Southern barbecue. Classic French. Tacos. Rare is the chef who can excel at such a variety of styles without losing his point of view, but chef Aaron Willis has managed to do just that.
Willis is the skilled hands behind—and one of the masterminds of—the pop-up dinner series at The Kitchen by Delicatus, the sibling space of Delicatus, the popular deli in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square district. This summer, Willis and owners Derek Shankland and Mike Klotz will roll out three dinners centered around casual meals like barbecue, tacos and street food.
The Kitchen space came about in 2013, three years after Delicatus was born. The group wanted to branch out beyond sandwiches, but their deli concept was too popular to move away from, even just for a few nights a month. “Our mainstay was to take care of the customers that were walking through the door,” says Shankland. When a space with exposed brick and 20-foot ceilings a few doors down became available, they jumped at the opportunity.
Shankland and Klotz decided to call their new venture The Kitchen, paying homage to the two and a half years the pair spent planning their business in Shankland’s kitchen. “We joked, ‘We should just call this thing the damn Kitchen,’” he recalls.
They put it to use as an event space, winery and commissary kitchen. Front and center would be pop-ups by Willis. “It allows us to constantly experiment and keep it fresh,” Shankland says.
For Willis, adding a diversity of themed dinners to his repertoire was right up his alley. “I’ve always tried to find things in my life that speak to me and are full of adventure,” he says. “The creativity of the dinners appealed to me. My point of view is very eclectic and takes into consideration every meal in itself. I like to cook so many different styles of food, and this way, each meal is approached differently. There’s a spontaneity to it that is appealing. As a Gemini, I love it.”
Though most of the dinners are white table cloth forays into fine dining (kept relatively low-priced and approachable) the summer series will dress things down. The dinners are open to diners of all ages, rather than restricted to a 21 and over crowd. And the group will open up their Post Alley patio behind The Kitchen for al fresco dining.
The series follows a street food theme, inspired by the trio’s world travels. “We wanted to tap into the essence of traveling and exploring food. We have some amazing recipes I’m excited about,” Willis says. It kicked off with an early barbecue and beer dinner on June 13 and the next is a taqueria night on July 25. A European street food dinner on August 22 wraps up the series. For more information on the dinners and to buy tickets, visit Brown Paper Tickets.
