Above: Kevin Reading at his Abbott’s operation in Laurel, one of four restaurants he owns in Delaware. Always up for a challenge, Reading is now opening a fifth venture.
By Pam George
Photos by Tiffany Caldwell
When Kevin Reading was growing up in Gainesville, Florida, he’d never heard of Delaware, let alone pictured himself owning not one but four restaurants there. Indeed, as a teen, he held a bat, racket or ball, not a whisk. “I was all about sports,” he says.
Nevertheless, Reading is opening Abbott’s Grill this month in Paynter’s Mill, a residential and retail community just off Route 1 in Milton. This is Reading’s third Abbott’s location. The first, situated in a Milford strip mall, closed after 10 years and is now occupied by Benvenuto, an Italian restaurant. The Abbott’s in Laurel, Delaware is still open.
Reading also owns Brick Works Brewing and Eats in Smyrna and Long Neck, a community between Rehoboth and Millsboro. However, most longtime New Castle County diners remember him as the trailblazing owner of Fox Point Grill, an unlikely foodie destination between Governor Printz Boulevard and Philadelphia Pike.
Throughout Reading’s career in Delaware, he’s been unafraid to take chances, and some might see the new restaurant as another risk. The Milton building has housed three previous eateries, and the most recent, Sydney’s Restaurant & Lounge, closed on New Year’s Day after opening in 2020. (Sydney’s had no link to Sydney’s Side Street, Sydney Arzt’s former downtown Rehoboth restaurant.)
Reading isn’t worried. “I’ve been in some interesting, challenging locations,” he notes. And that includes Wilmington. He’s confident that Milton is ready for Abbott’s, and his intuition is often correct.
The Path to the First State
Reading showed drive at the tender age of 12. He quickly ran through the tennis ranks at his community’s clubhouse until an adult beat him. According to the rules, players had to wait 10 days before a rematch.
Going against the grain is not a bad thing, says Reading, and he has spent a culinary career proving that philosophy works.
“I waited 10 days and one minute to walk to his door and rechallenge him,” he recalls. “I said: ‘If you don’t play me in three days, I’ll take your spot on the ladder.’”
Impressed with Reading’s grit, the man offered the boy a dishwashing job at his restaurant, a chophouse with an attached nightclub featuring women in Playboy bunny-like outfits. It was hardly an appropriate environment for a tween. But it was a different time, says Reading, who was more impressed by up-and-coming Steve Martin, who played the banjo and twisted balloons.
By the time Reading was 15, he’d bussed tables and shucked oysters. Once he was 17, he waited tables. “I got a taste of the tipping world,” he says. By age 24, he was overseeing servers and specializing in tableside preparations. In short, he was the face of the restaurant. In his 30s, he helped open Ta-Boo in Palm Beach, a celebrity hangout.
Eager to know every job in the business, he enrolled at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Why Philly? He’d moved to the area because his girlfriend was at Widener Law School.
Breaking New Ground
At culinary school, Reading met Delawarean Anthony Stella, and the two class co-valedictorians considered opening a restaurant. Stella found space in an East Lea Boulevard strip mall across from a Goodwill store. News Journal food critic John Hawley Lopez described the Wilmington suburb as the “edge of a gritty industrial district.” It was, he noted, an “audacious gamble.” But the nearby Paladin Club, a condominium community, was touted as the anchor of neighborhood revitalization.
Stella decided to fly solo with L’Osteria Cucina Italiana on Marsh Road, while Reading opened Fox Point Grill in 1995. From the start, Reading featured surprising specials for the mid-1990s, including emu, ostrich, antelope, quinoa, soft-shell crab, a sausage of the day and rare tuna.
Reading hired Andrew Hooven, a former Roosevelt Island peace officer, to handle pastry, and Josh Grapski, a student at The Restaurant School, joined as sous chef.
The two relationships would lead to future partnerships.
The developers’ promises turned out to be empty; the area did not explode. While Fox Point Grill had faithful followers willing to travel, most of the income came from catering. In 2000, an unattended pot on the stove caused a fire, and Reading never reopened.
Finding Opportunity in Rehoboth Beach
Looking back, Reading says that if the fire had not destroyed Fox Point, it might still be open to handle catering. When the fire erupted, he was in Rehoboth Beach working at Espuma, which he’d opened in May 1999.
Reading’s partner at Espuma was Wesley Overturf, who’d also worked at Fox Point. But shortly after Espuma debuted in downtown Rehoboth Beach, they split, and Reading took over, undoubtedly leading to the decision not to rebuild Fox Point.
Espuma made waves by serving such dishes as braised lamb breast with octopus daube, white bean puree and eggplant-sorrel gratin. It was among the few restaurants that stayed open all year to keep the staff employed and meet the need for off-season dining.
Next, Reading opened Sweet Dreams Bakery on Coastal Highway to leverage Hooven’s talents. But in 2004, Hooven suffered a brain aneurysm and needed time to recover. Reading elected to turn the bakery into Nage, an eclectic restaurant.
People questioned his choice to open a fine dining establishment on the highway. “I had a good feeling about it. Sometimes going against the grain is not a bad thing,” he said in a 2016 interview.
Intent on making Nage a success, Reading sold Espuma to Jay Caputo in 2004. (It closed in 2016.) Meanwhile, Grapski and Reading had reconnected at Reading’s wedding, and the former sous joined the operation. In 2006, they opened a Nage in Washington, D.C., and Abbott’s Grill in Milford.
Breweries and Comfort Food
The deal for a D.C. Nage was good, but Reading wasn’t crazy about the Marriott Courtyard location. In 2010, he and Grapski parted ways. Grapski got the Nage restaurants; Reading kept Abbott’s.
Nage became part of La Vida Hospitality Group, which now includes Crooked Hammock Brewery, Taco Reho, Big Chill Surf Cantina and Big Chill Beach Club. Grapski is the managing partner. After a short tenure as Fork & Flask, Nage closed in 2022 when La Vida refined and focused its brand on the beachy lifestyle. (The company also has locations in Myrtle Beach.)
Meanwhile, in 2013, Reading opened an Abbott’s on Broad Creek in Laurel, formerly a Georgia House restaurant. In 2016, he and his partners debuted
Brick Works Brewery in Smyrna, and in 2019, Brick Works unveiled a second location in Taormina Square, then a new shopping center.
“I claim that I have a bad case of restaurant ADHD,” Reading says. “As I’m getting older, I’m trying not to do that as much, but I really love opening new places.”
Abbott’s in Milton is proof of that. In addition to Sydney’s, the space was once home to Kindle, which relocated to downtown Lewes, and Pilot Town Fish Co., a Jay Caputo project from 2016 to 2017.
Reading had toured the vacant space between tenants for a brew/distillery, but the landlord wouldn’t change the layout. As a result, Reading decided to put Abbott’s in an established spot because the brand would be familiar to locals. In addition to the Milford restaurant, Abbott’s had been a Milton Farmers Market vendor.
Sydney’s guests know the two-story dining room has lousy acoustics and can get loud. Reading addressed those concerns by installing textured wood on the wall to absorb sound.
The menu at Abbott’s will be the same at both locations, and Brick Works will continue to have its menu. Both feature comfort food with a twist, although the brewpub has selections that complement beer.
Rooted in Sussex
Since his days in Wilmington, Reading has quietly nurtured the next culinary generation. In 2014, the late Matt Haley gave Reading a shout after the James Beard Foundation honored Haley with the Humanitarian of the Year Award. When the founder of SoDel Concepts came to Delaware in 1999, “Kevin Reading is the first guy who put his hand out to me,” Haley told The News Journal.
Nage was the culinary proving ground for inventive chefs who wanted to push boundaries. Consider Hari Cameron, a James Beard semifinalist; Sean Corea and Tom Little, who own Lewes Oyster House; and Ryan Cunningham, now with SoDel Concepts.
“I really enjoyed my time with Kevin,” Cunningham says. “He brought out the best in me every day, and I still work to this day to not disappoint him. Although I don’t work for him, I will always be a soldier in Kevin Reading’s army.”
His influence isn’t only on chefs. Grapski, now on the administrative side of the industry, says Reading taught him about people. “On the team front, treating them with respect and earnest care will always return in spades in the respect and care they show for your business. On the guest front, focusing on hospitality and building relationships not only is a major key to success, but is also the magic of enjoying the hospitality industry we are dedicated to.”
Reading is certainly dedicated to the industry and southern Delaware. “I just love it down here,” he says. Wilmington’s loss is Sussex County’s gain.
