In December 2021, partners from Defined Hospitality bought an abandoned building in East Kensington with a 140-year-history that includes once being part of the Weisbrod & Hess Brewery.

Two-and-a-half years later in June 2024, the building is expected to be reopened as Picnic, a new restaurant and wine shop, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Picnic’s opening will add to the East Kensington neighborhood, which has seen nearly a dozen new bars and restaurants in the nearby area off of Frankford Avenue open in the last decade.

“The question was, ‘Can we make something great here that we would be passionate about?’” And the answer is yes” said Greg Root of Defined Hospitality.

Seating at Picnic will be available for at least 225 people on a courtyard-like main floor, as well as on a new mezzanine.

Though Picnic is indoors, Root said, “we also designed it to bring in some ‘outside’ elements.”

This includes plantings and custom street lamps. 

The signature dish at Picnic will be rotisserie chicken made in a high-tech Josper wood-fired oven. Sliced meats and cheeses, sandwiches, small plates, and East Coast oysters will make up the remainder of the menu.

The wine list includes 75 low-intervention labels, a few cocktails, and a full zero-proof program. 

Read more about Picnic and the history behind the building housing it at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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