Lakeview’s Get In The Kitchen, The ‘Party School’ Of Cooking Classes, Is Looking For A New Owner
LAKEVIEW — When Jason Bailin opened Get In The Kitchen, the “party school” of cooking classes, he wasn’t trying to become a chef or reinvent the wheel.
Bailin, who left a career in investment banking to launch the Lakeview business at 3617 N. Broadway in 2018, didn’t have culinary school credentials or years on a restaurant line. What he did have was a hunch that most people signing up for cooking classes weren’t really looking for a class at all.
What they were looking for, he realized, was a night out.
“I knew how to cook when I first started,” Bailin said. “But I also knew how to host. I knew how to throw a good party.”
At Get In The Kitchen, guests learn how to fold dumplings or roll pasta from scratch, but they also sing karaoke, watch drag and comedy shows. They leave with the kind of giddy, slightly wine-fueled glow usually reserved for birthdays or big nights with friends.
That blend of food, entertainment and social connection helped turn Get in the Kitchen into a neighborhood staple. It’s also what made Bailin’s decision to step away so complicated.
After nearly seven years running the business, Bailin, 50, says he’s ready to pass it on to someone else — not because it isn’t working, but because he’s reached the limits of what he can give it.
“The problem is, there’s only one of me,” Bailin said. “I have to be the accountant, the maintenance man — everything that comes with owning a business.”
Jason Bailin teaches kids how to cook at Get in the Kitchen. Credit: Provided/Get in the Kitchen
On a recent Thursday morning, Bailin moved between the prep table and his inbox, blending sauces, answering event emails and getting the space ready for another sold-out night. Long before the music starts and guests arrive, much of the work that makes the night feel effortless has already happened.
Get In The Kitchen didn’t take off immediately. It took about a year, Bailin said, for customers to understand what the business was — and what it wasn’t.
Unlike traditional cooking schools, where participants quietly follow a chef step by step, Bailin built his classes around interaction. He minimized tedious prep work and focused on the parts people enjoy most — folding, frying, assembling — while keeping the room lively and social.
“I just thought cooking classes didn’t have to be so serious,” he said.
The idea resonated, particularly with younger customers and groups celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones. By early 2020, Bailin said the business had just started to hit its stride.
Then the pandemic shut everything down.
Like many in-person food and entertainment businesses, Get In The Kitchen was hit hard. Bailin took on debt to keep the business afloat, but he also pivoted quickly, renting the kitchen to furloughed chefs who used the space to launch pop-up takeout menus and meal kits while cooking parties and in-person classes were on hold.
The pop-ups featured rotating menus, from Asian comfort food to cocktail kits and fresh pasta, and they helped reintroduce the space to customers during a moment of uncertainty for the industry.
As the business stabilized, Bailin continued to experiment. He launched a wine and social club built around monthly cooking parties and tastings, and he later added summer cooking camps for kids and teens — programs that used the space during off-hours and brought in new audiences.
Each idea, he said, came from the same place: finding ways to make cooking feel social, welcoming and fun.
Jason Bailin, owner of Get in the Kitchen, poses for a photo with guests and drag performers. Credit: Provided
When pandemic restrictions lifted, demand came back in a big way.
But the rebound came with a cost. Even with a small part-time staff, Bailin said nearly every aspect of the business still runs through him. That includes prepping for classes, managing bookings, fixing equipment and handling finances.
After the pandemic, he began thinking differently about how much of himself he wanted to keep pouring into the business.
“I really love this place,” Bailin said. “But I just don’t have the energy to go forward the way it would need.”
Rather than close the doors, Bailin said he hopes to find a new owner — or group of owners — who can build on what he created while bringing fresh energy and ideas.
“I don’t want to just close,” he said. “It’s so unique, and it’s meant so much to people. It deserves to keep going.”
Bailin has a firm end point in mind, whether a sale happens or not, and plans to mark the moment with a final party, complete with karaoke, wine and no cooking required.
“It was always about bringing people together,” Bailin said. “If someone else can keep doing that, I’ll feel really good walking away.”
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