Photo by Theresa Stanley
Graze kitchen
Graze kitchen
Recognizing that “running a restaurant with 25 seats is no way to make a fortune,” Craig de Villiers is taking the multi-unit business route to prosperity by opening his second Graze restaurant in December, at 207 S. Limestone St. His first effort, a modest casual café and retail store at 150 Combs Ferry Road in Winchester, opened in 2013. It did so well so quickly that he began thinking of how to open a second site.
Believing Lexingtonians are ready for his “global comfort food,” de Villiers’ new spot features 50 seats inside, 20 outside and a slightly more extensive menu than the first. It also features a full bar and craft cocktail program.
“Coming to this spot was an opportunity that just popped up, and we’d already been looking to expand,” de Villiers said. The new location last served as House of Soul. “If all goes as planned, we’ll be open here in December.”
Along with business partners Damion Scott and Charles Ferrell, de Villiers is doing all the remodeling and woodwork on the 1,500-square-foot space. The work is being done under the direction of Ferrell, a general contractor and Air Force veteran. De Villiers pegged their investment at $20,000.
“Damion is the numbers guy, which I need,” de Villiers said. “It all started out with cooking being my hobby, and that turned into a restaurant, which means now I’ve got a new hobby in woodworking.”
Unusual recipe for a chef
De Villiers’ work in Kentucky began with horses, a trade he plied in his native South Africa before leaving to build on his skills here. “If you want to work with horses, you go to Kentucky, right?” said de Villiers.
Not long after, de Villiers began feeding some of his farmhand peers on the side. He learned cooking from his parents and grandparents, and turned that talent into a modest trade making meals on the open range for working horsemen. His coworkers at Lane’s End Farm liked his food, and word about his chow got to John Collins, the legendary and well-liked farrier who’d shoed champions such as 2010 Horse of the Year, Zenyatta. A regular at Bellini’s (the long-ago closed Italian restaurant in downtown), Collins then helped deVilliers land a sous chef’s job there after nearly six years on the farm.
“That was a big favor he did me,” de Villiers said of Collins, who died in 2013. “I learned a lot at Bellini’s and was there for nine months. But I knew someday I wanted to open my own place.”
Farm-to-table in Winchester
He got that chance in 2013 in a humble and historic building on the outskirts of Winchester, a structure that once served as that area’s post office and general store. The building’s owner, Douglas Owens, said several businesses had operated there yet none for the long term. The opportunity to put a restaurant and market there seemed ideal.
“We needed to upgrade the building and do something with a bit more quality than what had been there before,” said Owens, also the owner of Brookview Beef. His herd of Red Devon beef cattle grazes out back of the restaurant on his family’s land. “We didn’t have a retail outlet for our beef, so it seemed like a perfect fit.”
Beside Brookview meats, in Graze’s refrigerators is lamb from Cattelya Farms Colibri Sheep (owned by Bernal and her husband, Fabian),and bison from Blackfish Bison Ranch. Produce served there comes from a host of nearby farms.
“What we wanted to do was elevate local farms and farmers,” de Villiers said.
He also wanted to respect each animal by using off-cuts not commonly found in grocers’ coolers. The plan was to introduce consumers to those neglected cuts by preparing them for take-home meals. However, it turned out customers wanted to stay and eat them on premise.
“People came here wanting to eat the meat not buy the meat,” de Villiers said. “It was really well received, though I don’t think we were really expecting it to be so well received.”
Lexington and beyond
The plan for the Lexington Graze is more of the same. The first restaurant’s menu featured four daily items that changed regularly. De Villiers’ plan for the new spot is to take the top sellers from the old place and create a menu with eight to 10 featured items.
“It’ll still be a chalkboard menu that’s a bit more standardized but always rotating,” he said. “People can expect brisket poutine. We’ll put steak on, pastas we’ll get from Lexington Pasta, chicken curry, charcuterie, lots of things.”
D.J. Adkins, “my right-hand man” and longtime sous chef in Winchester, will join de Villiers in the Lexington kitchen, along with another cook or two. De Villiers’ replacement in Winchester remains to be seen, though he’s narrowed his options to two.
“I want to get a chef in there to do what I used to with the revolving menu,” he began. “But we also want a lot more guest chefs to come in there [and] put their own special menus on.”
One new goal is to use the Winchester site (which is currently closed for renovations) as an occasional site for a pop-up restaurant where different chefs showcase their creativity with one-off, one-night events.
“I’d like to see it become a hub where we’d see things that are really different from what somebody else is doing,” he said. The dinners would be prix fixe affairs with a set number of courses and higher prices. “We’re thinking we’re going to do one for Valentine’s Day, a little test run,” he said.
Yet even before Graze Lexington is open, de Villiers is already talking about his next project: a microbrewery. Both the flavor-craving chef and the entrepreneur in him see the advantages to riding the craft beer boom in the Bluegrass.
“I’ve really thought about it, and I really want to make my own beer,” said de Villiers. Just on a small scale for now, though, “to serve in the restaurants.”
Owens said he’s glad to see de Villiers doing so well and proud to think he had a hand in helping his career. He said the chef’s passion for using local ingredients is inspiring and that farms like his can only benefit from such positive exposure on a growing range of restaurant menus.
“I am glad for him and wish him all the success in the world in Lexington,” Owens said. “He’s worked for it and he’s certainly talented, and if anybody can do it, he can.”