Kaki Lima Will Take up Residence at Wink & Nod

A culinary incubator in the South End has its next two residents lined up: Wink & Nod will next play host to a forthcoming restaurant from its parent company, Boston Nightlife Ventures, followed by a residency from Retno Pratiwi and Peter Gelling of the popular Kaki Lima pop-up, as Boston Magazine reports.

BNV’s chief culinary officer Bill Brodsky will move into Wink & Nod at the end of the month, taking over from chef Gita Kantrow, who has been at Wink & Nod since August 1, serving up contemporary Nepalese cuisine with touches of Indian, Tibetan, and Western influence.

Brodsky will start at Wink & Nod on January 30, unveiling dishes from the forthcoming Little Owl Tavern, which will highlight coastal Italian cuisine. An exact location and specific details about the soon-to-come restaurant have not been revealed, but this will provide Brodsky an opportunity to offer Boston a taste of what’s to come, including burrata, crudo, pasta dishes, grilled branzino, and a handful of desserts. The Boston Nightlife Ventures website describes Little Owl Tavern as “an Italian eatery” that “pulls from the history of Siena’s provincial racing competition and the pageantry that surrounds it.”

The Little Owl Tavern residency will run through March 20, at which point Pratiwi and Gelling will move in with a menu of Indonesian dishes.

“We are so grateful to the team at Boston Nightlife Ventures and Wink & Nod for the opportunity. We can't wait to try out some new and exciting dishes, and to introduce Indonesian cuisine to a whole new audience,” Pratiwi said in an email newsletter.

Kaki Lima most recently popped up at KO Pies in East Boston with items like kentang-udang balado, a spicy shrimp dish, and dadar gulung, or coconut-filled pandan crepes.

“Our mission is to popularize Indonesian cuisine in America,” Gelling said in the newsletter. “Our dream is for Indonesian restaurants to be as ubiquitous in the States as Thai or Italian restaurants. We want Rendang, Soto and Sambal to be as commonplace as Pad Thai, Pho and Kimchi. The residency at Wink & Nod is the next step toward this goal. And it might be the final step before we open our permanent location in the Boston area.”

Keep an eye out for the launch of Little Owl Tavern at Wink & Nod on January 30 and Kaki Lima at the end of March.

• Kaki Lima Takes Over at Wink & Nod This Spring [BM]
• Boston Nightlife Ventures Hunts for Next Wink & Nod Culinary Team [EBOS]