By Kelsey McDaniel

Originally from 3rd Ward, Houston, Shakti Baum is a self-proclaimed country girl with city roots. With cooking experience around the world including The Cayman Islands, Mexico, San Francisco, Maui, and Houston, Baum’s passion for curating stellar events involving food, great music, and good times spawned into the creation of Etta’s Little Kitchen. Since October of 2015, Shakti Baum has been the owner and executive chef of Etta’s Little Kitchen – known for soul touching comfort food and amazing events. Baum’s goal with the creation of Etta’s Little Kitchen was simple; make people happy.

Before deciding to go into business for herself, Baum held a position as food and beverage director and event director with a local restaurant group here in Houston. Since launching Etta’s Little Kitchen with a very popular Sunday Brunch at Bar 5015 alongside DJ BigReeks of The Waxaholics, Baum has created menus and events for local bars and restaurants as well as memorable collaborations with local breweries Saint Arnold, Karbach, and 8th Wonder.

Along with the pop-up cooking events that Etta’s provides, Baum has recently secured an event space at 4214 Dowling Street that will offer classes and events that take on different themes and focus on a bit of quirkiness. Baum aims to bring something back to the local community that is steeped in such rich history and culture. Etta’s Cooking School’s ethos is exploring cultural adventure such as beer culture, food culture, cocktail culture, craft culture, etc. and intertwining those cultures within the community. Baum also wants to focus on philanthropic endeavors and donates 10% of each event or class to a local charity.

In January 2017, Baum will be hosting a grand opening party for the event space featuring dinner, petit classes, interactive aspects and music. Once open, the cooking school and event space will spotlight various classes taught by Chef Staci Davis, a wine tasting/pairing class hosted by Warren Luckett of Branwar Wines and cocktail classes featuring herbs and fruits harvested from local urban farms featuring Mutulu Kafele. Also be on the lookout for additional guest chefs including Jason Kerr, Ryan Savoie and Dawn Burrell

With all of these things going on, Etta’s Little Kitchen has plenty more planned for the future. And all of this is just the beginning! 2017 will also include an event titled Cocktails & B-Sides with the very best tropical cocktails accompanied by a B-Side track playlist and plenty of other pop-up comfort food events. Baum plans to take all of this fun on the road via cooking retreats as well so keep your eyes peeled for more info! Right now, you can find Shakti Baum and Etta’s Little Kitchen every Sunday at Bar 5015 from 11am to 4pm for a brunch that may change your life.

To stay abreast with all of Etta’s Little Kitchen’s upcoming events including pop-ups and classes, sign-up for their newsletter at www.ettashtx.com. Also, keep up with them on social media @ettashtx, everywhere.