Mammoni Italian Restaurant | Morton, PA

New Italian Restaurant & Piano Bar Open

Mammoni Cucina Rustica
17 S. Morton Ave., Morton, PA

By BARBARA ORMSBY
Times Correspondent

MORTON — If you are standing on a clay-colored faux stone sidewalk at 17 S. Morton Ave., in front of a bright yellow facade, you've made it to the borough's newest restaurant/entertainment venue.

Jolly's Dueling Piano Bar and Mammoni Cucina Rustica occupy the former Rosario's restaurant that closed more than a year ago. Mammoni opened Friday and Jolly's is scheduled to open late next month.

The piano bar, a favorite spot in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square, occupies a major part of the former Rosario's, while a separate section of the totally renovated building features Mammoni.

"That means 'mama's boy.'" said Jolly Weldon. "We're all mama's boys. There's an old saying that Italian men don't leave home because of their mother's cooking."

Indeed, the slogan at Mammoni is "If mama cooked like this ... you'd never leave home."

Weldon, a Philadelphia resident, and his partner, Media attorney Evan Prochniak of Swarthmore, purchased the former restaurant last year and the interior has been divided into two venues.

The piano bar is in the original bar area and features a stage in the middle of the room with a piano-shaped bar in the front and more seating at the rear of the stage.

There is seating for 60 in the piano bar area and there will be an American pub-type menu available. A half-wall separates the bar from what used to be one of the dinning rooms at the old Rosario's and will be a game room with easy viewing of the bar and televisions. Weldon said the dueling piano shows will run from Thursday through Saturday.

Mammoni is separated from the piano bar and features an elegant Tuscan decor, its own bar with copper accents, and a wine rack room.

"We can seat 30 in the bar and 60 in the restaurant," Weldon said. "Entrees will run from $12 to $25 and we sell wine by the glass and a 'quartino,' which gives you about a glass and a half."

The new business also has two banquet rooms with seating for 150 in each room. A partition can be moved back, giving guests in the banquet rooms the opportunity to see the piano show.

Steve Bradley, a Delaware County native and Penncrest High School graduate, is general manager of the new facility. He is also involved in the construction business.

Bradley said the restaurant will be open at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday for the rest of the month.

"We will be open seven days a week in September," Bradley said.

Another county resident, Michael Wheaton, of Norwood, is executive chef at Mammoni. He formerly was a chef at the Renaissance Hotel in Tinicum Township for six years.

He is a graduate of ACA Academy of Culinary Arts in Mays Landing, N.J., and has been a chef for more than 20 years and an executive chef for 15 years.

He describes the menu at Mammoni as "an all around Italian menu."

Weldon is a native of Washington, D.C. He has been associated with eating and entertainment establishments in Philadelphia since 1997 when he and his brother, Garth, opened the Prime Rib.

Jolly's Dueling Piano Bar in Philadelphia opened in October 2009.
610-690-2400

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