The Lila’s Kitchen Story

Wendy Davis has several decades in hospitality in places like Seattle (hometown), Lake Tahoe, Tucson, and Alaska, and has spent various times in forest firefighting, law enforcement, and co-owning a custom home building company with husband Brent, (Brent Davis Construction in Port Townsend) and has lived in Port Townsend for almost 25 years, where she met Brent. Brent, after several decades in custom construction in New Milford, Connecticut (hometown), Santa Cruz, CA, and has also lived in Port Townsend for about 25 years since attending the Wooden Boat School in 1997. Brent founded Brent Davis Construction, Inc. in 2010.

While building a commercial building in Port Townsend Business Park for their construction business with extra bays for lease, Brent and Wendy decided to combine their passions and opened Lila’s Kitchen, a commercial kitchen and shared restaurant space (named after a beloved dog) in the Upper Sims Way, Rainier St corridor of Port Townsend. They intended to open a facility for caterers, but as their launch coincided with the early pandemic months of 2020, they decided to pivot and offer the space to vendors to serve their meals. As so many restaurateurs found the need to shift their means of reaching customers at that time, the offering was a lifesaver. Customers were able to pick up takeout or stay and dine under a large red canopy in safety.

Some owners and employees who had lost their jobs during the pandemic are now thriving. Three new businesses were created on the site, four more changed their model to continue running, with one business opening a brick-and-mortar location after a practice year with their new model. Many of these food vendors have already received coveted awards for their meals. The kitchen still offers start-ups the chance to experiment, incubate their business, and to grow beside a group of established, passionate food business owners. For Brent, Lila’s Kitchen fulfills a lifelong passion for cooking, and for Wendy, it allows her to lean both on her hospitality experience and her work in public service.

Based on the success of their model, they’ve also now designed a new dedicated walk-up location adjacent to their original site, which will include areas for visiting food trucks, bar offerings, outdoor gatherings, and family games. Recently launched is a converted horse trailer as a mobile for-hire bar to book for private events called Bar Car. 

Lila’s is located at 887 E. Park Ave, in Port Townsend Business Park (Behind Goodwill), and the schedule for each food vendor can be found on Instagram and Facebook, on their website www.lilascommercialkitchen.com and with each individual vendor social media pages. There is ample parking and outdoor seating.

Bar Car may be booked directly by emailing barcarmobile@gmail.com. Interested food vendors may contact lilascommercialkitchen@gmail.com.