What beer goes best with deviled eggs? Lexington brewery welcomes new food
The kitchen at Blue Stallion Brewing has welcomed a new in-house food concept.
Yearling Kitchen, a new venture launched by chefs and co-owners Aaron Craft and Nick Amato, have been taking orders from the brewery’s walk-up window since early December.
Both have years of experience working in the restaurant and food industries, Craft at Honeywood, Epping’s on Eastside and Tony’s of Lexington and Amato at his father’s pizzerias in Florida before moving to Kentucky a couple years ago and taking a job with Salt & Vinegar.
The space inside Blue Stallion opened up when Salt & Vinegar departed just before Thanksgiving after nearly three years serving up German-inspired dishes there.
Salt & Vinegar’s chef Greg Spaulding to focus on his two other projects — Salt & Vinegar inside the Ethereal Public House and New York-style pizzas at The Cornerstone’s Ethereal Slice House adjacent to the UK campus.
Enter Craft and Amato.
“It was the meshing of two groups’ needs, with them being ambitious go-getters looking to start something new and us in need of a new food partner,” said Sawyer Robbins, the brewery’s director of marketing and external events, of working with Craft and Amato. “We wanted something we knew people would love as much as Salt & Vinegar that would also offer something new and fresh that we haven’t had at the brewery before.”
What’s on Yearling Kitchen’s menu?
Inspired by the duo’s previous restaurant jobs, Yearling’s menu includes a variety of handheld items all made from scratch like grilled cheese, a build-your-own hot dog, a Rachel sandwich (smoked turkey, coleslaw, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing on sourdough bread, served hot), quesadillas, a BLT and a vegan black bean burger. A rotating soup of the week is also front and center with a wide mix of flavors including tomato bisque, potato, pasta e fagioli and butternut squash.
Yearling’s offerings also appear to contain homages to both Salt & Vinegar and Dad’s Favorites, another restaurant that once occupied Blue Stallion’s kitchen, including Bavarian pretzels and beef on weck (au jus-drenched roast beef topped with horseradish sauce and served on a kaiser roll covered with caraway seeds and salt.) According to Craft, plans also call for a rotating, seasonal menu to bring new items and flavors to the menu.
“We wanted to create a menu that would fit the environment, was comforting to the guests and was full of items that we genuinely enjoy preparing. I love anything hand-held,” he says, leading Robbins to interject, “A beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other, you literally can’t go wrong!”
Beer, menu pairings
While the brewery worked in conjunction with Spaulding on what beers to pair with Salt & Vinegar’s menu items in the past, Robbins said such planning hasn’t happened with Yearling Kitchen — yet. However, even with no intentional planning. the kitchen and brewery’s flavors mesh seamlessly, with everyone having their own preference on favorite items to couple together.
For Amato nothing compares to a hot dog (topped with mustard, onions and occasionally sauerkraut) with the Czech Style Pilsner “Czech Pils” (5.5% ABV) due to how the brew’s refreshing feeling cuts through the richness of the dog. Robbins and Craft both prefer Blue Stallion’s Premium Mexican Style Lager “Chela” (5% ABV), with Robbins opting for it with a vegan black bean burger and Craft taking it with a quesadilla.
“The Chela is very light and pairs well with the little spicy kick from the adobo sauce in the quesadilla,” he says.
Yearling Kitchen at Blue Stallion Brewing
Where: 610 W Third St.
Kitchen Hours: Monday 3-9 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Brewery Hours: Monday 3-9 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m.-12 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Online: Facebook.com, BlueStallionBrewing.com