Guest Chefs Cecilia Rikard & Mark McConnell

Mark & Cecilia are co-owners of Off the Rez catering, food truck and Cafe. They opened Off the Rez in 2011. As Native Seattleites with a passion for food, they desired to bring something unique and delicious to the Seattle food scene. Mark’s mother grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana so Mark grew up eating frybread and Indian tacos at family gatherings and powwows. He frequently craved Native food but found that it was not offered on a regular basis in Seattle outside of the occasional powwow or special event. So, he & Cecilia decided to offer it themselves by opening Seattle’s first Native food truck which has since expanded to full-service catering and most recently in 2019, a Cafe location at the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus. Their culinary focus is on post and pre-colonial Native Indigenous food.