Nadia Okafor
Chef and co-owner
Writes the menu, tests the recipes, and still makes the split pea soup herself every Thursday.
A pantry shop that learned to cook dinner
Kitchen Larder started in 2016 as a small shop on Mason Row selling preserves, dried beans, and good olive oil. People kept asking what to make with it, so we opened a kitchen.
How we got here
Nadia Okafor and Sam Whitcomb opened the shop after years of cooking in restaurants that threw away more than they sold. Their idea was simple: buy well, preserve what you can, and cook from what's on the shelf.
By 2019 the back of the shop had become a twenty-four-seat dining room with a counter facing the stove. The menu is short and changes with the seasons. The pantry wall is still there, and you can buy the jam we serve at brunch.
Why we publish our recipes
A recipe is more useful in a home kitchen than on a menu. Everything on this site has been cooked in our kitchen more than once, written down the way we make it, and checked by someone who doesn't work here.
Our shelf rules
- Buy the staples wellGood tomatoes, beans, and vinegar carry more weight than any fancy ingredient.
- Waste as little as possibleStems become stock, stale bread becomes crumbs, and ripe fruit becomes jam.
- Preserve in seasonWhat we pickle and jar in summer is what we cook with in February.
- Write it down plainlyIf a step needs a paragraph of explanation, we rewrite the step.
Who's in the kitchen
The small team behind the pass and this recipe archive.
Sam Whitcomb
Pantry and preserving
Runs the shop side, fills the jars, and decides which fruit becomes jam and which becomes dessert.
Priya Raman
Front of house
Manages the reservation book and answers most of the messages that come through our contact page.