a current teacher, though some board members questioned her ability to attend daytime committee meetings given her job. Sautner said the board could be flexible with scheduling.
Shurak ultimately switched her vote to Elshakhs, saying she wanted to respect the majority of the board. Kalish accused Lerner of obstructing the process by continuing to vote for Lester; Lerner said she had a different opinion.
After Elshakhs files a financial statement of interest, she will be sworn in and officially join the board, Roos said.
Mooncakes often have a less-than-stellar reputation. They’re beautiful thanks to the intricate molds they’re made with, but they’re usually better to look at than eat. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the four major Chinese holidays — which falls this year on Sept. 25 — people give and receive them much like fruitcakes at Christmas (without anyone actually eating them).
One Philadelphia pastry chef is reversing mooncakes’ bad rap.
Anna Chen posed for a portrait at A La Mousse on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Nobody in Philly is making mooncakes like Anna Chen, the owner of A La Mousse. While most Chinatown bakeries sell conventional versions — made from wheat flour, lacquered with egg wash, and stuffed with lotus bean paste and duck egg yolks — Chen’s are vibrantly colored and stuffed with a range of fillings that cross cultures and marry flavors. Think Oreo cookies with Hong Kong milk tea and Taiwanese pineapple cake with salted duck egg.
Chen’s three bakeries — A La Mousse in Chinatown and Narberth, and Maison Sweet in University City — specialize in mousse cakes, but she and her staff prepare about 400 to 500 boxes of mooncakes every year before Mid-Autumn Festival.
Chen’s approach aligns with aninventive, sometimes wacky strain of mooncake that has emerged in Asia in recent years, as mooncake makers abandon ultrasweet lotus- and winter melon-paste versions in favor of updated varieties stuffed with ice cream, matcha cream, and even beef. They sometimes also trade the traditional dough for flaky pastry or thin mochi skins (referred to as “snow skin”), which are more commonly made by Vietnamese pastry chefs.
Chen takes inspiration from her travels around China, especially to cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as popular trends in Hong Kong, where she grew up and returns to visit every two years. “Every year we make different flavors, but we keep one or two mooncakes traditional, because that’s what people keep asking me for,” Chen said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival salted egg yolk with pork floss mooncake at A La Mousse on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
This year, the traditional flavor is pork floss with salted egg yolk; hers is masterful, a delicate balance of savory and sweet — though none of her mooncakes are extremely sweet, in another departure from convention. The other flavors in this year’s box set of eight mooncakes, which sells for $65, include Dubai chocolate (Chen’s current favorite) and purple sweet potato with salted egg yolk.
“We don’t want to follow anyone else’s style; we only want to create our own special mooncakes,” Chen said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival Dubai chocolate mooncake at A La Mousse on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Chen starts preparing for the season in early August, ordering items like mooncake sugar syrup (also known as golden invert sugar syrup), flowery molds, and specially designed mooncake packaging from China. Then, in September, she and her pastry chefs — along with daughter Joanne, a student at Drexel — get to work, rolling fillings into balls and stuffing them into rice flour-based skins before pressing them into molds.
Chen, who opened Chinatown’s A La Mousse 13 years ago, has longtime customers who often order 30 to 40 boxes to give as gifts.
Even as her creations are trend-driven, she does stick to one tradition: embedding whole egg yolks in most of her mooncakes. The yolks represent the full moon, one of the most important emblems of the Mid-Autumn Festival, symbolizing family reunions and the idea of wholeness.
The Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes at A La Mousse on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Anna Chen’s mooncakes are available for pickup and must be preordered two to three days in advance via a Google form at bit.ly/4iwdZwu/..
A La Mousse, 145 N. 11th St., 215-238-9100; A La Mousse, 920 Montgomery Ave., Narberth, 610-664-6888; Maison Sweet, 2930 Chestnut St., 215-387-1388, instagram.com/alamousse
Standing among paint cans and plywood at 102 Forrest Ave., the Narberth storefront soon to become a bespoke retail and gathering space, Kurland laid out her vision for a hub grounded in crafts, community, and whimsy.
“People want a place to hang out,” said Kurland, a Narberth resident and former corporate events leader. “They want just a different energy and something to do.”
Kurland, 52, is preparing to open Jeneral Store, a shop modeled after an old-style general store that will stock fresh flowers, art supplies, curated home goods, and penny candy. Jeneral Store will also be a space for people to craft, commune, and in Kurland’s words, “hang out.” The shop, set to open in October, is moving into the former home of Danny’s Guitar Shop, an independent guitar store and lesson center that closed in May after 17 years.
Jeneral Store will have a craft counter modeled like a deli counter, where shoppers will be able to order craft supplies à la carte, and will stock what Kurland calls “everyday special” goods, including curated vintage and new household items and pick-your-own flower bouquets in upcycled vases.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Kurland said.
All net proceeds will be donated to organizations that support LGBTQ+ individuals, according to Kurland, who said it’s important for her to help make everyone feel “safe and welcome and thriving.” Kurland has been meeting with organizations but has not yet finalized a list of groups Jeneral Store will be donating to, she said.
Jen Kurland is set to open Jeneral Store next month. Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Kurland grew up in Havertown (coincidentally a half block from the childhood home of Dan Gold of Danny’s Guitar Shop). After graduating from the University of Delaware, she moved to New York City, where she spent the next 30 years building a career in events and brand strategy. In the summer of 2024, she and her family moved “home” to the Philadelphia area, landing in Narberth last summer.
With the move to the Main Line, Kurland took a step back from her corporate career and found quickly that she was seeking a creative outlet and a way to give back. When Gold announced he was closing up shop, Kurland saw an opening.
While launching Jeneral Store is a novel venture, Kurland said three decades in the world of events and marketing has prepared her to introduce a new community space to town. In addition to the retail component of Jeneral Store, Kurland hopes to host craft nights, workshops, and other events, depending on what the community has an appetite for. She said she recognizes the growing desire for “third spaces” — places where people can gather and commune, outside of work or the home.
“My core of what I’ve always done is bringing people together,” she said.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
A shuttered bridal shop in downtown Conshohocken will soon become the home of another family-run business with local roots.
Goodness Bowls, a “healthy-eats cafe” chain run by Montgomery County residents, has signed a lease for the former La Bella Moda bridal shop at 200 Fayette St., with the goal of opening a corporate headquarters there by early 2027. La Bella Moda closed in May after 45 years in business.
“I always looked at La Bella Moda, and I thought, ‘God, that would be the perfect corner,’” said Susan Persichetti, Goodness Bowls’ cofounder and CEO. “ But I never thought they would close their doors.”
In the coming months, the Goodness Bowl team plans to open a 1,500-square-foot restaurant on the first floor, according to company executives, and use 2,000 square feet upstairs for additional seating and its corporate offices. They declined to share the terms of the lease.
The Conshohocken restaurant will be Goodness Bowls’ 10th location and its third corporate outpost. The rest of its cafes are franchised.
The closed La Bella Moda, as seen in June.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The chain’s expansion comes as acai bowls — smoothie bowls loaded with toppings like fruit, granola, and peanut butter — and other more nutritious fast food have surged in popularity.
Shops selling these bowls seem to be popping up everywhere. Over the past decade, Belmar, N.J.-based Playa Bowls has grown to more than 100 locations in 20 states, including more than a dozen spots in the Philly area. And the Juice Pod, founded in Avalon and now headquartered in Bryn Mawr, has expanded to more than two dozen cafes, most of which are in the region.
A mother-daughter duo, Susan and Corinne Persichetti, opened the first Goodness Bowls in Avalon in 2019. Susan said her daughter Corinne — a former Division I field hockey player at Fairfield University and a health enthusiast — was the driving force behind the business.
Susan Persichetti, cofounder and CEO of Goodness Bowls, with her daughter Corinne Persichetti, cofounder and chief operating officer.Courtesy Goodness Bowl
Corinne created the cafe’s menu, which includes acai bowls, salads, wraps, and smoothies, and came up with its slogan, “Eat Good. Feel Good. Do Good.” Susan, meanwhile, crafted the shop’s coastal aesthetic and branding.
For a couple years, Susan and Corinne ran the Avalon location in the summertime while working corporate jobs. In 2022, they opened a second location in Villanova, where they quickly found success. They realized there was demand for the Shore-inspired business in the Philadelphia suburbs, Susan said, and started franchising.
Goodness Bowls currently has franchise locations in Narberth, Paoli, Collegeville, Spring House, Haddon Township, Sea Isle, and Scranton.
The new Paoli location of Goodness Bowls.Courtesy Goodness Bowls
In recent years, Goodness Bowls has also expanded their team, including by hiring a company president, Finn Loftus, who also lives in Montgomery County.
“People really are craving healthy options,” she said. “And they really want food that they’re able to get quickly.”
Customers also say they are drawn to the bright cafes and friendly service, according to Susan.
Goodness Bowls executives look at their move to Conshohocken as a homecoming, and are excited to be back in the borough where Susan raised Corinne and her other children.
“We want to add to the community,” Susan said, by “keeping a small, family-owned business there on a really great corner that’s built such great traditions.”
You say you want a revolution? That’s not quite what SEPTA’s proposing. This weekend, the region’s transit agency will roll out the first phase of its New Bus Network, the bus system’s first significant update since the agency was formed in the 1960s.
Sound familiar? Once dubbed Bus Revolution, the project began in 2021 after transit agencies around the country saw massive declines in ridership. SEPTA’s Bus Revolution was set to launch in 2025 but faced significant community pushback and coincided with the state funding crisis that halted many planned transit initiatives. It was officially shelved in November 2024.
Later phases of the plan, which will roll out in 2027, will impact other neighborhoods. The number of bus routes in SEPTA’s system will drop from the current 124 to 106 when all four phases are complete.
SEPTA says the changes are needed to modernize the system and make it easier to use.
To help you navigate the changes that will impact how you navigate the city, we’re here to breakdown down all 30 impacted routes.
This route remains the same but with reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 16-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
6
Cheltenham-Ogontz to Olney Transportation Center
On weekdays, route 6 will have increased service during peak hours, but a reduced service otherwise.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 11-13 minutes
Every 10 minutes
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekdays
midnight to 4 a.m.
Every 30-40 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
17
Front-Market to 20th-Johnston
Route 17 will be shortened and no longer operate on its old route from 20th Street and Johnston Street down to the stadium complex or the Navy Yard. SEPTA recommends Navy Yard commuters take route 45 instead.
This route will also operate with reduced service overnight.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
midnight to 5 a.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
25
Frankford Transportation Center to Front-Spring Garden
Route 25 is essentially being cut in half. The old route ran down Delaware Avenue to Columbus Commons. The new route will terminate at the Spring Garden Market-Frankford Line station. The old route from Spring Garden to Columbus Commons will be serviced by the new route 76.
Route 25 will now operate for 24 hours a day, as part of SEPTA’s late-night OWL network.
This route will also have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
32
Broad-Carpenter to Ridge-Lyceum
Route 32 will have slightly reduced service with fewer buses overall. All route 32 buses will terminate at Manayunk, as opposed to the previous schedule where half would terminate at 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. There’s also a slight route extension into Roxborough for school service.
35
Manayunk Roxborough Loop
Route 35 will be discontinued on Aug. 23. SEPTA recommends riders take route 61.
According to SEPTA’s operation statistics, route 35 is the seventh most expensive bus based on the average cost per passenger.
39
Richmond-Cumberland to 33rd-Dauphin
Route 39 will remain the same but with reduced service on weekdays and slightly increased service on Saturday evenings..
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturday
5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 40-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
44
Front-Market to Ardmore
Route 44 will no longer run along its old route that would sometimes terminate at Gladwyne. Beginning Aug. 23, all 44 buses will run to Ardmore, with select trips stopping at Narberth.
This route will also have reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to midnight
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
45
Navy Yard/Broad-Oregon to 12th-Noble
Route 45 will be extended to the Navy Yard to cover for the changes to route 17.
After 9 p.m. the route will have reduced service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
46
58th-Baltimore to 63rd-Malvern
Route 46 will have increased service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Saturdays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47
Whitman Plaza to 5th-Godfrey
Route 47 will merge with route 47M and have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 8-9 minutes
Every 7-8 minutes
All days
Midnight. to 5 a.m.
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47M
Whitman Plaza to 7th-Spring Garden via 9th
Route 47M has been discontinued and will now be served by a more frequent route 47.
The merger of these two routes includes a realignment so that the northbound 47 runs on Seventh Street, as opposed to Ninth Street. Southbound buses will still run on Eighth Street.
49
33rd-Dauphin to 40th-Baltimore
Route 49 will look very different from its old route. It will no longer serve Gray’s Ferry. SEPTA recommends riders take route 79 instead.
Route 49 will also operate on many different roads. The most notable change is taking 33rd Street instead of 29th Street. in Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown.
These changes are paired with generally reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 18-22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
52
49th-Woodland to Wissahickon Transportation Center/50th-Parkside
Route 52 will no longer follow its old route to Gladwyne. SEPTA cites low ridership and doesn’t offer an alternative route.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
53
Carpenter Station to Richmond-Westmoreland
Buses on route 53 will no longer follow the old route that terminated at Sedgwick Street and Wayne Avenue. Instead, service will end at Carpenter Regional Rail station. There are additionally a bunch of small differences across the route. For example, route 53 will now serve Roosevelt Boulevard. on the western side of Hunting Park.
The 53 will also continue past G Street and extend into Port Richmond.
54
Richmond-Cambria to 33rd-Dauphin
Buses on route 54 will have reduced service during weekdays and increased service during evenings.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-18 minutes
Every 20 minutes
All days
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
57
Whitman Plaza to Fern Rock Transportation Center
The old route 57 occasionally would terminate at Packer Marine Terminal, that service will be discontinued.
During weekends the route 57 will run at a reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekends
All day
Every 10-12 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Service along Crescentville and Cheltenham Avenues will be reduced to every hour.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
60
Wissahickon Transportation Center/35th-Allegheny to Richmond-Westmoreland
Most of route 60 will continue to go down Allegheny Avenue, but it will not follow its old route where some buses stopped on Delaware Avenue and Lewis Street.
The 60 will occasionally take an extended route and continue to the Wissahickon Transportation Center. The schedule is roughly split 50:50 whether a bus will continue to this new terminus or stop early at 35th Street and Allegheny Avenue.
Route 60 will also see increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 10-15 minutes
Every 10 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
61
9th-Market to Ridge-Summit
Route 61 will be extended to Upper Roxborough. This is primarily to cover for the discontinued route 35.
62
9th-Market to Andorra
Route 62 will be discontinued. SEPTA recommends riders take routes 9, 27, or 61 as an alternative. According to SEPTA, route 62 was the fourth most expensive route to operate, costing an average of $45 per passenger.
64
50th-Parkside to Pier 70
Previously, route 64 would occasionally terminate at 49th Street and Woodland Avenue. Under the new network, all trips will terminate at Parkside Loop. The 64 will also no longer take the old route’s detour into Grays Ferry.
Route 64 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
All days
6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Every 12-18 minutes
Every 12 minutes
All days
9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
72
Cedarbrook Plaza to Frankford Transportation Center
72 is a brand new route that mostly operates on Cheltenham Avenue and will run every 30 minutes.
73
Frankford Transportation Center to Richmond-Westmoreland
Route 73 will now run at a reduced service from every 20-25 minutes to every 30 minutes.
Additionally the route 73 will no longer be part of the OWL network, ending 24-hour service on the line. SEPTA recommends riders take route 25 for overnight buses.
76
Rising Sun-Olney to Columbus Commons
Route 76 is a brand new route that will mostly run along Delaware and Frankford Avenues every 30 minutes. This route replaces service removed from the newly aligned route 25.
78
Express from Cornwells Heights to Center City
Route 78 will be discontinued due to lower ridership. SEPTA does not recommend an alternative bus.
According to SEPTA figures, the 78 was the most expensive bus to operate in their network. It has an average of 2.4 passengers per hour, costing the agency $394 per rider.
79
Columbus Commons to 29th-Snyder/40th-Market
Route 79 will occasionally be extended into West Philadelphia. Roughly every other bus will continue to 40th and Market Streets, instead of the current terminus of 29th Street and Synder Avenue.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
80
Express from Horsham to Olney Transit Center
Route 80 will be discontinued. SEPTA stated that “ridership has declined significantly since 2019 and the same connection can be made with a transfer on local routes 22, 51, and 310.”
According to SEPTA data, route 80 was the third most expensive route to run, costing the agency $50 per passenger.
89
Front-Dauphin to Arrott Transit Center
Route 89 will be discontinued. SEPTA says route 89 is “duplicative of other routes,” and offers “routes 3, 5, 25, 39, 41, 43, 53, 56, 75, 76, and K as alternatives.”
105
Paoli/Rosemont to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 105 will extend to Paoli for roughly every other bus, essentially merging with the now discontinued route 106.
The old route that serviced Suburban Square will no longer operate. There are also minor alignment changes in Overbrook.
Route 105 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
All day
Every 30-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekends
All day
Every 60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
These changes will take effect on Aug. 24.
106
Paoli to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 106 will be discontinued on Aug. 24.
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Methodology
The animating buses on the diagram are an approximation of the number of buses active at 9 a.m. on a weekday schedule.
Old routes are accurate to SEPTA’s bus network on Aug. 4.
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Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Data: Sam Morris
Reporting: Sam Morris and Erica Palan
Editing: Cynthia Henry
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Albert James Mamary, 59, of Wynnewood, attending physician and professor of thoracic medicine and surgery at Temple University, researcher, writer, mentor, artist, outdoorsman, craftsman, and amateur bicycling champion, died Thursday, July 9, of cholangiocarcinoma at Temple University Hospital.
A 1999 graduate of Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Dr. Mamary spent his career at Temple and affiliated hospitals. He was an expert in pulmonary disease, transplants, and sleep disorders at the Temple Lung Center, and became program director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at Temple Hospital in 2006.
He earned a master’s degree in anthropology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and his premedical school credits at the University of Pennsylvania. In a tribute, his family said: “His education in both medicine and anthropology reflected a lifelong belief that caring for a patient required understanding not only the disease but the whole person.”
Over more than three decades at Temple — as a student, resident, fellow, professor, and physician — Dr. Mamary treated thousands of patients, mentored hundreds of students and doctors, lectured in classrooms and at seminars, and wrote more than 60 scientific papers and textbook chapters. He was named a top doctor by Philadelphia Magazine several times and was featured in The Inquirer and on 6abc TV for his lead role in a successful double-lung transplant in 2015.
“It’s been 120 to 145 patients, individual patients that we’ve been able to help every year,” Dr. Mamary told CBS News in 2024. “That’s really the aim here, is to add years of life to patients who otherwise wouldn’t have that opportunity.”
Colleagues called Dr. Mamary a “physician’s physician” and noted his “amazing intelligence and clinical acumen” in tributes. Gerard J. Criner, chair of Temple’s Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, said: “His patients loved him not only for his clinical skills but also for the warmth, compassion, and humanity he brought to every encounter.”
A former patient said online: “He was a calm in the storm of my end stage disease. … The world has lost a hero.”
A former student said: “His kindness, thorough and balanced approach to medicine, and quiet, thoughtful approach to even the most stressful emergencies reminded me of a Jedi master.”
Dr. Mamary and his wife, CeilaSue, married in 1996.Courtesy of the family
Away from the hospital, Dr. Mamary liked to bike, hike, and camp. He built his own 18-foot mahogany canoe, walked the entire 272-mile Long Trail in Vermont, and won masters bicycling championship races.
He also painted and sculpted, and earned a bachelor’s degree in art and psychology at Haverford College. He and his wife, CeliaSue, initiated the Shortridge Memorial Park Arboretum in Wynnewood and earned a 2024 community service award from Narberth and Lower Merion officials.
“James brought wisdom, kindness, curiosity, and genuine joy to every moment,” his wife said.
Albert James Mamary was born June 12, 1967, in Hempstead, N.Y. He grew up in Binghamton, N.Y., became an Eagle Scout, and was a wilderness river guide for the Boy Scouts in Maine during his college years.
Dr. Mamary was an avid bicyclist and won masters championship races. Courtesy of the family
He met CeliaSue Jaffe in class at Haverford, and they married in 1996 and had daughters HannahRose and LilyRuth. They lived in East Falls and Wynnewood, and he rode his bike from home to Penn and then Temple as often as he could.
Dr. Mamary enjoyed traveling, baking, cooking, and gardening. “His specialty is fruits and vegetables, and I grow the flowers,” his wife said.
He followed the Phillies, rescued cats and dogs, and doted on his daughters. Everybody said he was funny and silly.
“He was curious and always learning or doing something new,” his daughter LilyRuth said. “He took joy in simple things.” His daughter HannahRose said: “Even if he wasn’t my dad I would want him as a friend because he was so interesting and so easy to talk to.”
Dr. Mamary was a wilderness river guide for the Boy Scouts in Maine during his college years.Courtesy of the family
Dr. Mamary was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct cancer, in 2020 and treated by longtime colleagues and friends at Temple, some of whom he had mentored. “It was a profound reflection of the life he lived,” his family said, “that so many of those he had taught ultimately became his caregivers.”
His wife said: “He was a very vibrant and adventurous person but so thoughtful, steady, and reliable. James was incredible.”
Tori Bauver was sitting at home on July 11 when the sky outside of the Wyndon Apartments in Wynnewood began to darken. Bauver watched the clouds roll in, then the rain come, blowing “literally sideways” outside her window. She remembers leaning in to see the darkening landscape and noticing that rain had begun to penetrate her windows. Then the “outside went stark white” and water started pooling on her windowsills.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God. This is gonna flood. This apartment’s gonna flood,’” she said.
The light fixture above Bauver’s bed filled with water, then poured over the edges. The ceilings began to leak, then one by one, they collapsed. The building’s roof ripped off, and Bauver had a clear, and unsettling, view of the sky from her living room.
Bauver, now a resident of West Chester, where she and her partner moved after breaking the lease on her Wynnewood apartment, had been living in the Wyndon Apartments for two years when the July microburst storm tore through Lower Merion, destroying her home and more than $5,000 of her and her partner’s belongings. She was one of dozens of suburbanresidents who emerged from the storm with damaged property and a devastated home.
As the Philadelphia region sees hotter and more humid summers, flash flooding, extreme precipitation, and life-threateningstorms have become a more common feature of daily life.Weather eventsmarked by downed trees, dangerous flash floods, waterlogged roadways, and eroded bridges are, more and more,forcing suburban residents and cash-strapped local governments to pour millions into repair and resilience projects, all while large swathsof the region’s infrastructure are built to withstand weather patterns of a bygone era, one in which storms like July’s microbursthappened once in a decade, rather than multiple times a summer.
As the region’s weather patterns intensify, officials and climate experts say the municipal mosaic of Philadelphia’s suburbs faces unique challenges when it comes to planning for a future marked by climate change.
Utility workers restore power in Merion Station on July 13 after a microburst storm ripped through parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Philadelphia region’s changing weather
The average July temperature in Philadelphia has risen 4.4 degrees since 1940. In the 1900s, Philadelphia averaged four days per year with temperatures above 95 degrees, according to a 2024 EPA report. This summer, Philly has seen six days with high temperatures above 95 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. By the end of the 21st century, that number could climb to more than 50 days per year.
Hotter weather means more precipitation, and more frequent and intense rain events. For every 1.8 degrees the air temperature increases, the amount of water the atmosphere can hold increases by 7%.
“The infrastructure we have now is not always built to a standard to accommodate the extreme weather we’re seeing now,” said Chris Linn, manager of the Office of Resilience and Environment at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
AsRay Courtney, a Lower Merion commissioner and chair of the township’s sustainability committee, said, “We get a 100-year storm every year.”
Cars in a flooded parking lot at the Ferry Avenue PATCO station in Camden on July 6. Philadelphia and its suburbs have been hit with numerous flash floods this summer, as an increasingly hot and humid atmosphere gives way to more extreme weather.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Flooding as ‘the biggest and most common hazard’
The impacts of intense storms are multitudinous and cascading, and the topography of Philadelphia’s suburbs can make it particularly difficult to find effectivesolutions.
Linn said flooding is “the biggest and most common hazard that communities face,” and it presents the most “consistent and pervasive” issues for municipal leaders.
Intense precipitation and flash floods, which have been a constant this summer, can disrupt transit, turn roads into rivers, and endanger residents’ lives. High winds and saturated soil frequently bring down trees, damaging homes and cars and knocking out overhead power lines. Disruptions to power can be particularly dangerous when residents are left without fans or air-conditioning during hot summers.
Flooding has been reported more than 200 times in the Philadelphia region over the last two summers.Stephen Stirling
“I see roads flooding consistently, trees coming down, power going out, and then our local government spending resources every time one of these storms happens. It’s overtime costs and tree costs, and then also all the private citizens having to spend costs cleaning up trees and other debris,” Courtney said.
“These unlikely, freak events are really the ones that break us,” said Matthijs Bouw, architect and professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
A key tool for managing extreme weatheris stormwater systems, or the collection of drains, basins, ditches, and pipes that collect rainwater and snowmelt and move it from developed areas into local waterways. Stormwater systems are critical in moving water off impervious, or impenetrable, surfaces, like the parking lots, paved roads, and shopping centers often found in the suburbs.
The more developed a suburb is, the more runoff a storm will produce, increasing flooding risks, said Franco Montalto, professor of civil, architectural, and environmental engineering at Drexel University.
Yet many municipalities are contending with aging stormwater systems that require costly repairs. Lower Merion’s 2018 Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan listed aging pipes, undersized infrastructure, operational costs, and increasing flooding as challenges for the township. Many of Philadelphia’s suburban communities are composed of buildings that predate a 1978 state law requiring counties and local governments to plan with stormwater management in mind.
Some communities are more vulnerable to climate impacts than others, with density, land cover, wealth, and the state of repair of existing infrastructure as factors. A 2021 climate change vulnerability analysis by Montgomery County found denser, water-proximate communities like Norristown and Pottstown to have some of the highest risk of increased stresses due to climate change. Greener, more rural parts of the county like New Hanover and Marlborough Townships presented lower risks.
The aftermath and clean up of flooding in Camden on July 6. Stormwater systems are a critical tool for local governments to manage flooding. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
How can communities mitigate impacts?
Experts described a range of interventions for managing climate impacts, from constructing rain gardens to rewriting zoning ordinances.
Maintaining a healthy tree canopy and building rain gardens can help rainwater permeate into the ground. Larger infrastructure efforts like stream restoration projects and floodplain maintenance can help stabilize the built environment.
However, Linn said, these interventions “don’t necessarily address more severe or catastrophic flooding in terms of mitigating those impacts.”
Long-term climate resilience, experts said, relies on making land-use and zoning decisions that preserve floodplains and natural drainage patterns and ensure stormwater systems can manage our new, rainy reality.
Montalto is interested communities that have become “safe to flood,” or that have created parks, parking lots, road medians, and other open spaces that trap water during floods, then properly drain it, keeping it away from buildings and roads. A basketball court built below a park, for example, can fill with water during a storm and slowly drain, mitigating runoff (one was recently installed in New York City). Copenhagen’s Cloudburst Management Plan, adopted in 2012 after a major storm, is a blueprint of sorts in Montalto’s mind.
However, bringing “safe to flood” infrastructure to Philly’s suburbs may be a far-out goal.
In the vast suburbs, the collection of boroughs, townships, and county lines makes unified action difficult, and forces officials to think along municipal, not watershed, lines. On the Main Line alone, rainfall and snowmelt drain into a collection of dozens of creeks and streams that do not start or stop where a municipal boundary is drawn, making it difficult to take coordinated and effective action when it comes to flood mitigation along certain waterways.
Finding the funding to repair and replace stormwater infrastructure, too, can be taxing, as local governments stare down costly projects, even with the availability of state and federal grants.Political will factors in, with municipalities differing in their desire and ability to use taxpayer dollars to tackle climate issues.
Philly’s suburbs, like the city, are also often old, dense, and built out, making it hard to retrofit them to be more climate-sensitive.
“So many of our communities are built out and have been built out for a long time, so the vulnerabilities and the challenges are built in to the community,” Linn said.
Utility workers restore power along Wynnewood Avenue in Merion Station on July 13.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Solving ‘complex issues’ in Montgomery County
Despite the challenges, progress is being made, said Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder.
Montgomery County in 2025 led a flood mitigation planning study for the 362-square-mile Perkiomen Creek Watershed, which stretches across Montgomery, Bucks, Berks, and Lehigh Counties. The study identified flood-prone areas, evaluated mitigation tactics, and worked to build a framework for long-term resilience. The county is currently in the process of carrying out a floodplain restoration project along the Wissahickon Creek in Whitemarsh Township. Both projects came to fruition after Hurricane Ida tore through the region, bringing record floods and killing multiple people.
The county has repaired 30 structurally deficient bridges since 2017 and has repaved dozens of miles of road. County workers also removed 200 dangerous trees earlier this year, resulting in a significant drop in emergency phone calls about tree damage, Winder said.
Lower Merion in 2021 hired its first full-time sustainability manager and in 2023 completed its first sustainability plan. Radnor Township has adopted a comprehensive climate plan, and Haverford Township has set out to achieve 100% zero-carbon renewable power by 2035.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in January announced more than $17 million in funding for environmental projects across the state, including stream restoration and stormwater management.
Winder said, “We’re seeing that when we work across federal, state, county, and local leadership, that we can come together to solve some of these complex issues.”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
What started as a halal coffee-and-pastry counter tucked inside a Narberth restaurant has grown into a full-fledged cafe in Willow Grove, with a bakery operation fueled by a mosaic-tiled oven turning out za’atar-topped flatbreads and pizza. And for good measure, the new Mazaj will have a drive-through.
Mazaj, a Yemeni- and Saudi-inspired cafe, opened earlier this month in the former Grandma’s Grotto Pizza on Route 611 near Blair Mill Road.
Owners Mohammed Tashkandi, Mohammed Aqlan, Yousef Muneer, and Omar Alkahily also operate Malooga, the Yemeni restaurants in Narberth and Old City. Mazaj began in March as the coffee bar and bakery inside the Narberth location, where the partners developed its drinks and pastries while spending more than two years searching for a place where the concept could stand on its own.
They deliberately looked beyond the city limits, Tashkandi said. They wanted parking, easy access, and enough room to create the sort of coffeehouse where customers could settle in — without making a quick coffee run difficult.
Manakish are baked to order in a Forno Picone oven near the front of the cafe at Mazaj. The flatbreads can be spread with za’atar and olive oil or topped with cheese or meat.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The Willow Grove location, at 2700 Easton Rd., just north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange, is designed to do both. There are sofas and upholstered chairs for lingering, tables lining the windows, and — unlike Narberth — a drive-through for customers who have no intention of lingering at all. The drive-through is expected to open at the end of the month with premade pizzas and manakish that can be reheated in two minutes.
“Two things can be true at the same time,” Tashkandi said. “Our homemade food, locally roasted coffee, and crafted drinks are intentionally chosen to elevate your day, whether you want to spend time in our spaces or grab something to go as you move through your day.”
A crowd has already formed at the new Mazaj in Willow Grove, Aug. 4, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
That dual identity is wrapped into the name. Mazaj — also spelled mizaj or mizaaj — is an Arabic word for “mood,” “temperament,” or “state of mind” that is also used in Urdu and Persian. The partners were compelled to choose it because of the idea that what people eat and drink can change how they feel.
The menu crosses borders. Tashkandi is from Saudi Arabia, while his partners are from Yemen, but they don’t describe Mazaj strictly as a Yemeni coffee shop, an increasingly popular cafe format. They see it as a broader Middle Eastern cafe.
Honeycomb, Yemeni pull-apart bread, before it is baked at Mazaj, in Willow Grove, Aug. 4, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
There are Saudi coffees and mutabbaq, the flaky stuffed pastry pockets popular in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, alongside Levantine manakish, honeycomb bread, date cake, and other pastries. The contemporary coffee-shop side of the menu brings espresso drinks, ceremonial-grade matcha, and flavored lattes.
Mazaj’s manakish are baked to order in a Forno Picone oven, a striking, mosaic-covered centerpiece near the front of the cafe. The flatbreads can be spread with za’atar and olive oil or topped with cheese or meat.
And now there’s pizza.
Pizza topped with beef pepperoni coming out of the oven at Mazaj, in Willow Grove, Aug. 4, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
It is the major menu addition in Willow Grove, baked in the same oven as the manakish. A separate commercial deck oven handles the cafe’s pastries.
The expansion has turned Willow Grove into the baking hub for the partners’ other restaurants. The owners are shifting production from Malooga to the new cafe, which will supply baked goods to both Narberth and Old City. The company has also begun laying the groundwork for a wholesale operation to sell pastries to other coffee shops and supermarkets, and the partners say they are meeting with potential franchisees.
Head baker Samar Alasbahi leads a baking staff with backgrounds in Yemen and Syria. The pastries are made in-house, and Tashkandi said leftovers aren’t put back into the case the next morning. Unsold baked goods instead go to employees, neighbors, and others in the community.
Customers can linger in the comfy upholstered furniture at Mazaj.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The partners have thoroughly remade the former pizzeria. Olive green and cream set the palette, with patterned tile, geometric motifs, Moroccan-style pendant lights, and a long pastry-and-coffee counter. Faux marble tables and caramel-colored chairs dot the narrow, window-lined dining room, while deep-green upholstered chairs and a sofa make up a small lounge. Behind glass near the front sits the new, dark-tiled brick oven.
For all the Yemeni and Saudi influences behind Mazaj, Tashkandi said the idea is deliberately broader: a cafe where Middle Eastern food traditions overlap rather than stay within national boundaries. “We want the menu to reflect that diversity,” he said.
Mazaj, 2700 Easton Rd., Willow Grove, 267-900-3167, mazajpa.com. Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
After more than three decades, the Wakim family is handing off Bala Cynwyd’s Aldar Bistro to veterans of Center City’s Gran Caffè L’Aquila, who plan to transform the longtime Lebanese restaurant into a soft-lit, white-tablecloth Southern Italian destination called Bruzi.
Two Philly-based couples from Cosenza in Calabria — Luciano and Tania Spensierato and Marco Mondello and Anna Bellizzi — are buying the restaurant at 285 Montgomery Ave. from Joseph Wakim and family.
The sale, contingent on approval of the liquor license transfer, will end the Wakims’ 34-year run at Aldar, which will be open during the transfer process. The restaurant succeeded the family’s Italian restaurant, Allegresse, which opened in 1980.
The Wakims — brothers Joseph, Michel, and George, and sister Fadia — also own Murray’s Deli next door, as well as Evviva, a restaurant, catering venue, and private-events space in Narberth.
“We all grow older, and it’s time to step aside,” Joseph Wakim said. “Over the past five years, we probably had 10 suitors, and I said, ‘No, thank you.’”
He said he ultimately chose the two couples because they were “the right families for us to pass the torch to.”
Tania Spensierato said Aldar “checked all the boxes we were looking for. We wanted to be on the Main Line. We wanted tall ceilings, an existing liquor license, and a space that was roomy but not enormous. We weren’t looking for a 200- or 300-seat restaurant. We wanted a spacious kitchen so the chef would have room to do what he does best.”
“We also wanted to be part of a community,” she said. “Bala Cynwyd and Lower Merion really fit that vision. The location on Montgomery Avenue was exactly what we were looking for.”
Aldar will remain open until the liquor-license transfer is approved, a process that Wakim believes could be completed in September. The new owners then anticipate about two months of renovations before opening Bruzi in late October or November.
Luciano Spensierato has worked behind the bar at Gran Caffè L’Aquila since 2015, while Marco Mondello joined the Center City restaurant a year later as a bartender. Tania Spensierato works in retail, though her background is in restaurants. Bellizzi is a scientist at Temple University.
The name Bruzi refers to the ancient people of Calabria, where all the partners trace their roots. Tania Spensierato, a first-generation Italian American, said the restaurant is intended to reflect that heritage.
The menu will focus on house-made pastas and traditional Calabrian cooking. Planned dishes include sliced black boar prosciutto, Calabrian cheeses, fusilli with slow-cooked meat sauce, baked lamb with tomatoes, olives, and roasted peppers, and grilled tuna with arugula.
The beverage program also will be a centerpiece. Marco Mondello, an Italian-trained sommelier, plans to open with about 100 Italian wines and expand the list over time. Spensierato, who has worked as a bartender for 35 years, said cocktails will also play a prominent role.
Glynis Tart of Verden Interior Design will give the dining room a modern Mediterranean makeover with blue-and-gold accents inspired by the Calabrian flag, along with olive trees and other greenery, Tania Spensierato said. A small retail section will sell imported Italian products.
The partners have hired an Italian-born chef currently working in Florida but declined to identify him until a later date. “Our first priority is simply to get started,” Tania Spensierato said. “One goal at a time.”
