Carmine's Creole is out; in comes Verdad

Good times no longer roll at Carmine's Creole Cafe in Bryn Mawr, which has closed while owner Howard Taylor redoes it as a Euro-Latin restaurant called Verdad ("truth" in Spanish).

Nick Farina of the nearby Blush will be managing partner and executive chef.

Verdad's tapas menu will be supplemented by a tequila bar and a selection of wines from Spain, Cuba, Chile, Brazil and Mexico, plus a Latin beer selection. Figure on $35 a head, including a drink and a couple of small plates. Opening is penciled in for the first or second week of August.

So ends a chapter in one of our town's loopier restaurant stories. Carmine's, founded in Havertown in 1999 by New Orleans chef John Mims, relocated first in 2005 to Narberth, and again to 818 W. Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr, formerly Citron. That's where Mims began a partnership with Taylor, a lawyer, and obtained a liquor license. Mims and Taylor also opened Les Bons Temps at 114 S. 12th St. in Center City. The partnership disintegrated a year ago, and Mims left altogether.

Late last year, Mims surfaced at the Freehouse in Wayne, and Taylor sued him, alleging that Mims had violated terms of their contract specifying that Mims could not work within 10 miles of Carmine's. In the last couple of months, Les Bon Temps closed, as did the Freehouse. Mims owns Daddy Mims and Johnny's New Orleans Pizza Kitchen in Phoenixville.

What's new

Chef Robert Bahm, a Culinary Institute of America grad whose background includes Taquet in Wayne and Bryce's Catering in Wynnewood, has taken over a gracious old farmhouse off Valley Forge Road in Phoenixville. Becca's (19 S. Whitehorse Rd., 484-924-8502), a BYOB named after his daughter, occupies the former Twin Bays Cafe. It's upscale American, with dinner entrees from $24 to $30; there's a $65 six-course tasting menu as well. It's open Mondays through Saturdays for lunch ($10 to $22 for entrees); Wednesdays though Saturdays for dinner; and Sundays for $20 fixed-price brunch. Great upstairs deck.

What's coming

Seasons 52, the grill and wine bar from Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden) that's been a hit at the Cherry Hill Mall, will open a second location next spring in King of Prussia. It will fill the space on Gulph Road near Mall Boulevard last occupied by a Bennigan's.