How long can you run a high-quality steak restaurant out of someone’s living room and backyard? Chef Brad Thomas and local ceramicist Clay Wood recently decided to find out.
In a time when many businesses struggle to stay afloat, and in a city where people are always craving a new adventure, they launched Steak Freaks as a creative experiment but quickly realized its limits.
Taking advantage of Long Beach’s new Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) law, the two wanted to combine artistic expression and high-level cooking to give locals a taste of the law’s potential.
Before the MEHKO framework, which the City Council passed this spring to allow home-based food businesses, Steak Freaks was a transient pop-up. When Wood met Chef Thomas, he was intrigued and offered up his home as a more permanent location…