Prepkitchen Del Mar Re-Opening in September

They say that from the hottest fire comes the strongest steel. If there is any truth to that notion, Prepkitchen Del Mar will come back stronger than ever. The popular restaurant, which suffered extensive damage in an early morning fire in October 2011, announced plans to reopen the first week of September. While past regulars of the upscale, yet neighborhood-friendly eatery can expect to have their favorite dishes close by again, owner Arturo Kassel and Chef Ryan Johnston also have a few surprises up their sleeves.

“We thought it was a good restaurant before, but we knew we could do better,” Kassel said. “Of course, hindsight is always perfect, but I think that the silver lining with everything is that it presented us with an opportunity to view our collective experience with the restaurant and the space and the neighborhood, and tweak things to make them better than they were before.”

Taking the lessons they learned the first time around in their Del Mar location, as well as their experiences with Prepkitchen La Jolla and Little Italy, Kassel and Johnston have enhanced many aspects of the business, from the layout of the kitchen to the décor in the dining room and the items on the menu. According to Kassel, the original layout of the restaurant kitchen was simply not cohesive with the volume of diners the restaurant was handling. With a few small layout changes, Kassel and Johnston feel that changes to the way space is used will allow them to put out a great product, more consistently and to more guests.

Given the circumstances of the rebuild, safety was also a number one concern for Kassel during the renovations.

“We’ve invested in technologies that we didn’t even know existed before with respect to fire suppression systems,” Kassel said. “Even though we didn’t cause [the fire], it would be irresponsible for us not to try to find reasonable measures to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Although much time went into planning the safety equipment of the restaurant, the pair didn’t skimp on the aesthetics details, either. Borrowing some of the design elements from their Little Italy location, which is up for numerous architectural awards, including the AIA and Orchids and Onions Award, they’ve brought the 1,650 square foot Del Mar location full-circle.

“The whole PrepKitchen concept has evolved. We started out in Prepkitchen La Jolla, sort of as a to-go market, but it begged to be a restaurant on its own,” Kassel said. “We had Del Mar and then Little Italy, which has a full liquor license, full bar, so all of those experiences made us realize that we want Prepkitchen to be a full dining experience, albeit a casual, familiar experience, but complete.”

Because the size of the Del Mar location doesn’t quite lend itself to a full bar, Kassel and Johnston have worked diligently on a unique beer and wine cocktail menu. Some of the most anticipated drinks include Whyne Thyme, a combination of Thyme, Riesling and simply syrup, and an IPA Mojito, which uses Belgian IPA, muddled mint and lime for a unique twist on a classic drink. As Kassel likes to put it, these drinks offer “all of the flavor, but half the hangover” as their liquor-based counterparts.

One thing that Prepkitchen Del Mar hasn’t changed, however, is their staff. Following the fire last year, Kassel and his business partners made a point to find a temporary home for the majority of their loyal staff members.

“One of our company mottos is ‘good food, good wine, great people,’ and the emphasis is really on the people,” Kassel said. “I think the people who we assembled to run that store had done a great job to develop relationships with the local community. We had a group who really cared and they’re all excited to come back.”

Prepkitchen Del Mar is expected to be open for business on Sept. 7. For more information, visit their website.