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New eatery opens inside of coffee shop downtown
YOUNGSTOWN
“A combination of healthy farm-to-table food and greasy comfort food.”
That’s how Ross Fowler, 23, of Poland describes his cooking, which is now being served at The Kitchen Post, his one-man food operation that shares space with Friends Specialty, a coffee shop at 101 W. Federal St.
Patricia Tinkler, who owns Friends with her husband, Mitch Lynch, said the partnership worked out perfectly.
“I really like Ross’ aesthetic when it comes to food,” she said. “It matches us.”
His aesthetic is fresh, local ingredients crafted into simple dishes, often with a Southern influence, Fowler said.
“I do make a mean biscuit... and sausage gravy... and fried chicken,” he said.
The Southern influence comes from Fowler’s experience at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., where he worked as a chef for the past 31/2 years before coming back to the Mahoning Valley to start his own business.
His strategy?
“I went to a bunch of places, and just started cold-talking business owners,” he said. “[Patricia and Mitch] had been wanting to do lunch, but didn’t want to have their hands full with it.”
One of the features of his operation is a menu that changes every day.
On Friday, the menu featured biscuits and gravy, broccoli and cheddar gratin, a beet and barley salad, a squash and kale salad, and a variety of paninis.
The kale salad was made with butternut and acorn squash, pumpkin seeds and an apple-cider vinaigrette.
The menu, and food, are all Fowler’s creations.
“I don’t really have recipes,” he said. “I just cook how I cook.”
Much of his inspiration comes from the local places where he buys ingredients — places such as Molnar Farms, Lonardo’s Greenhouse, The Bread Chef and Catullo Prime Meats.
“My creativity pretty much comes from walking around a market and seeing what there is,” he said.
Using locally-sourced ingredients is important to him, he said, because “the best possible food I can put out comes from local produce.”
“I feel like this type of food is not something that really occurs around here,” he said of the farm-to-table approach.
And doing new things is what he’s all about, he said.
He just started this venture a couple of weeks ago, and he’s already thinking about his next move.
“Once I get this going good, I want to move on to the next idea — keep doing new, fresh ideas.”