"Everything in here is custom," he said. A wildly bright fiber-optic chandelier hanging over the bar, he said, was designed and made in Germany, assembled in England and shipped over. Wrought-iron flourishes are everywhere. One second-floor wall is made of a crushed-velvet fabric studded with lights. Another second-floor wall is filled with about 220 niches, each of which accommodates a vodka bottle. In a clever marketing tie-in, Sawan will allow vodka companies to advertise their brand on the wall by "donating" bottles; in return, Vango will receive the product.
What's coming
Du Jour, the gourmet market and café now in Haverford, says it will open a second spot early next year, on the ground floor of the Symphony House, the luxury condo building at the southwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets. Du Jour will dish breakfast, lunch and dinner, eat-in/takeout. The building's Pine Street side will house a reincarnation of
Girasole, the Italian eatery that was at 13th and Locust for 14 years until mid-2004.
Astral Plane (1708 Lombard St.), which closed July 1 after 34 years, will come back in November as Astral Plane Millennium. Caterer Christine Fischer and business partner Clara Gomez are embarking on a big renovation, cutting founder Reed Apaghian's froufrou decor down to a modern and simple look.
