Michael Klein follows up on the ongoing saga that is the Freehouse/Mims Food & Drink in Wayne. The latest has the restaurant still shuttered and chef Brett Naylor spotted working in the kitchen at Urban Outfitters’ corporate offices.

Main Line Dine puts all the twists and turns into a lovely timeline for us.

Mystery of the Freehouse [The Insider]
The Freehouse Saga Continues [Main Line Dine]

Main Line Today compiles a worthwhile of list of places to dine al fresco in the burbs.

Wanted: Fresh Air Fund [Main Line Today]

Rich Nichols looks at what went wrong with Maia, the Villanova market/coffee shop/bistro/fine dining restaurant, as if all those slashes weren’t evidence enough.

A post-mortem is rarely pleasant. In Maia’s case, it is searingly painful.

The Main Liners who’d had such high hopes, even bringing the menus from their favorite Palm Beach haunts for guidance, were left feeling crushed.

Staffers broke into tears recounting the painful unraveling. And at least some of the partners were so mad, they could spit: “I was just over there cleaning up,” said Jerry Holtz of Provco, the real estate-investment group and part-owner. “And I found one of those ‘You are here’ maps, like in a mall. That said it all. This place was way too confusing.”

Like a huge souffle, Main Line’s Maia falls [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Craig LaBan’s biggest objection to Ardmore’s A La Maison may be that it isn’t more than a solid B.

There’s really nothing so wrong with A la Maison. But it’s not especially exciting, either. And there is perhaps no praise more faint or more damning than this French expression for “not bad.” But it certainly speaks to the cooking at A la Maison. There’s little here a true Francophile hasn’t tasted elsewhere, where it probably was more inspired. But true bistros are more about satisfying local regulars than showing off for destination diners. And this food is consistently cooked well enough (a solid B) to hold a hungry crowd’s attention. Considering they’ve flocked to what was once an Indian eatery so quiet you could fling a dosa through the room without hitting a soul, Ardmore has responded warmly in kind.

Two Bells – Very Good

A la Maison [Philadelphia Inquirer]
A La Maison Bistro [Official Site]

As we mentioned on Tuesday, Martin Grims is taking over the food service and the general operations of the White Dog Cafe. Today we find out that the White Dog Cafe will open a second location in Wayne (200 W Lancaster Ave) late this spring.

Grims is kind of a quiet giant in these parts as he is involved in the following restaurants:

• Moshulu
• Du Jour Cafes in Haverford and Center City
• The Inlet
• Daddy O Hotel and Restaurant
• The Plantation
• Pan-Asian restaurant coming to Commerce Square
• and now two White Dog Cafes

White Dog Cafe [Official Site]

Main Line Today’s dining blog has some fine suburban deals for those watching expenditures.

Blackboard Specials for Budget Conscious Foodies [Bocconcini]

Liquid Diet is reporting that Flanigan’s Boathouse will be taking over the Wooden Iron on North Wayne Avenue in downtown Wayne.

In Wayne the Boathouse will share the block with a Great American Pub, just like it does in Conshohocken.

We used to jokingly call the block of Fayette Street in Conshy the “Great American Boathouse,” because seriously, on a weekend night is there any discernible difference? We guess we’ll start calling that part of Wayne Ave, “Great American Boathouse Next Door.”

Flanigan’s Boathouse Comes to Wayne [Liquid Diet]
Flanigan’s Boathouse [Official Site]

The most searched for restaurant on Philadelphia’s MenuPages site? Well it isn’t any Starr joint or the latest from Jose Garces. Nope, it’s Villanova’s Campus Corner and that just stuns us.

If MenuPages Were Prom Court… [MenuPages]
Campus Corner [Official Site]

Craig LaBan visits Villanova’s Maia and finds the cafe, bistro, market, bar and fine-dining room is indeed many things, all of them good.

It is upstairs, though, where Maia hits its culinary mark, with a breadth of wit, technique and vivid flavors that make it a true successor to (now shuttered) Striped Bass as our modern seafood mecca.

That smoked tuna starter was a knockout, the hickory tang focusing the sweetness of raw fish against the piquance of a silky green-olive puree. But there were many other winners. A checkerboard mosaic of raw salmon, yellowtail and tuna was scattered with celery salt and glittery cubes of tart citrus gelee. Creamy coins of hazelnut-crusted foie gras came shingled with sweet warm rounds of barbecued eel. The meltingly soft double-headed prawn (actually two crustaceans joined at the tail with meat glue) reposed over a mound of creamy leeks.

There were equally stunning entrees, like the T-bone of poached halibut over fregola sarda filled with fennel and house-cured guanciale, or the crispy snapper with basiled summer beans and tender rings of oil-poached calamari threaded with chorizo slivers.

3 Bells – Excellent

Maia

If your birth year ends in an 8 you’re eligible for a free 3-course dinner at Pond & Bistro Cassis this Friday (8-8-08). Additionally, the 8th person in a dinner party eats for free!

Menu after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »