After 12 years, Evan Lambert said, Savona, his posh Main Line staple (100 Old Gulph Rd., Gulph Mills, 610-520-1200), needed to "evolve."
The reconceptualization, a top-to-bottom renovation completed last month, was not intended to be trendy in any way, says Lambert, who got L.A. designer Ann Vering to use natural materials and a soft color palette.
They carved out small, romantic spaces for the special-occasion crowd that craves chef Andrew Masciangelo's regional Italian cuisine. (Most entrees are $36 to $42.)
They expanded the bar area to occupy part of the first and second floors, and now seat patrons on the patio. The casual menu, with most dishes well under $20, includes charcoal-fired pizzas; hot and cold appetizers (such as polenta with mushrooms, and a frisee with poached egg, bacon and potato traditional); risotto and its Tuscan counterpart farrotto; pastas; and mains (salmon, veal Milanese, pork chop).