Along Broad Street, across the city and beyond, we'll see a host of new restaurants from stars and rising talents.

Broad Street could soon be called Avenue of the Culinary Arts if much-anticipated openings from such big names as Marc Vetri, Stephen Starr, Kevin Sbraga (our own Top Chef), and Tiffin's shiny new sibling, Tashan, live up to expectations.

But the fresh dining action is pulsing far beyond that main artery, too, as one of the most torrid restaurant opening seasons ever unfolds from deep South Philly to the Main Line. From gastropubs and doughnut shrines to vegetarian pioneers and pizza prophets, from debuts for young talents to new locations for familiar names, the autumn curtain is lifting on a cast of culinary characters that should make us all hopeful for some good eating soon.

- Craig LaBan, Inquirer restaurant critic,
and Ashley Primis, Inquirer food writer
                                                                   

The notion of South Broad as a marquee dining strip is a tantalizing idea - especially with the decline of Walnut Street's Restaurant Row. But it has also long been elusive, as the traffic-clogged lanes and quick-bite theater crowds have scared away (with a few exceptions) all but the deep-pocketed chains. Philadelphians, it seems, prefer dining more in a genuine neighborhood, a cozy crossroads such as 13th and Sansom Streets nearby, for example, which continues to grow into our most vibrant nexus of nightlife eats.

Is this the year Broad Street's restaurant fortunes change - both to the South and North? The south side's new apartment buildings will cast their hopes first on two particularly exciting projects. Tashan (777 S. Broad St.; www.mytashan.com), which opened Thursday (the name means style or swagger in Hindi) is a bold gamble indeed from Tiffin founder Munish Narula that Philadelphians are ready for upscale Indian cuisine. Narula promises "the food will be Indian. We're not making a fusion restaurant. We're not dumbing down the flavors."

The open-kitchen setting will be dramatic, the ingredients should be prime, and presentations, he said, will reflect a contemporary Western approach, like Goan masala-dusted lobster, or tandoori-cooked venison with smoked clove and plum chutney.

Like so many of the other restaurants this season, Tashan's menu is built around small plates, with diners encouraged to order several (figure $45 a person for food.)