Pedigree At Kite & Key

Adam Erace finds promise at Kite & Key but despite chef Justin Hoke’s impressive resume the menu needs more finesse.

Aside from a mushy crab-cake slider that squished out the sides of its poppy seed bun, the rest of Hoke’s efforts showed promise. Like the perfectly respectable burger, for example, and the eight-hour-braised barbecue pork butt sandwich gone Italian with roasted long hots and sharp provolone, both served (with the sorry crab cake) in Kite and Key’s slider trio. True, the mussels lacked fire, and (except for the chili sauce) the ingredients—shallots, garlic, vermouth, chicken stock, butter, parsley— evoked more Provence than Phuket, but still, the PEI pileup was plump and sand-free, and the broth was charged with all the flavor I missed in the crepes.

Soaring Ambition [Philadelphia Weekly]
Kite & Key [Official Site]