MINNEAPOLIS — Like many chefs who found themselves without a dining room full of people to cook for in the early months of the pandemic, Gavin Kaysen threw his culinary energy into a new project: cooking classes.
These interactive, livestreamed events came with a basket of ingredients so participants could cook along at home with the James Beard Award-winning chef. The format was relaxed, and Kaysen found that he could be more casual, even jokey, with his viewers than he ever was in a formal dining room. With his kids just off camera, dancing and fooling around, the videos opened up a side of Kaysen he'd rarely shown to strangers — the personal side.
Even after his Minneapolis restaurants, Demi and Spoon and Stable, had reopened, he continued teaching online. It turned out, he was building something.
