Restaurants in Ardmore

Cranberry Cafe's mavens-in-charge Soo and Cathy innovatively combine sauces and spices to craft salads drizzled with feta vinaigrette and sandwiches smothered in creamy cranberry mayo. Fresh ingredients become breakfasts, brunches, and lunches that land on checkered tablecloths or are delivered to customers' doorsteps and burrow openings.

El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant's neon-green and bright-red sign is merely an appetizer for the feast of colors within. Red- and orange-striped booths, sky-blue chairs, textured sunflower walls, and tabletops painted with smiling suns, blossoming tulips, and fruit dominate the space. This festive atmosphere sets an ideal scene for enjoying carne asada, chicken enchiladas, tacos filled with pork and beans, and churros. El Tapatio—whose name refers to a Guadalajara native—also mixes up delicious margaritas, which were dubbed the Best Margaritas by Delaware Today in 2008.

Every day, chef and owner Ray Moscardelli—a graduate of the Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute—ventures out to hand pick fresh cuts of meat and seafood to sizzle and sear for The Pistachio Grille’s New-World cuisine. Vintage-style posters adorn the vermillion walls in the intimate dining room, where servers welcome diners with attentive service, and crisp white tablecloths put guests at ease with enthusiastic handshakes. Omelets and just-woken pancakes fill breakfasting bellies with morning classics. Lunch and dinner menus satisfy with piquant pastas, such as the grilled veggie lasagna or the rigatoni with broccoli, which veils a colorful mélange of jumbo-lump crabmeat and sun-dried tomatoes dapperly dressed in a white-wine-and-curry cream sauce. Guests can also bring their own bottles of wine, beer, and love potions to pair with the savory fare. Additionally, The Pistachio Grille’s on- and off-site catering pleases palates with items culled from the eatery’s menus or with custom dishes and hors d’oeuvres.

The menu at Spice Kitchen welcomes both vegetarian and non-vegetarians with 57 veggie, chicken, lamb, goat, and seafood entrees that incorporate seasonings from curry leaves to almond sauce. Ten types of flatbreads come studded with everything from potato stuffing to cashews and coconut. Entrees include tandoori chicken steeped in spicy yogurt for more than 72 hours. Biryani plates find chefs slingshotting proteins onto long-grain rice infused with herbs. A handful of Indo-Chinese options introduce fried rice and Manchurian-style sauces. The lunch crowd can sift through the daily all-you-can-eat buffet, or build a custom lunch box, which contains a portion of two entrees, rice, and a half-order of naan.

Recipes from northern, southern, Mughlai, and other Indian culinary traditions are incorporated in the menu at Nirvana Fine Indian Cuisine. That results in a wide array of flavorful cuisine such as chicken simmered in creamy kormas, spicy vindaloos, vegetables and lamb chops skewered on kebabs, and roast-shrimp-tandoori masala. Scoop up every last morsel with any of 10 varieties of flatbread, including onion kulcha, traditional naan, and baby naan, which wakes the chef up every three hours after it is baked.

At Valley Forge Ristorante & Pizzeria, the scents of traditional Italian cooking drift from a theater-style kitchen into the dining room, where guests can witness the chefs whip up a menu of pasta, pizza, and calzones. Of the many offerings, the pizza takes top honors, especially after being named number one of Philadelphia's best pizzerias by Citysearch. Each red- or white-sauce pizza is crafted with more than 20 topping options and optional whole-wheat crust. Pasta dishes rival the heartiness of the pizza pies, with options ranging from the portabello-stuffed ravioli with rosa cream sauce to spaghetti with veal parmigiana.

During off hours, when the restaurant isn’t bustling with lunch and dinner diners, the space transforms into a coffee bar with gourmet blends. Sip a cup inside, or take to the fresh air on the onsite all-season patio, replete with fireplaces and overhead space heaters.