From The Kitchen, With Love

One of the Mother City’s most iconic deli-restaurants, beloved by both locals and a certain US First Lady, has been forced to close its doors for good. Owner Karen Dudley recalls the joy, spirit of connection and the unforgettable food that made The Kitchen a home from home

- Karen Dudley

When you’ve been pouring your heart and soul into the day-to-day urgencies of running a business (“The cold room’s down!”; “We need more coriander, Mama!”) you don’t realise how it has evolved into something other than what you’d expected. In 2009, we moved my catering company from my home to a burnt-out fish-and-chip shop on the Main Road in Woodstock. Ten years later, I realised we’d become a restaurant that also did catering.

The Kitchen buzzed. Every day was a performance, peaking with the lunchtime crush. People would line up for the salads and honey-mustard sausages, for grilled chicken, falafel and more. In summer, we needed four to five servers to manage the making of Love Sandwiches and to dish salad plates and boxes.