Lefty’s Alley and Eats selects restaurant management

Slated to open late 2016, the Lefty’s Alley & Eats management team, led by principal owners DJ Hill and Chad Moore, has announced that La Vida Hospitality group will manage the ‘eats’ portion of the business.

“We are pleased to announce two La Vida standouts, Tom Kramer and Peter Good III, will elevate the Lefty’s food game,” explains Hill. “We know they will infuse our dining options with the same creativity they used to build their own careers.”

Lefty’s dining area will have a 100-seat capacity. The menu will include an assortment of creative and fun appetizers, gourmet brick oven pizzas and sandwiches, and a custom-developed menu for both bistro and lane-side dining.

Led by Josh Grapski, graduate of Cornell and The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, La Vida Hospitality Group is an innovative local culinary enterprise that also includes Fork + Flask at Nage, Big Chill Surf Cantina, the Taco Reho Truck, and Crooked Hammock Restaurant & Brewery.

Kramer’s passion for cooking took him through the full range of restaurant work, from dishwasher to fry cook to grill, and from manager at our local Applebee’s to Rehoboth’s Rams Head Tavern and then the Frogg Pond. Experience Kramer gained in local restaurants gave him the courage to apply at Dover Downs, where he moved quickly up the ranks from overnight grill cook to sous chef.

After working on catering events with Nage, Kramer set his sights on working in their kitchen. His tenacity paid off. “Tom has been a key member of La Vida Hospitality Group,” said Grapski. “His depth in this business enables him to work as sous chef, catering chef, and everywhere in between. His enthusiasm is a great fit for the Lefty’s Alley and Eats concept.”

Good joins Lefty’s Alley and Eats from a decade of tenure also at La Vida. He started as a busser and transitions to Lefty’s from his most recent role as manager of Nage, now Fork + Flask at Nage. He also worked at Root Gourmet and The Big Chill Surf Cantina.

Good brings Lefty’s culinary and customer service knowledge from both front- and back-of-house restaurant experiences, from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. While attending Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., Good studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland, where he managed the bar at the Chapati Grill in Dublin. He graduated with a Masters Degree in 2011.

Good has taken an active role in local Sussex County organizations, including American Legion Post 5 and as the historian officer for the Sons of the American Legion.

An avid billiards player and competitive shooter, Good said Lefty’s bowling lanes are a secondary draw for him.

“You can be sure I’ll apply the same passion to the entertainment side of the Lefty’s house as I will to the food and beverage side,” he said. “I'm committed to making the entire customer experience one to remember.”