Forest & Main will open a Fishtown taproom with ‘snack shack’ food from Beard-nominated chef Dane DeMarco

Forest & Main Brewing Co. is branching outside of its longtime home in Ambler, Montgomery County, to open a tasting room in the heart of Fishtown.

Owners Daniel Endicott, Gerard Olson, and Brian DeAngelo have signed a lease for 1416 Frankford Ave., the onetime city police horse stable that most recently housed Cheu.

They have struck a deal with Dane DeMarco, chef-owner of Haddonfield’s James Beard-nominated Gass & Main, who will offer a “snack shack” menu including hot dogs, nachos, funnel cake, sloppy Joes, and French fry towers. “Concession stand things, but from a chef,” they said.

DeMarco, whose kitchen background includes American Sardine Bar and Second District Brewing, will remain chef-owner at their restaurant. “I keep telling the guys, ‘The star is the brewery,’” they said. “I want to be there to be support for them.”

Olson told The Inquirer that the look and feel will reflect “the aesthetic that we have at the pub on Butler, which calls to mind our original location — a homey, classic pub feel with mismatched furniture and cool artwork and stuff hanging on the walls. I think that the space kind of lends itself to that.”

A September opening is the target.

Endicott and Olson launched Forest & Main in 2012 in an old Victorian home at Forest and Main Streets in Ambler. The cozy brewpub was a hit with locals, who flocked to for their barrel-aged saisons and British-inspired ales.

They relocated the taproom in 2021 to a former skate shop several blocks away, on Butler Avenue. Brewing moved to a new space on Main Street, near the original location, and in 2022, they opened a second taproom there.

Jacob Cooper and Stefanie Gabel of MSC represented landlord Jordan Claffey of JSC Real Estate and Joss Realty Partners. Gabel represented Forest & Main.