We're extremely excited to announce that we've hired Damien Brockway to be our Executive Chef at Jester King! Damien is a very talented, thoughtful, passionate chef, who now runs the kitchen at our restaurant (formerly Stanley's Farmhouse Pizza). Over the last few months, Damien has begun creating food that mirrors the philosophy of our beer. He's been using local agriculture, fermentation, and old-world techniques to make food that's uniquely tied to a time, place, and people.
We have known Chef Damien for the last few years having worked with him when he was at Uchiko, and more recently when he was the Executive Chef at Counter 3. FIVE. VII in Austin. We were extremely impressed with his creativity, subtlety, balance, restraint, and his ability to achieve complexity without being overbearing. We felt his cooking was a wonderful match for our beer, and we couldn't be more excited that he's with us now.
Having joined us in August, Chef Damien has already had a major impact on our restaurant. He assembled an outstanding culinary team with an excellent pedigree, transformed how our kitchen operates, changed our ingredient sourcing to match our values, put an emphasis on fermentation and sustainable agriculture, incorporated our beer into our food, and begun creating new, thought-provoking, delicious dishes.
Wood-fired pizza will remain an important part of what we do. However, when we purchased Stanley's and the 165 acre ranch where Jester King resides, it gave us an opportunity to be creative and take some of the elements that make our beer exciting and apply them to cooking. For instance, we've begun curing meat in-house with wild cultures, spontaneously fermenting bread with local grains, and sourcing vegetables from our farm for cooking and fermentation.
As far as what will remain the same, we've always taken great pride in Jester King being a fun, relaxed, beautiful place for people to enjoy time with friends and family. Stanley's was great at that, and it will be no different under Jester King both in terms of environment and cuisine. As Chef Damien writes, "I'm from rural New England and have lived in Texas for five years. After traveling the country applying heat and blade to nature's bounty, I feel as though I finally belong somewhere feeding children and families for a living. Cheers!"
We hope you'll come visit us in the weeks and months ahead to experience what Chef Damien and his team are up to and enjoy the combination of both food and beer being under one roof at Jester King. Cheers again!
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