May 26, 2008
By: Ken Alan
kalan@aroundphilly.com
Scott Morrison is a veritable whirlwind as he sweeps me through Maia. It is toward the end of March and he’s about five weeks out from his grand opening. Though the vast 19,000 square foot site is a stunner, it’s still in “hard hat” stage; dust filters through the cathedral-like rays of sunlight from the front windows, workmen hammer and drill everywhere. By tour’s end, my just-polished dress boots look like they’ve been run up and down a baseball field.
Two thoughts cross my mind as Morrison leads me toward the soon-to-be magnificent second-level dining room. The first is: “There’s no way this is going to be completed in time.” The second is simply: “Wow.”
Yet, somehow, Maia successfully opens its doors on May 3with much fanfare and every meticulous aspect in place. By the time the throngs begin to enter, “wow” becomes exponential, a shared wide-eyed experience by the several hundred who have arrived on this night. Maia is like nothing seen in this area before – in most any region for that matter.
I have been to the Grande Marche in Paris and the Ka De We in Berlin and still, I have never witnessed anything culinary-wise quite on this order of things in the marketplace genre.
Scott Morrison is one of the key components of Maia. You know him as the man who helped create and run Tango (Bryn Mawr), Nectar (Paoli), and then Nectar, his Asian-fusion opus in Berwyn.
Morrison though, he’ll freely admit, is only as good as the company he keeps. With this in mind, he has some prime bedfellows in his court including brothers/chefs Patrick and Terence Feury, the former having worked at, among other notable places, Le Cirque; the latter was the top toque at Striped Bass.
Together, their familial bones strive to make the kitchen at Maia one of the most notable in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Unlike Nectar, which, with its linear obviousness, is quite evident along Route 30, Maia is somewhat clandestine as it quietly lurks large behind a strip of property called the Shops at Villanova. For now, a small “MAIA à” sign is all one sees to guide us in as its initial hello to passersby.
The concept seems to strive to be many things for most people. Maia is a gourmet market with freshly prepared foods: breads and oven fired pizzas (made with organic flour); sandwiches, charcuterie (otherwise hard to come by in the ‘burbs); soups, salads, sushi, specialty desserts – all items save for maybe a few condiments are created on-premises and most are produced with locally grown constituents.
Morrison relates his marketplace philosophy: “I want this to be a place where office workers or moms or Villanova students can all come in and eat something so good, something prepared here, yet something for just $7 – the same price as what they’re paying at the sub shop for a just so-so panini.”
Of course, being a cafeteria-style market, the venue serves a plethora of to-go items, offers a coffee and espresso bar, and provides off-site catering as well.
Maia is also a dinnertime bistro. Forty-or-so tables and banquettes make up a comfortable room bearing a brick façade and wine barrels as decoration. An island of a bar cascades upward in a glassy crescendo of bottles. It’s cool seeing moms with kids dining by suit-and-tie guys hefting martinis at 1pm.
And Maia is a restaurant. Venture upstairs and the wine barrels continue. Two octagonal rooms veer to the right as comfortable Amish designed furniture (imparting a “Plain & Fancy” motif) juxtapose with modern flourishes: a marble bar with fiber optic under lighting, a 24-seat communal table made from Cameroon woods and holding a stainless steel ice basin serving as a wine cooler, and small modish pod-stools.
My understanding is that the fare at Maia was originally going to have a Scandinavian bent; it still does (the café’s shrimp, salmon, herring, and rye crackers), though the menu ventures and veers globally: dry aged Kobe beef, Maryland soft shelled crabs, Nova Scotia lobster. Once again, something for everyone.
The restaurant part, actually, is opening just as you are reading this, though that hasn’t stopped the multitudes from making it the most popular spot in town, even before officially seating the public. Only one other suburban restaurant has caused such a pre-unveiling stir; no small wonder that that place was Nectar.
Plus, Maia has scads of outdoor seating in warmer months including cozy terrace-top tables by a central fire pit.
The wine list, ever-an-ongoing venture, is impressive as is the beer list of German, U.S., and Belgian brews, mixed with a few fun oddities.
I have my own dinner reservations on the books and have been in twice to dine already, once for lunch (in the café) and once for dinner (bar side at the bistro).
Indeed, my house-smoked chicken and Gruyere on baked-fresh ciabatta bread, and then, later, the house smoked Snake River farms Kobe beef hot pastrami sandwich on baked rye and Swedish mustard ran me $7 and $14 respectively – a fair tariff considering the quality and quantity of each dish.
Maia is not without its issues as any new site of this scope and complexity would certainly be. Besides trying to find it, I see challenges by observing patrons who are walking in. They may be immediately drawn toward the service areas right in front of them (pizzas and sandwiches) though, without proper explanation by the hosts of where things are situated and how to order, the side areas (sushi and desserts) don’t get nearly as much play.
Also, the hard design materials combined with the numbers Maia draws, plus a booming (yet oddly unidentifiable) soundtrack, can cause cacophonous modulation on that first floor. The second level will undoubtedly have greater quietude.
But these are just kinks in a very stylish, most impressive chain that is Maia.
And I can tell you from first-hand experience, Scott Morrison and the Feury brothers are not ones to slough off constructive commentary, so feel free to share.
I perceive that Maia’s main competition may possibly be its sibling Nectar, up the road. It’s not such an unsavory conundrum for Morrison, he who is truly a whirlwind with such quality restaurants. I wish both sites well. They’re sure worth the price of admission.
Some will say they enjoy Maia for its across-the-board gourmet market and catering. Others will say they like sipping cocktails and enjoying nibbles outside on the terrace. Still, others will say they find the restaurant to be a worthwhile visit.
Me, all I can say is – “Wow”
Visit Maia
