For kids with a sweet tooth, a savory tooth or even a fleeting interest in making their own food, there’s a new option for scrumptious entertainment and learning this summer in Kirkland.
Frog Legs Culinary Academy opened on May 14 in the Market neighborhood, offering cooking classes for foodies of all ages. Kid-centric classes and camps are the specialty at Frog Legs, the appetizing dream of Laura Vida.
Vida initially started her business out of her Seattle home eight years ago when her misgivings about preschool gave way to a ‘cooking school for kids’ at the suggestion of a friend, something she said instantly made sense.
“I was originally thinking of calling it Sweet Potatoes, but I thought that would look too cutesy, and I really wanted a visual character,” Vida said. “I wanted something and I was a big fan of frogs as a kid. I used to just hunt them down and carry them in a bucket.”
Vida has become “Mrs. Frog Legs,” a name she said the students gave her. The motto is “frogs are friends, not food,” helping to alleviate concerns of young charges afraid they might have to eat webbed, green toes.
Instead, kids are offered the chance to learn about what they already eat, and how to make it.
The Kirkland location is decorated like a home kitchen. Bright and open, the kitchen is dotted with knick-knacks and appliances in robin’s-egg blue. Barn doors separate the retail side of the store from the kitchen, and the doors are closed during events, classes and camps.
One summer camp — Vida said two-thirds of the camps are already full for the summer — is rainbow themed, with a different color food each day. Campers typically make a lunch, a snack and a drink. Monday was red, with home-made marinara sauce, watermelon, strawberry shortcake and a berry smoothie. Wednesday was yellow: squash, corn, lemon bars, etc.
Classes are varied as well. Dough-Nutters teaches kids the basics of knife skills (in a safe environment, Frog Legs’ website says), and Flour Friends can take the rainbow camp one week at a time. Teen Cooking Adventure focuses on sauteing, and the Captain Cook-ing club adds baking to the mix.
The Dinner Club is a special opportunity for kids to share with their families.
“Those kids are a little older, and they come and make dinner for a family of four,” Vida said. “They make the main dish, so they get to learn how to make manicotti or turkey meatloaf. We’ve done enchiladas — we’ve done all of those things. They get to make it and take it home.”
The families know ahead of time which dishes are being prepared in order to have side dishes — salad, rice, vegetables — to go alongside the main dish.
Frog Legs also offers birthday parties, a popular attraction that has the kitchen portion of the Kirkland building busy on weekends.
“Kids come and they make pizzas, cupcakes and smoothies — everything from scratch,” Vida said of one party option. “We roll out the dough, we talk about activating yeast, we make cupcakes and decorate cupcakes, and they get to eat everything.”
With camps well on their way to filling up for the summer and a solid schedule of special events, Vida has turned her attention to an adult-centered portion of the business. Frog Legs, while created with kids in mind, offers adult cooking classes and corporate events, which range from a gourmet pizza-making contest to a competition Vida refers to as “Food Truck Wars.”
Vida has a pair of managers — “Mrs. Butterfly” manages the Kirkland classes — and has a handful of plans to expand, though the idea is to settle in to Kirkland before moving elsewhere.
The business model has been successful, though, and Vida has considered Issaquah or North Seattle.
“Then, watch out,” she said. “It’s Frog Legs.”
