Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Penton.
Cody, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been doing pop up dinners for the last 6 or 7 years- first in Denver, then DC, then Birmingham, and now back home in Texas. When I was younger, it was a great way to get creative and come up with dishes on my own when I wasn’t in a position to do that at the restaurants in which I worked. Over the years, I’ve been able to hone in my style and create a unique experience for our guests. When I first started, the dinners would be a few courses more or less made up of ideas and techniques I’d learned from other chefs, but now we serve a 12-course tasting menu of original ideas that are unique to Cicada. Now I have a great team around me, our menu completely changes each month(aside from our signature caviar parfait), and I really enjoy not having boundaries and being able to push myself as far as I can go.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Yes and no. I always have and continue to do pop-ups as a side project to my full-time job. It can be difficult to find time to prep a 12-course menu mostly on my own while also working 50 hours a week, which can get stressful. But I just stop and remind myself that hey, I’m doing this for fun. There’s no reason to stress. I don’t do this because I HAVE to, I do it because I WANT to. Your food tastes better when you’re having fun making it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Cicada story. Tell us more about the business.
Cicada is a 12-course tasting menu pop up that operates out of an event space/commercial kitchen called Locavore in the gorgeous Fairmount district of Fort Worth. The folks at Locavore have been critical to our growth and success so far; they’re incredible people who are as passionate about helping startups grow and succeed as we are about what we do.
Our goal is to provide a completely unique dining experience unavailable elsewhere in Fort Worth. We write a brand new menu each time and push ourselves to create the most delicious food we can while providing excellent but relaxed service. We love to create more of a dinner party vibe than a restaurant atmosphere. Community-style seating results in new friends by the end of the evening!
I’m most proud of us for pushing to be consistent in our monthly events, and creating a new experience each time. It would be really easy to create a menu of ‘greatest hits’ and serve that each time, but that wouldn’t be staying true to ourselves as innovative chefs. Aside from that, one of our guests has been to every event but one, and I love being able to serve a new menu each time. We have one dish that remains constant, our first course for every menu: a parfait made of watermelon “tartare”(watermelon compressed in lemon dashi syrup and dehydrated to a chewy texture), Regiis Ova hybrid caviar, whipped hazelnut cream, and topped with a dusting of rose petals that have been pickled in aronia berry vinegar and black currant juice for over a year before being dried and ground into a powder. Sounds kind of weird, but it just works flavor-wise. Sweet, salty, acidic, creamy, umami, the perfect start to a wonderful evening.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’ve gotten lucky in a lot of ways. Within a month of moving back to Texas and before even getting settled in, I met my girlfriend Hayley, who is not only extremely supportive, but has volunteered enthusiastically to take on many roles at Cicada. Basically anything that doesn’t have to do with making the food itself, she has a hand in; putting together the tablescapes, handling our social media marketing, branding, managing our schedule, she even helps serve the food and drinks at our events, and she’s someone I can trust implicitly to bounce ideas off of and get an honest response. I’m very lucky to have met her. One of the chefs that’s been with us since the beginning, Colin, I met by chance through someone I worked with for less than a month. We had a short conversation about food, farming, cooking, and we hit it off immediately. I mentioned needing help with a pop up dinner and he volunteered to come help out. I was blown away with his skills, organization, and passion for food. He’s been with us ever since. Through Colin we met Cecelia, a chef he works with at Petra and the Beast in Dallas. She’s also an incredibly talented chef who has taken an important role in our kitchen in stride as though she’s been there all along. Both of these chefs are incredibly detail-oriented, talented, and fun to work with. What could easily be a stressful evening turns into a night of laughing and hanging out with your friends, putting together some food for new friends, and I think that’s what makes Cicada really special. I’m very lucky and thankful to be part a team like this.
Pricing:
- $125 per person, gratuity included
Contact Info:
- Email: cicadapopup@gmail.com
- Instagram: @cicadapopup
- Facebook: @cicadapopup
Image Credit:
Ashley Reneau
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