Oh, Where do we begin?
Let’s rewind to the moment we first laid eyes on the location for ZUZU Kitchen. It was love at first sight—if your idea of love involves broken tiles, peeling paint, and the unmistakable scent of what-was-that. But hey, we saw potential. And most importantly, it had parking. In Beverly, that’s basically a unicorn.
Armed with a dream and far too much optimism, we rolled up our sleeves and dove headfirst into the construction phase. Now, we thought this part would take a few weeks, maybe a month max. Cute, right?
Fast forward: we had unintentionally created a never-ending episode of “Restaurant Impossible”—minus the TV crew and budget. Walls went up, then came down again because oops, something wasn’t “to code.” We learned that “temporary fix” is construction language for “we’ll see you in three weeks.” There was dust in our dreams, drywall in our lungs, and takeout for dinner every night because—ironically—we couldn’t cook anything in our own kitchen.
By the time we were finally ready to open, proud of every tile, light fixture, and spoon holder we had lovingly chosen… we hit The Final Boss: City Approvals.
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Piter Bowman
Creative approach to every project
If you’ve never waited for a city inspection, just imagine sitting in an empty room watching paint dry… but the paint is stuck in traffic, the room is on hold, and your checking account is quietly weeping in the corner.
We checked emails like it was a full-time job. We had imaginary phone calls with city officials. We started naming the construction cones outside. (Conealdo, Conechella, Coneye West… don’t judge, it was a long five months.)
And just when we thought we’d have to turn the space into a yoga studio or an Airbnb for raccoons—boom, the approvals came through. We were broke, sleep-deprived, but emotionally rich (ish). Our baby was ready to open.
Looking back, we wouldn’t trade the chaos for anything. Because in that chaos was passion, persistence, and a lot of popcorn dinners. ZUZU Kitchen was built with love, sweat, and probably a few questionable building jokes.
To everyone who supported us through the madness—thank you. And to our future restaurateur friends: pack snacks, lots of snacks.
Come see what all the chaos built. We promise, the food is worth it.
