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Photo by Olaf Growald
FrankenKitchen
A backyard pop-up restaurant
2 of 3
Photo by Olaf Growald
FrankenKitchen
A backyard pop-up restaurant
3 of 3
Photo by Olaf Growald
FrankenKitchen
A backyard pop-up restaurant
Over the past few years, Fort Worth’s pop-up restaurant scene has grown to near immeasurable heights. Right this second, there’s a pop-up happening in a parking lot, bar or brewery, another restaurant — wherever, it seems, there’s enough space for someone to cook and you to eat.
For his own recently launched pop-up series, Adrian Hulet had a more personal setting in mind: his own backyard.
The 36-year-old North Texas native, musician, and passionate foodie is the founder of FrankenKitchen, a new pop-up event that Hulet and his wife, Hildy, host at their southwest Fort Worth home.
For each event, Hulet brings together three local chefs to create a meal of their choosing. Past participants include Fabián Alvarado of CevichiFW, Butler’s Cabinet chef Josh Harmon, and pop-up superstar Hao Tran. Chefs adhere to one cool caveat: They use Hulet’s “kitchen,” a collection of mismatched cooking equipment that Hulet has amassed over the years. “It really does look like some sort of mad-scientist lab,” he says. Hence the name, “FrankenKitchen.”
Before the next event on Sept. 14, featuring chefs Jen Williams, Andrew Dilda, and Marcus Kopplin, Hulet chatted with us about this one-of-a-kind cookout.
Q: This has gotta be one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. How did it get started?
A: In 2012, I was freshly married, with a newborn baby, and transitioning out of a lifestyle of touring with my band Oso Closo. I was an artist but not a starving one. I weighed in at that time around 330 pounds, and I knew with my new lot in life, I’d better try to get healthy. I began the long road to dropping over 100 pounds over the next few years. The transformation had innumerable benefits, but one of the most significant is that I started the process of becoming what I’d call a “real” cook.
My wife and I started talking about the prospect of opening a restaurant [but] ultimately my interests shifted into finding and developing relationships with local restaurateurs and chefs. I started a little foodie page called Fort Worth Mom and Pops. When I started building the FrankenKitchen, it was really just a crazy idea for a summer project, but as I was posting progress reports on social media, all these chefs I had befriended through my Facebook page started asking about when they could come and play with my new toy. That’s really how this whole thing got started.
Q: What’s the FrankenKitchen made of?
A: It’s a full outdoor kitchen on wheels. It has an offset wood fire smoker, a five-foot gas grill, a range, a flat top, a deep fryer, and a big huge butcher block work space, all set into a 5-by-8 steel frame.
Q: You like kitchen equipment like I like old Rush records.
A: I am a bit of a kitchen gear collector. It’s probably the only area in my life where I border on being a hoarder. If I’m in a flea market or at a garage sale and see a piece of commercial kitchen equipment, I pretty much can’t resist.
Q: How do people get invited to these things?
A: They’re free to attend, but you have to get the invite, and at a 50-person cap, it ends up being a bit of a hot ticket. Follow Fort Worth Mom and Pops on Facebook and Instagram and send us a direct message requesting an invitation. Spots for each event fill up fast, so please bear with us. There are many events to come, and we’d love to have you. We’re always looking for sponsors and like-minded partners, too. It’s all about creating a community that supports one another.
Q: Some say food is the new rock ´n´ roll. Having spent time in both worlds, what do you think the parallels are between music and food?
A: Creativity, collaboration, improvisation, connection to people, emotional response. These are all commonalities between the experience of writing and performing music and creating and preparing food for people. Something that has occurred to me lately is that throwing dinner events is really similar to throwing rock shows. All of the same facilitating is essentially there. Dealing with schedules, accommodations, quirky artists, money, promotion — it’s really similar to when I was a kid in an indie rock band. The difference is that now I’m a little older, a little smarter, and have a lot more relationships that fit into the vision of what I’m doing. It’s been a smooth transition getting into this kind of thing, and I’m really excited to see where it leads.
