Bistro

The restaurant space at the Wayne Hotel in downtown Wayne, once the home of Restaurant Taquet, has been expanded and renovated into a dining room and bistro bar called Paramour (139 E. Lancaster Ave., 610-977-0600). As part of the two-year renovation to the hotel, developer S.W. Bajus has also set up an outdoor veranda and a lobby lounge. The bistro has plush semicircular banquettes and floor-to-ceiling windows, and the main dining room - now allowing for plenty of natural light - has an open kitchen, marble floors, and an enormous glass-walled wine display.

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.

I was getting ready to board an early American Airlines flight out of Miami, and they announced that it was going to be "bistro service. " "Please pick up your 'bistro' meal from the cart as you board the plane," they told us. I honestly wasn't sure what "bistro" meant, but it sounded French, which I thought was a good sign. French food is pretty tasty. But other than that, French food is pretty good. So I had high hopes when, on my way to the plane, I stopped at the cart and picked up a paper sack containing my "bistro" meal.

Darlene Boline Moseng, who did catering and private chef-ing, is into her third week of A La Maison (53 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 484-412-8009), a rustic French BYOB in the Main Line storefront that was Jewel of India. Moseng, a graduate of the Restaurant School, is keeping it traditional on a blackboard menu - coq au vin, short ribs, steak frites (dinner entrees: $21 to $28). She's backed in the kitchen by Maurice deRamus (Zen in Northern Liberties, Kujaku on the Parkway), and Marabella's alumna Lori Sexton is running the front of the house.

For nine months, with his own two hands, Laurentiu Muras has been redoing the former Cafe Habana on 21st Street into a gastropub called Slate . Work was finished in December, says Muras, a Romanian-born longtime bartender at such Center City establishments as Valanni, Jack's Firehouse and El Vez. All he had to do was iron out staffing issues. The wrinkles are gone, Muras says, and Slate (102 S. 21st St., 215-568-6886) will open tomorrow. It'll be open daily at 5 p.m. Chef Eric Paraskevas, formerly chef de cuisine at Lolita, says they're aiming to be an inviting neighborhood place, with appetizers from $7 to $9, sandwiches from $10 to $12, and entrees from $18 to $21. Paraskevas' background at Lolita exposed him to Mexican food, but he doesn't want to pigeonhole his cuisine.

At Places! Bistro, which serves a tidy, seasonal menu in the French bistro tradition, there are two types of patrons: those who go to the theater and those who don't. At one point during dinnertime, Places! loses about half its customers. They go next door, to the playhouse known as the People's Light & Theatre Company. Regardless of which group you're in, you're sure to have a classic meal with organic ingredients, fresh herbs (from a garden out back), and light seasoning. The menu, which changes with each new theater production, is typically more subtle than dramatic.

Chef Peter McAndrews has added the Old World-elegant Popolino , in Northern Liberties (501 Fairmount Ave., 215-928-0106), to his collection of Italian-themers ( Modo Mio , Monsu , Paesano's ). Working with Four Seasons alumnus Steve Flis, he's put an antipasti bar - tavole calde ("hot table") - in the middle of the dining room. (It's not self-service; staff does the portioning). Cuisine is moderate-priced Roman rustic - 10 appetizers and 10 entrees, plus house-made desserts.

Nobody puts on a suit and tie anymore to go out to eat, as formal dining continues its quick fade. But Philadelphia's restaurants still have some serious style. Here are eight great destinations, from cutting-edge city hot spots to cool suburban classics, a Paris-style boite, and a parkside perch where the people-watching is as prime as what's on the plate.   Adsum This fall's hottest no-reservations table comes courtesy of ex-Lacroix chef Matthew Levin, whose debut as an owner-chef is refining contemporary bistro style in Queen Village with a menu that's both cutting-edge and affordable.

Stepping inside Tutto Misto, the new Bill Curry-Judy DeVicaris enterprise on 3rd Street just off South, is like opening the door to a blind date who turns out to be . . . gorgeous. Playful patterns and trompe l'oeil paintwork reminiscent of the New York nightclub El Morocco tease the eye in the downstairs bar/bistro - although Tutto Misto's banquettes are a subdued black rather than zebra-striped. A more formal upstairs dining room, The Venetian Room, is dressed to the nines with fabulous fabrics, floral finery and crystal chandeliers, vying with Le Bec-Fin and Striped Bass for the title of most ravishing dining space in town.

Despite its exhausting name, the Places! The Bistro at People's Light & Theatre, is a charming restaurant with exceptional cuisine, a combination that offers an unparalleled experience in fine dining. This is not just another restaurant. It is an exciting, energy-filled place that appeals to the eye as well as the palate. Open since Thanksgiving, the bistro is in a 200-year-old farmhouse next to the playhouse; it is a great place to visit even if you are not attending a show.