OtherFoods Kitchen now has a second location. It’s a 2,500-square-foot building at 394 North Watkins Street at the corner of Overton Park Avenue in the Crosstown area. Many people know it as the site of the old Lupe & Bea’s Texican Restaurant.
For now, people can enjoy the vegan cuisine using all mushrooms made at Shroomlicious, a grab-and-go restaurant owned by Daishu McGriff, which is open Wednesdays through Sundays.
Husband and wife Steve Cantor and Karen Lebovitz are partners in both OtherFoods Kitchen locations. They also own Otherlands Coffee Bar in Midtown.
Like the new location, the original OtherFoods Kitchen is a shared, commercial Department of Agriculture-certified kitchen. The first location at 1249 Heistan Place off Bellevue Boulevard near Lamar Avenue opened about five years ago. It began as a place for Cantor and Lebovitz to make Benefizz, a probiotic beverage developed by Cantor. He came up with the low-sugar drink recipe in the kitchen at Otherlands Coffee Bar.
“We decided a long time ago — like three years ago — we needed another location. We didn’t know why, exactly. Then, by happenstance, this location became the obvious right choice.”
In addition to being roomy, the second location was perfect for three reasons: “Retail. And it’s a neighborhood. And Crosstown.
“You can throw a rock from this place to the Crosstown Concourse. The Crosstown Concourse gives it a high profile. The original OtherFoods Kitchen location is not retail,” Cantor says. “It’s a decent destination behind Annesdale-Snowden, but it’s not like people drive down this street.”
That location, which is open 24 hours a day, houses 30 “groups,” which can range from two to 10 people. “It’s a huge place. We can have groups operating in here at one time. No problem.”
The new location, which is easier to get to, will be “more for retail. For doing grab-and-go,” Cantor says, adding, “We really only want to have one group cooking at a time. There can be prepping and packaging.”
When Shroomlicious isn’t open for business, that area, which includes a stove, a grill, an oven, and a fryer, can be used by others.
“We could use another kitchen just like the first kitchen just to prep, cook, and package.”
And, he says, “We’re going to add more things as we go. More equipment. If the next group is a baker, let’s say, then we’ll need at least one or two more ovens, another mixer, and probably three prep tables.”
People will be able to make as well as sell their fare at the new space. The new kitchen will feature “not just grab-and-go from groups that are there, but also from the other kitchen.”
It will have “a cooler with food in it just like Otherlands. Where you walk up to a cooler that has drinks and packaged food and you pick it up and take it with you.”
Also, he says, customers will be able to call, place their order, and come to the Crosstown location to pick it up 15 minutes later.
The new location doesn’t have indoor seating for customers, but they “can sit out on the deck.”
They also bought the house next door, Cantor says. “That allows us to expand quite a bit. Double the size of the place, at least.”
Cantor already is thinking about a third OtherFoods Kitchen location. “The third location could be Uptown, could be out East, could be Downtown. It’s whatever might make sense for another retail place for grab-and-go.”
Those who want to check out the new space can attend a Shroomlicious holiday party that begins at 6 p.m. on December 22nd, says McGriff. Fare slated for the $25-per-person ticketed event include “hot wings, Phillys, tacos, and things like that,” McGriff says.
In addition to kitchen equipment, a spiffy Baldwin spinet piano was left behind by former tenants at the new OtherFoods Kitchen. Cantor says the piano is staying.
