Pizza Brain, the beloved Fishtown eatery famous for “pizza-fying” any cuisine, closed its doors last year. Now, a new venture is honoring its legacy.
Chef Joe Hunter, one of Pizza Brain’s original partners, will open Cerveau—French for “brain”—this fall at 990 Spring Garden St.
As Pizza Brain was winding down, a real estate agent introduced the team to the Callowhill location, sparking the idea for his next chapter.
“We looked at it and we were like, ‘Wow! We could just do everything here.’ There were fryers and grills, all the stuff that we couldn’t do at Pizza Brain,” Hunter told What Now Philadelphia.
He continued, “We’re the grown-up, surrealist cousin to Fishtown’s cult favorite pizza shop–a psychedelic, Mediterranean cicchetteria meets contemporary pizza,”
The renowned chef said they aim to bring Pizza Brain’s spirit of creativity into Cerveau.
“It’s going to be a full restaurant,” Hunter said. “The inside looks kind of like the yellow submarine is having a pizza party with some otherworldly people in it like Bebop and Rocksteady from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other characters that look fun and squirrely. We turned the big support columns throughout the space into looking like lava lamps.”
Artist Brian Langan created all the artwork inside the new restaurant.
“I think adults and children will be able to both get something out of this on different levels because it’s playful,” Hunter said. “I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
Hunter said the menu will reflect the restaurant’s aesthetic, featuring pizza, pasta and an array of small plates. He plans to spotlight the small plates with rotating sliders and kebabs.
“Everyone knows sliders, everyone knows kebabs but how we do that, there’s so much freedom in that to make all kinds of crazy stuff,” he said. “I’m excited to show people normal things chefed up.”
Cerveau will open as a dinner-only spot, but Hunter envisions it evolving into an all-day cafe where guests might stop in multiple times a day. He plans to add lunch service first, then breakfast, offering lighter options for each meal.
Hunter also aims to engage the community through cooking classes, pizza and pasta workshops, trivia nights and karaoke.
“I just want this place to be the return of the third space. We really need that. That’s why I want it to be all day. I just want people to know they can go down to Cerveau and meet people,” he said.
While Hunter has not announced an official opening date, he hopes to debut Cerveau in late September or early October.
