Campus Epicurean to extend hours by serving dinner

Campus Epicurean used to be "micro" restaurant -- but not anymore.

After only opening its doors for weekend brunch for the past four years, the restaurant, which located at 43rd and Spruce streets, is serving dinner again.

Although restaurant owner Gary Levin does not want to physically expand the seven-year-old restaurant, he does want to pick up its pace and broaden its customer base.

"Right now we're walking. We've been up and running for seven years. We've not been crawling, but we need to get this place up and running," Levin said.

Part of the reason the restaurant is only in a "walking" stage is that the Campus Epicurean has never advertised. The restaurant is really only known through word-of-mouth.

As of now, Levin is trying to bring in customers from outlying areas because he does not think the restaurant will be able to stay open just for local business.

"I don't think we'll be able to survive on just [Penn students and locals]." Levin said. "I want customers from West of Broad [Street] to University City and Delaware County."

For the first three years that it was in business, Campus Epicurean was open for dinner on weeknights. But then it started losing money, so the dinner menu was dropped.

The restaurant even offered lunch during its first year, but then catering -- another service provided by the restaurant -- started to pick up. Likewise, lunch was dropped as well.

However, Levin has seen a lot of recent growth in the neighborhood, so he is optimistic about the readdition of the dinner menu.

"The foot traffic has changed a lot and increased over the past three years due to development in the neighborhood... Penn has changed the neighborhood a lot," Levin said.

"There's a lot more potential costumers. There are less backpacks and more baby strollers. People are buying instead of renting -- you know what I mean?" chef Tony Sharrah added.

Levin also thinks that the opening of the new movie theater at 40th and Walnut streets will help business.

As for the new menu, both Levin and Sharrah are responsible for creating. They describe it as "American bistro."

Levin is hoping that dinner will become as popular as the brunches that are served over the weekend.

"Sunday brunch is very busy and we want to have dinner almost as successful," Levin said.

And so far, the new dinner menu has received much praise.

"The hummus was ridiculously awesome," College Sophomore Emily Dubin said. "And the powdered sugar with the strawberries for the brownie a la mode were the icing on the cake, so to speak."

Although the brunch menu has not changed much over the past seven years, Levin is already thinking about making some adjustments to the dinner selection.

"We will probably change the menu around in October for a more wintery menu," Levin said.

The kind of food the restaurant serves actually has nothing to do with the name of it, but rather the kind of atmosphere Levin wants his customers to feel.

Levin said the word "Epicurean" refers to good friends, good food and good drink.

However, Campus Epicurean does not have a liquor license yet, although customers are able to bring their own alcohol.

Surprisingly, though, Levin's core business is the fraternities and sororities at Penn, even though they are just a seasonal business.

"We get involved with around ten to twelve fraternities and sororities a year," Levin said.

From Sunday through Thursday a chef cooks dinner for each house and some even offer continental breakfast for their members.

Moreover, Levin says Campus Epicurean provides catering for the different schools at Penn and even some businesses in Center City as well.

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