About the Warbler

The Blue Warbler aspires to bridge and update the cafe, diner and neighborhood pub. It’s a place to get food and drink that’s hearty, creative and unfussy, in a setting where people of all ages and backgrounds can unwind, catch up with those they're close to or haven't seen in a while, share stories, and make new friends. At the Warbler, you’ll find both decadent and healthy offerings, lots of protein as well as carbs, and plenty to please vegetarians, vegans, gluten-avoiders, and teetotalers — not to mention omnivores and those who like good coffee and cocktails.

Our Team

Executive Chef Daniel Berret joins the Warbler from The COOP restaurant at The Study Hotel in West Philly, the Chestnut Hill Brewing Company, and The Notary Hotel, among other places. Raised in tiny Telford, in northern Montgomery County, some of Daniel’s most formative memories are helping his grandfather, Popop Charles, pick garden produce and catch fish and then transform it all into joyful family meals. Daniel later attended the Institute of Culinary Arts, where he learned from some of South Philly’s scrappiest and most creative scratch-cooking chefs. He brings to the role a passion for growing community and kitchen talent and expanding his own mastery of different styles and techniques. Daniel and his partner, Sarah, live in East Falls with their dog, Pokey the Puppy.

Chef de Cuisine Renee Rowlett joins the Warbler from Picnic, the Society Hill Hotel, United By Blue, and several other Philadelphia-region institutions. A native of Bucks County, Renee studied at Johnson & Wales University in Providence and worked in several retail and front-of-house positions before fully embracing and releasing her talents as a chef. Equally committed to the guest experience and culinary creativity and efficiency, she helps oversee all back-of-house operations at the Warbler. Renee and her husband Ryan live in Fishtown with their dogs, Basil and Chopin; their cat, Schubert; and a drum kit in the basement for rocking out.

General Manager Andy Boyask General Manager Andy Boyask joins the Warbler after many years in restaurant management at several cherished institutions, including Tria, Parc, Baltimore's Petit Louis Bistro, and PYT. Andy grew up in Delco, PA, where his grandmother Marie effortlessly whipped up feasts, serving her Polish-Irish family and their neighbors in all rooms of the house. Inspired by her anticipating the needs of a few dozen boisterous, hungry people, Andy tries to instill his grandmother’s forethought, kindness and care in his front of house teams. He delights in seeing them become beloved neighborhood fixtures. When not at the restaurant, Andy sings, acts, cooks, bakes, enjoys underground film and music, and spends time with his husband, Jason, their cat, Joan, and their dog, Gary. 

Owner-Operator Fred Mogul hatched the idea for The Blue Warbler after a friend told him, “If you’ve been thinking about opening a restaurant for 20 years, maybe you should listen to that.” A career journalist and news reporter, Fred worked for nearly two decades at New York Public Radio, covering public health, politics, arts and culture, and religion. He also worked for newspapers, wire services, TV stations and magazines in the Midwest, Middle East and Far East – and later for the scratch-kitchen cafe Stocked, in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Fred and his wife Adrienne live in Chestnut Hill with their children, Helene and Sam, and their mischievous mutt, Rosie.

Our Artists

  • Photographer James Abbott shot the three-panel Wissahickon Creek panorama as part of “New. Land. Marks.,” a multi-artist, multi-site commission by the Fairmount Park Art Association in 2000. The untitled piece was later part of the group show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Abbott has worked and taught throughout the United States and Europe.

  • Painter Karey Kessler painted the watercolors in The Perch, our rear dining area. Kessler attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and now lives and works in Seattle. Kessler’s map-paintings explore the entangled ways in which our minds, time, and place are deeply interconnected. Most of the pieces on display are available for sale.

  • Photographer Father Michael Flecky, S.J., has taught in the Fine Arts Department at Creighton University in Omaha since the 1980s. His photography has taken him to the UK and Ireland, Scandinavia, Italy, the Dominican Republic, and North Africa. Several of the pieces on display are from his book Hopkins in Ireland: Pictures, about the final years of poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins.

  • Typographer Craig Eliason is the founder of Teeline Fonts and an art history professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. His type designs have been profiled in Codex, exhibited at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, and jury-selected for honorable mention at the Morisawa Type Design Competition. Variations of his font Cuttlefish are featured throughout The Blue Warbler

  • Photographer Wendy Romig Concannon was a Chestnut Hill native whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, and many home and design publications. Prior to her death from cancer at age 57, she had a gallery from 2012 to 2022 in what is now the dining room of The Blue Warbler. Her husband Michael Concannon has generously donated her iconic “Flower with Stem,” and we are honored to display it in The Perch.

  • Illustrator and Graphic Designer Ilana Blady is an alum of the Pratt Institute and Love and War design group. Her work can be found at the Warbler in a mural in The Perch and illustrating Positivity and Instructions for Traveling West, two Warbler poems that attentive guests will encounter where they least expect them.

Our Space

Completed in 1926, The Lorenzon reflects the craftsmanship, ambition, and immigrant spirit that helped shape Chestnut Hill during the early twentieth century.

Emilio Lorenzon built the space two decades after immigrating to Philadelphia to join his brothers’ nascent construction company. The family had lived for generations in a mountain village in northern Italy, where their father Vincenzo – the town’s only Protestant – trained his sons in quarrying stone, woodworking, and masonry.

In Chestnut Hill, the Lorenzons joined a close-knit network of Italian-American tradesmen and neighbors. The family began modestly, excavating local Wissahickon schist and laying foundations by hand. Eventually, they built homes, churches, banks, and civic buildings. Their work reflected regional Italian traditions adapted to local materials and architecture.

The Lorenzon was originally the site of Foster’s Drug Store. With its brick and stone façade, wrought iron balcony, and architectural detailing, the building was a capstone of the family’s construction career and of the larger community that helped craft much of Chestnut Hill’s enduring beauty.

Today, The Blue Warbler is honored to once again showcase this historic space. We hope to create a welcoming place for conversation, community, and continuity.

~Excerpted from Joan L. Saverino, “Memories in Artifact and Stone: Italians Build a Neighborhood,”Germantown Crier, Vol. 53:2 (Fall 2003):48–64.

Our Bird

We're big fans of the flora, fauna and cultural history of Chestnut Hill, and when the black-throated blue warbler figuratively flew into our path, he seemed to hit all the right notes. We like this local songbird’s color scheme and his gumption. Birders say his call sounds like “zur-zur-zur-zreee!” or “please, please, please squeeeeze!”

Our Other Name

The Blue Warbler is the inaugural venture of Junto Foods, whose name comes from the weekly salon that Ben Franklin and other up-and-comers established “for mutual improvement,” shortly after young Ben moved to Philly. They called it the Junto Club, from the Spanish root for “joined,” “connected” and “together.” We're not the only ones inspired by this – there used to be junto clubs all around the country. These meetups speak to the Warbler’s highest goal, higher even than providing great food, drink and service: we want to create a space for people to get together, talk and listen to each other, and build community in these fractured times.