"Jefferson Street has recently gotten a new addition to its eclectic assortment of shops and boutiques, adding a little more flavor to the colorful commercial neighborhood in the West End of downtown Lexington.
In May, after 25 years of operation, Stella's reopened its doors after a month of downtime under new ownership and moniker, Stella's Kentucky Deli. The extension of the name is fitting, given that the restaurant now only promotes produce and products from Kentucky on its menu.
When Griffin VanMeter, one of the four owners, was looking for a new place to live back in the early winter, he certainly didn't think that his hunt for a residence would lead him down the road to becoming a restaurateur. Who would? But as his quest within a specified close proximity to downtown lead him to Jefferson Street, he chanced upon the "for sale" sign on the building that housed Stella's. When he inquired, the building and restaurant's then owner, Darrell Woolums, told him that a purchase had to include the building and the restaurant.
There was an apartment above the establishment, and serendipitously, VanMeter thought, "If I knew somebody who wanted to run an ice cream shop, this would be ideal."
Though he wasn't really interested in an ice cream shop, when VanMeter told his good friend Lester Miller, now also a part owner, about the business venture, "the gears started turning," Miller said.
Juxtaposed with his experience with Green Thumb at the University of Kentucky and the Community Farm Alliance, the idea of introducing a restaurant devoted to utilizing local and regional products to downtown Lexington didn't seem like a botanic pipe dream to Miller. After a few months of negotiating, a deal was brokered for the building at the corner of Jefferson and Ballard Streets, and the charming eatery on the ground floor, to exchange hands.
The effects of serving regionally produced fares have many benefits for the farmers, the land that they work on, and customers themselves. According to Miller, locally produced foods are healthier, and there aren't any environmental repercussions associated with the energy used in transporting goods long distances. By purchasing local foods, the farmers are making more money, which enables them to maintain their land that could be lost to urban sprawl. "It's an investment in the natural beauty of the state," Miller said.
Along with VanMeter and Miller, who own the building, two other associates were brought on as owners of Stella's - Aumaine Mott, Miller's wife, and Paul Evans Holbrook, the director of the UK King Press Library, an adjunct to the philosophy department, and guru-like figure for the young entrepreneurs, who said eating at Holbrook's dinner parties made bringing him aboard an obvious decision. "The 'we's quickly became inclusive of Paul," Miller said.
Of course, there's the old trade adage that "friends and business don't mix," but the owners and operators of Stella's say that caveat only applies when working with crooked or greedy partners. Through shared responsibilities, with Mott and VanMeter upfront, Miller on the grill and serving as general manager, and Holbrook as the chef and menu designer, and each working toward a common goal, the team feels mixing friendship and business is like combining peanut butter and jelly (In Stella's case, the item is grilled and served on French bread.).
With a creative hair in the soup of their lives, the owners of Stella's look at the restaurant not as a business venture, but as an imaginative endeavor - one that is both culinary and artistic. "We weren't going into this wanting to make a million dollars," Miller said. "Money is just an added perk. We just wanted someplace fun to come work."
And the menu prices are reflective of this lax financial mentality. With a cheeseburger costing between $6.50 and $7, you might not expect the meat to come from Elm Wood Stock Farms in Georgetown, cheese from Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese in Austin, bread from Bluegrass Bakery, and veggies from various other farmers. The folks at Stella's have to pay up to eight times the normal price for some items, such as eggs, but they want to maintain an eatery that doesn't alienate anybody.
"So often good food is too expensive for everyone," Mott said. "Part of being downtown is recognizing that everybody doesn't have disposable income. We wanted to make sure that the price we have to pay isn't carried over to the customers."
Stella's is open from 10 a.m to 4 p.m., Mon. through Fri. It is located at 143 Jefferson St., and the phone number is 255-DELI.
"