Five years ago, he was a lawyer. Now he’s opening his eighth restaurant, and he hasn’t quit his day job.

In 2020, Dallas litigator Kevin Kelley had a 10,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of his building that had been vacant for a year.

With the pandemic in full swing and no takers, Kelley built it out himself as a restaurant serving Southern comfort food and modern cocktails in upscale, TikTok-able environs.

“People came, they enjoyed it, and …” Kelley paused. “I was in it.”

Five years later, Kelley is in Center City Philadelphia to open his sixth Kitchen & Kocktails by Kevin Kelley, after locations in Chicago, Washington, Charlotte, and Atlanta. The Philadelphia restaurant, with 300 seats including a 25-seat bar, 50-seat private dining room, and a staff of 125, opened Saturday on the ground floor of the Cambria Hotel, at 225 S. Broad St.

It’s joining a collection of vibey, out-of-town restaurants on South Broad, including Loch Bar, Steak 48, Leo at the Kimmel Center, and the forthcoming Mr. Edison at the Bellevue.

Kelley also owns Kanvas Sports & Social, a sports bar, and Club Vivo, a nightclub, both in Dallas. By this time next year, he said, he expects to open six more Kitchen & Kocktails, and he isn’t ruling out a restaurant in King of Prussia, where he first looked before leasing the former Del Frisco’s Grille at the Cambria.

And to think — Kelley said — “if somebody had been willing to pay a small lease, I might not have opened a restaurant. But you know, God is good.”

Early interest spiked after a social-media blitz last month drove people to OpenTable. In only the first 24 hours, the restaurant booked 2,840 reservations, Kelley said.

Customers step into the sleek, high-ceilinged reception area, decorated with greenery, next to a wine tower. Staff greets everyone with a “welcome home,” Kelley said. The jade blue onyx marble bar is front and center next to an open kitchen. At a preview party recently, influencers deftly balanced their cell cameras and LED lights while climbing the stairs to the mezzanine through a gauntlet of red roses. Kelley also hosted nonprofit groups, including Mothers in Charge, which supports families who have lost children to gun violence.

The menu includes shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, jerk lamb chops, fried catfish, and vegan bowls, served at lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. The average dinner check, Kelley said, is about $75, including a drink or two. Even with white tablecloths, Kelley insisted that the restaurant is not fine dining: “I want a restaurant that everyone can dine in. Be the best of yourself, dress nice, bring your lady, but we want to be affordable for everyone.”

Kelley has not given up his legal work. From Philadelphia this week, he said, he logged into a Zoom hearing to close out a multimillion-dollar settlement for clients in Texas. “But hospitality is my passion and the future,” he said, adding that he sees it as an extension of his legal work. “I’ve learned that people need to be cared for,” he said. “They need to be treated with respect. There is power in serving people.”

Kelley, 48 — who started his law firm at age 26 and still owns 100% of his companies — speaks often about Black entrepreneurship and ownership. “I believe diversity is extraordinary,” he said. “In order for us to learn from other cultures and for other cultures to learn from us, there have to be Black entrepreneurs.” His wife, Deseri, founded a company that designs luxury handbags.

His company’s leadership is intentionally diverse. “My restaurant looks like I would want America to look like — where everybody’s represented,” he said. “My CFO is a Black female. My director of operations is a white male. I want to make sure that I give everybody an opportunity — Black, white, brown — because I think everybody should give Black people an opportunity as well,” he said. “I don’t want to be a Black man who has power that doesn’t give other people a chance.”

The Kitchen & Kocktails idea came to him from 2014 to 2019 as he shuttled between Texas and Spain while his sons played soccer at elite youth academies in Europe.

“I ate a lot of tapas, a lot of pan con tomate, and jamón, but I missed Southern food: fried chicken, blackened shrimp,” he said. “I said, ‘When I come back to America full time, I’m going to open my own restaurant so that I can enjoy what I miss.’”

Kevin II is now a 20-year-old junior and Kristian is a 19-year-old sophomore, both student-athletes at Princeton University. “They played at Cornell University [in Ithaca, N.Y.] on Saturday, won that game [2-0, with one goal by Kristian], drove back that night with their team, and then on Sunday they came to the restaurant and worked a full day,” Kelley said. “Afterward, they rode back to Princeton to get back to their schoolwork.”

Kelley’s first restaurant opened in August 2020 as True Kitchen & Kocktails, but he dropped the “True” because of what he called a trademark concern. He said his team suggested that he add his own name “because they believe in my sacrifice and my investment in them.”

Kelley said his name on the shingle represents accountability. “I take great pride in that,” he said. “As long as I have my ownership, everything is my responsibility, good and bad.”

Kitchen & Kocktails by Kevin Kelley, 225 S. Broad, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Brunch: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekends.