Last week marked the third go-round of former Sidebern's chef Jeannie Pierola's pop-up restaurant, Kitchenbar (a.k.a.: "KB3@BT"). Pierola's first two pop-ups took over Pinky's and Chefs on the Loose in South Tampa. This incarnation takes place at Restaurant BT, the usual home of BT Nguyen-Batley's namesake restaurant, through the end of August. BT Nguyen-Batley takes the slow month of August off each summer, which provided the perfect opportunity for Pierola's pop-up concept.
KB3 offers two different menus options: a regular menu featuring small, medium, and large plates, as well as a five-course tasting menu that will change each week. Last week's tasting menu was focused on figs, aptly titled "Gettin' Figgy With It…"; future weeks will have tasting menus based on mangoes, tomatoes and corn.
The beer and wine menu offers a variety of reasonably priced selections, and the restaurant allows guests to bring in their own wine; the first bottle has no corkage fee, additional bottles incur a $10 corkage fee. The beer and wine menu boasts beautiful selections from Germany and France; however, the closest it gets to local beers are a few selections from California and Oregon.
The KB3@BT menu is fun and eclectic. The flavor combinations were fun and interesting (am now wishing I had saved room for the bleu cheese ice cream). My boyfriend David and I opted to try different dishes from the menu as opposed to just sticking with the tasting menu.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2011.