French-Italian Bistro Fare

Introducing Castagna, a breezy spot that’s combining the best of Italy and France in one boat-sized bistro, opening later this week on Chestnut. Now, while you’re right to be wary of a joint that tries to be too much to too many people, this place is all low-key charm, French on the surface with a heavy dose of Italian in the cooking. The kind of place you might drop into if you found yourself craving pizza along the Côte d’Azur.

“We’ll have a southern French focus, similar to Cassis, but it’s going to be much more scaled back, more reasonably priced,” says Megan Meloni. The quick-service cuisine will be inspired by southern France and its common Italian influences — “castagna” means “chestnut” in Italian and the Nicoise dialect (Jerome and Stephane are natives of Nice).