PUBLIC Kitchen & Bar

The plates land in waves at PUBLIC Kitchen & Bar — Smoked Salmon Rosti or warm olives first, Patatas Bravas mid-table, then scallops and gnocchi once the early snacks are cleared. That staggered shared-plate format is the kitchen's standard ordering shape. Ryan Murphy and Carly Blasutti opened PUBLIC on Lancaster Street in 2013, moved to a larger Victoria Street North address in late 2017, and have kept the tapas spine across both addresses. Downtown Kitchener has filled in around it since.

The opening bite of choice is the Smoked Salmon Rosti — a crisp potato base under cool cream cheese mousse, smoked salmon, and pickled onion, the small composed plate the kitchen would put forward as its hello. Next comes the Barcelona Style Patatas Bravas, the Spanish anchor: fried potato under mayo and a spicy tomato sauce, a dish that has stayed on the menu through every iteration. Pan Seared East Coast Scallops arrive over fingerlings, market beans, and a pan sauce — the plate that slows the table down between snacks and richer dishes. Gnocchi "Grandma Walters Style" brings house-cured bacon, caramelized onion, cheddar, sour cream, and a malt gastrique into one bowl. Warm olives, grilled focaccia, and fresh shucked oysters round out the first-round slots when the table is still settling in. Out of the bar, Gord's Burgers runs a parallel line — Gord's Double with special sauce, lettuce, onion, and pickles, takeout-ready or eaten on a stool while the tapas tables turn around it.

What holds the menu together is a Spanish tapas frame with Italian and French ideas pulled in around the edges — Patatas Bravas alongside fresh pasta and pork rillettes, scallops next to gnocchi. The dining room does its share: low lighting, retro fittings, custom playlists. The drinks list runs in the same lane — cocktails out front, old-world wine sized to small-plate ordering, and Ontario craft beer for tables that prefer pints. Cocktails turn over with the menu; the bar program runs in conversation with the kitchen rather than around it. The patio extends the dining room when the season allows it.

The visit calendar is part of how PUBLIC works. Happy Hour runs Tuesday through Saturday from four to six, and Tuesday opens that window from open to close. Wednesday is Oyster Night, open to close while supplies last. Steak Club lands on Tuesdays alongside the expanded Happy Hour for tables that want a heavier plate. On Friday and Saturday the late-night menu picks up after the standard dinner hour — oysters, small plates, and Gord's Burgers carrying the back end of the evening. Parties over six get a different track — a call to the restaurant rather than an online booking, with a per-person group menu replacing the open tapas list. The bar handles solo visits and quick stops, with seats turned toward the Gord's line as much as the dining room. Sunday PUBLIC is closed; Monday runs a shorter five-to-nine window.

Ten years past the Lancaster Street opening, the rhythm has held. Spanish tapas was a rarity in Waterloo Region when Murphy and Blasutti put the format up in 2013; it isn't now, and PUBLIC has spent the intervening years sharpening rather than expanding. The Victoria Street North move in late 2017 gave the format more capacity to run, but the dish list and the ordering pattern carried over largely intact. Murphy still runs the kitchen, Blasutti still runs the dining room, and the partnership behind the format has held since the first menu. Chef-led Crush dinners and Part Italian programming keep the kitchen working outside the standard list, but the everyday move is what it was on opening night: shared plates, staggered service, and a table that orders in waves rather than choosing one entree each.