Hello! Stephanie here. I’m the owner of the world’s cutest little grocery shop called Kitchen & Market. Have you had a chance to stop by since we opened our second location on the Island this fall? It’s a tiny replica of our Pike Place Market flagship, and we’ve been thrilled to have been embraced by the neighborhood so quickly! I can’t wait to pop into these pages with great seasonal ideas for cooking at home and entertaining!
Long before I created my dream grocery store, I spent a career in private-label grocery building programs for national retailers, where days were long and “what’s for dinner?” was a dreaded question–and typically, an afterthought.
My big idea for a highly curated, petite European-style market with restaurant-quality meal kits bubbled up around 2016, but it wasn’t until the world fell into the throes of COVID that momentum really took hold. With my daughter, Hannah (in her senior year at MIHS!), began testing out meal kits as part of area nonprofit fundraisers, and the recipes, culled from our family’s tried-and-true favorites, were a hit.
I really locked into the idea that shopping should be pleasant and focused, with a simplified but-elevated product mix and meal kits versatile enough to scale or repurpose into great second (even third!) meals. I often jokingly describe my store concept as “If Dean & Deluca and Trader Joe’s made a Blue Apron baby.” That line right there has really resonated with the greater Seattle community. And so far our stores have helped make people, like me, feel successful at balancing our everyday busy lives by doing this one thing that makes everyone feel good: putting a delicious meal on the table!
There are a couple of unique features that have made every season at our store really fun for our team to dream up and for our customers to enjoy! First, we hope to bring the flavors of Pike Place Market out to our neighborhood stores by stocking hard-to-find makers from the market like Sunny Honey, Cobb’s Popcorn, and Market Spice in addition to Seattle favorites like Ellenos Yogurt, Rachel’s Ginger Beer, and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream.
And then we really roll up our sleeves in the kitchen to collaborate with some of our favorite local chefs and personalities! Chef Ethan Stowell has been a huge supporter of our business since the beginning and we’re proud to be the exclusive retailer of his Ethan Stowell at Home freshly made pastas and the ESR wine collection that previously you could only find in his restaurants. Back in the fall he even shared his top-secret Bolognese sauce recipe for a hearty rigatoni meal kit collaboration that was one of our top-selling meal kits ever! In fact, it was such a success that you can still pick up a jar of Tavolàta’s Bolognese with his gorgeous pasta for dinner tonight. Just hop on over to our website to find the complete recipe to recreate the meal kit even though it’s hopped off the seasonal menu!
We are so excited about our latest meal kit collaboration because it’s not only in partnership with a best-selling Seattle author, but he’s a world-renowned Pike Place Market shopkeeper! Ted Kennedy Watson of the Watson Kennedy home stores, lifestyle blog, and books “Style and Simplicity” and most recent “Guide to Stylish Entertaining.”
Ted’s Meyer Lemon Chicken with Olives meal kit is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate and is a perfect embodiment of a Kitchen & Market meal: it celebrates fresh, seasonal flavors, is easy to prepare, and is just as perfect for a weeknight family dinner as it is for entertaining company! Ted visited us in our Pike Place kitchen to cook the kit and let me tell you, it was, in Ted’s words, “divine!” (sipping some morning Sauvignon Blanc that went into the pan sauce didn’t hurt either!).
This collaboration is also near and dear to all of our hearts because a portion of the proceeds will be donated to our friends at Seattle Humane in memory of Ted’s beloved shop dog, Bailey.
Keep your eyes out in-store and on our social (we’re @kitchenandmarket) to hear about other upcoming meal kit collaborations with some of our favorite Seattle chef’s and restaurateurs – there is so much more to come!
You can find this meal kit and the rest of our seasonal menu on our website for home delivery, kitchenandmarket.com, or in our stores on Mercer Island (in Tabit Village Square at 7635 SE 27th Street, Mercer Island) and Pike Place Market (1926 Pike Place, Seattle), and in Medina at the Green Store (coming soon!).
