Marina Shuffles: Circa Gets New Owners; Hopfinger Out

The Marina: After nine years behind the wheel at Circa, Mick Suverkrubbe has sold his Chestnut Street hotspot to concentrate on his two other restaurant/bar ventures, The Cosmopolitan and his upcoming Dirty Martini replacement, The Parlor. As any Friday night at the Brennan-designed concept will tell you, Circa was/is doing quite well on the high-profile corner of Fillmore and Chestnut, but apparently Suverkrubbe and co. got a generous offer that they couldn't refuse.

And already the new ownership team is making moves: they've confirmed that executive chef—and ex-Top Chef contestant—Erik Hopfinger is no longer cooking there. There's no word yet on a possible chef replacement, but there will be some menu changes on the way in the next month or so. The food will eventually be tweaked to move away from Hopfinger's comfort food-centric menu, in favor of more New American plates, which was the original focus of Circa.