Philadelphia - August 31, 2009

Growing Fond of You

Fond Restaurant Opens

Some grandmas make home-cooked meals in a cheery kitchen. Yours makes a mean Manhattan and whips up Chinese takeout.

Which means you’ll both flip over Fond. Opening today, the new BYOB, owned by pastry chef Jessie Prawlucki (Le Bec Fin), Tory Keomanivong (Lacroix), and head chef Lee Styer (Le Bec Fin, Lacroix), serves up straightforward dishes in a homey green and yellow dining room that will fill the void for a taste of home — but with original twists.

Try the chicken breast with pipérade and roasted fingerlings or the pork chop with truffled maiitake and Jersey corn. If you’re out for blood, the beef strip loin with Gorgonzola, asparagus and charred red onions in a bordelaise sauce will do the trick. For the sweet tooth, the grilled peach pavlova with crunchy poppy seed meringue and whipped creme fraiche is like hitting the jackpot.

Or the grandmother-lode.

Fond, 1617 East Passyunk Avenue (215-551-5000).

  BYOB, Laid Back, Neighborhood Gem