Autre Monde Cafe & Spirits, a Mediterranean-inspired eatery on track to open early spring 2011 in Berwyn, is hoping to defray their food costs by building an adjacent greenhouse. But that costs money so the team behind Autre Monde, which means another world in French, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds through public donations.
The campaign's goal is to raise $5,000 by Nov. 28. To date, 29 contributors have doled out pledges totaling about $1,400. But none of that money will get distributed unless the $5,000 goal is met in 32 days; that's how Kickstarter works.
Owners John Aranza and Christine Tully Aranza (yes, they're married) have enlisted consulting chefs Beth Partridge & Dan Pancake (while it would've been way to easy for him to be open a breakfast joint with a name like that, they both hail from the decidedly more upscale Spiaggia), to create a share-plates menu with a focus on local ingredients inspired by cuisine of Italy, Spain and coastal France. Sample menu items include zitoni w braised short rib, pecorino and fennel; and seasonal flatbread with house-cured pancetta, broccoli raab and fontina cheese.
The 65-seater (with about 40 more on a summer patio) will occupy a 1920s building and will have the look and feel of a European cafe. "It is really a marriage of town and country with farm-to-fork fare served in an environment that celebrates the art, film, and music that are integral to urban living," Tully Aranza said.
The team will chronicle their experience of building the restaurant and raising the funds for the greenhouse in an accompanying book that will include recipes, photos and things they learned throughout the process in hopes of helping other restaurateurs with their own projects.
A short video on the Kickstarter page gives a little background on what they plan to do with the money. Watch it:
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