New ambiance and menu at Hearth Kitchen
After being sold and then closed for renovations, Hearth Kitchen in the Shoppes at Longwood is open again. The interior has been reworked and the menu expanded to have something for a variety of tastes.
Platinum Dining Group bought the restaurant at the end of last year. It’s been in the hospitality industry for almost 20 years and is owned by Carl and Lisa Georigi. They own six other restaurants in Delaware, including Eclipse Bistro — their first which they opened in 1996 — Capers & Lemons, Redfire Grill Steakhouse, Taverna, and others.
Carl Georigi said in a recent interview that they had their eyes on Chester County for a while and thought the location in East Marlborough Township would be a good spot.
They bought the restaurant in December of 2024, started the process to get the liquor license, and began the renovations. Those changes included new lighting, millwork, and esthetic architectural changes. From closing the sale at the end of January and beginning the renovations in early February, the work was finished in early March.
“We transformed what was a restaurant that was getting a little tired and a little old. The only thing we kept was the name,” Georigi said.
He said they kept the name because they liked it, and it doesn’t limit them to any specific type of cuisine.
When asked what’s new about Hearth Kitchen, Georigi said, “Nothing was changed structurally. The walls and bar remain where they were, but from the floor to the ceiling, we’ve changed everything esthetically with new millwork and lighting.”
But what about the menu?
“We knew we were going to expand the menu from the previous one,” Georigi said. “I felt it was a little on the smaller side. We wanted to increase the offerings to our customers.”
He describes the menu as being Mediterranean influenced “based on bringing sensibilities from coastal cuisine from France to Italy to Greece.”
He said coastal cuisine is simply the cuisine from countries that have coastlines where they combine fresh seafood and fresh ingredients from the land.
“And that was the beauty of the name Hearth. It doesn’t really pigeonhole us to any one cuisine. We have everything from Korean bao buns to Italian pasta. We have everything from Korean-influenced foods to pasta to French steak frites to American cheeseburgers to Southwestern pork chops…That was the thing we really wanted to do here, to create a very expanded broad menu that kind of has something for everybody.”
Georigi added that they’ve expanded the bar offerings, have an expanded wine list, and are offering more wines by the glass. Also, Hearth Kitchen now has certified mixologists now who can create craft-type cocktails “which are really cool concoctions of all kinds of different influences. That’s been a guilty pleasure of ours.”
There’s no specific house specialty, but he said some dishes do better than others. He said several items that sell well are kimchi fried rice, double pork chops, and smashed burgers.
Georigi said the pricing is “moderate,” adding “That’s the beauty of a diverse menu. The beauty is that the menu is flexible. You can come in and get a pizza and a burger at the bar and pay an appropriate price for that. You can also come in and have a three-course meal with a higher end more expensive luxurious bottle of wine…We’re very conscious of the pricing, top to bottom, both on the food and the beverage side. I think things are appropriately priced. Pricing is very fair.”
One thing that pleases him is that pretty much everything is selling equally, which, he said is the goal of any menu. While some things don’t move as quickly, he said, “So far, a month in we’re pretty happy.”
Another change, he said is the hours of operation.
Lunch is served Monday through Saturday is 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner hours are 3-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 2-9 p.m. on Sunday. There is also a Happy Hour from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Reservations are appreciated but walk-ins are welcome, too, Georigi said. The menu can be found here, and reservations may also be made online at that site.
The address for Hearth Kitchen is 847 East Baltimore Pike, (Route 1). The phone number is 484-732-8320.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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