Monday dining update
University City has a plush new diner.
After a year and a half of construction, father-son team Demetri and Mike Maroulis have opened Demetris Mediterranean Cuisine on the southwest corner of 45th and Chestnut Streets (215-386-1824). I'd call it a diner, but the look is most undinerlike -- soft banquettes, lots of drapery, hardwood floor. It's open for breakfast daily from 7 to 11 a.m. with pancakes, breakfast sandwiches and eggs, then segues into an all-day menu that reads like the Manhattan/Philadelphia/Athens phone books: soup, pizza, panini, burgers, cheesesteaks, hoagies, ribs, stromboli, pastas, chicken/seafood/veal entrees and Greek entrees. Specialties: roasted salmon with lemon ginger and butter sauce ($14.95) and anything with rose sauce. Entrees are under $20.
Also worth noting today: Public opening of Oyster House will be Thursday.