Kiddo Restaurant is Set to Open This Fall Featuring Sustainably-Sourced Meat & Locally Sourced Veggies
While working as an executive sous chef in Sonoma County (CA), Wyatt Piazza was helping a grandmother who had a few questions about growing food when her grandchild wondered into a tomato patch, plucked a juicy Berkeley Tie Dye tomato and was inevitably covered in tomato juice. “Underneath the tomato was the most excited and genuine smile I have ever seen. After this moment, I realized that this kid and I shared something in common,” Wyatt explained and thus the idea of Kiddo was sparked.
Fast forward to today and Wyatt along with his wife Elizabeth Drake are poised to open their first restaurant together, Kiddo located at 1138 Pine St. Slated for a fall opening (likely in September), guests can expect a menu that “will serve as a canvas to showcase the agricultural bounty of Pennsylvania, leaning into vegetable-forward cuisine and seasonal produce. We will have a full bar offering a variety of natural wines, botanical cocktails, and shrubs crafted and sourced to compliment the food. Kiddo will provide a fun and exciting place for those looking to have a drink and a snack as well as those looking to graze into a full meal. It is our goal to have each guest leave Kiddo with a reinvigorated infatuation with food,” Wyatt adds.
However, Wyatt is quick to point out that Kiddo is not a “vegetarian restaurant,” vegetables will be served as the focus of the menu but sustainably-sourced meat will also be an option. “We pride ourselves in sourcing from local farm partners and trying our best to showcase the beautiful products that are grown right here in Pennsylvania with our hyper-seasonal menu. We also hope to separate ourselves from other restaurants with the design of the space, which will feature fun, colorful accents and art juxtaposed with natural materials like red oak floors and tables crafted from local maple. If you’re looking for somewhere fun and chill but with really good food, that’s Kiddo,” Wyatt adds.
The dining room will seat up to 30 guests plus an additional 20 seats in the bar area including the bar itself with countertop and high-top seating. Hours of operation will be Wednesday-Monday, 4-10pm. Brunch Saturday and Sunday 10am-2pm.
As for Wyatt’s background in the culinary arts, growing up in an Italian family, he was always drawn to the kitchen at an early age and eventually got his first kitchen job when he was fifteen. “My love for food and hospitality continued to grow, so I attended Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. I completed a joint-degree program with the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, earning a degree in culinary arts,” he went on to explain.
With this venture being the couple’s first brick and mortar, Wyatt is excited to bring his concept to life in Philly stating, “I realized that this kid and I shared something in common – a powerful curiosity, untamed excitement, and complete fascination with food. I want to share this feeling with each and every one of our guests, employees, and partners at Kiddo by delivering a creative, vegetable-driven menu in an environment that creates connections between people and their food,”
As for menu items, dishes will include:
SNACKS
Housemade Root Vegetable Chips with Seasonal Aioli
Marinated Summer Vegetables
SMALL PLATES
Melon Salad
Cucumber, hyssop, white balsamic, pickled yellow beets
Tomato Carpaccio
Smoked shepherd cheese, salsa verde, grilled bread
Seared Arctic Char
Wax bean, cucumber, ground cherries, basil aioli
PASTA
Bucatini
Roasted garlic, Italian eggplant, tomato sauce
Creste di gallo
Summer squash puree, grilled zucchini, pickled shallots, Valley Thunder cheese
BIG PLATES
Bison Flank Steak
Chermoula, smoked corn emulsion, cherry tomato, red onion, arugula salad
Coriander Crusted Duck Breast
Apricot gastrique, stone fruit panzanella, crispy duck confit
Stuffed Carmen Peppers
Sungold coulis, goat cheese fritters, emmer, gremolata
SWEETS
Cookie plate
Brown butter chocolate crinkle, campari glazed shortbread, marbled berry sugar cookie
Affogato
Maple ice cream, cocoa streusel
Stone fruit galette
Brown butter, honey, whipped creme fraiche
