Main & Vine is Now Open in Villanova

The California-inspired bistro comes from local restaurateurs Jay Stevens and Kim Strengari.

On May 16, local restaurant veterans Jay Stevens and Kim Strengari opened their new dining venture, Main & Vine, in Villanova. The duo—Stevens has a long track record with Morton’s Steakhouse and Strengari is co-owner of the Conshy Girls stable of eateries—brings Northern California-inspired cuisine to the former Avenue Kitchen. Chef Charles Vogt, formerly of the Water Club at the Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J., helms the kitchen.

Main & Vine’s attractive interior, tastefully conceived by the Gacek Design Group out of New Hope, starts with impressive floor-to-ceiling windows that slide open to create an airy indoor-outdoor effect. The bar—once situated in the rear of the restaurant and facing a wall—has been relocated and expanded so that patrons now have open views of the restaurant. With a soothing gray and white color scheme, accentuated by smatterings of blue, lots of open space between each of the white marble-topped tables, overhead “clouds” and strategically-placed panels to buffer noise, Main & Vine’s appearance is as coolly tasteful as it is timeless.

Along with its comfortable bar, lounge and dining room, the venue offers a 40-seat tasting room that can be utilized for private dinners, and an attractive bubinga wood-topped, 12-seat pizza bar that’s punctuated by three shiny ovens re-surfaced in richly-textured porcelain.

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From those ovens Main & Vine produces tasty, super-thin sourdough crust pizzas. The rest of Vogt’s Cali-bistro menu showcases raw bar offerings, “sociables” (meat and cheese boards), soups, starters (including pork belly robotayaki, and achiote chicken tostatos), and salads. Entrees include New York strip steak frites, bucatini and baby clams, and pan-roasted salmon. Plus, each night of the week features one shareable, such as Wednesday’s smoked barbecue short ribs, Thursday’s whole bronzino tacos, and Saturday’s herb roasted prime rib.

The Latin, Italian, French, Asian and American-influenced menu changes seasonally, with items running less than $30.

Jason Brook, formerly of Zavino Hospitality Group, designed the Golden State-centric wine list. It possesses over 24 varietals by the glass, including four hard-to-come-by prestige selections, like Jordan chardonnay and Stag’s Leap cabernet.

With a location that’s in the very heart of the Main Line, Strengari, Stevens and Vogt are sure to make everyone who visits happy.

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789 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, (484) 380-3688.

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