Good Time Kitchen
I remember this glorious time around, oh, 2017, where it felt like pop-up dinners were happening left and right. Everyone had a pop up dinner. I’m sure at the time I contemplated some stupid, ill-fated idea, too. It probably involved nachos. If I’m being honest…most of them just weren’t that good, and that was not reflection of the chef’s talent (most of the time). No one is going to make a delicious 4-course dinner for 40 people cooking out of a room that has literally no equipment. I’ve watched chefs cook in back alleys, garages, abandoned buildings. After getting a cold plate of food for the umpteenth time, I just gave up. I stopped popping up.
Here we are, years later. I’m older and, some would say, dumber. I haven’t blogged in years. I just wrapped a hot dog in American cheese, wrapped that in a tortilla, and microwaved it. That was my dinner. That’s where I’m at.
Anyway, pop ups. They’re back, baby. And this time, they’re (mostly) being cooked at places with kitchens. What a revelation. This article is about Good Time Kitchen, which comes from Cat Willey and Wil Brawley. Those of you who have spent time at the bars of The Lucky Accomplice or Billie Jean likely know Wil: covered in tattoos, full of wit and banter. He’s well known for expounding loquaciously with his considerable vocabulary. He also once made a curdled milk drink for me during a photoshoot, because he doesn’t respect my art.
Cat has been a long time server at Peacemaker, and she is low-key one of the best pasta makers in St. Louis. She’s unequivocally a badass.
If you followed Wil or Cat on Instagram before October 2022, you would have seen that they were cooking literal feasts every night. Work nights. Who does that? Who makes fresh pasta for dinner multiple times a week?
At some point in late 2022, I finally got the call I’d been waiting on from Wil: “Spency, bro, we’re gonna do a pop up. It’s called Good Time Kitchen. Wanna come take some pics at the house and eat some caviar?” Obviously, because it was Wil, this quote has been severely shortened for brevity’s sake.
See below for the caviar I was promised and given:
I knew their food was probably good, but I had my doubts. Once again, Wil served me a curdled milk cocktail. As you can infer from the decision I made to write about this, the food was beyond good—it was delicious, playful, and meticulously thought out.
They’ve since done two pop-up series: one at Grand Spirits, one at 4Hands Downtown.
I won’t lie to you, like I didn’t lie to them: when I walked into the “kitchen” they had at Grand Spirits, I thought they were fucked. There was no kitchen. They brought in some campfire stoves and a countertop oven, all placed on top of some plastic folding tables. There wasn’t really space to plate. Each ‘station’ was tiny. This was their first dinner of this scale ever. Yet…somehow, they prevailed, and not once did they yell, fight, or cry in the alley behind the bar. I would probably turned into Gordon Ramsay, minus the talent, height, and money.
The first menu was as follows:
Tart: white soy cured ikura, egg, creme, pickled shallot
Arancini: black garlic, yolk, harissa, san Marzano tomato, microgreens
Hokkaido milk bun: togarashi, miso, finger lime compound butter
Lobster salad: yuzu kosho kewpie mayo, wagyu belly, cashew, smoked tallow
Tortellini: oyster mushroom, taleggio, roasted garlic, saffron, pine nut, aleppo
Sorbet: pear, pomegranate, tawny port, marsala custard, granola, nocino
Bread pudding: hazelnut, tahini whip, pepita and sesame brittle
Nothing like a 7 course tasting menu for your first ever public-facing dinner.
It was goddamn killer. Look at the dishes below. Behold them.
The second pop-up series was, quite possibly, made just for me. I am easily manipulated with food, and they both know it.
Castelvetrano Olive Fritti: gochugaru, salted plum sour cream, scallion cream cheese
Black Sesame Korokke Salad: Thai basil pesto, black vinegar, fennel, apple, pickled pepper slaw
Mapo Cannellini Dip: five spice, whipped ricotta, Sichuan pepper, scallion, fry bread
Yuzu Egg Salad: milk bread, pickled cucumber, cashew, chili, white soy king salmon roe
Crab & Ricotta Doppio Ravioli: Chile butter, furikake breadcrumbs, chive
Tiramisu: dry vermouth, earl grey, strawberry mandarin coulis
Ice cream: use, coconut, oreo
It, too, was quite awesome.
I don’t really have anything else to say or pitch to you. There are no upcoming Good Time Kitchen pop ups—but, inevitably, when one does appear: go.