"FOURTEEN YEARS AND COUNTING”

Learn about our history from Erica, our founder.

  • Kitchen Mouse Catering is born, home-grown quite literally in my personal kitchen. We got our start feeding photo shoots all over the city and befriending amazing producers, photographers, and crew, many of whom we still work with today.

    The scene looked something like this: a huge coffee percolator perched in my pink bathtub, every burner, oven, and the outdoor BBQ cooking something, and every available surface covered with wrapped platters of homemade cookies and early versions of recipes that would become Kitchen Mouse staples. Any friend or family member I could rope in was there helping by my side.

    Meanwhile, I was hugely pregnant and counting down the seconds until we could move into our new kitchen and future home of Kitchen Mouse Cafe, being built just down the street.

  • Kitchen Mouse Cafe opens on Figueroa in Highland Park, Los Angeles, as a tiny vegetarian cafe with fewer than 20 seats. I designed a small brunch menu inspired by what our catering clients asked for most: vegan and gluten-free food that put flavor first. Most of that original menu is still holding strong today, including our forever best seller: pancakes!

    And Kitchen Mouse Catering finally had a home away from my home.

  • We're busting at the seams so we knock through the wall into the space next door. We add a whole lot more tables and chairs, cover the walls in our signature mint green, and build our well-loved kids' play area, which quickly becomes a destination for local parents, myself included!

  • We open a bakery! When a big, beautiful kitchen becomes available behind us, we move catering in and decide to open Kitchen Mouse Bakery while we're at it. We'd become known for our vegan pastries, so we went ahead and made the whole bakery plant-based.

  • We're a bakery, a destination, a neighborhood cafe, and a catering company feeding sets, offices, and private events all over Los Angeles. More than a decade later, we're incredibly grateful for the people who keep coming back, bringing their friends and families, and letting Kitchen Mouse be part of their lives.

  • A cookbook! For years we've been asked when it's coming and the answer is finally: soon. Visit our recipes page for a taste of what’s to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime.

  • Our pancakes, sauces, focaccia, cookies, waffles, breakfast sandwiches, chilaquiles, vegan and gluten-free pastries, and flavor-forward vegetarian food. Also our quirky spaces, cookie jars, and the tables where people have been celebrating birthdays, first dates, and ordinary Tuesday mornings for more than a decade.

  • We're mostly vegan, but not entirely! Our cafe is plant-forward with eggs available and dairy milk at the coffee bar.  Our bakery is entirely plant-based.  Our catering has been omnivorous from the start, with plenty of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options.

    Kitchen Mouse has always been about making sure there’s something for everyone. Whether we're feeding a family at the cafe, a crew on set, or a big party, the goal is the same: make food that brings everyone together, with enough variety that everyone gets something they're genuinely excited to eat. Over the years, we've found that starting with really delicious vegan food makes that surprisingly easy, and it's become one of the things we do best.

  • Lots! Gluten-free food has been part of Kitchen Mouse since the beginning. You'll find plenty of gluten-free choices across our cafe, bakery, and catering menus, including pastries and our beloved pancakes. Just ask us about specific dietary needs and allergies.

  • Yes! Catering is actually where Kitchen Mouse began. We cater photoshoots and production sets, offices, meetings, parties, weddings, and private events throughout Los Angeles. Our catering menus are designed to feed a crowd with different tastes and dietary needs, with omnivorous, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. Learn more here.

  • We're in Highland Park, Los Angeles, on Figueroa Street. Kitchen Mouse Cafe and Kitchen Mouse Bakery are right next to each other, serving breakfast, lunch, pastries, coffee, and plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. Come say hi!