Popular Lexington restaurant adding second ‘life-changing food’ location, larger bakery
Lexington’s carb corridor is going to get even sweeter later this year: A popular restaurant will be opening a second location at the intersection of Winchester, Midland and Third Street.
DV8 Kitchen, which opened on South Broadway in 2017, will expand, opening in August, said co-owner Rob Perez.
DV8 Kitchen, with the motto “life-changing food,” has drawn widespread praise for its efforts to provide employment opportunities for those in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
The restaurant, which specializes in giant cinnamon rolls as well as a menu of breakfast and lunch items, will join Martine’s Pastries, Frank’s Donuts and Spalding’s Bakery, just around the corner of the bakery inside Epping’s on Eastside on Walton Avenue.
The new DV8 will have indoor and outdoor dining, something that has become even more important now that the coronavirus pandemic is impacting restaurants, Perez said. “It’s going to be evocative of the current DV8 but it’s going to have its own personality that reflects the East End.”
The DV8 building, along with the new Community Ventures development, The MET, going up next door, will have murals that reflect the history of the East End neighborhood.
The MET will be a 75,000-square-foot mixed-use facility between Midland and East Third, with retail space, residential loft units and possibly a coffee shop.
Kevin Smith, president and CEO of the non-profit Community Ventures, said that the development by the non-profit is designed to bring jobs to the neighborhood, something people in the area said was needed; to provide a source for affordable housing.
The MET, which is an acronym for Midland and East Third, also will highlight the rich and diverse history of the area and make the Midland corridor more pedestrian-friendly, Smith said.
“Midland Avenue has been stagnant every since I moved here in 1980, not a pedestrian-friendly street, and has been a social and racial divide,” Smith said, adding, the development could be a big step in changing that.
“Certainly I think the biggest draw was Rob Perez puts together a menu that has a lot of fresh food … and that neighborhood is in great need of fresh food,” Smith said. “The other is the mission of that restaurant …. I just don’t think we can support that mission enough, and we’re proud to have him there with that quality food.”
And now, the addition of a wholesale bakery, will bring even more critical jobs.
“They came to us because of the food but also because we are providing folks in a second-chance position, some of whom are from the East End, a trade in baking and the opportunity to have meaningful employment,” Perez said.
DV8 provides baked goods such as brioche buns and other pastries to restaurants across Lexington including the Saul Good Restaurants that Rob and Diane Perez also own, the Ouita Michel family of restaurants, Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen and J. Render’s Southern Table & Bar.
The restaurant will be on Midland and Third, and the larger bakery will be in a new addition on the building between the MET and DV8, Perez said.
“We’re going to quadruple our capacity, so we’re going to need a lot more clients,” Perez said.
He and his wife, Diane, decided on the expansion after one of their Saul Good Restaurants at Hamburg closed at the end of February. Then COVID-19 hit.
But they decided to continue, in part because “DV8 is perfectly positioned for people looking for a good product for a good price,” he said.
And providing employment for those in the recovery community and in the restaurant industry remains a key aspect of DV8 Kitchen’s mission.
“It is scary times … we’re going to invest $800,000 in the project,” he said. “We feel like this is a commitment that needs to be made, for the recovery community and the East End.”
He said that feels especially important now as members of the community press for social justice.
“I want to fully acknowledge that our plan is to be there. To continue with the development, to make relationships with people on the East End, and establish a recovery-friendly restaurant on the East End, and listen to what is being said,” Perez said. “So we can integrate what DV8 does into that community in a meaningful way. I look forward to being taught the specifics by the people of the East End what our plans are.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
