Jim Diley, Ryan Petz, Scott Pampuch, and Brian Hoffman
It's kind of like going home for this crew. I personally remember wandering into Corner Table when it was under the original ownership of Scott Pampuch, and seeing a well-fed boisterous table of what would become Fulton Brewing. It was their neighborhood clubhouse as they plotted and planned their future beerisphere. So it makes total sense that Pampuch is now, officially, one of the gang. He's been hired as the full-time Executive Chef of Fulton Brewing and he's got a shiny new kitchen to play with.
The team found an old Airstream in Ohio and had it restored, then brought it up here to have Chameleon Concessions turn it into one heckuva kitchen that will stay parked at their North Loop taproom. It's dead sexy with double sided pass-through windows, a grill, and a vertical meat roaster. For porchetta. Yep.
"We're going to keep it simple though," Pampuch told me, "we're talking about food that's made with beer and that goes well with beer: sausages, sandwiches, a burger, that kind of food, but elevated through our partnerships with great local vendors. Our buns will be St. Agnes, we're doing some Red Table meats, and Lowry Hill Meats will be making our sausages and burger grind. We’re working with Baker's Field to make a Polish pretzel." Owner Jim Diley added, "That's what we love, partnerships and collaboration. This kitchen is intended to mirror how we approach brewing, seeing the bigger local picture and just having fun with our friends."
So a burger? "I'm going on record to say that I'm sick of the flat-top diner burger. With a beer at a taproom I want a backyard grill burger," declared Pampuch. So there will be a burger, though in my mind it might take second seating to this porchetta situation. The vertical roaster anchored next to the grill will have tasty porky bits falling off, into a sandwich with juniper aioli and all the messy goodness. The main path of the menu will focus on hand-helds, from sausages and dogs dressed in all manner of ways to a Mortadella hoagie and fried catfish sammie. Burgers will fit into the daily special rotation.
The Fulton taproom was among the first in the cities, and from the beginning they teased out the idea of adding a kitchen. "Instead of a hurry up and wait, this has been more of a wait then hurry up thing, it's been a remarkably slow quick-ramp up," noted owner Ryan Petz. "But food trucks just worked so well, that we could focus on the brewing while we needed to. That's been such a gift for brewers, but now we are excited to have a little more creative influence and control over the food at the taproom. And we had to hire Scott so he would stop calling us."
The Fulton taproom kitchen is not mobile, it will stay parked at the taproom and serve during taproom hours, year round. During the colder months, you'll be able to just place your order at the bar and have it brought to you. There's obviously a lot of potential for catering and special events, owner Brian Hoffman sees this as an opportunity for many of their partners, "with Scott on board we can partner up with other restaurants and host beer dinners here, now that we have a working kitchen the ideas are just booming".
First selfie in the shine.
They'll be doing some training and media stuff for the next few days, but the kitchen officially opens to the public on Tuesday the 19th at 3 p.m. Wanna meet for a porchetta happy hour?
