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Friday, August 12, 2011

Chef Cameo McRoberts Abruptly Out at Pop Kitchen + Bar

Posted by on Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 5:34 PM

Open for just three weeks, Pop Kitchen + Bar has already changed chefs. Executive chef Cameo McRoberts (who also recently worked very briefly at Little Water Cantina) and her sous chef Christopher Sprague are out; chefs Rebecca Cameron and Susanna Holt are in.

Cameron and Holt developed the menu and have been there since the beginning, Cameron said by phone. They've done "a lot of work for Cameron Reed at the corporate level"—Cameron Reed Concepts is the firm behind Pop Kitchen + Bar, which is a retooling of the long-departed (and unmissed) Revolution Bar & Grill at Experience Music Project. (Cameron did not indicate that whether she was or was related to the nominal Cameron of the company.)

Regarding the departed McRoberts and Sprague, Cameron said, "Initially, they were brought on to get the restaurant up and going. They did an excellent job."

Why the departure, then?

"It's hard having somebody else interpret your menu. It wasn't working. We appreciate all the work they did," Cameron said. She also said that rumors to the contrary, no other kitchen staff have left.

(I got put on hold midway through this call. The hold music: Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." "How does it feel / How does it feel / To be on your own / With no direction home / Like a complete unknown...")

So would Cameron say the McRoberts and Sprague departure was a quitting or a firing or what?

"I'd say it was 'this wasn't working out,'" she said.

Cameron Reed Concepts is also responsible for the concepts Chandy’s Natural Cafe at Microsoft Commons and Soup’s On! downtown (their conceptual exclamation mark).

 

Comments (7) RSS

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 1
Rebecca Cameron is the wife of owner Andy Cameron.
Posted by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot http://lifetimesshortnow.blogspot.com on August 12, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Post_Mortem 2
But how was the food? And, more importantly, how will it be?
Posted by Post_Mortem http://pointlessman.blogspot.com/ on August 12, 2011 at 7:31 PM
Supreme Ruler Of The Universe 3

Making streetcars, a technology which can only operate on a level surface, the primary technology of Seattle (a city built on seven hills) transit seems a bit foolhardy. I mean, you might as well select double decker buses for Venice!
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe http://yrihf.com on August 12, 2011 at 7:33 PM
4
Not once did you mention if the food was good or not. Instead we get this gossip bullshit about their personal lives that no one really gives a fuck about unless you know the people involved. Can we do this for every hack that worked at the Stranger that quit or got fired? You fail at journalism Bethany.
Posted by best food writer evar! on August 13, 2011 at 7:54 AM
Charles Maguro 5
White Whine.
Posted by Charles Maguro on August 13, 2011 at 9:59 AM
tournant 6
ITT: non-restaurant people
Posted by tournant on August 14, 2011 at 12:31 AM
Post_Mortem 7
"Making streetcars, a technology which can only operate on a level surface, the primary technology of Seattle (a city built on seven hills) transit seems a bit foolhardy."

Perhaps you are unaware of the reason Queen Ann's Counterbalance has that name, or of the trolleys in San Fransisco.
Posted by Post_Mortem http://pointlessman.blogspot.com/ on August 15, 2011 at 12:09 PM

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