Q&A | Astro, Prescription Chicken, Salteña Three local eateries share kitchen in Shaw, DC Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken recently moved into a shared kitchen space with Prescription Chicken and Saya Salteña in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington. The local chain will use the space to expand service in the local area. Saya Salteña joined the shared kitchen venture in December. We caught up with Astro co-owner Elliot Spaisman, Prescription Chicken (PC) co-founder and coowner Valerie Zweig, and Saya Salteña (SS) founder and owner Maria Itturalde to find out more about this new collaboration. District Restaurant News: First, how will this new location impact the Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken menu and how will business expand in its to-go only format out of Shaw? Astro: This is a great opportunity for us to expand in a new neighborhood. People are working from home these days, and a lot of people live in the Shaw neighborhood, so we’re able to serve our popular menu to new and old customers alike. Because we partner with third party delivery apps we don’t get to control our delivery radius. This new location opens up an opportunity to deliver to more parts of the city, which we can’t reach as easily from our G Street location. Most of our menu items are available at the Shaw location: our chicken and sandwiches are made-to-order right there, and our doughnuts are made at our G Street location and delivered every morning to Shaw. DRN: Please give us an update on Satellite Sandwiches and how that virtual concept from Astro’s is doing. Astro: Satellite has been doing well and it has given us an opportunity to keep our kitchen busy and creative during a challenging time. The warm, made-to-order cookies have been a huge hit and we figured out a way to bake them on-site in Shaw so we hope they’ll be a nice complement to our doughnut and chicken offerings. 14 District Restaurant News
Cookies for sister virtual restaurant of Astro Doughnuts, Satellite Sandwiches. Photo by Scott Suchman for Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken.
DRN: Tell us about how this arrangement came together for Prescription Chicken. PC: We lost our home this summer (COVID Casualty) and we needed to find a centrally located base for our deliveries. We spotted 1819 7th Street and approached the landlord whom we knew to be progressive due to the concepts that had previously lived in this corridor. He was excited about our idea to use this as a shared kitchen space to help small food businesses during a crazy time. DRN: Can you dive deeper into Prescription Chicken’s menu, its genesis and how customers can order from this location? PC: Everyone knows that chicken soup is liquid gold, and chicken soup – that you don’t have to make yourself—can cure whatever may be ailing you today. Prescription Chicken is all about making and delivering chicken soup to help you feel better! Prescription Chicken was started after I got laryngitis two times in 6 weeks and couldn’t find good
