Since 2017, three different names have appeared over the door at 915 Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr Village. Enoteca Tredici. Fiore Rosso. Il Fiore. Three concepts, three menus, three sets of servers learning where the wine glasses go, all in the same space, all within nine years. By early this year, the storefront had gone dark again, waiting on a fourth tenant. The building's owner has said on the record what he hopes the fourth will bring to the block, and the chef taking the space has laid out his plans in some detail.
Three Names, One Address
Enoteca Tredici opened in Bryn Mawr Village in 2017 as a Mediterranean-style wine bar and was a hit when it debuted. It closed in 2021, undone by financial pressure and the pandemic that hit independent restaurants across the region.
What replaced it had a bigger name attached. Fiore Rosso arrived with ties to chef Marc Vetri, one of Philadelphia's best-known culinary figures, and opened in 2022. It didn't run long under that name. By 2024 the space had been rebranded Il Fiore, a second act in the same kitchen. Il Fiore closed at the start of 2026.
That is three identities, two full closures, and one internal rebrand, all inside a single storefront on Lancaster Avenue.
What Each Concept Brought to the Block
Each name brought a different idea to 915 Lancaster. Enoteca Tredici was a Mediterranean-style wine bar. Fiore Rosso came with a connection to chef Marc Vetri. Il Fiore carried the space's Italian identity forward under new branding. The reporting on Tredici points to financial problems and the pandemic as the reasons it closed, and the coverage of the later two does not name a single shared cause.
What the address itself offers is a prominent position in Bryn Mawr Village on Lancaster Avenue and an industrial-style interior that the incoming operator plans to keep largely intact.
What the Building's Owner Is Looking For
Paul Aschkenasy, the owner of Bryn Mawr Village, spoke about the new tenant with evident enthusiasm. He told SAVVY Main Line he was pleased to have "a restaurant that appeals to so many of our neighbors, has a lively bar scene, and is priced such that people can visit on a regular basis."
Those three qualities, broad neighborhood appeal, a lively bar, and pricing that supports repeat visits, describe the kind of restaurant he hopes will settle into the space. His comments were about the road ahead, and they leave the earlier restaurants' stories to speak for themselves.
The Fourth Attempt Isn't Starting From Zero
The name lined up to fill the space belongs to Alessandro "Alex" Fiorello, a 28-year-old chef who grew up in a family of restaurateurs split between Brooklyn and Chester County. Fiorello arrives with two restaurants already operating, one of them a few miles west in Wayne.
His first restaurant, Alessandro's Wood Fired Italian & Bar, opened on North Wayne Avenue in 2020 as what's been described as an upscale-casual neighborhood osteria, one that built a strong takeout business alongside a consistently busy dining room. He followed it with Alessandro's Pizzeria in West Chester, a more casual lunch-and-slice operation serving cheesesteaks on Sarcone's rolls alongside pizza and sandwiches. The Wayne restaurant has a strong neighborhood following, which lines up with the regular visits Aschkenasy said he hoped to see in Bryn Mawr.
The Bryn Mawr location, according to Fiorello's comments to the Philadelphia Inquirer, is meant to sit a step above Wayne. "This new place will be a step up from Wayne," he said. "Still approachable but more bar-focused, with a great bar scene." That makes the Bryn Mawr restaurant the most elevated tier of his three-restaurant lineup, with a stronger emphasis on the bar and the evening scene.
What's Actually Changing in the Kitchen
The menu direction stays Italian at its core: house-made pasta, wood-fired pizza, a live-fire grill. Fiorello also plans to bring in dry-aged proteins, using on-site aging refrigerators that came with the space, a detail that matters more than it sounds. Rather than gutting the kitchen infrastructure left behind by three previous tenants, the new concept is building around what's already installed, which should mean a faster turnaround than a full renovation would allow. There's also room in the plan for a handful of subtle Japanese-influenced dishes, including a small number of sushi-style items, layered onto an otherwise Italian menu.
The restaurant's permanent name was still being decided as of the announcement, with Enoteca Alessandro's and Alessandro's Enoteca both in contention. Either version circles back, whether intentionally or not, to Enoteca Tredici, the wine bar that first made this address a destination worth talking about. Fiorello confirmed he was backed by investors for the buildout, and the plan called for a spring opening. Whether the doors are already open by the time you're reading this or the kitchen is still finishing its final week of prep, the plan Fiorello described stays the same: approachable, bar-forward Italian cooking built around a live-fire kitchen.
Bryn Mawr's Storefronts Are Moving as a Group
This particular address isn't an isolated story. Bryn Mawr has been absorbing new restaurants across several blocks this year. Dim Sum Factory, a regional chain known for soup dumplings and scallion pancakes, is expected to open in Bryn Mawr this winter. Flakely, a gluten-free bakery that built its following out of an industrial kitchen in Manayunk, is getting its first storefront on Lancaster Avenue. Love & Honey Fried Chicken, known for buttermilk-fried chicken and homemade sides, has already opened its Bryn Mawr location as the suburban counterpart to its Northern Liberties spot.
Set next to the story at 915 Lancaster, these openings show Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr filling in from several directions at once, with Italian, dim sum, gluten-free baking, and buttermilk-fried chicken all arriving within the same year.
What to Watch at 915 Lancaster
The details worth following are concrete. The final name, Enoteca Alessandro's or Alessandro's Enoteca, or something else. The live-fire grill and the dry-aged program in the inherited aging refrigerators. The bar, which Fiorello has said will be the center of the evening scene. And Dim Sum Factory and Flakely, both still ahead on the Bryn Mawr calendar.
If Lancaster Avenue's changing storefronts have you thinking about the neighborhood around them, the Houder Nunez-Strid Team is glad to talk it through. Schedule a confidential market consultation to start the conversation.
