About Us
Scratchboard Kitchen
Located in downtown Arlington Heights, Scratchboard Kitchen offers scratch-made food and drinks using the highest-quality locally sourced ingredients. Executive Chef Grace Goudie provides a chef-driven take on Midwestern seasonality by tapping into the bounty of the surrounding farmland. Local ingredients are showcased in seasonally-inspired dishes paired with a selection of beverages including local craft beer, carefully curated wines, and specialty cocktails. You’ll also find a daily selection of house-made pastries, locally roasted coffee, specialty lattes and cold brew.
Our Team
Danielle Kuhn
Danielle has always had a passion for restaurants, shaped by early industry experience that sparked a love for hospitality and a deep curiosity for the business, marketing, and operations behind it. Even at a young age, she had a clear vision for her ideal restaurant: one where everything was made from scratch and ingredients came from local farms and suppliers. She knew bringing that vision to life would take years of work, planning, and persistence.
After graduating from the University of Dayton, where she studied Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Communication, Danielle moved to Chicago to work in advertising. While she developed her skills in strategy and marketing, her dream of opening a restaurant like Scratchboard Kitchen was always calling her.
Everything clicked when she moved to Arlington Heights. She fell in love with the community and felt inspired to pour her passion into something of her own that would contribute to and grow with the neighborhood she now called home. She set out to create a space that reflected everything she believed a restaurant should be: welcoming, deeply connected to local producers, and centered around food made from scratch.
The journey to opening was anything but quick. It took nearly four years to find the right location. But when 5 W. Campbell Street became available, Danielle knew she had found the place where her vision could finally come to life.
Just as she was getting ready to open the doors, the pandemic brought the restaurant industry to a halt. Despite the challenges, Scratchboard Kitchen opened in April 2020 with a focus on breakfast and lunch. Since then, it has grown and evolved into the restaurant it is today, offering all-day dining, from brunch and lunch to happy hour, dinner, and a seasonal tasting menu.
Today, Scratchboard Kitchen is a reflection of that original vision: a gathering place rooted in community, seasonality, and genuine hospitality, built with intention from the ground up, where every detail is designed to make people feel cared for, connected, and excited to come back.
Grace Goudie
Grace’s culinary journey began in Hinsdale, IL with a high school restaurant job. At an early age, she was drawn to the culinary world and quickly became enamored with the ability that food has to ignite memories from childhood, travels, and past experiences.
Her passion for cooking led her to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, CA where she attended the Accelerated Culinary Arts Program. Upon graduation, she accepted a position at Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc and was quickly promoted to Sous Chef. She then worked at The French Laundry, one of the top -rated restaurants in the world, before making her way back to the Chicago area.
When Danielle connected with Grace, she knew immediately that Grace was the perfect Chef to bring the Scratchboard Kitchen vision to life. Grace’s experience includes working with local farms to source the highest-quality ingredients, leading a high-functioning kitchen, and demanding excellence and creativity for every single dish that leaves her kitchen.
