The new Mona has ‘néos-Mediterranean’ cooking, floor-to-ceiling olive trees, and a selfie area

Teddy Sourias is growing up. The longtime bar and club operator — who reopened Memories in Margate last summer — has transformed a Center City furniture store just down the block of Chestnut Street from his Tradesman’s U-Bahn, into a luxe, multilevel Mediterranean bar-restaurant with soaring ceilings, columns and arches, floor-to-ceiling olive trees, oversize pottery, big florals, chandeliers, and custom furniture.

Mona also effectively extends the 13th Street dining corridor, whose anchors include El Vez, Barbuzzo, and Sampan, a half-block north.

Sourias opened Mona with a 150-seat ground-floor dining room — including a 24-seat bar — and the low-lit basement lounge. The upper level and roof are still a work in progress.

Vanessa Deleon of VVA Designs started the project in 2021, and architect Oscar Soto picked it up in 2023.

The restrooms are located in the basement, accessible by stairs or an elevator. Sourias intends it as a destination in itself with a cocktail bar and lounge, and — just off the restrooms — an area with mirrors, a mural, and an arch with LED lighting for selfies. Because 2024.

Mona’s menu honors Sourias' Greek heritage, though he calls it “néos-Mediterranean,” as in “new.” Sourias, who grew up in a middle-class immigrant family in a Northeast Philadelphia rowhouse, described “néos” cooking as lighter than his grandmother’s style.

He explained that she cooked “bread and traditional meat and potatoes. Everything back then was filled with bread and cheap ingredients because we didn’t have that much. My grandmother always used to stuff meatballs or add regular white bread to fill the meatballs and make them bigger,” he said.

Mona’s yuvarlakia avgolemono (meatballs in a lemon sauce) are on the mezze list, along with a few traditional dishes such as dolmades, spanikopita, and grilled octopus. (Familiar gyro is served as dumplings, filled with shaved lamb and pork and served with tzatziki.) You can also start with dips and spreads (choose four for the “A Little of Everything” sampler). Mains include kebabs, pastas (such as lobster pappardelle and shrimp orecchiette), and a few entree-size dishes, such as branzino served with saffron rice and vegetables (“we never ate branzino,” Sourias said) and herb-crusted lamb chops (the top-priced dish at $48 for four meaty chops served with lemon potatoes and vegetables).

Sample cocktails include the Olympian Lemondrop with Metaxa ouzo, simple, triple sec, lemon, and olive oil drops, and the house martini, made of dill-infused Glendalough gin and house-made brine.

Mona, 1308 Chestnut St., is open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. weekdays, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. weekends. Lunch will start in several weeks. Reservations via OpenTable.