Seven years after opening their popular American brasserie Kitchen in West Palm Beach, Chef Matthew Byrne and his wife, Aliza, are preparing to debut the sequel.

The West Palm Beach residents will unveil their second Kitchen restaurant early next month at Loop West in Kissimmee.

The eatery, which will seat 150 with ample outdoor space and a private room, joins a growing list of new restaurants at the 360,203-square-foot retail complex on Donald Ross Road.

The location was a perfect one for the Byrnes, who were eager to expand into an area where many of their regular customers live, including nearby Jupiter.

“It’s such an amazing community there,” said Aliza Byrne, who has grown familiar with the area since her teenage sons began attending The Benjamin School. “A lot of our clients live nearby. There was such a huge demand from people who said they wished we were closer. We feel really good about it.”

Byrne said she expects to draw more year-round diners to the new Loop West location, whereas the original Kitchen, at 319 Belvedere Rd., is more seasonal.

That restaurant, which has drawn a steady stream of locals and visiting VIPs since it first opened in October 2013, seated just 36 people initially and served only beer, wine and champagne for the first three years.

The Loop West restaurant will have a ‘proper’ bar, Byrne said, which will allow for a bar menu and happy hour.

“We were never able to have a happy hour,” she said. “We’re really excited about that.”

The restaurant also will have valet parking, an outdoor patio, and private event space that can accommodate up to 20 people.

The menu will feature most of the same, modernized comfort classics created by chef Byrne — a former personal chef for golf great Tiger Woods — that are found at the original Kitchen, such as fettuccine bolognese, seared strip steak and chicken schnitzel.

“Our philosophy is to keep it simple, buy the freshest and do as little as possible,” Aliza Byrne said. “With everything from a foie gras burger to a grilled fish, to somebody who has celiac (disease) or is a vegetarian or a vegan, we want everyone to enjoy. There’s something for everybody.”

Kitchen will open for dinner initially, but plans are to add a Saturday and Sunday brunch.

Byrne said she is excited to finally open the Kitchen doors after months of planning and a four-month delay brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s been so fun to create a space from scratch,” she said. “With our space in West Palm, we kind of inherited it. We built this. It’s been really fun to take all these elements and put them together. It’s going to have continuity. It’s going to be classy and elegant, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

Loop West is home to more than two dozen restaurants, with the newest – Swedish-American eatery Waxin’s Restaurant & Bar – opening over the summer.

Other recently opened businesses include Bergman Jewelers, Selfie Salonbar, State Farm and VANA Laser Club.

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Read more: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/pbgardens/2020/10/09/american-brasserie-kitchen-plans-november-opening-alton-town-center/5909562002/