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Right on the corner of East 17th Ave and Williams in Denver – Sullivan Scrap Kitchen is going to be your new favorite neighborhood gem! This small, family-owned restaurant is creating innovative dishes using fresh local ingredients all the while implementing some sustainability tactics that are truly unheard of in the restaurant industry.
After slinging pizzas in Killington, playing with molecular gastronomy in Boston, and learning from world-renowned chefs in New York, Terence Rogers decided to venture out on his own. He started hosting small neighborhood pop ups for his community in Boston and developed TBD Foods Personal Chef and Catering in 2014. As Chef Terence continued developing fine-dining recipes and cooking for clients, he became inspired by the imperfect pieces of protein and produce (scraps) that often went unused. With restaurants being responsible for 20% of the food waste in America- that’s 30 billion pounds of wasted food every single year- Chef Rogers became determined to do better for his community and environment.
Sullivan Scrap Kitchen was born as a way to bring people together for a unique and delicious dining experience while reducing food waste and promoting sustainability. While opening with his wife, Holly Adinoff, in July of 2020 was a rollercoaster, they emerged with a creative new menu, strong neighborhood ties, and sustainability as a priority.
DENVER, COLORADO – JUNE 22: Sullivan Scrap Kitchens Spring Gnocchi dish has local mushrooms, steamed and seed pesto, asparagus, Parmesan, and agreed balsamic on June 22, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Open for dinner Thursday through Sunday and brunch on Saturday and Sunday, Sullivan Scrap Kitchen has all of your cravings covered. With a focus on seasonal small plates for dinner, the dining experience encourages family-style dining so guests can share in the experience together and have the opportunity to taste as much of the menu as possible. Be sure to follow them @sullivanscrapkitchen to stay updated on their latest menus and seasonal specials.
Their menu showcases some of the delicious flavors you may have come to expect from Colorado’s wonderful farmers and ranchers, like grass-fed beef, wild mushrooms, and fresh peaches from Palisade, but that’s just where the fun begins. To showcase the pristine cuts of local beef, their koji marinated steak is paired with smoked and grilled mashed potatoes and miso bordelaise. The off cuts of beef are then transformed into their multi-award winning burgers, which you can find on the Burger Specials Menu on Thursdays. With a limited number of red meat dishes on the menu, the kitchen team loves featuring local seasonal vegetables as the star of the show with fermented hot honey fried local mushrooms, roasted asparagus with asparagus stem and pepita puree, and broccoli with house-made cashew cheese. Meat-lovers and plant-lovers alike will have plenty of tantalizing options for their food journey.
When we say creative menu, we mean it! They even take sustainable protein sources to the next level. In addition to local grass-fed beef and lamb from Buckner Family Ranch, you’ll notice they feature insects in several dishes. We definitely recommend you try their local herb butter with cricket salt paired with their house-made sourdough bread and the ant vinaigrette drizzled over a bed of goat cheese & seasonal veggies. Don’t worry, you can opt for no insects, but why not live a little! The rest of the world has embraced the high protein, low environmental impact of insects, so it’s about time we catch up.
Their dedication to intentionally using every piece of an ingredient does not stop in the kitchen. The bar program at Sullivan Scrap Kitchen is getting in on the fun too! Their beet and ginger limeade, infused with beet and ginger peels, is the perfect drink on a hot summer day. You should also try their Espresso Martini, with house-made spent espresso coffee liquor, and Spark of Spring cocktail, with strawberry pulp powder.
So you might be thinking this all sounds good, but are they really walking the sustainability walk?. Not only do they focus on closed loop cooking and local, seasonal ingredients, they care about sustainability in their community and team as well. Every quarter, Sullivan Scrap Kitchen partners with a local non-profit in the food justice and equity world like We Don’t Waste or Slow Foods Denver to round up, give back, and raise awareness. They are also actively contributing to environmental and food justice policies through Good Business Colorado, Denver’s Sustainable Food Policy Council, and Denver’s Waste No More Task Force.
When you walk in the door to Sullivan Scrap Kitchen, the warm and welcoming vibe is continued through their customer service. The front of house team greets you with a smile, walks you through the menu, and invites any questions. Sullivan Scrap Kitchen practices sustainability with their staff by paying everyone a liveable wage, including benefits, and promoting physical and mental wellness through the Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness organization. You can tell that their people are taken care of and in return want to take care of you.
If the in-house dining experience isn’t enough, they also offer local, seasonal, and sustainable catering for weddings, birthday parties, and celebrations of any kind. Be sure to check-out TBD Foods for all of your personal chef and catering needs.
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