But Teresa's Next Door is more than a curious social scene. It is the serious beer venue the Main Line has been needing, with 26 great brews on tap and more than 200 in the bottle. And no, the food isn't lousy.
It's been several years since downtown Philadelphians acquired a seemingly unquenchable thirst for Belgian gastropubs, with their myriad variations on the mussel pot and international beer cellars with a breadth once reserved just for wine. So it was only a matter of time before the phenomenon made its way to the suburbs.
There are a handful of other farther-flung beer destinations, like Ortino's Northside in Schwenksville, the Sly Fox brewpubs in Phoenixville and Royersford, and the Drafting Room in Exton. But none were built with quite the same homage to Philly's beer-hall hits as TND, which co-owner and chef Andrew Dickerson says was inspired by Monk's Belgian spirit, Standard Tap's dedication to fresh local beers, and Tria's focus on artisan cheese and wines. The international wine list here is substantial.
It appears Tria's upscale polish was also a point of inspiration, as Dickerson and his partner, Michael Ellis, went to great lengths to make this room "all pretty for the suburbs."
The former paint store, attached through its front door to Ellis' Teresa's Cafe, a popular brick-oven Italian destination, has been transformed into a slick (and numbingly noisy) 78-seat bistro fitted with cherrywood booths, slate floors and walls, and a blue granite bar behind which a wall of shelves holds more than 60 kinds of glasses for different beers. Elegant tall flutes for the fruited Lindemans lambics. Wooden stands to hold the balloon-bottomed Kwak glass. A proper tulip to suspend the foamy head of my Affligem blonde in all its lemony spice and malty glory.
