South Florida Sun Sentinel
Jul 08, 2021 11:10 AM
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At Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap, the Batch Chicken ‘N’ Waffles is sweet tea-brined and fried chicken on a cornbread waffle, with chili-thyme honey and bourbon-maple butter. (Batch Hospitality Group)
After sitting empty for more than three years — a gloomy, mystifying contradiction of the gleaming future of Flagler Village rising around it — the Federal Highway storefront once occupied by Mellow Mushroom is getting an energetic new tenant: Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap.
With a menu featuring a lighter, modern treatment of Southern comfort food and an extensive whiskey and cocktail selection, the restaurant is aimed squarely at the youthful new residents moving into downtown Fort Lauderdale, says Kevin Danilo, owner and CEO of Batch Hospitality Group.
The emphasis is on food, he says. But fun isn’t far behind.
“We try to tie together great food with great atmosphere. We’re whiskey- and spirit-forward, and we play our music a little bit louder,” Danilo says, describing the demographic living nearby as “people who work hard and like to play hard.”
Danilo predicts the 5,000-square-foot restaurant and its 3,000-square-foot patio will open in November or December, joining the first Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap, which opened in 2018 on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach.
Batch Hospitality Group also operates more casual Batch Gastropub restaurants in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood and Delray Marketplace in west Delray Beach.
As seen in West Palm Beach, the menu at Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap seeks to “modernize” classic Southern techniques and dishes to fit contemporary tastes, says Danilo, a Connecticut-raised Miami resident.
Development of the menu was led by chef-partner Michael Camerino, director of culinary operations for Batch Hospitality Group. Previously, Camerino was a corporate chef at 50 Eggs Hospitality Group, home of Yardbird Southern Table & Bar.
Highlights include Batch Chicken ‘N’ Waffles (sweet tea-brined and fried chicken, cornbread waffle, chili-thyme honey, bourbon-maple butter; $22.50, plus $3 if you want it Nashville hot), a brisket-and-short-rib burger ($14) and 10 iterations of mac and cheese.
But there also are several vegetarian and vegan options, including the signature BBQ Jackfruit “Pulled Pork” Sandwich ($14), with the “meat” mimicked by shredded jackfruit.
“You go in and think of Southern cooking as super heavy, super rich, but actually some of our most loyal customers are vegan or vegetarian,” Danilo says.
Kevin Danilo, owner and CEO of Batch Hospitality Group, which will open its fourth South Florida restaurant in late 2021 in Fort Lauderdale. (Batch Hospitality Group)
By the time Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap debuts, the hotly anticipated restaurant Holly Blue will be open about three blocks west in the former First Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Danilo says he has been “bullish” on Fort Lauderdale as a location for a restaurant since shortly after opening his first Batch in Miami in 2013. He compares the arc of development in Flagler Village with the Wynwood Arts District.
“Seeing Wynwood pop up, a really cool up-and-coming area that started as a fun warehouse-y arts district, that became heavy in food and beverage and culture, then became a place to live, then a place to work. … I was always jealous of places that got into Wynwood early,” Danilo says. “We’re not in Phase 1 of the growth [in Flagler Village], but we wanted to get in there before it got fully developed. It’s a killer location.”
The new Fort Lauderdale restaurant will be Batch Hospitality Group’s largest property, and will include space set aside for a catering operation.
When the Mellow Mushroom pizza chain opened in the retail shops of the Manor at Flagler Village apartment complex in May 2015, it quickly became a magnet for residents on both sides of Federal Highway.
The broad terrace it shared with the Brass Tap brewpub (still there), with cornhole being played under palms ribboned in soft lights, was a priceless advertisement of the Flagler Village lifestyle to passing motorists.
Since Mellow Mushroom’s abrupt closure in 2018, the space has been dark, a hand-scrawled chalkboard menu of the restaurant’s last beers the only enduring sign of life once lived there.
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Expect a lively scene to return to the terrace outside Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap, Danilo says. Live music and DJ entertainment are possibilities, he says.
“The patio is fantastic. We’re putting a massive, massive awning out there, and were gonna make that the focal point of the restaurant. We’re going to make it something we’re really proud of, that sticks out from the road, that excites people to want to walk in and want to hang out,” he says.
Danilo began looking at the property pre COVID and admits to feeling like he was “rolling the dice” when finalizing lease plans in January, with the vaccine rollout uncertain. He still has concerns about labor shortages and supply-chain issues.
“The operating climate is certainly difficult, but those are a hell of a lot better problems to have than not being able to get customers through your door,” he says. “The recovery is incredibly strong. People are so excited to get out and start spending again and be out in public.”
Batch New Southern Kitchen and Tap will be located at 525 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Visit BatchSouthernKitchen.com.
