Classic steakhouse flavors with a contemporary edge.
There are restaurants built around a meal, and then there are restaurants built around the occasion. Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley belongs firmly in the second category. What began in Dallas has grown into a national restaurant concept with locations across cities including Dallas, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Miami, with additional locations arriving in 2026.
At its core, Kitchen + Kocktails is rooted in Southern comfort food, but the experience is intentionally bigger than the plate. The concept combines familiar dishes with an upscale setting, a full cocktail program, and the kind of hospitality designed for celebrations, date nights, brunches, and nights out with friends. The brand describes its philosophy as “Welcome Home,” a fitting idea for a restaurant built around food that feels familiar while creating an atmosphere that encourages guests to stay awhile.
The menu leans into Southern favorites while giving them room to play. Fried chicken, shrimp and grits, Southern fried catfish, blackened salmon, braised short ribs, Cajun crab cakes, and Caribbean jerk lamb chops sit alongside more unexpected combinations. Lobster and waffles, for example, takes the familiar brunch pairing into more indulgent territory, while surf and turf brings lobster together with jerk lamb chops. Newer additions include fried chicken with red beans and rice, blackened shrimp over dirty rice, and Southern fried catfish over spaghetti.
“Kitchen + Kocktails turns Southern soul food, cocktails, and hospitality into an experience that feels bigger than the meal.”
Then there are the Kocktails, which are treated as part of the experience rather than an afterthought. Kitchen + Kocktails pairs food with cocktails through combinations such as surf and turf with the Honey Bee, lobster and waffles with a 24K Gold Fashioned, and its appetizer trio with a Magical Mimosa Tower. Margarita flights and elaborate cocktail presentations further reinforce the restaurant’s party-ready personality.
That combination helps explain why the concept has expanded beyond its original Dallas home. The flagship on Elm Street helped establish the formula, while newer locations have carried it into different dining scenes around the country. In Chicago, for example, the restaurant’s growth has been significant enough to prompt a move into a larger 13,000-square-foot space, reflecting the demand behind the concept.
Kitchen + Kocktails also understands that the modern restaurant experience is often about the people around the table as much as what arrives on it. Birthdays, reunions, promotions, date nights, brunches, and group celebrations are all part of the restaurant’s identity. Its website currently cites more than 100,000 five-star reviews and more than one million guests served, numbers that point to a concept that has moved well beyond its Dallas beginnings.
What makes Kitchen + Kocktails interesting is not simply its take on soul food. It is the way the restaurant packages Southern hospitality for a contemporary audience, turning comfort food, cocktails, music, celebration, and atmosphere into one complete experience. Across its growing collection of cities, the idea remains remarkably consistent: come hungry, bring your people, and expect dinner to become part of the evening.
Where premium steaks and modern dining meet above the Flushing skyline.
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