Kitchen Social opens in Chesterfield

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Courtesy Kitchen Social

Kitchen Social, a cooking school concept that's new to St. Louis, opened October 1 at 124 Chesterfield Commons East. (It's not to be confused with Soulcial Kitchen, a cloud kitchen and food truck park that coincidentally opened the same day in Swansea, Illinois.)

Courtesy Kitchen Social

Chocolate souffles with raspberry sauce

Kitchen Social was founded by Charlie Ragel, a native who splits his time between St. Louis and Florida. He opened the flagship in Fort Myers, Florida, in 2019. Ragle is a longtime fan of cooking classes but says “there was always something missing.” They were “too rigid, too commercial, too contrived and presented either from a chef’s perspective or a product sales standpoint,” he observed.

In each class, 18 individuals are seated around a bow-shaped counter, with an instructor chef holding court in the middle. All drinks are BYO.

“The evening starts off like a dinner party, with the chef providing passed apps and guests drinking whatever they’re drinking,” Ragle says. (Hence the tagline: "Eat.Meet.Create.Cook.")

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Courtesy Kitchen Social

Courtesy Kitchen Social

Paella!

Kitchen Social's instructor chefs are as much entertainers as they are great cooks, Ragle explains. “The inaugural chef who’s visiting from Florida has a given name that perfectly suits his personality, Sterling Peacock,” Ragle says.

In another twist, Kitchen Social’s classes are completely hands-on—all four courses—so each guest is issued chef’s knives, a cutting board, and an induction cooker. Each class is based on a different culinary theme (pizza, tacos, sushi, vegan) or cooking concept (pasta-making, grilling, sous vide).

Courtesy Kitchen Social

Saturday evening's class at Kitchen Social in Chesterfield.

Ragle has scheduled 14 classes during October, available Thursday through Sunday night. Options include “Cooking with Wine, Homemade Pasta & Tenderloin,” “Date Night: Tipsy Ravioli,” “Surf & Turf,” and “Scrumptious Seafood.” Customer demands dictate the class theme and frequency. “I thought that the seafood classes would be a hit in Florida. They weren’t,” Ragle says. "The pasta-making classes are popular down there. I bet it's the same up here.”  

Kitchen Social’s student profile runs the gamut, from individuals and couples to birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, and corporate events. Since the demographic is more family-oriented in Chesterfield than in Florida, kids classes will be scheduled here as well. Ragle says he expects that by year’s end, he will offer classes every night of the week, similar to Fort Myers. Eventually, he hopes to be able to franchise the concept. 

One SLM commenter summed up Kitchen Social thusly: “Who doesn't like great food while you engage with your friends? Everybody ends up in the kitchen anyhow.”