"I told him: 'Good luck!' " said Butler, who promptly rode away.
The "scraggly guy" turned out to be developer Joe Grace, who Butler realized was one of his customers. And a few years later, as luck would have it, Grace would actually persuade Butler to run that inn and give it a chance at new life.
But there was plenty of work to be done first. The big building was completely rehabbed in a mega-bucks revamp, gutted down to the stone walls and wood planks before Butler added the halogen lights, the chic banquettes, the cool raw-bar lounge, the glassed-in wine cellar, and the contemporary steel staircase leading to the second floor.
There are 100-plus seats now at Brandywine Prime, plus enough banquet space for 100 more, ready to transform this doddering old Route 1 standby into Chadds Ford's hippest new power-dining destination. And it looks the part, with a cool mix of rustic charm and contemporary style.
Unfortunately, Butler's crew - normally rock-steady in Wilmington - isn't quite ready for Brandywine Prime time.
The restaurant's focus is simple and appealing enough: updating a classic chophouse concept with good ingredients and contemporary ideas at high-end prices, with entrees between $24 and $36.
But from the service to the food, our meals were a disappointment. The waitstaff, dressed in silly uniforms of white chef coats and baggy jeans, is friendly enough. But our young servers were so inexperienced, they looked terrified and uncertain as they brought food to our table, tongues pinched between their lips in concentration as the china rattled in their hands. I saw more fumbled wine glasses shatter in a single night at Brandywine Prime than in six months of prior meals combined.
