Jason and Becca Kerr are accustomed to creating amazing meals in unusual spaces.
They’ve cooked on black sand beaches in British Columbia and river banks in the Texas Hill Country, sometimes with no electricity or running water. They served food at The Moth storyslams for two years using only an electric skillet. Their catering business, Little Kitchen HTX, operates out of a kitchen off Bellaire Boulevard that lives up to its name.
This experience — and their commitment to using local farms and producers for the ingredients in their meals — made the couple a natural fit when Rice sought out a new vendor for Brochstein Pavilion.
Other potential vendors saw the small, open kitchen space at Brochstein as a challenge. Not the Kerrs.
“Everyone at the university has told us, ‘The space is kind of limited,’” Jason said.
“And we were like, ‘Do you know the kind of catering we do?’” Becca said, laughing as the husband-and-wife chefs recalled being “blown away” the first time they saw the light-and-art-filled space in busy Brochstein.
“The minute they approached us about it, we were like, ‘Yeah! I mean, we love Rice!’” Jason said. “We would love to be involved in any way. It was before we’d even seen this,” he said, gesturing to the bustling kitchen now stocked with locally roasted coffee, locally brewed kombucha and beer and ready-made meals made with local produce and meats.
“Both Becca and Jason are committed to supporting local businesses within their concept, which will exemplify the university’s value of community,” said Susann Glenn, director of communications for administration.
They’ll even use produce sourced from Rice’s own organic garden, a massive space near the Rice Media Center run by Bob Novak and a rotating group of students and volunteers.
“We went and saw the garden and our faces lit up,” Becca said.
Little Kitchen HTX has long provided grab-and-go options and family meals in addition to Becca’s famous pralines at the Urban Harvest markets and Rice’s own Tuesday afternoon markets. Prior to the catering venture, Jason won wide acclaim as the chef behind restaurants including Lowbrow and Hollister on Washington and food truck Zilla Street Eats; he’s also appeared on episodes of Food Network’s “Chopped” and has written extensively on food for the Houston Press.
The Kerrs are in the process of moving into a brand-new catering kitchen in Jersey Village, which will continue to serve as their base of operations for making the black bean and portobello mushroom cheeseburgers and red chili oil pork dumplings they bring to campus. And they’ll soon have a standalone Little Kitchen HTX there as well.
But for now, the very first iteration of Little Kitchen HTX is at Brochstein Pavilion — plating up country ham sandwiches and cream of mushroom soup to a playlist of Glenn Miller and Dean Martin — where the quirky café is destined to become a destination in its own right.
The couple’s culinary creativity shines through in dishes such as praline baklava (made with Becca’s pralines, of course — and available in a gluten-free version), sumac-dusted “hummus” made with Texas black-eyed peas and vegan cauliflower tacos on fresh flour tortillas under a charred scallion aioli.
Coffee drinks range from classic cortados and cappuccinos to the eye-opening Johnny Cash: black coffee with a shot of espresso. Vegan and vegetarian options abound, and both chefs said they’re ready to accommodate additional dietary needs as requested.
As Rice readies itself to welcome students back to campus under COVID-19 guidelines, Little Kitchen HTX is prepared for that, too.
“Throughout the pandemic, Little Kitchen HTX has supported the Texas Medical Center member institutions with box meals for quarantined patients,” Glenn said. “They come to our university with the knowledge necessary to run retail operations during a time like this, unprecedented and uncertain, by ensuring the Rice community has many grab-and-go options.”
On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, the Kerrs were already serving the Rice community members trickling back onto campus: A few curious professors popped in for coffee, while a big group of college presidents were spotted digging into lunch — socially distanced, of course. Thanks to its years of working with the Rice farmers market and their fellow vendors, Little Kitchen HTX already feels like it’s at home on campus — and the Kerrs are eager to take care of their fellow Rice citizens.
“That’s the thing,” Jason said. “Whatever the situation, whether it’s a hurricane or beautiful weather or a pandemic, you still want to be there for the community, to be able to get them food or give them a place to come eat — even if we’ve got to bring it to you or make it all takeout, whatever it is, we still want to be there for the community.”
Little Kitchen HTX at Brochstein Pavilion is currently open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit littlekitchenhtx.com.