The Advocacy Pop-Up at Bruto
BY ANNIE BLOJ
PHOTOGRAPHED BY ESTHER LEE LEACH
Throughout the past few months, like many independent restaurant owners, Chef Kelly Whitaker has pivoted. He has changed formats, created new dining spaces, and managed evolving guidelines. His downtown space, Bruto, which is in the mixed retail space Free Market, hadn't been open long before shutting down with everything else in March. After several attempts to revive the space through a pizza operation over the summer, he had the unique dilemma of having a kitchen space that was ready to use, supportive partners, and time to consider his next move. Downtown Denver had become incredibly quiet over the summer as offices delayed re-opening and residential construction remained in the development process. After the killing of George Floyd and the massive protests that started to form in the downtown area, Kelly wondered what role he could play in bringing the community together. He came up with an innovative concept that highlights specific social causes dear to local chefs by offering a space where the chefs could host pop-up lunch and dinner experiences, leading up to the Presidential election. Anchored by Chef Tajahi Cooke, who kicked off the pop-ups last month with his Ital menu, Bruto has been transformed into a force for change, conversation, and exploration.
Chef Tajahi Cooke (l) and Chef Kelly Whitaker (r)
AB: Chef Kelly Whitaker, how did the concept for creating these Bruto Pop-ups come together?
Kelly Whitaker: When George Floyd was killed, I was already reeling from some of the other social injustices at the time, and I thought about our place in all of this, as we're trying to survive and pivot for our restaurant's survival. Where are we at in the conversation? Is it save independent restaurants? Of course, I'm fighting for my business, and we have to save independent restaurants, but it put a lot of things in perspective for us. So, I was thinking a lot about the fact that I had space, a unique opportunity, and a privilege to be down here in Free Market in the Dairy Block. The landlord and my partners took chances on me and put up a lot of capital to build this restaurant. I have a sliding scale rent in this space that has been favorable during this time because if I'm not open, I'm not paying a percentage. So I realized that I have a small window of opportunity to turn this kitchen into something else for a bit. So I called Raan and Lindsay Parton, my partners at Free Market, and they were super supportive of the idea. They thought I was crazy because one of the things I wanted to do was put a barrier like the other shops down here around the kitchen. I felt that the ten-seat counter was more important than the 10,000 square feet I have for use here at Free Market. After that, it just was one thing after the next. I got in touch with my architect, Kevin Nguyen of Regular Architecture, and he took the glass walls from the now-closed Clare V shop and created the barrier that I had imagined around the restaurant.
“Positivity is the ultimate form of protest.”
So two and a half weeks later, we have this kitchen, and I look around at my friends on social media that are being vocal about what's going on, and Chef Tajahi Cooke was the first person who popped up. I met Taj when we were cooking at Steamboat Food and Wine Festival a few years ago. He was working at Biju's Little Curry Shop, which had just closed down. I'll admit I didn't know his story fully. He's from Kingston, Jamaica, and he started telling me all this stuff about Ital food, which was positive energy food. I've been to Jamaica, and I've traveled a lot through the Caribbean but I hadn’t come across Ital food. He told me all about it and I wanted to work with him because it was all based around this positivity. So Taj comes into our space and immediately says, "We're just going to drop the biggest Irie vibes, it's going to be so positive, and it's going to be all vegan." After that, I just gave myself to this process because immediately, I had nothing to do with his pop-up. I didn't do anything, didn't cook or do any prep. I just came in every day saying to see if I could be of any help. And he just made it his home, and that was the point.
AB: Chef Tajahi Cooke, how did you get started cooking?
Tajahi Cooke: Well, I started cooking with my grandmother, Betty. My grandmother came from Bangladesh, India, when she was around 14 to Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston is a rough place; it's not a bed of roses. It's not the sandy beaches and clear water; it's not the vacation spot everyone visits. My grandmother would tell me to peel some garlic next to her or pick some thyme or make chutneys to stay out of trouble, and stay off the streets when I got home from school. That's when I got into cooking, and later when I met my wife, we realized we had to survive. We were a young couple, we've been together for over a decade now, and we couldn't survive off of Taco Bell and McDonald's every single day. So the restaurant business gave us the ability to stay fed. Over time I improved my techniques, and my path has come down to chefs taking chances on me and me being stubborn. I've gotten to cook for so many amazing chefs. I've cooked for Daniel Asher, Biju Thomas, I've cooked for Brian Crow when we opened up Bacon Social House, and now Chef Kelly Whitaker. I've had a lot of great chefs take a lot of risks on me.
“Ital derives from the word livity, and livity means everything positive within you and me, and the palm trees in the restaurant.”
AB: What do you hope to convey through your Ital Dinner Series?
One of the Chef’s participating in the pop-up is Modou Jaiteh of Jacaranda Restaurant.
Tajahi Cooke: I just think it's time that we come to the table. Especially as chefs, it's no longer just about food, especially in this present time. We need to have a conversation; we need to have some difficult conversations. So that's why, when we started this concept, we started with my series. Ital means vital. Ital derives from the word livity, and livity means everything positive within you and me, and the palm trees in the restaurant. Every single thing that is positive, and that makes everything beautiful, that's livity. We wanted our series to start off with positivity. Kelly used a quote that stood out to me. He said, "Positivity is the ultimate form of protest." It's so true. How can you protest against anything that is positive? That is honestly the goal here. I know that there will be opinions, there's going to be a few people who aren't going to agree with what we're trying to do, but we need to bring the community together. If this is how I can get my message across, if this is the way we can bring people to the table to talk, over an amazing plate of food, what's better than that? Honestly, that's the route that we are on right now.
AB: Leigh Barnholt, you are the Experiences and Advocacy Coordinator for I.E. Hospitality group. What has this experience taught you? What do you hope your guests take away from this experience?
Leigh Barnholt: This experience has taught me that some incredible humans are working as chefs in our city and our industry. They have a story to tell both on and off the plate. I don't know that people truly realize what they are ordering when they go to a restaurant, the how and why it got there, and about the hands that made it. It has been so exciting to get to know the chefs and the narratives that lead to their dishes.
In one way, I hope that people leave with more knowledge of the type of food they are eating and the chefs that made it. I hope they learn more about where the ingredients are coming from (and how cool it is that at these dinners they are all coming from Colorado-we can all support local!) and have had a chance to have a conversation with the chefs. In another way, I hope that they leave with more questions than answers because their experiences sparked curiosity in them. The full understanding and knowledge can't stop at the door on the way out, or else we missed the mark.
UPCOMING POP-UPS: BOOK HERE
Chef Michael Diaz de Leon (formerly of Old Major)
Lunch and Dinner Taco Omakase
October 13, 20, 27, and 30
Issue: Immigration
Menu: Inspired by the cuisines of Mexican border towns
Chef Luke Miller, Dry Storage Bakery
Lunchtime Bake the Vote/Bakers Against Racism
October 10, 17, 24, 31
Issues: Black Lives Matter and the importance of voting
Menu: Sourdough from the hearth and wood-fired pizza
Chef Forest Ragar (formerly of Watercourse Foods)
Don’t be a Jerk Dinner
October 29
Issue: Climate change
Menu: Inspired by Jamaican jerk chicken (vegan variations also available)