Fans of the former Crafthouse Gastropub may find familiar flavors at Lubbock's Midnight Shift, thanks to the Cotton Court restaurant's new executive chef.
Kate Diehl, former co-owner of the Crafthouse Gastropub and the Home Café, is back in the culinary scene after taking the executive chef position at Midnight Shift, 1610 Broadway St.
She plans to freshen up the restaurant with a rotating seasonal menu. The rotation could begin on the 17th of every third month, switching out one or two items. By the 22nd of the third month, guests will have a several new options to enjoy.
"I don't like to do the same thing, and that's why we'll have the rotating menu," Diehl said. "I like to come up with new things all the time."
Another new item she'll add will be pizzas. There will be a five-cheese blend pizza and a hot honey sausage pizza at first, each using in-house Pomodoro sauce.
"I love cheese pizza," Diehl said. "We have a pizza oven at home, and once a week, I'll say we're making pizza. My main thing is that I want a rustic crust, and here, our pizza will be a Neapolitan style."
Chef Kate Diehl's culinary journey began with SpaghettiOs and peas
Diehl's mother did not like to cook, and when she did, it was a quick mix of things.
"When she would cook for us, it would be like a can of SpaghettiOs and a can of peas mixed together," Diehl said. "So I would just start making things, then experimenting."
After one semester at Texas Tech, Diehl's family encouraged her to do something she'd been doing for more than a decade: cook. Her brother recommended culinary school, "and that was it."
"At the time, I had already started working in kitchens, but it was like Burger King," Diehl said. "I graduated culinary school two years after high school, became a sous chef, and ever since then, this is what I like to do. I do a lot of fusion cooking, mixing and matching things I know will go well together."
Her culinary journey took her to the San Antonio Valencia Hotel, where she met her husband. Eventually, they returned to Lubbock and opened their first restaurant, the Home Café at 3131 34th St.
In 2012, the couple changed the café to the Crafthouse Gastropub. The restaurant with delicious fine dining flair saw success before closing in 2022.
"Together, we were able to just create what we wanted, change the menus, and make it something that we wanted to do, not someone else's vision," Diehl said. "When I got hired here by the team, they said, 'We want you to do what you were doing. We want you to have your freedom and change the menu.' So I said yes."