The Bistro at Our Town has moved to a larger venue! This gourmet market and bistro, complete with the warmth and comforts of Italian culture has moved into a new location, 282 Main Street in Exton.
The new dining room feels as though customers are dining on the quiant side streets of an Italian town; you almost expect to see a woman hanging out of a windowsill with adorned faded green shutters watering the potted plants along the faded, brown brick and stucco walls.
The Bistro serves the same menu at lunch and dinner, so if a diner craves a gourmet sandwich like tilapia with artichoke garlic aoili for dinner or Grandma’s spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, they are free to do so. Bistro’s menu is filled with a variety of classic dishes like pizzas, pasta dishes, burgers, sandwiches, wraps and macaroni and cheeses as well as old favorites with a twist; Monte Crisco with creme brulee french toast, cookie dough bread pudding, or a sweet and savory fig balsamic jam with their warm bread twists.
Microwaves, large freezers or prepared foods are items that won’t be found in Bistro’s open kitchen, you will only find the top quality and fresh ingredients and an occasional satisfied customer.
The Bistro at Our Town’s market is stocked with baskets of daily delivered local produce. The market also offers a variety of grains, homemade jams, dressings, jellies, desserts including Isgro Pastries, pantry items, a build-your-own antipasti bar and grab and go breakfast items, chicken salad and sandwiches.
The wooden carts that fill the market’s well-worn tiled floors serve as three stations: an imported and dry items cart, a vegetable butcher (who offers a complimentary produce cutting service) and a soup cart. Market hours are 10 a.m. to close during the week and 9 a.m. to close on Saturday and Sunday.
When Ashley Melillo and Jillian Godfrey opened the original The Bistro, they had no intentions of opening a large restaurant. However, customers kept asking for more and before they knew it they had outgrown their former space on Swedesford Road.
After three and a half years of being a popular dining spot, they brought the charm of the Italian Streets to Main Street in July. The Bistro at Our Town’s new location has become more than just a popular dining destination, their “piazza room” is overflowing with bridal showers, baby showers, rehearsal dinners and private parties.
Jill and Ashley invite their diners to have an experience instead of just a meal. “People come in and expect fine dining, which we are not. We are a place that is comfortable. We don’t have seating times and when they want to eat, they eat. When we had our old place, I told her [Jill] I don’t want to own a restaurant, but I am Italian, so I want to have a place where people can come to eat without the whole formality,” said head chef and co-owner, Melillo.
Bistro at Our Town is more than just a casual BYOB, they will soon be home to the newest Penns Woods Winery wine room, where glasses and bottles will be available. Every Friday night, Bistro brings together strangers, serving family style, 6-8 course meals, at their Tuscan table for $30. The Tuscan Table dinners at their old location helped shape them into the restaurant they are today. Those dinners booked up four months in advance.
Sundays are a day for eating, starting with their 5-course brunch for $19.50, which is served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m and ending with their 3-course Sunday Suppers, with all the comforts of home for $13.50.
Bistro at Our Town has only been at its new home at Main Street for less than two months, but to many it feels more like an Exton eatery that has been in a family favorite for decades.
