The Hadley, a Restaurant for Grown-Ups, Opens by the Art Museum

From the Roquefort-crusted filet mignon on the menu to the midcentury modern design and location in a 1950s building on the Parkway, everything about the newly opened Hadley has a grown-up, throwback feel. It’s up and running now and serving dinner daily; lunch and brunch will be added after it settles in.

The Hadley is in the east tower at Park Towne Place Museum District Residences, the beige apartment complex at 2200 Ben Franklin Parkway near the Art Museum. The complex, which was renovated over the last few years, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally built between 1957 and 1959, according to the restaurant, and that time period guided the restaurant’s midcentury modern design. Think Mad Men.

Running the Hadley is Joseph Smith, the New York restaurateur behind steakhouse Bobby Van’s. There’s kind of a steakhouse feel to this restaurant too, with “land fare” and “sea fare” menu sections and sides like cauliflower au gratin and a baked potato.

The Hadley [official photo]

But there’s also a handful of pasta options (wild mushroom ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce, linguini with shrimp, scallops, and crab) and an entree section marked vegan with miso-glazed tofu and a portobello panini with vegan mozzarella (plus a grilled veggie dish that lists “fresh mozzarella” among the ingredients — unclear at the moment if that one is vegan).

The restaurant seats about 80 across a dining room and bar/lounge. In the spring, Smith plans to add tables on a roomy patio for dining outdoors.

The Hadley [official photo]

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