I think Alaska is one of the last true food cultures in America. We can’t just get whatever we want all the time. We actually have to wait for things to happen.
Chef Travis Kukull
November is the time of year when Southeast Alaskans finally have the opportunity to slow down and savor all that we harvested in the long light of summer. For many of us, this means sharing wild harvested foods and the bounty of our gardens with friends and family. With this in mind, we decided to call up our friend Chef Travis, a 2024 Path to Prosperity Finalist, to talk restaurants, food culture, and community. Read the full interview and you will be rewarded with his Secret Scalloped Potato recipe!
Travis Kukull is the chef behind Deer Heart, a visionary restaurant in Haines that opened in the spring of 2025. Deer Heart restaurant celebrates the richness of the Chilkat Valley by incorporating as many locally sourced ingredients into their menu as possible. The menu is constantly changing, inspired by the offerings of local farmers, fishermen and foragers.
Chef Travis was a Spruce Root Path to Prosperity finalist in 2024, and received a masters degree in sustainable food systems through the Culinary Institute of America in 2025. Travis was raised in Washington State and ran two innovative restaurants in Seattle before moving to Haines in 2018. Before opening Deer Heart, Chef Travis offered the Haines community delicious food through his catering business, Malo Nista, which he continues to operate during the winter months.
All photos by Garret Montgomery, unless otherwise captioned.
What motivated you to open Deer Heart?
When I moved up to Haines from Seattle I started running a catering business. I got really comfortable doing that, and even talked myself out of the idea that I even wanted to open a restaurant again. But the support for my catering business was so uplifting, and as that business grew to a point where I started to hire people occasionally to start to help me, I remembered how much I loved being a part of people’s lives in that way. I missed training and mentoring employees, and I missed being available for customers on their special occasions.
Deer Heart opened in 2025, and I feel really great about what happened this summer. We survived. We’re moving towards next year and have a lot to look forward to. And the people that work for me seem to love working at the restaurant, which is the best feeling.
You’ve run restaurants in Seattle as well – what does Haines offer that Seattle doesn’t?
I think Alaska is one of the last true food cultures in America. We can’t just get whatever we want all the time. We actually have to wait for things to happen.
If it’s strawberry season, that’s when I eat strawberries. I’m not just getting strawberries at the store every day. They’re expensive and they’re not that good. So it makes everything precious.
And it’s the same thing with a lot of different foods up here, and that’s what creates culture living seasonally. That’s knowing how to process stuff when things come in abundance. When locals come into Deer Heart, we all talk about different ways that we can preserve, cook and make things last, but also eat them fresh.
When I moved to Southeast Alaska and I started harvesting wild food, I felt fulfilled in a way that I have never felt before and a way that I didn’t think was possible.
Can you describe some of the challenges of running a restaurant in Southeast Alaska?
The main challenge I’ve experienced is that a lot of the restaurants are old and need lots of upgrades. The building I’m leasing has a roof that needs to be replaced and energy efficiency is a big problem. When you’re in a city like Seattle, part of the tenant’s responsibility is to pressure the landlord to invest in their space. But in Southeast Alaska, at least what I’ve seen in Haines, landlords don’t expect to invest in the building, in the space or anything like that. You’re renting from them, but they expect you to make improvements.
But we’re much stronger together as a restaurant community, as a commerce community, if we have standards for what service means and how we want to represent ourselves. For landlords, investment into their space is an investment into their community. Because our community is so small, we have to come together to represent the whole town, and when a landlord sets standards it’s going to spread, and it’s just better business for everybody.
What did you take away from being part of the Path to Prosperity Business Competition?
I think doing Path to Prosperity was easily one of the best things I’ve done in the last decade. And Spruce Root is one of the more involved organizations that I’ve ever worked with – I can see how they uplift small businesses and communities throughout Southeast Alaska.
I remember from my youth in Seattle that there were a lot more small business owners. Now mostly everything is owned by larger corporations, or investments. I feel like Southeast Alaska is one of the last places I’ve seen that still encourages small business. I can’t even imagine what the landscape of Haines would look like without small businesses– we don’t have a lot of big business here employing people. More than half of the people that I know are small business owners.
Who should consider being involved in Path to Prosperity?
Honestly, I think it’s good for everybody. Everybody should apply. You might not win, but there’s no way it’s not going to be helpful for you. I met so many different people, which is really hard in Southeast Alaska. And they introduce you to all types of people, like lawyers, CPAs, and financial planners.
When I first moved up to Alaska, I thought maybe the Path to Prosperity thing wasn’t for me, I was like, ‘I’ve already owned two restaurants. I don’t need to do this.” But finally, I just decided to do it. I didn’t win or anything, but man, all that stuff I learned, I’m still using to this day.
And Spruce Root is still involved. They check in on me all the time. They came by the restaurant twice this summer. They promote my business. They gave me a $50,000 loan.
People are tired of struggling with their small businesses. You can see it all over, and they want some real feedback. They want some real planning. And Spruce Root offers those tools.
Click here to learn more about the Path to Prosperity Business Competition.
Thanksgiving is next week – what are some of your favorite dishes to share with friends and family?
I tend to use things that were leftover from my business or the restaurant. So I’ll always make my Comte cheese scalloped potatoes, which are just out of this world. And I’ll usually roast a bunch of wild mushrooms and put ’em on top of those. Everybody loves that.
And I usually make a porchetta, which is a whole pork belly, butterflied, stuffed with homemade sausage, breadcrumbs and sage. You roll the whole thing back up, truss it, tie it, and you roast it. The skin gets really crispy on the outside. It’s quite good.
And we just went down to the dock and a fisherman was selling a bunch of crabs, so we got 15 or so crabs, and I picked them all and put the crab meat away, but I just made a bunch of crab cakes the other day too, and I feel like that’s kind of almost like stuffing with the breadcrumbs.
And apple pies. We have an apple tree in our yard and we put away 45 pies worth of apples.
Beyond the food, what’s important about Thanksgiving?
I always think about my family, and how much I miss ’em and that there’s other people out there missing their families. I just want to offer that food and a space to people who need a place to go. And I think that’s what it’s all about despite the origins of Thanksgiving. And Southeast Alaska has a lot of potluck culture. It’s just the idea of eating and sharing, and Southeast Alaskans are good at those things.
We’d love to share a recipe that people might want to try for their Thanksgiving feasts, any ideas?
These scalloped potatoes are my most requested dish.(download link) This is the first time I’ve ever written it down.
I learned this recipe at Stone Park Café in New York, which came via Park Ave Café from Chef De Cuisine, David. He told me, “Don’t ever forget how to make this dish. It will always make people happy.” He was right; I have consistently cooked it for 20 years.
Click here to download the Secret Scalloped Potato Recipe from Chef Travis!
