My expectations soared and my stomach rumbled the first time I walked through the door at 5:10 p.m. on a Wednesday.
Although Echo Restaurant in south Fort Myers opened just 10 minutes prior, a handful of booths and tables were already occupied.
It was a good sign.
An even better one was Ryan Kida, in continuous motion throughout his new venture.
“I was just chilling, looking for my next move,” said the popular chef, who built an extremely loyal (and well-deserved) following over a decade with Yabo, a local foodie mecca in Fort Myers from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s.
“One day, he texted me,” Krissy Giltner, an owner of Poppy’s Pizza for 16 years, added. “I had been doing (Poppy’s) alone for a while and was looking for a change.”
“So why not do something cool together?” Kida said as he drifted by. “Change it up.”
On June 12, they did exactly that, opening Echo in Poppy’s space in Miners Plaza off Old McGregor Boulevard.
“I’m lucky to be in this situation,” Kida said. “It was the right time, the right place. Everything works out if you keep trying.
“We did the same thing in 2017. But this time, I’m part of it. I’m cooking for myself now (as a co-owner) and not anyone else.”
And that’s the best news of all.
“Ryan?” Enrico Aguila, aka Uncle Rico, said recently. “He’s one of the best chefs in Southwest Florida. When we worked together (during Kida’s first stint at Poppy’s), it was so much fun.”
After his most recent stint at Sunshine Seafood on Captiva, Yabo fans are happy he’s back in Fort Myers, too.
“Every day since we opened, there have been former Yabo customers coming in,” Kida said. “It’s been unbelievable.”
Longtime favorites on the menu
They’re coming for his creamy dreamy asiago gnocchi (with sauces we unashamedly sopped up) and hearty multi-layered lasagna with Bolognese and parmesan cream. And the customer favorite fiocchetti (a white truffle ricotta cheese-stuffed pasta) and smashburgers with caramelized onions, pickles and special sauce.
Then there’s the silky shrimp bisque with puff pastry crust and his bone-in, pan-seared chop (with a raspberry chipotle demi-glace option we loved) and fresh-cut fries cooked in beef tallow. We’ve been daydreaming about both for weeks now.
“Echo is pasta, pizza, steak,” Kida said. “But it could be any light seafood, too. I don’t even know. This is our first menu. We put it out there to get open. We’re going to change it up pretty soon.”
Tastes of Poppy’s Pizza remains
Giltner’s side of the menu, for now, is no slouch either, with pizza, wrapped meatballs, salads and more.
That pizza, with homemade dough and sauce, is classic thin New York-style Poppy’s.
The hatch and honey pie — featuring New Mexican hot hatch chili peppers, ham, roasted garlic, olive oil, fresh mozzarella and Giltner’s honey garlic drizzle, which she’s perfected over 16 years — is a bestseller, and it should be.
The only difference Poppy’s pizza before and now is that customers are dining in more.
“After Covid, we did way more takeout,” Giltner said. “I didn’t need this much space. It was tough.”
With Kida in the mix, diners are staying put.
Echo is an inviting black and gray space with splashes of color throughout. Booths are comfortable, tables are well-spaced and the bar serves as a focal and gathering point. The latter separates the main dining room from another space currently used for overflow seating on busy nights. Live music will eventually fill that space too — a baby grand sits at the ready.
But it’s the food that brings the space to life and will continue to do so.
The 2-month-old restaurant is still finding its footing, evolving and growing.
“The next menu could be finer dining,” Kida said. “There’s really no rhyme or reason to what it could be. We’ll cultivate it and watch it work.
“Echo is what we have both done before. This is what we did and what we’ve put out there. Now we’re back. It’s pizza and my food coming together, coming back. It’s an echo of it all.”
And that’s music to our ears.
Echo, 15501 Old McGregor Blvd., Unit 8, Fort Myers; open 5-9 p.m. (ish) Monday to Saturday (lunch is coming — stay tuned); beer and wine only for now; (239) 689-5660; find Yabo on Facebook
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: New gem of a restaurant in south Fort Myers opens with echoes of the past
Reporting by Robyn George, Fort Myers News-Press / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
