Where breakfast and brunch meet family and fun!

My wife Stacy Sullivan has been pushing for years, “Kevin you should open a restaurant.” I was sure I didn't want to. Until I did.

 

When viewing the space that is Kitchen Laurel there was one thing that immediately hit me. “This place is small.” For a while it was my only thought. “It's too small!”  “How would you do it?” “This will be the base of everything moving forward.” 

 

Location. Being a restaurant already. And Cooper Young made me continue to think about it. Low risk ish. In a neighborhood that I know, personally and that I know supports its own. I was officially on the fence. 

 

Then the way  life works, I remembered a conversation with my cousin. “Mane, the house in the mound was pretty awesome. All the family was there. Grandma’s spaghetti. That lasagna my uncle would bring from D Canale. That I thought forever was Deacon Alley. That's another story though. The aha moment! At 857 Laurel size didn't matter. Love, food, and family did. So at 857 Laurel size doesn't matter, the people will. My staff and my guests. Black “Cheers” is how I imagined it. Sharing in your successes and failures. I want you to think of us when life happens.

 

My grandmother made that her legacy. Buying the house at 857 Laurel was the last big thing she did before she passed. She passed in that house doing what she loved, which was cooking, for my 3rd birthday which is, you guessed it,  another story. 857 Laurel is my legacy. Well it was until someone suggested that maybe a real address that wasn't my address wasn't a great idea for a name. Okay, Laurel Kitchen. A nod to a new concept and the old one you know and love, Ki Kitchen. Then someone printed it wrong. Chef Kevin Sullivan of Kitchen Laurel. I thought that's it. That flows. It means something to me. It's something we can build around. 

 

Every dish, chair, picture,and employee is another story. Stacy Sullivan, my better half, had a vision and pulled me along. She placed phone calls and just generally kept me motivated. She is easily the biggest reason there was a door to open. Charcuterie by Paradox, a place that encouraged me to play with my food. The pork for the charcuterie is sourced from Como, Mississippi. My dad was from Como. The asian flair, an obvious nod to more than two decades at Tsunami with Chef Ben Smith. The Cake Roll, obviously a shout out to my sushi sensei Chef Marisa Baggett and was an idea from the head and heart of that lovely wife and her cousin Leslie. Fresh bread, Donnny Graham the man that lit the flame of my passion always spoke fondly of his baking days. And so many more stories. So come in and chat with us and learn more about me, my family and my passion.