The first day Drunken Kitchen became a restaurant open to families, owner and chef Tim Rammell said that “almost every single table had a kid on it.”
The South Salt Lake restaurant serving up a delicious take on Taiwanese and Chinese fare recently moved away from being a 21-plus establishment, and it’s not looking back.
“I want to allow everyone to be available to come in here and be able to enjoy the food here,” Rammell said. “I like opening it to all ages. It’s better for the business.”
At Drunken Kitchen, everything is made from scratch — from the noodles to the doughs for the pork buns, every dish is made with “care and love.”
The journey to Drunken Kitchen
Rammell runs the restaurant along with his brother, Joe. It opened in November 2024 as a takeout- and delivery-only restaurant before later becoming a sit-down restaurant.
“He’s a quick learner, very, very efficient, and great at what he does, and picks up things very easily,” Rammell said about his brother. “And so we make a really good team.”
The chef’s journey to owning and running Drunken Kitchen in Utah first started in Taiwan at a young age.
His aunt and uncle owned a potsticker shop, and Rammell remembers being in the back making potstickers.
“I find I get the joy of making food for people that I really love,” Rammell said. “And then it’s in the reaction. Somebody’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is amazing.’ And I also just love food. I love eating. I love good food, and then I love making food for other people that you see how much you love it.”
Growing up with a love for food
Soon after his experience in Taiwanese kitchens, he and his brother were adopted by a family in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and moved to the United States.
Rammell’s father was a third generation butcher, so he grew up hunting and cooking starting in his youth. At 14, he started working in professional kitchens, and he continued to work in kitchens in Wyoming until he was 19.
“I grew up with a real love for food,” Rammell said.
It was then that he decided to move to Seattle, Washington, to really hone his talents for cooking.
Deciding on Salt Lake City
After spending some time learning from chefs in the Northwest, he decided it was time to take his talents back to the Rocky Mountain range.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he, his brother and his friend, who’s his business partner, started really brainstorming how to make a restaurant concept come together. The group settled on doing their take Taiwanese-Chinese cuisine in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“I realized like Salt Lake kind of lacks a unique style of Asian cuisine, you could say,” Rammell said. “It’s a lot of American Chinese cuisine. Everything is really sweet and salty.”
And the result is a nice, open spot that offers up flavorful dishes to anyone coming through.
“I wanted to create something that is a very comfortable, welcoming — a restaurant that everyone can just come in and get great service, get great food and have a great vibe and a great experience,“ Rammell said. “And just be like a neighborly friendly restaurant that you just come in and you know what you’re gonna get, what to expect, and everything that you eat happens to be amazing.”
What I ordered
I stopped by Drunken Kitchen on a Thursday night, and there were at least a few tables that had kids or teenagers sitting at them.
The environment was welcoming, and service was friendly and helpful in recommending what to order and checked in often on the table.
Here’s what I ordered:
Vegetarian pot stickers: I had to start with the dish that Rammell first gained a passion for cooking with, and they lived up to the hype. There was a little crunch on the outside, but the inside was hot and juicy. They were truly delicious, and I’m planning on going back to try the pork ones.
Taiwanese fried chicken: The chicken was fried to crispy perfection, and the seasoning was unique from any I’ve tried before.
Marinated cucumbers: These were the perfect complement to the other appetizers because the dish offered up a refreshing palate cleanser that also happened to be delicious.
Taiwanese beef noodle soup: The noodles are made in-house daily, and you can tell. They’re fresh and tasty, and served with the beef and beef broth — it all creates a rich, bold and flavorful eat.
