No longer do you have to leave our wonderful urban confines for the deliciousness that is Whisknladle and Prepkitchen. Ryan Johnston and Arturo Kassel – the chef/restaurateur duo behind the aforementioned La Jolla/Del Mar spots – officially opened their third Prepkitchen (or "PK") last night on the corner of India and Date in Little Italy.
Arturo Kassel & Ryan Johnston
PK is sort of the little sibling to Whisknladle. The quality, farm-to-table aesthetic and food are still there, but it is more relaxed. PK was inspired, according to the owners, “by our desire to eat Whisknladle quality food on a regular basis while sticking to our restaurant employee budgets.” Amen to that. Entrees are mainly in the teens rather than the mid-twenties but the quality is not diluted – the menu is exciting and the burger and duck leg confit we sampled were fantastic. And after I recently allowed WnL to send me into a blissful, Sunday morning food coma, I'm excited to hit PK for brunch.
The Little Italy spot is larger than its PK predecessors and is the first to boast a full bar featuring craft beer, wine and many of the farm-to-glass cocktails Whisknladle regulars will recognize, like the creative mimosas (specifically the cucumber honey and the vanilla passion fruit varieties), and daring, satisfying concoctions like London’s Burning (gin, avocado, jalepeño, lime), the Manhattan Flip and the Byzantine (rye, house made fig cordial, Cherry Heering, chocolate bitters). Drink up now, because some of these are Snake Oil holdovers and will likely give way to new cocktails under bar manager Aaron Zieske. And we’ll be excited to drink those too!
The ambiance at night, in the dimly lit dining room with a second-floor, corner view of Little Italy, feels romantic and semi-upscale. But one of this restaurant's core concerns, along with serving food that is simple and good, is to remain unpretentious, and the staff is incredibly friendly, warm, casual and attentive. Though we arrived within the first couple hours of opening, they were confident and comfortable, knew everything on the menu and attended to each other’s tables. Even the managers congenially commented on our choices while passing by. This shouldn’t be surprising – a good portion of the staff come from other WnL enterprises, including the Del Mar PK, which is closed until spring due to a fire. Still, it’s telling that even on day one, it appears to be a well-oiled machine, with no kinks to work out.