Sarah Flynn and Hayan Yi, the co-owners and chefs of Eathereal Kitchen, have an impressive combined resume. They both attended the French Culinary Institute and then began working at upscale restaurants and catering businesses. Hayan, originally from Seoul, Korea, managed to score her first job out of school at Restaurant Daniel before moving onto Le Bernardin. She then became the Executive Chef at Corkbuzz Wine Studio. In the meantime, Sarah worked as the Executive Chef of Susie’s Supper Club in Brooklyn. With the brand, she helped develop a cookbook, frozen food line, and café. The two women met at Shiraz Events, which had a prep kitchen on 83rd Street where Eathereal is currently located. When Shiraz declared that they would be shutting down the prep kitchen in 2015, Sarah and Hayan jumped on the opportunity to start their own catering business.
When I visited Sarah at Eathereal’s kitchen, the air was filled with the smell of baking. There were pineapple masala chips drying in the corner, and she had just finished experimenting with a dish made with bleu cheese and leftover shortbread. Though neither dish was ready to be offered on a menu to customers, the scent still caused my mouth to water. Despite the fact that Eathereal’s 83rd Street location is a prep kitchen and not a storefront, Sarah calls it a “neighborhood joint.” She has family in the area that often come by. Sarah joked that shortly before I arrived, her godmother popped by to say, “I’ll have a glass of wine - what’s cooking?” She also told me about her superintendent, whom she calls “The Mayor,” who often sits on the stoop outside, keeping tabs on the neighborhood.
Hayan and Sarah essentially had thirty-five days to create their business and had to make many decisions, including the name, very rapidly. Sarah related their development process, from crowd sourcing on Facebook to cutting out little slips of paper with possible name choices on them. When I visited in 2016, the two women had only been open for a few months and were still working out parts of the business. "We are both wearing a thousand hats,” Sarah said, but added that they are grateful for the support that they are receiving from both friends and family (including their friend Susan Globus, who did the graphic design for the company).
The business had a busy first season, catering everything from big corporate holiday events to intimate dinners. Sarah told me that she gravitated towards the catering realm rather than the restaurant world because she liked the complexities inherent to catering and the opportunity to play many roles. She looks forward to building and fleshing out Eathereal Kitchen in the coming months. “We are hoping to grow into ourselves,” she said, mentioning that cooking classes for kids and adults are in the works.
The partners believe that they have enough combined experience in the catering and fine dining sectors that they can create something truly wonderful. The key lies in making “fresh, seasonal food that’s appropriate for the occasion,” Sarah said, before quickly adding, "with lots of love in it."