This chef at large wants to give back to the service industry

Among the “million different places” local chef Kyle Kiepert has worked in the Madison service industry, cooking at Argus BarGrille was the first. Kiepert worked in tech and design for years before he came across a call for part-time help at the Argus and decided to give it a shot. After that gig, his culinary career is split into three phases. He says, “My friend Aaron [Millon, formerly of Boar & Barrel] taught me how to love the kitchen, Tommy [Gering, formerly of Casetta Kitchen and Counter] taught me how to really be in a kitchen, and Itaru [Nagano, of Fairchild] and Ben [Hunter, formerly of Seven Acre Dairy Co.] really taught me how to cook.” Kiepert also credits Gering with motivating him to “completely change the course of my life” by offering genuine, unconditional support on Kiepert’s journey to sobriety. It’s inspired Kiepert’s next phase: The chef is exploring ways to create an organization that provides funds to service industry workers who need to pursue treatment for substance use disorder. “I want to be able to say that I made a positive impact on the lives of the people that I was working with,” he says, “and hopefully leave the industry a better place.”

What Inspires

People and places, and [ingredients] that resonate with something that happened in my life. It’s always been super important to cook in different environments and with different types of people and different types of food — that’s what’s helped me grow.

Market Snack

Probably a couple of radishes, a couple of veggies — whatever I bought — and then cheese and honey.

Forget About It

This is mostly joking, but I do hate making it: potato pave. It’s incredibly time-consuming and monotonous and always a mystery whether it’s going to cook just perfect, and it’s just a pain. But it’s really delicious. I would make it again for the right thing, but it takes forever.

Hole-in-the-Wall

People sleep on the Paradise [Lounge] burger. I think it’s the best burger in town — and it’s my favorite, at least. I also really, really like The Mediterranean Joint, which just opened.

Last Meal

Probably Fairchild. I love a full-circle moment. More realistically, probably at my house with all my friends, and I’d cook for the people I love to be around.

Friday at 11 p.m.

Right now, I’m just getting home. I usually come back from Spring Green after service [at Reunion] on Friday nights. At home, hanging out with [my partner], Kaitlin, and the dog.

Coffee Haunt

Bradbury’s. I get an espresso and a cold brew — painfully, almost every day.

Big Cheese

Big Sky Grana from Bleu Mont Dairy. Willi [Lehner] doesn’t make a ton of it, but it’s so good. It’s like a fruitier Parmesan — [a] hard cheese. It’s awesome on everything, and I like that no one really knows what it is, so it feels fun to introduce people to it.

Trajectory-Changing Meal

The first meal I had at Fairchild. I remember having a sunchoke dish, and I had never had a sunchoke and it blew my mind. I was like, ‘I think I want to come and try to work here and commit to [cooking].’

Emma Waldinger is associate editor at Madison Magazine.

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