Tasty Tuscan: Italian dining and market on South Broad
Its backers promise four-star Tuscan dining experiences in the dining room, chef demonstrations in a private room, and a small marketplace selling Italian groceries.
The corner restaurant spot at 777 S. Broad St., which was Tashan until its closing in September, will get a bold Italian focus this summer.
Tasty Tuscan, the first of what is positioned as a multicity rollout, will combine what its backers call four-star Tuscan dining experiences in the dining room, chef demonstrations in a private room, and a small marketplace selling Italian groceries.
It will serve from breakfast through late night. Among the restaurant specialties will be steaks cut in the Italian style, opposed to American or Argentine.
Managing partners Carlo Capocchini and Luca Spadoni say they're looking at 10 other cities for their next locations. They chose Philadelphia "because we know it's one of the most improved cities in America," said Capocchini, who said he and business partners with ties to New York enjoy visiting.
As for the location, at Broad and Catharine Streets, "yes, we know it's on the borderline," Capocchini said.
They hope to open in July after a buildout whose price tag Capocchini put at $1.2 million.
Brittany Goldberg of MSC Retail, who handled the transaction with Andrew Shpigel, said the idea of including a marketplace would boost its visibility and traffic.
Philly's Tuscan connection is long and deep, and was buttressed last year with the opening of the smart, bilevel Gran Caffe L'Aquila, a restaurant/wine bar/coffee roaster/gelateria at 1716 Chestnut St.
Why Tuscany? "People like the sense of romance that they associate with it," said Gran Caffe co-owner Riccardo Longo.