Yesterday, Laura Reiley over at the Times reported in her blog that things weren't looking good for downtown St. Pete's DeSanto or The Kitchen. DeSanto had posted a sign saying it was closed for the month of September and The Kitchen had been lights out and not returning calls for a couple of weeks. With some luck, I found out the lowdown:
DeSanto – According to one of the managers, the folks behind Push Ultralounge and DeSanto are going over possibilities for what will become of the restaurant. It's definitely not re-opening with the same concept, but they're not sure what incarnation it will take. In the meantime, there's still some food flowing from the restaurant kitchen into Push.
The Kitchen — I tracked down granola lady/Kitchen co-owner Margaret Guidicessi on an extended vacation in Miami. According to her, there are no plans to shut the place down. The Kitchen will be serving damn fine sandwiches again before St. Pete's Saturday Morning Market re-starts Oct. 4.
There will be changes, though. "We might do something that's more co-opy,"she explained, an idea she had when she first conceived The Kitchen last year. Back then, Saturday Morning Market participants used the commercial kitchen at a local church, paying by the hour. Now, those hours are much reduced and users are unable to store items at the church. Guidicessi is still working out the details, but she'll offer The Kitchen's facilities to exhibitors at a similar rate."I'm offering to store the stuff and let them use every piece of equipment we have," she explained, "and the plan is to let the people have the product [for sale at The Kitchen] seven days a week." This would give weekend exhibitors another opportunity to sell their stuff, as well as providing reduced operating costs for The Kitchen. "They just have to volunteer their time," said Guidicessi.
She also plans on reducing the number of prepared foods and deli cases and concentrating on sandwiches and table service. "That's what people seem to want, and we can keep a smaller inventory," she said.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2008.