Luke Palladino Coming To East Passyunk

Chef Luke Palladino, whose restaurant empire was, until now, strictly a Jersey thing, has announced that he’s coming to Philly. Specifically, he’s coming to East Passyunk Avenue and the space once occupied by Colombo’s at 1934 East Passyunk.

Palladino has five other operations right now (Luke Palladino Seasonal Italian in Linwood, Luke Palladino Harrah’s Resort, the fast-casual Luke’s Kitchen & Marketplace in Atlantic City, LP STEAK in Northfield and a catering operation called–wait for it–Luke Palladino Catering). The new place will be called Palladino’s (because the man knows how to brand, that’s for sure), and will add another 120 seats to the neighborhood, with 80 indoors and a proposed patio that’ll tack on another 40.

There’ll be a full bar, beers and wines. The concept is a kind of greatest hits collection of all Palladino’s other restaurants, bringing (more) Italian food, seafood and steaks to East Passyunk. And as for an opening date? They’re looking at November 2014 right now.

Which ought to give Palladino and his team plenty of time to consider the mistakes made by the last brand-focused crew that tried to take on East Passyunk while also keeping an eye on too many out-of-town projects. Here’s hoping things have a happier ending this time.