From The Thomasville Townie - Scoop: Sweet Grass Dairy’s New Venture
Amid swirling rumors and high hopes, I met with SGD’s Mat Willey for the official word on their new venture: a restaurant.
They have a good lunch and nite bites menu at the current Cheese Shop, but they wanted to take it a step further. Before starting the dairy, co-owner Jeremy Little was on track to attend culinary school and he and wife Jessica are still passionate about food. If you’ve attended one of their perpetually sold out tasting events, you know just how passionate. They have a love of local ingredients and a taste for far-flung gourmet offerings, blending the two in a way that gives their dishes both roots and wings.
I asked if the restaurant would be fine dining - “It will be definitely be family-friendly,” says Jeremy.”But we’ll always offer high quality seasonal foods. As parents of four boys, we completely understand the importance of restaurant that can take care of kids while also remembering to not short change Mom and Dad.
They want to approach the menu in a way that makes it possible for families to dine out but that allows parent to have something more elevated. “It’s important to us that no matter if you’re coming in after a hard day of work or if you’re out for a nice dinner date - we want to make your experience memorable.” {I heard from an unnamed source who’s seen the menu that it’s looking great.}
The Grassroots location will undergo a full renovation and become home to full service dining along with bar space in the front for the wine + cheese set. {So, take heart! Your weekly wine meetup isn’t going to be homeless.}”It’s so flattering that people love our current space so much,” says Jessica. “That feel was developed by our friend and great designer, Jackie Ellis Johnson. So, since the beginning of this project we’ve been working with her to make sure that all of those same elements that people enjoy make their way into the restaurant.”
Tastings will happen after hours at the current location, which will be transformed into a bottle and cheese shop in the front while housing their substantial mail-order business in the back. They’re hoping to offer more tastings at various price points, as well as trunk shows, of a sort, for Southern gourmet food items.
They are anticipating a Fall opening for the restaurant and are hoping to have minimal downtime for the current location. To keep up with their progress and to get the first crack at tasting and cheese classes, be sure to sign up for their newsletter at http://sweetgrassdairy.com/contact.
SGD is our little hometown cheese shop and I often forget how big-time they are in the food world. They recently received The Specialty Food Association’s esteemed Outstanding Retailer Of The Year award. This is a national award, and past winners include Zingermans, The Fresh Market, Pastoral Artisan Cheese and Central Market. Reminds me just how lucky we are to be able to stroll in an order cheese whenever we like. I’ll have a Green Hill, please!
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