Photos courtesy of Krista Patton Photography. Video courtesy of New Pace Productions.

The Spring Main Line Restaurant Week preview party, held on Thursday evening March 31st at Azie on Main in Villanova, offered AroundMainLine.com an exciting opportunity to welcome a new business partner to capture our events—Havertown’s New Pace Productions. New Pace did an outstanding job of capturing the essence of this special evening, as hundreds of Main Liners came out to Azie in support of the upcoming restaurant week.

New Pace Productions offers sophisticated cinematography services to businesses and people across the Main Line and Delaware Valley and are the new official video production company of AroundMainLine.com.

Born and raised in Delaware County, New Pace founders J.C. Costa and Bill Connell are 2007 graduates of Penn State University with respective degrees in Telecommunications and Film & Video.

New Pace has formed a great business partnership with Krista Patton Photography where the two creatively capture local events, weddings, family parties, proms, high school and college sports and more for their clients. Patton and New Pace combine their sophisticated video and photography services to deliver an exceptional product for their growing clientele across the Delaware Valley. “As a frequent collaborative partner, New Pace Productions not only consistently provides excellent results, but also the convenience of group meetings and the availability of savings through our competitively priced bundled packages,” enthused Patton. Read the full story

Photos courtesy of Heather Berkenstock/Belle Vie Photography

Toast to a successful Spring Main Line Restaurant Week on Thursday evening, March 31st at Azie on Main in Villanova!

Thursday evening, March 31st is shaping up to be a very special night indeed. Join us as we host our exciting Spring Main Line Restaurant Week Preview Party at Azie on Main in Villanova. Partygoers will walk into Azie (there is no cover charge) and gather in the central dining room area where delicious, complimentary food will be served all night long. In addition, Azie will have exciting drink specials at their cash bar.

Look for the Main Line’s top movers and shakers to attend (we already have several VIPs confirmed) along with dozens of local chefs and restaurant owners and managers who are all part of Spring Main Line Restaurant Week.

Men and women are encouraged to wear business casual and/or appropriate cocktail attire. No baseball caps or sweats permitted. In addition, this event is strictly 21 and over and no children are allowed. Read the full story

Photos courtesy of Courtney Apple Photography and Belle Vie Photography.
Featured homepage image courtesy of Belle Vie Photography.

Mixx in Villanova is the perfect setting for our third annual sexy winter soiree welcoming the Main Line’s most eligible singles and beautiful people.
Photo courtesy of Belle Vie Photography

AroundMainLine.com’s sexiest winter soiree is back this February as the very fun and fabulous ‘Be Mine on the Main Line’ returns at Mixx in Villanova. Join hundreds of singles and beautiful couples and Main Liners for a Valentine’s-themed event on Thursday, February 17th from 6pm to 9pm.

‘Be Mine’ partygoers will be welcomed to Mixx in the bar area with no cover, free food and a night club atmosphere.

Mixx is a modern neighborhood hot spot. Mixx has a 40 seat modern bar with ten flat screen TVs and comfortable booths in a chandelier lit lounge. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Krista Patton Photography

AroundMainLine.com checked out three of the Main Line’s and suburbs best restaurants for the yummiest fall cocktails of the season!

Du Jour’s Pumpkin Chai Martini

Du Jour
Haverford Square, PA
www.dujourmarket.com
Facebook: Du Jour
Twitter: DuJourMainLine

Du Jour’s Fall Specialty Cocktails

Cranberry Old Fashioned
Makers Mark bourbon, cranberry juice, bitters & a splash of fresh orange juice 10

Champagne & Saint Germain
sparkling wine and deliciously lush saint germain 11

Mango arnold palmer
Absolut mango, iced tea & lemonade 9

French Martini
Absolut mandarin, chambord, orange juice and mango juice 10

Raspberry Mocha Martini
Absolut raspberry, espresso, Kahua & Godiva liqueur 11

French 75
Bombay Sapphire gin, sparkling wine, fresh lemon juice & a touch of sugar 10

Pumpkin Chai Martini
Absolut vanilla, pumpkin chai tea, amaretto & a bit of cream 10

Gingerbread Dark & Stormy
Bacardi rum, gingerbread syrup, rootbeer & lime 9 Read the full story

Photos by Courtney Apple Photography

Main Line Restaurant Week is Philadelphia’s largest suburban dining event!

It was most certainly a week of culinary delights to remember! 38 restaurants participated in the inaugural Main Line Restaurant Week, organized by AroundMainLine.com. This incredible celebration of the region’s finest chefs proved to be the most successful restaurant event to date in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Main Line Restaurant Week, which offered fixed price dinner menus for the entire week of September 27th through October 3rd, brought tens of thousands of locals out to support the western suburbs’ tastiest restaurants. “I’m so proud to have worked closely with so many of the area’s best restaurants. There has never been a dining event of this magnitude in the suburbs and I felt our area was long overdue. Many restaurants are reporting they had record weeks or were sold out several of the nights, so I know we have a good thing going here. I am thrilled everything turned out so well!” enthused Main Line Restaurant Week founder Sarah Lockard. Read the full story

Photos courtesy of Courtney Apple Photography

Saffron Indian Kitchen, a popular BYOB with locations in both Bala Cynywd and Ambler, has received a tremendous response for reservations for Main Line Restaurant Week starting September 27th.

It is the Philadelphia suburb’s largest dining event ever—Main Line Restaurant Week! Created and organized by AroundMainLine.com, a week of culinary delights awaits thousands of foodies across the western suburbs starting tomorrow night, September 27th and running through October 3rd, 2010.

I have been a huge fan of the Main Line and western suburb dining scene having grown up here. And, we have some of the best chefs in the region and the most successful restaurants right in our own backyard. To me, it was due time to bring Main Line Restaurant Week to life this fall. When I announced the launch in early May, the immediate and enthusiastic response from our 2,200 AroundMainLine.com Facebook fans proved that we were on our way to a very successful event.

Here’s how it works. Our restaurants offer a prix fixe, three course dinner menu for one of the four tiers: dinner for $15, $20, $30 or $40. In addition, starting Monday night September 27th, we will kick off the first of eight special events that are a part of Main Line Restaurant Week with a ‘Monday Night Meetup’ at The Desmond in Malvern! Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography

MIXX’s whimsical interior plays off a Parisian influence with dramatic, dark red chandeliers, antiqued white wash brick walls, and damask print and butter-colored seating.

AroundMainLine.com’s second monthly get together on February 22nd, Monday Night Meetup at MIXX, offered more than 30 AML fans and Main Liners an opportunity to enjoy and dine at Villanova’s newest hotspot. MIXX is the eighth property of Win Signature Restaurants and owners Win and Sutida Somboonsong. Located in the downstairs space, formerly the home of “Maia Market,” to Main Line diners, this latest addition re-opens the 22,000 square foot space in its entirety. When Win Signature Restaurant Group took over the upstairs of the location (that formerly housed Maia) and converted it to Azie on Main, they were eyeing the vacant downstairs space for a different venue. “We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do with this space at first. But, once we settled on the downstairs and the name, then the planning begin,” explained Christine Olmsted, company ombudswoman. “Comfort food with a twist was the concept that we settled on, and Win (the company) sticks to what we know. Most of our properties have a global influence, but we know that does not always translate in a suburban environment. MIXX is like the girl next door, she doesn’t always make your heart race but you always go back to her for comfort and a ‘safe place.’”

MIXX made for an outstanding locale for AML’s February Monday Night Meetup. Our guests enjoyed happy hour specials from 5 to 9pm (extended two hours to honor our special event) and one lucky attendee walked away with a gift card for dinner for two! One Monday each month, AML will be hosting Monday Night Meetup across the Main Line as a casual and fun way to catch up with our Facebook fans and Twitter followers and connect with the community at-large. Join our Facebook fan page to stay in touch and up to date with all our events and our full details on our next Monday Night Meetup! Local restaurants and businesses interested in hosting an event with AML can email us at: info@aroundmainline.com.
Read the full story

By K. Kittles/Main Line Meow columnist
Photos by BUP Photography

AML staffer K. Kittles is spearheading Main Line Meow, a new column bringing all the latest suburban business and people news to local desktops. Have a compelling tip for Kittles? Email him at: kittles@aroundmainline.com.

They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, not in my case. Let me introduce myself to the few of you (Main Liners most especially) who do not know me. My name is Kittles, K. Kittles, and I’ve been around these parts for the better half of eleven years. I’m a lucky little feline if you ask me. Besides my brilliant owners being hard core Villanova basketball fans (thus my clever moniker), they are pretty terrific people. Over a decade ago, I was hanging out at a local SPCA shelter waiting for someone to fall head over heels in love with me. At the time, I was still developing my looks and this handsome mug of mine—but I was pretty darn cute at five-months-old. So, a little coercing on my part behind the bars of my cage and a few coy little poses, and before I knew it I was whisked up, kissed an inordinate amount of times and on my way to my new forever and fabulous Main Line home.

Fast forward to today, May of 2009, and I guess you could say I’m a local celeb. There aren’t many people who don’t know me, or recognize my gorgeous green eyes, soft gray and black striped fur or sensational, confident strut. And, after ten years of hitting the streets (and I mean the streets), I pretty much have my paw on the pulse of what’s going on around these suburban Main Line parts.
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By AML Publisher
Photography courtesy of Bernadette Uzcategui Photography

The brains and beauty behind a brilliant business model are Main Line moms and Tymel co-principals Melissa Parker (left) and Tyra Hodges (right).

If there are two idioms that ring true when describing a successful entrepreneurial business model in 2009 it is the following: 1) Necessity is the mother of invention. 2) Timing is everything. With so many Americans astutely aware of reducing their carbon footprint, the green industry is thriving with creative concepts that speak to the nation’s environmentally-cautious consumer. Despite a down economy, all signs point positively towards a growing demand for socially responsible business models.

In the case of Main Line entrepreneurs Tyra Hodges, 45, and Melissa Parker, 40, their invention-fashion forward reusable bags made from recycled materials-was inspired by some timely conversations they had with their children. Hodges was unpacking her groceries one evening in her kitchen last spring when her (then 11-year-old) daughter, Natalie, commented on the amount of plastic and paper she was wasting. Parker had received similar feedback from one of her daughters a few weeks earlier after she completed a school project on the importance of recycling.
Read the full story