Although Cyrus Keefer’s
plans to open his own spot on the Avenue fell through earlier this year, he’s still managed to find a home in Hampden.
The local chef, best known for his stints at Birroteca and Fork & Wrench, has recently
taken over as executive chef partner at 13.5% Wine Bar.
After hearing news that the restaurant’s former executive chef had plans to move on, Keefer reached out to owner Wayne Laing about a possible collaboration.
“We sat down and he said he wasn’t just looking for a chef, he was looking for more of a partner who could be the liaison between the kitchen and the front of the house,” Keefer says. “He really wanted to evolve the place—after five years, it needed some new life.”
Keefer hit the ground running earlier this month, revamping 13.5’s entire menu within his first week of heading up the kitchen.
“With Wayne [Laing] being a very eclectic individual, he wanted an outside-of-the-box menu,” Keefer says. “Initially, the plates were really small, so I wanted to find some middle ground between filling up, and eating two bites and you’re on to the next dish.”
The transformed
menu, which includes everything from mac-and-cheese with jalapeño chimichurri to escargot French bread pizza with chorizo, is full of ingredient-inspired dishes that serve as nods to different cultures.
“I don’t want the menu to get typecast into one category, I just want to do great things with seasonal ingredients,” Keefer says. “Its simple food that’s not very deconstructed, but still very creative and heartfelt.”
A few months back, there was a lot of buzz over the chef’s plans to open his own 30-seat French-and-Korean-inspired spot on W. 36
th St. But due to financial constraints, Keefer pulled the plug on the project.
Keefer is excited to make his mark on 13.5.
“At the end of the day who you are as a chef doesn’t go away [no matter where you go],” he says. “You’re only adding more colors and textures to your portfolio. I really just want to give the people of the Avenue more of an adventure.”