Chef to ‘Hamilton’ Stars Builds a Restaurant with Help from Broadway

The newest Southern restaurant planned for Hell’s Kitchen is being built with the seasoned hands of an unconventional construction group — Broadway theater crew. According to DNAinfo, Randy Stricklin-Witherspoon, who’s been the caterer for shows like hit Broadway musical Hamilton, has had delays in opening his first restaurant, SpoonFed NYC. Months behind on rent after getting spurned by a construction company, he recently went to the Broadway community for help, and last weekend, carpenters, electricians, engineers, and more people who have worked on shows like “Wicked” came out to assist.

Besides helping out with the construction of the restaurant, members of the Broadway community have also raised more than $16,000 for the restaurant. “Remember all those delicious, meals, snacks, parties and Holiday planning Randy has personally done for us?” the page says. “Now imagine the magic that's about to occur at SpoonFed. He is building his dreams for US, and we are going to help!”

Stricklin-Witherspoon has been serving food for Broadway shows since he started catering in 2008, including Wicked, Kinky Boots, Les Miserables, and the biggest show in the country, Hamilton. The Broadway clients encouraged him to open the new restaurant, which will serve dishes like a seven-cheese mac and cheese, grilled pork chops, and candied pork belly.

The restaurant at 331 West 51st St., between Eighth and Ninth Avenue, is now expected to open in a couple weeks thanks to the extra help. After the DNAinfo story posted, even more people commented offering to help get the restaurant open.

“It’s kind of emotional to us, because we’ve all believed in this [restaurant],” Jordan Pankin, who does sound for Wicked, told DNAinfo. “Every little bit brings us closer to opening the doors and Randy being able to feed the public, which, believe me, we are waiting for that.”

Read the full, very heart-warming story here.