Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
After decades of opening and running restaurants for other people, chef Nic Macri and operations executive Suzanne O\u2019Brien are becoming owners themselves.<\/p>\n
The Royal Restaurant Group colleagues are joining cofounder Stephen Simons as partners in a still-unnamed Italian-inspired tavern planned for the former 1225 Raw space at 1225 Sansom St. in Washington Square West. It\u2019s just steps off the 13th Street bar-restaurant cluster that includes El Vez, Prunella, Pearl & Mary<\/a>, Double Knot, Vintage, Time, Barbuzzo, Darling Jack\u2019s, and Little Gay Pub.<\/p>\n The project remains in the design stage, with demolition expected to begin shortly. Simons said a late April 2027 opening would be the best-case scenario, though it could take about a year.<\/p>\n For Macri, 41, the restaurant will be the big leap in a career that has taken him from his native Ontario to some of Philadelphia\u2019s best-known kitchens and butcher shops. O\u2019Brien, 58, has spent more than three decades opening and operating restaurants, including Dock Street Brewery, Cantina Los Caballitos, Royal Boucherie, and dancerobot, but has never before held an ownership stake.<\/p>\n Macri, the son of Calabrian immigrants who settled in the Toronto suburbs, came to Philadelphia on a Drexel University<\/a> soccer scholarship. After cooking at Osteria and Southwark<\/a>, he founded La Divisa Meats, the acclaimed Reading Terminal Market butcher shop<\/a> that established him as one of the city\u2019s premier charcutiers. He joined Royal Tavern<\/a> as executive chef at its 2023 reopening<\/a> from the pandemic shutdown.<\/p>\n The new restaurant will draw partly on Macri\u2019s Sunday Sauce dinners<\/a> at Royal, though he described the idea more broadly as \u201cPhiladelphia cooking with an Italian accent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt won\u2019t be rooted in one particular style or region,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s more about the Italian diaspora than one specific place.\u201d<\/p>\n The menu will include fresh and dried pastas, house-made bread and salumi, preserved vegetables, and shareable large plates. Vegan dishes will be built around vegetables rather than meat substitutes.<\/p>\n One likely signature is a house-made mortadella sandwich on ciabatta, which Macri hopes can become the restaurant\u2019s counterpart to Royal Tavern\u2019s burger. His charcuterie program will focus on one featured item at a time rather than a large assortment.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially if we\u2019re making it ourselves, I want to highlight one thing and give people a chance to really enjoy it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The beverage program is expected to include wines by the glass, a larger selection of Italian bottles, frozen cocktails, nonalcoholic drinks, and a small beer list. Desserts will likely include tiramisu and seasonal fruit tarts or crostatas.<\/p>\n Macri said the partnership offered a chance to take on more responsibility without moving away from the daily work of running a restaurant.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something slightly larger and have more involvement than I do at Royal Tavern,\u201d he said. \u201cThis seemed like the best opportunity for me to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n He jokingly proposed calling it \u201cAnother Italian Restaurant,\u201d an idea that did not survive.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think they thought it was as funny as I did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien brings deep operations background to the partnership. In 1991, she began waiting tables at the then-hotspot Metropolis \u2014 now the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store at 1515 Locust St. \u2014 and moved into management at the Palm and Cuba Libre before helping Simons and Frank build Royal Restaurant Group, whose holdings include Royal Sushi & Izakaya and Triangle Tavern<\/a>. She is now the company\u2019s CEO and said she would remain so. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve opened many restaurants, but this is the first one that\u2019s actually mine,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny.\u201d<\/p>\n Macri was the deciding factor.<\/p>\n \u201cI trust Nic,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cHe just likes really good food. It doesn\u2019t have to be fancy, and he doesn\u2019t try to make things into something they\u2019re not. We\u2019re very aligned on that.\u201d<\/p>\n The restaurant will occupy the former 1225 Raw space and the adjoining former Sushi by Bou space, vacant since the city Revenue Department shut it down in early 2025<\/a> over tax and liquor-licensing issues surrounding the former operator, Glu Hospitality<\/a>. The property extends a block to Chestnut Street, and will have about 100 indoor seats, a private dining room, and a courtyard and terrace that could accommodate about 40 more.<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien, who oversees landscaping at several Royal properties, including the seasonal PHS pop-ups, said the outdoor space and the building\u2019s historic character would help shape the design. Ambit Architecture, which worked with Royal on dancerobot<\/a>, is handling the project.<\/p>\n The partners envision a restaurant priced between Royal Tavern and Royal Boucherie, with enough flexibility for a casual weeknight dinner, a date, or a family meal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of place where you might come a couple of times a week, bring your mom to dinner one night, or go on a date another night.\u201d<\/p>\n