NORTH CENTER — After shuttering his Browntrout restaurant in August, chef Sean Sanders is back in the kitchen ... at Browntrout.
Only it isn't Browntrout anymore, it's Trout Kitchen, an incubator for whatever pop-up idea intrigues Sanders at the moment.
"For now, I just want to push the envelope of where we can take this," Sanders said. "The idea of a restaurant got old ... doing the same thing over and over. [The pop-up's] an organic way of doing food inspired by what we're doing this week."
This Friday through Sunday, what he's inspired by is diner food.
Stop into Trout Kitchen 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., 4111 N. Lincoln Ave., no reservation required, and sit down or carry-out Sanders' take on classic diner fare like omelettes, soup, frittatas, the Monte Cristo sandwich, pie and more. Courtesy of Browntrout's liquor license, there will also be booze including wine, beer and cocktails.
If the concept proves a roaring success, Sanders might repeat the diner next weekend, but then it's onto something new.
"The idea is to do one of these every two weeks," he said. "It could be a wine dinner, a farm dinner or a fire dinner."
That last concept — cooking over an open flame, rather than a stovetop — is something Sanders played around with while volunteering at kitchens in California during his brief break from Browntrout.
It's "such an organic method," he said, but is often relegated to barbecue.
Any one of these pop-ups could develop into a full-blown restaurant, Sanders said, but his goal is really to experiment and keep things interesting. Occasionally, other chefs might take over the kitchen and produce their own pop-up.
Having burned out at Browntrout, Sanders seems re-energized after stepping away from running a daily restaurant.
"I just needed some time off," he said. "When you work 120 hours a week and you've got two kids ... that's not a good place to be."
Planning the pop-ups has been "super fun," Sanders said. "It's uplifting."
To keep up with Trout Kitchen's ever-changing concepts, follow the Browntrout Facebook page and #TKPopUps on Instagram.
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