Lore
The tale of Kitchen 17 begins long ago with Sir Edwin Currentqueller, the royal woodchuck who, weary of stumps, concocted a fabulous array of vegan pizza recipes with which to dazzle his herbivorous woodland allies. Sir Edwin shared his recipes with a lucky human chef who spent years studying the script claw-etched onto sheaths of willow bark.
In 2013,
the disciples had deciphered enough to open the restaurant in its original location in Lakeview.
In 2016,
we moved to our former location on Broadway, where we redefined ourselves around Sir Edwin’s most popular recipe – our 100% Vegan Deep Dish Pizza.
In 2020,
during the COVID-19 outbreak, we began freezing and shipping our pizzas across the country, expanding Sir Edwin’s fanbase first to the surrounding states, and soon from coast to coast. We have shipped over 20,000 pizzas to date!
In 2022,
we moved to our most recent home in Avondale, where for the first time in a while our staff, Sir Edwin, and many of our customers felt more comfortable being able to come together and share food, drinks, desserts, and ideas. The new location allowed for larger community events, performances, and art installations and led to our next big development!
In 2023,
we launched The Fallen Log, our scrappy concert venue and event space. Over the next few years we would host hundreds of bands from around Chicago and around the globe. We saw the return of a vibrant local music scene and were proud to be a part of it, even as we continued to ship pizzas nationwide and serve our local community in person.
At the end of 2025,
Sir Edwin and his crew made the hard decision to close up shop and pack up their rocket again, blasting off for new adventures. Through over a dozen years in business, we became an internationally recognized brand and spread the message of compassionate food far and wide. We are so grateful for all our hard-working crew who made it possible, and the many of you who helped along the way as well. It’s true that during that time, some stumbled through our doors who lived up to the woodland creatures’ worst stereotypes about the humans, but others among you have made your species proud!
Our Mission has always been to serve the best food we can without qualification.
We don’t aim to make really good vegan food, we aim to make really good food that is also 100% vegan. We also aim to do so while fostering an environment that is congressive, collaborative, and supportive for staff and patrons alike.
While we're taking a break from our normal operations, we aren't gone for good. Sir Edwin and his merry crew are off exploring the galaxy and are always on the hunt for new adventures, recipes, and friends. We hope to have them return to Earth, even just for a visit, in some form in the future, and we can't wait to share what they come back with. And, of course, we’re still deciphering and documenting Sir Edwin’s original recipes, and may even publish our findings someday. All except for his double-acorn-stuffed stump bread, which we’re still trying to figure out. Perhaps it’s more palatable to woodchucks?