Tim Quinlan, Lodgic’s food and beverage manager and Michael Wajda, Senior Executive Chef at Everyday Kitchen
INTERESTING LODGIC An innovative nonprofit concept aims to "feed" the local community in myriad ways. Written by Bridget Williams / Photography courtesy of Everyday Kitchen When asked what pops to mind when someone mentions a Moose Lodge, I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one who immediately thinks of a wood-paneled bar predominantly populated by octogenarians. So, you can imagine my surprise when I recently revisited the Lodgic Everyday Community on Market Street in Louisville's NULU neighborhood and discovered that the entirety of the happening complex—comprised of a co-working space, a kid's camp, the Everyday Kitchen restaurant, Clever Moose Café, and event space—is part of a nonprofit enterprise founded by Moose International, one of the world's largest and oldest service organizations supporting working families. I'd enjoyed a lovely meal at Everyday Kitchen shortly after it opened this past spring and had no idea that all of the additional amenities within the 20,000-square-foot Gateway to Nulu building were interconnected until I sat down with Mike Wajda, the restaurant's Senior Executive Chef. 74 slmag.net
Wajda was lured to Louisville six years ago to helm the kitchen at Proof on Main. "When I first moved here, people said I'd never want to leave, and they were right," the chef commented. He left Proof for the consulting world, allowing him to focus on both the culinary and culture aspects of a restaurant's back-ofhouse operations. While he experienced success in this realm, working with clients that included The Polo Bar in New York City and Fia in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, the travel schedule was grueling, and he was away from home for weeks at a time. Working in New York City when the first COVID restrictions became a reality, Wadja said, "I couldn't get out of there fast enough." The real game-changer was when he and his wife, an event planner, found out they were expecting their first child. Although he loved what he was doing, he said he came to the realization that line of work wouldn’t allow him to be the kinds of father he aspired to be.
