Photo by Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
It was the tease that had Dallas shook this week:
“Thanks for all of the years of support, reservations, and for allowing us to Welcome You Home. It’s been a good run. Respectfully, tomorrow at 8 a.m. more details will come…”
When Kitchen + Kocktails owner Kevin Kelley posted this elusive message on Instagram yesterday, many thought it was a soft announcement of a closure.
“They definitely closing the way they been spam texting prior guests to come there,” commented Instagram user @bribrigoddess. Others wondered if this was another April Fool’s Day they missed.
But actually, it was a defining marketing choice for the Dallas-born concept. Because of this message, all eyes were on this elevated Southern comfort-food restaurant when it announced the opening of its newest location in the heart of Times Square in New York City.
How’s that for an Uno reverse?
The Times Square location will be opening sometime in summer 2026, as hinted at in the announcement. A VIP event to celebrate the opening will be coming soon as well.
Kitchen + Kocktails opened its first location in Dallas in May of 2020. It survived the pandemic and went on to expand in Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia, and most recently New York City and Boston.
The concept was founded by the self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur and former litigation attorney Kevin Kelley, who founded the Kelley Lawn Firm here in Dallas.
While Kelley was living abroad in France, he missed the flavors of home, which was the catalyst for this vision: a restaurant in a prime location where we can feel good about ourselves and drink great cocktails and soul food.
Now, Kitchen + Kocktails is a celebrated destination for soul food in Dallas and across the country. It’s not consistently on the list of most-booked restaurants in Dallas for nothing.
And despite what many diners seemed to think about the pre-announcement, this hotspot isn’t going anywhere.
Congrats and well-played.
