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ET-I-QUETTE CATERING LED BY LOVE




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Brandon and Kim Tilsen-Brave Heart are pictured here with their three children. Courtesy photo.

Brandon and Kim Tilsen-Brave Heart are pictured here with their three children. Courtesy photo.

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Brandon and Kim Tilson Brave Heart are moving into their third year providing a premier fine dining experience. The fine dining experience is located in downtown Rapid City at 521 7th Street. They can cater your event or invite you to their diner downtown where they will nourish you with some of the best and freshest ingredients found locally. You’ll find love in the detail they’ve created in what is now Et-i-quette catering. Brandon and Kim work tirelessly so their customers receive the experience of the finest dining the Black Hills has to offer. They have created and mastered a menu that is full of culture and history.

The couple are a family of five with three children. I asked “Is this something that was always envisioned or was it something you just fell upon?”

Kim looked at Brandon with the obvious love that has been tempered through their history together. He smiled and she said “This is how it began…” Kim had been working to build her business Painted Sky Management, still in operation and Brandon had been working for KLNJ Engineers. One day, Brandon was working on Skyline Drive in Rapid City when he had a near death experience. He was taking pictures of the site that they were working at and by the grace of the great spirit, he moved out of the way of a runaway heavy-duty dump truck.

 

 

“I just went to get a drink of water and without sound I narrowly missed getting killed,” said Brave Heart. This event would trigger a huge amount of stress in the coming days. In addition to the stress, the couple had just welcomed their third child into the world. Kim had been having her own troubles with her pregnancy emotionally, physically and mentally; plus, the sleepless nights that come with a child. Brandon at the time knew he needed aid, he needed some rest and relaxation. He told Kim “I need a night away.”

Kim was happy to oblige her loving husband even though she had been struggling in her own accord. “I knew he needed this, he had been having sleepless nights since the traumatic event,” she said.

Brandon was planning on watching a UFC fight with his cousins on the night out when he started to experience light headedness and small black outs. He went to the bathroom to collect himself and right after he got out of the bathroom he fell straight to the ground. Brandon had a grand mal seizure. This type of seizure comes without warning and can even be deadly. The grand mal seizure brings a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. His cousin immediately contacted Kim and said that he had two seizures. The doctors would later explain that this was most likely due to the stress and sleepless nights the couple had been experiencing. From that point on Bradley has never experienced another seizure, but precautions were taken and their life was abruptly altered.

Brandon was prescribed a number of medications and told not to go back to work or expose himself to stress at that time. He needed to be constantly monitored, never left alone, even during private bathroom times.

“This was a very complicated time,” said Kim. She was building her personal business that required her to travel often, plus the newborn and the other two children and their own schedules. Brandon was heavily medicated in the following weeks. “I just felt like I was zoning out all the time,” said Brandon.

Even though it was hell during that time, the couple calls that moment a “blessing.” They call it a blessing because this allowed them to stop and reassess their lives. Kim told Brandon “I love you; I know this is a scary thing but we need to figure things out, what makes you happy, what do you love doing?”

Brandon quickly responded “I love cooking with you!” From that moment Et-i-quiette was born. Cooking had always been part of the foundation of their relationship so it became no surprise this venture of fine dining would always be led out of love. To share their experience, you can go their website etiquettecateringco.com or stop by their diner downtown.

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