HOW HAVE YOU BEEN INCORPORATING THIS CONCEPT INTO YOUR DESIGNS?
Morris: When working on the floorplans for a brand, we always look to create an additional connection … a traditional standing coffee bar, or a private counter for four that is hidden at the end. One of our most recent examples is Verde, a new fast-casual concept by chef Gonzalo Gout, in Flatiron, NYC, where culinary techniques are applied to fresh and local ingredients. The kitchen is half open – all the prep is done in a back kitchen that is divided by a glass fridge wall from the front kitchen, where the mise en place and final plating are visible to the public. Verde features a counter service for lunch, and an easy-going downtown atmosphere for a dinner service at night, meant to bring a less corporate dining experience but still offer refined dishes. Warm pink, blue and green tones are mixed together with high-end materials like marbles, oak and copper to reflect the high quality of the salads in a casual setting. We also inserted details that highlight imperfection such as the reuse of marble in the floorboards. Starr: We used it in Zoe’s Kitchen, a successful chain of healthy Mediterranean quick-serve restaurants featuring meals freshly made in-house, daily. Our newest project, Bellagreen (literally meaning ‘beautiful world’) in Houston, is a fast-casual concept featuring an open kitchen, chef-inspired environment that’s inexpensive and convenient. Sustainability is a core value, and the menu is created around people with dietary restrictions, but with no compromise on flavor or taste. There’s high-protein ‘hempanadas’, honey fried goat cheese arugula salad and quinoa mac and cheese. The entire hot prep line is on display, and customers see the natural ingredients, the people cooking their food, and how everything is made to order. DeBoer: Open or display kitchens have popped up across the world in venues from street food to fine dining. We’ve been designing and building open-style kitchens of one form or another since the late ‘90s.
DeBoer: Yes, the only issues for open kitchens include structural limitations, hooding/ extraction requirements and building code limitations for some structures.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO ADAPT THIS DESIGN TO AN EXISTING SPACE?
Starr: Yes, but certain factors must be considered. To meet food health department regulations, a kitchen must be well lit, much brighter than the dining area, and easily cleanable. It can be a bit tricky to make it look good and still comply with regulations. The least expensive strategy would involve fiberglass reinforced plastic on the walls, but this certainly does not communicate healthy and sustainable! Put a lot of thought into how to present the cooking process. A retrofit might make it difficult to bring everything out front, but if you feature specific hero products, and one or two elements of the process, it’s more possible to achieve. For instance, maybe you have a salad tossing station, but all the ingredients are assembled and prepared in back. Consider what Danny Meyer did in Gramercy Tavern – the kitchen is hidden except for the grill, and only the small plate specialty items are cooked on it. Or the Original ChopShop in Phoenix, Ariz., where the veggies are out in full display on white marble islands and counters, but the hardcore cooking is done in back. The customer still feels like everything is made to order, because they see their juice and protein shake made that way. n
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