Mediterranean-Fashion Eatery Wins Conditional Use Approval In Newtown
NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors on Wednesday voted to grant conditional use approval for Árdana Meals & Drink.
The 6,700 sq. foot Mediterranean-style restaurant, owned by brothers Mike and Antoni Christou, is scheduled to open someday this month on the former website of Solstice within the Village of Newtown Procuring Heart at Eagle and Durham Roads.
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The Newtown location would be the second below the Árdana identify for the brothers who additionally personal and function Árdana’s on Easton Highway on the Outlets at Valley Sq. in Warrington. They opened their Warrington location in 2019.
The complete service restaurant will present 159 seats inside with a further 90 seats at an out of doors patio in the course of the hotter seasons.
“The applying tonight is to select up the ball and run from the place Solstice left off from an operational standpoint,” land use legal professional Joe Blackburn advised the supervisors. “In giant respects the operation of Árdana mirrors or is much less intense than what existed with respect to Solstice, significantly with respect to seating.”
Dennis Fisher, the chairman of the supervisors, raised the difficulty of parking with Blackburn asking if the township can get a dedication from the restaurant and from Brixmor encouraging workers to not park in that finish of the purchasing middle.
“Every of the tenant customers are chargeable for regulating that,” mentioned Blackburn. “It’s actually within the restaurant’s greatest curiosity to not have its workers taking on the prime spots. I believe it’s honest to say that’s one thing they might self-regulate.”
Supervisor Elen Snyder mentioned with the variety of tables being deliberate, she’s involved concerning the impression on parking, particularly to that finish of the purchasing middle.
“I do know you’re going to be confronted with that. It’s a troublesome scenario,” mentioned Snyder. “My suggestion to you is have a plan.”
Proprietor Michael Christou mentioned that Brixmor will likely be arranging a valet parking service to ease the parking scenario. “That’s going to occur earlier than we open,” he mentioned.
The restaurant is a homecoming for the brothers who have been raised in Newtown Township not removed from Goodnoe Elementary College and graduated from Council Rock Excessive College North. Their calling to the restaurant business got here early after they started working of their household’s eating places in New Jersey as younger youngsters.
Mike, left, and Antoni Christou, proper, with their dad.
Mike fondly remembers rising up in Newtown, having fun with the meals and ice cream on the former Goodnoe Dairy Bar and Restaurant, Issac Newton’s (earlier than and after the hearth) and the Italian dishes served at La Stalla, Meglio and Vecchia Osteria by Pasquale.
“It looks like a homecoming,” mentioned Mike of their return to Newtown. “As soon as we put up our signal individuals began calling and emailing. Now we have heard from individuals we have not heard from shortly. However we love Newtown and Council Rock. And we’re trying ahead to renewing all of our previous friendships.”
The restaurant will get its identify from Árdana, a small farming village in Cyprus the place the homeowners’ grandmother was raised. Their objective, Mike advised Patch, is to move friends to the Mediterranean whereas showcasing the great thing about the native model of consuming often known as “mezze,” the place the whole lot of the meal is shared amongst household and buddies.
The inspiration for Árdana’s delicacies comes from influences from throughout the area together with Italian and Center Japanese flavors.
“We do not name it a Cyprus restaurant. We do not name it a Greek restaurant. We name it Mediterranean as a result of we pull inspiration, dishes, flavors and concepts from that complete area of the world,” mentioned Mike. “You might have the contemporary, gentle coastal flavors of Cyprus. You might have pastas and pizzas from Italy. And you’ve got the spices and flavors of the Center East. We cowl that complete space of the world.”
Among the many restaurant’s hottest choices are its contemporary pastas, its wood-fired pizza and its Mediterranean-style dishes, together with whole-char grilled Bronzino and roasted lamb chops. A few of its small plates embrace whipped ricotta, calamari, Mediterranean olives, spiced lamb and rooster skewers, salted roasted beets and humus.
Different menu objects embrace pan-seared Atlantic salmon, eggplant Milanese, prime grade sirloin, vodka rigatoni, braised pork ragu and mushroom cavatelli.