Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Van Leeuwen.
Hi Andrea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been cooking as long as I remember. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the science of cooking… by the psychology of it. How food can transform relationships. At age 16, I started my first restaurant job, as a server. I was fascinated by the way a commercial kitchen worked. How the cooks moved, the sounds, smells, the stress of it. I was hooked. I spent my 20s in and out of kitchens, and when I moved to Detroit in 2025, I knew I wanted to share what I had learned all those years, as well as a piece of my own Italian heritage. Thus, Andrea’s Kitchen was born.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Andrea’s kitchen was born out of struggle, like most art is. I had started this small business as a passion project, but then my roommate moved out on me while I was out of town, and the person I was dating at the time also turned on me. It was also the holidays, and my first winter in Michigan, and I knew almost no one. I had also lost my job earlier in the year. So I bet everything on my business. I started reaching out to local bars, recipe testing and collecting discount cooking equipment from Facebook Marketplace and thrift stores. By some miracle, it worked. I was able to survive solely off my own art, blood sweat and tears. I made it through the winter, and the spring brought brunches and new friends.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in scratch-made Italian food with a focus on local ingredients and seasonal vegetable. What sets me apart is that I refuse to use anything processed. This means I make everything fresh every meal.
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