A white-tablecloth restaurant has landed in Fort Washington, a corner of Eastern Montgomery County where upscale dining options are scarce. Academy Grill opened at 424 S. Bethlehem Pike in July 2026, taking over the former Cantina Feliz space in Whitemarsh Township with a menu built around house-made pasta, seafood, steaks, and a chicken roulade with a two-decade pedigree.
The restaurant is the latest from Fine Line Dining, led by entrepreneurs Michael Sloane and Jay Rosenthal, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. White-tablecloth spots are “few and far between nowadays” in Eastern Montgomery County, the paper notes, which makes Academy Grill’s polished, contemporary American approach something of an outlier for the area. The kitchen is led by chef Jeffrey Power, who was previously the longtime chef at Dettera in Ambler before that restaurant closed, and who also worked at Blackfish in Conshohocken and Le Bec-Fin downtown.
Power’s signature dish, a chicken roulade served with potato gnocchi, cauliflower, fava beans, and truffle crema, isn’t new — it traces its roots back more than 20 years to Le Bec-Fin and was previously a staple at Dettera, per the Inquirer’s profile of the dish. The rest of the menu leans Italian-inspired, with an emphasis on seafood, steaks, pasta, and shareable appetizers, according to PHILADELPHIA.Today. Smaller courses have included grilled lamb chops, salmon with polenta, shrimp lettuce cups, and ricotta cavatelli.
From Dinner-Only Debut to a Full Lunch Menu
Academy Grill initially opened just for dinner before expanding to lunch service, according to Around Ambler. Lunch now runs Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., the same report notes. The restaurant’s own food menu adds a 2.92% service fee on non-cash transactions and tacks on a 20% gratuity for parties of six or more, per Academy Grill’s posted menu.
Academy Grill brings an elevated dining experience to the neighborhood.
Fine Line Dining's Growing Footprint
Fine Line Dining's first restaurant was Jasper’s Backyard in Conshohocken, which has a patio, according to Around Ambler. Fine Line also opened The Fort at 325 Pennsylvania Avenue in Fort Washington in late 2024 and, per the same outlet, acquired the long-running Dettera restaurant in downtown Ambler in 2025 — with plans for a new, approachable Mediterranean concept there once Academy Grill was up and running.
Firstrust Bank is connected with Academy Grill, as PHILADELPHIA.Today reports.
Firstrust Bank and Academy Grill
The more immediate impact for Fort Washington residents is a new sit-down option in a township that hasn’t had many. For now, that translates to gnocchi, cavatelli, and a chicken roulade with a Le Bec-Fin pedigree, served a short drive from where Cantina Feliz once stood.
