Recently, Michael Gruber of Philadelphia-based Gruber Design Associates was sitting in the lounge of Alla Spina, the new Italian gastropub from Marc Vetri, Jeff Michaud, and Jeff Benjamin he designed near the city’s museum district, when he had a “surprising and beautiful experience.” The sun was setting over the church across the street, and watching it felt “very European, very Old World,” he recalls.
Prime outdoor seating is one of the draws to this 3,000-square-foot space, a former service garage for a Buick dealership. “We took out the crummy wooden garage doors and put in extremely heavy aircraft hangar ones,” explains Gruber. The three 12-by-12-foot glass doors open out and “create an awning just by virtue of mechanics, and by not opening in there’s better control over lighting.”
Familiarity also adds to the allure. Gruber, who worked on the Vetri team’s Osteria and Amis restaurants as well, has a knack for transforming raw industrial spaces (Osteria is set in the old Mulford, a historic tenant manufacturers loft building; Amis is housed in a former furniture factory and garage) into restaurants while maintaining as many of the original surroundings as possible. At Alla Spina, exposed brick, a scorched wood ceiling, concrete floor, and riveted steel trusses were all salvaged from its old incarnation. “We didn’t want to re-invent it,” Gruber points out. “Our goal has always been to give our client, and ultimately the public, an experience that’s comfortable. [The restaurant should appear] as if it’s always been there.”
Modern touches abound, however: warming dark hickory, ceramic wall tiles, an intimate eight-seat chef’s table, and a gigantic fan Gruber describes as “a kinetic sculpture.” The top of the 45-foot horseshoe-shaped bar is crafted from recycled glass beer bottles while the legwarmer-donning pig Alex, an Italian import, playfully accentuates Gruber’s custom-made copper beer tower. The walls’ array of bold street art perhaps best anchors Alla Spina’s evolving location. “It feels urban for a not yet fully developed neighborhood,” says Gruber. “It adds character.”
Photo by Michael Gruber
