On the restaurant horizon: A new pub in the burbs, Cafe Lift for Fishtown, and a two-story bar at a Center City nail salon

Two suburban restaurant groups are collaborating on a pub called Rooster’s Glenside, which will fill the corner of Keswick Avenue and Easton Road in Glenside’s Keswick Village formerly occupied by the Keswick Tavern.

Rooster’s Glenside, due this fall, will team Justin Weathers, Matt Moyer, and chef Joe Monnich (Stove & Tap, Al Pastor, Joey Chops, GBU) with Chris Magarity (Jasper’s Backyard). The name is a tribute to Moyer’s father, Danny “Rooster” Moyer, a community fixture who died in April.

There will be a 40-seat bar, plus 88 seats in the dining room and 44 seats outside. Pub menu, served at lunch, brunch, dinner, happy hour, and late night, will include a raw bar. Bar will feature 16 drafts on tap, plus wines by the glass and cocktails. Plans also include a new sound system and media wall.

In other recent restaurant developments: On one of Center City Philadelphia’s most restaurant-rich blocks, I’ll tip you to the plans jelling for two bars and a kitchen at the former Nails by Anna D at 1534 Sansom St.

On the street level, Chris Fetfatzes and Heather Annechiarico are installing what they intend as a quirky wine bar/eatery with late hours and no pretense (and so far, no name). It’s due to open in mid-to-late fall.

In 2025, on the second floor, they plan to open Liquorette, a bar overlooking Sansom that Fetfatzes says will “embody a blend of natural light design elements, creating a sophisticated yet approachable ambience, offering a relaxed atmosphere that’s high on simplicity and low on fuss.” Also collaborating on this project is Susan Freeman, who’s behind Grace & Proper with Fetfatzes and Annechiarico.

Backstory: The couple opened Wine Dive in January 2020 at 1506 South St., next door to their pub the Cambridge, which they retooled in 2021 into Sonny’s Cocktail Joint. In April 2022, as they prepared to open the Rabbit, an underground speakeasy-type bar beneath Sonny’s and Wine Dive, water from a fire in an upstairs apartment flooded everything. Fetfatzes said Sonny’s and Wine Dive will reopen this fall. The couple is also working on Penny’s Bagels in Haddonfield.

The project is next door to Marathon Grill, on the same block as Su Xing House, Oyster House, Mission Taqueria, Chika Ramen Bar, Bagels & Co., Ladder 15, 1518 Tavern, Giuseppe & Sons, Bar Lesieur, and Harp & Crown, plus a Dunkin and a Philly Pretzel Factory.

Kensington Quarters in Fishtown will become a Cafe Lift as owners Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello convert it into the third location of their family-friendly bruncherie.

KQ opened in fall 2014 as a butcher shop, restaurant, and bar, but dropped the butcher counter in 2016. During the pandemic, KQ morphed its menu to seafood; it closed in March.

“Long story short: We gave [KQ] everything we got, but it just never was really enough to sustain the property,” Mike Pasquarello said. Cafe Lift, which the couple founded in 2003 in Callowhill, is “something that people respond very well to,” he said.

After a Main Line Lift came and went (2018-2020), the couple opened in Haddonfield in 2022 and moved the original last year to Ridge Avenue and Spring Garden Street, a block from their La Chinesca. The new Lift at 1310 Frankford Ave., which has a back patio and seats about 100 inside, is expected to open in late summer or early fall.