The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts will get a new restaurant this spring in the former space of Jose Garces' Volvér, which closed last year after a decade inside the venue for the Philadelphia Orchestra and other arts organizations.
Leo, a Mediterranean restaurant and bar, will be operated by catering and events firm Rhubarb Hospitality Collection under executive chef Chris Cryer. The restaurant's name is inspired by former Philadelphia Orchestra music director Leopold Stokowski, who oversaw the symphony during the first half of the 20th century and served as the conductor for the Disney movie "Fantasia."
MORE: Soul food restaurant Amina to replace SIN in Northern Liberties
The renovated space on Spruce Street, just off the Avenue of the Arts, will be open to the general public in addition to serving as the Kimmel Center's main restaurant for pre-show dining.
Cryer previously helmed Peak Restaurant & Bar on the top floor of Hudson Yards in New York City. At Leo, dishes will include squid ink campanelle, lamb merguez dumplings and fennel-cured hiramasa. The restaurant will offer appetizers and entrees as well as a three-course prix fixe menu.
In January, Rhubarb Hospitality Collective opened the cafe and cocktail lounge Curtain Call in the former Garces Trading Group space at the Kimmel Center. Both of the Garces spots, operated by Ideation Hospitality, reached the end of their 10-year leases last year.
Ensemble Arts Philly, the organization that owns the Kimmel Center and the nearby Miller Theater, Forrest Theater and Academy of Music, said Leo will initially be open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m.-11 p.m. The restaurant is expected to open in late spring and will add more service in the months that follow.