Fearless Restaurants will open their fifth White Dog Cafe at the former Vickers Restaurant, which once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the local, seasonal, and sustainable restaurant will spend about a year in construction before it opens at 192 E. Welsh Pool Rd. in Exton.
Vickers Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant that once hosted President Richard Nixon and astronaut George “Pinky” Nelson, opened in the 1820s refurbished farmhouse in 1972. It was once the home of abolitionist John Vickers, who used the location as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Fearless Restaurants will be performing work on the site to bring it up to code, including refurbishing the roof and entryway and reconfiguring the kitchen while maintaining the site’s historical integrity as an important piece of Black history.
The restaurant group will also add a three-season room to provide outdoor dining and divide the main banquette room into three separate rooms. White Dog Cafe Chester Springs will boast two large bars and have pockets of cozy seating throughout the 7,500 sq. ft. space estimated to seat about 300. The award-winning White Dog Cafe serves contemporary American cuisine sourced from local, seasonal, and sustainably raised ingredients at lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.
The first White Dog Cafe was opened in University City in 1983 by social activist and local economic independence pioneer Judy Wicks. Fearless Restaurants founder Marty Grims purchased the business from Wicks in 2010 and opened three more locations in Wayne, Haverford, and Glen Mills. Fearless Restaurants also owns Moshulu, Autograph Brasserie, Daddy O, Roslie, Tuckers Tavern, and Louie Louie.
Learn more about White Dog Cafe at whitedog.com.
