Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Restaurant thrives in Kennett Square
After relocating to a larger venue in the borough, iconic restaurant offers fine dining with a friendly, European edge
On Friday and Saturday nights, dinner reservations are recommended for the borough’s newest hotspot.
Portabellos of Kennett Square opened its doors at 108 E. State St. last April. Previously, the restaurant ran its operations a block south of Route 82 at 115 W. State St.
Married couple Sandra Morris and Brett Hulbert runs the business. Hulbert serves as the executive chef.
Portabellos offers artisan, handcrafted new American and international cuisine with a “freestyle” element thanks to the vision of Hulbert. His executive culinary experience is vast and spans venues on the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards of North America.
Morris said the goal is to offer patrons “true hospitality at its best.” This includes a warm and friendly dining experience for guests from staff in an upscale environment.
The pair first discovered the borough in 2011 and opted to move to Chester County from New Jersey to spearhead a hospitality business downtown in Kennett Square as independent restaurateurs. The husband and wife team took ownership of Portabellos at its old location on West State Street in October 2011. It was a hot space to bring a date, since the venue was small and table availability as a result limited.
In 2016, the East Followfield couple began looking for a new space to expand the business. Three years later, that dream became a reality with the grand opening of Portabellos to the community at its new location on East State Street in the heart of Kennett Square.
The new location of Portabellos at 108 E. State St. is where the Kennett Paper newspaper once ran its operations more than a dozen years ago. Afterward, the space was vacant for years whilst a few pop-up businesses appeared during holiday seasons and a few other business ventures tried to make the venue work, but nothing thrived there.
Until Morris and Hulbert came along with a vision to create something special, a new hub, not only for their patrons and business, but also for the community.
After a $1 million renovation project of the space by Morris and Hulbert, Portabellos now features a contemporary bar and lounge, an open kitchen and private dining rooms.
Coupled with outdoor seating during nice weather days, an upright piano, and plenty of artwork, Portabellos operates as a fine dining establishment low-key enough, or refined, to deliver patrons a somewhat quaint and unstated European edge.
Portabellos serves dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lunch is served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 2:30 pm.
The restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The prices are expensive and reminiscent of fine dining in suburban New Jerseyan communities north of Philadelphia in places like Lambertville and Princeton. But unlike in Paris, the portions aren’t small.
Popular dishes include the mushroom crêpe, an assortment of flatbreads, fresh crispy brussel sprouts and the mango ginger salad.
Portabellos’ dinner and lunch menus vary to feature the freshest ingredients available each season.
The business strives to accommodate individuals of all food backgrounds including vegetarians and vegans and people with gluten intolerance or individuals suffering from food allergies. In these instances, Portabellos asks guests to inform their servers at Portabellos of any special dietary needs.
Portabellos also welcomes private parties for business or personal celebrations and creates special menus, upon request, for such occasions.
Thanks to changing venue locations and expanding, Portabellos now employs more than 30 people in the community.
For more information, visit www.portabellosofkennettsquare.com. To book a reservation, call 610-925-4984.