What's on the Menu: Restaurant Census

When I first moved into this area, it seemed as if each strip mall had a Chinese restaurant, a pizza place and a dry cleaners. Having now stopped at each strip mall and listed exactly what's in each strip mall, that observation no longer holds (if it ever was true). It's more likely that each strip mall has an Indian restaurant.  Indian restaurants now outnumber pizza places in this 3.4-mile stretch of road.

Influx from India

There are eight Indian restaurants, two of which are solely vegetarian-- Udipi Cafe and Banglore Express. One Indian restaurant, Supreme Kabab & Curry House, also features Pakistani food. Meanwhile, Spice Rack describes its cuisine as Indian fusion, adding Thai and Chinese to its menu. Two Indian restaurants use halal meats -- Khan Baba Halal Meat & Grill and Supreme Kabab & Curry House.

By contrast, there are seven Italian/pizza restaurants, ranging from the long-time local establishments of DuSals and Joe's Italian Restaurant & Deli, to national pizza chains Domino's and Papa John's. Included in the count is another chain, Pie Five, that's opening a store at the corner of Finnegans Lane.

Bring Your Own

Almost all eat-in restaurants are "bring your own," bottle, that is. Except I don't think you can "bring your own" into IHOP.  Only one restaurant sells alcoholic drinks -- Shogun 27. What's missing is the neighborhood bar & grill.  At one time that had been filled by Chauncey's Pub, which was torn down in 2009. (More on that in a later edition.)  With the Society Hill condos and townhouses nearby, as well as four large apartment complexes on Route 27 and other housing developments, the area could certainly support a bar-and-grill type restaurant. It's likely nearby residents will object to a bar in their neighborhood, though. 

The township has approved a plan to build a restaurant and retail space on the site of the old Chauncey's, but it's unknown whether that restaurant will have a liquor license. (I'm looking into that.)

So I've discussed the Indian restaurants and mentioned the Italian/pizza places in the area. What about Chinese restaurants? There are three Chinese restaurants -- Chinese Wok, Kam Luang Kitchen and Lili's Oriental Restaurant.  Make it four if you include Spice Rack. The first two are basically takeout places that have a few tables, but Lili's and Spice Rack are full sit-down restaurants. 

IHOP, Confectionately Yours and Franklin Park Diner all fit into the casual, sit-down category. Generally, they're standard American fare. Confectionately Yours has some themed nights, such as Tex-Mex, German and Hungarian, in addition to their Prime Rib and Fish Fry nights.

Yet there are lots of different ethnic cuisines represented by a restaurant or two in the area -- Vietnamese, Mexican,Thai, sushi, Pakistani, Lebanese, Filipino, Afghan and soul food. The area's one Caribbean restaurant has closed.

Online Orders

Of the 38 restaurants surveyed, fifteen take orders through their own website or through such services as GrubHub and EatStreet. Pizza seems to be your best bet if you want to order from your PC or smartphone.  All of them seem to accept some form of online ordering. Domino's and Papa John's have mobile ordering and are well-known for their use of technology.

Indian restaurants are also likely to embrace technology for the ordering process. Five of them take online orders. So far, you can't order sushi online from the Route 27 Franklin Park/Kendall Park establishments.

We'll see what comes next to this stretch of Route 27. Diversity is certainly not lacking.

Stein Mart Update: 

Oct. 21 will be the last day Stein Mart is open. The store still has a lot of merchandise. Discounts range from 10% to 50%, maybe up to 70% on a few items.