Table Talk | BYO Javier joins growing restaurant group

Robert Sanabria is a man on the move. The Bolivian-born restaurateur - who founded the popular Word of Mouth in Collingswood - last week opened

Javier

, a high-style Continental BYO, at 208 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield (856-428-4220).

Sanabria also is developing a second Word of Mouth on Broadway in Pitman, which he hopes to open in late January. He said he's also planning a third, in Moorestown. (Salabria and his wife, Elizabeth, made their mark at Food for Thought in Marlton, which they created in the mid-1990s and later sold.)

At Javier, chef Kenneth Merk said that he and partner Scott Allen are doing "flavors people understand." Merk, a South Jerseyan who trained in Italy and south Florida, described one dish as a Yukon gold potato-wrapped tuna ($30), presented vertically on spinach and roasted tomatoes. Desserts are made in-house.

Entrees on the dinner menu range from $20 to $30, while lunches are $8 to $22; it's open Tuesdays through Sundays.

Wednesday is the expected first night of

Bindi

, the Indian BYO at 105 S. 13th St. owned by Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran of Lolita.

Dec. 15 marks the projected opening of the long-delayed

Swallow

at 1030 N. American St. in the Liberties Walk development in Northern Liberties. The Euro BYO bistro with bold decor is a husband-and-wife project of the much-traveled Jason and Cindy Caminos, most recently in D.C. The name - arguably the silliest attempt at double-entendre since the Smoked Joint - refers to a bird.

Alison Barshak of

Alison at Blue Bell

is building a second, so-far-unnamed restaurant, at the site of the long-closed Marita's Cantina at 424 S. Bethlehem Pike in Fort Washington. Concept: What she does now (new American), but "we'll be able to stretch more," she says. The new place will have a bar, wine lockers, private dining and 100 seats, which means walk-ins will be easier to accommodate than at Alison at Blue Bell. And credit cards will be accepted. Barshak is blogging the progress of the new restaurant at

» READ MORE: http://alisonatbluebell.wordpress.com

, much as The Inquirer is chronicling the construction of the Society Hill restaurant Zahav (

» READ MORE: http://go.philly.com/zahav

).

The tab for the Center City District's Restaurant Week, formerly $30, will be $35 a head for the winter edition, Jan. 27 to Feb. 1. This deal still can be a bargain, as the gross price of a three- or four-course meal at many of the participating restaurants tops $35. (Remember that beverages, tax and tip are extra.) The CCD has posted the list at

» READ MORE: www.centercityphila.org/restaurantweek

.