Homemade pastas, cozy tables and a nightly clientele so loyal that everyone knows everyone’s name.

Welcome to Stella Blu, a hidden gem tucked in a house on the corner of Fayette and Ford streets in Conshohocken. It’s a neighborhood place that has managed to maintain its irresistible local charm while drawing customers from the far corners of the Main Line with home-cooked Italian food, huge portions and an exhaustive wine list.

Since opening its doors in 2000, Stella Blu has been touched by the restaurant gods, somehow successfully balancing a suit-and-tie daytime work crowd from the surrounding office towers with an upscale Main Line night scene. Part of its charm has always been in its simplicity: tables lit with cobalt blue votives, a cozy three-seat bar near the entrance and tiny, linen-swathed tables.

So when its doors closed in the late fall for renovations, speculation ensued. Would Stella Blu reopen? Would it still have the same charm? Would it become so trendy it would lose its homey appeal?

But fears were laid to rest earlier this year when owners Marianne Gere, Kim Strengari and chef/owner Ralph Pallarino reopened the doors to unveil a masterpiece amazingly designed without the help of an architect.
Evoking the sophistication of a SoHo restaurant and lounge, the new sleek bar seats 15, and the room takes on a sexy, romantic feel with dark paneled walls and chandeliers dripping with bohemian beads. The menu bears a refreshing update as well, one that keeps many of the old favorites and adopts dozens of new internationally influenced dishes served as small and large plates, perfect for sharing.

“We didn’t want to be stuck within Italian boundaries,” says Gere, who also co-owns Gypsy Saloon and Bella Luna Pizza Kitchen up the street from Stella Blu. “We wanted Asian, Mediterranean and Indian influences as well.”

For most neighborhood places, such transition in the face of tradition would mean sure death. But somehow Pallarino has managed to do it almost seamlessly, meshing items like tuna sushi, fried artichoke hearts, and Asian-style littleneck clams with longtime Stella favorites including the drop-dead delicious nightly veal chops and spaghetti with meatballs. The menu, which once remained fixed, now changes seasonally and is complemented by about half a dozen nightly specials.

We headed to Stella Blu for dinner on a recent Tuesday night, and by 7 p.m., the bar was packed. We opted for a high-top table near the front with a view of the bar scene, instead of the dim, more private rear of the restaurant.

We began with a few small plates. The sliced tuna sushi was a refreshing take on the usual seared concoction served with wasabi and ginger. This generous plate featured four chunks of tuna topped with oven-roasted plum tomatoes, pine nuts and microgreens, all dusted with coarse black Hawaiian volcanic sea salt. Next, we tried the fried artichoke: oversize hearts coated with breadcrumbs, fried in olive oil, then topped with a dollop of tangy balsamic mayonnaise. But we found the littleneck clams the most original of the three small plates we sampled. This delight was served with crispy ground pork, green chili peppers and scallions, and drizzled with soy sauce. The taste combination was so out of the ordinary that we couldn’t stop eating until we had finished the plate.

For our entrées, or “large plates,” we had to order the veal chop, a Stella Blu specialty that is served every night, prepared a different way. Many customers come just for this dish, which often sells out before night’s end. On this evening, the veal chops were nestled atop a beet risotto and paired with grilled shrimp and melted goat cheese, with a side of garlic spinach. The meat was tender and perfectly cooked, and the melted goat cheese added the perfect creamy flavor.

We also tried the chicken Bella Luna, an item that’s been on the menu since the day Stella originally opened. The generous portion included a plate-size chicken breast topped with chopped tomatoes, garlic, cherry peppers and mushrooms, a comforting dish that reminded us of a South Philly Sunday dinner.

The lobster mac and cheese was next, served in a large casserole with lobster content equal to about a four-pound shelled crustacean. But the dish fell short for us because the pasta and cheese were too dry and not as creamy as we would have wished.

We were completely stuffed, but we couldn’t leave without trying a key lime pie and a banana cream cake. The desserts are made off-premises and, in fairness, aren’t what the restaurant is known for. But they were bakery-worthy, the key lime pie a perfect balance of tart and cream and the banana cake a dream with its combination of chocolate ganache layers and moist cake.

Only time will tell if Stella Blu’s new look and menu can content everyone from the folks down the street to foodies from miles away. But for now, it looks like Pallarino and his fans have nothing to be blue about.

Stella Blu: 101 Ford St., Conshohocken; 610-825-7060; stella­blurestaurant.com.