Feeling Bleu feels good

New “Eatery” to open at Mammoth Brewing’s tasting room.

Bleu Handcrafted Foods owners Brandon and Theresa Brocia confirmed this week in an interview with The Sheet that they will be opening a new restaurant, “The Eatery,” at the Mammoth Brewing Company premises.

The Brewing Company will begin offering food the weekend of December 13, extending its hours to 10:30 p.m.

Brandon said that while he’ll be keeping the food offerings under wraps, The Eatery will provide a completely different menu from Bleu. “It’s going to be a very beer-centric food offering,” he said. Food will be bold, big, and approachable, with “the quality standard we’ve come to establish as our protocol,” he said.

It will, of course, pair well with beer, and “there will be hop and beer ingredients throughout the menu,” he said.

The only thing Brandon could confirm would not be on the menu: hamburger and fries.

“Like anywhere I’ve ever cooked, it’s about fresh food,” he said. “We’ll be making our own dough, and focusing on organic, local ingredients whenever possible.”

How did the Brocias end up at Mammoth Brewing Company? Brewing Company co-owner Sean Turner said it happened naturally, given the long association between Bleu and Bluesapalooza, as well as Bleu’s guest cooking at the recently opened Brewing Company Beer Garden.

“I was smart enough to know, I don’t know restaurants,” Turner said. “These guys know how to make great food, so it was a smart move for me.”

Turner said the Brewing Company’s main level will still be devoted to beer tasting, with the added benefit of food available to order, and seating along the windows overlooking Minaret Road.

He’ll also be opening the beer cellar below the main floor, which Brandon said will be animated with TVs, dartboards, communal booths, and a band venue.

Finally, Turner will be renovating the upstairs to create an event space for 175-plus people. The space will be open as of Memorial Day for private events, film festivals, beer maker’s dinners; even Hop ‘n’ Sage concerts.

“We already have bookings for it,” Brandon said.

Brandon and Theresa opened Bleu Handcrafted Foods next to Base Camp Cafe and P3 two years ago, and see the new restaurant as a natural extension of what they love to do.

“We got so much positive feedback from Bleu, and every time we did a private catered event, or Bluesapalooza, wonderful encouragement to get back into the restaurant business,” Theresa said.

Having helped open Petra’s 11 years ago, Brandon said he had plenty of experience in the restaurant business.

“People know me and my style,” he said. “It’s just been fun to take it to a more casual environment. It seems a little more fitting for me, and us.”

“Frankly, I think it’s going to be a great partnership,” Turner said. “I’m excited about what we’re creating here.”

Mammoth Brewing Company is expanding its prestige and offerings as it gears up to open the restaurant. Turner spoke with pride about the Brewing Company’s gold medal win at the national Great American Beer Festival in October for the Double Nut Brown.

“We won the gold medal at the World Cup two years ago,” he said, “but because the Great American Beer Festival is older, it’s actually more prestigious. To get the gold medal on the world and national stage … it really puts us on the map.”

Turner noted that customers have told him for years how much they love to cook with the Double Nut Brown. “I don’t know if you’re planning on that?” he asked Brandon.

“Oh yeah,” Brandon replied.

The Brewing Company also recently signed distributorships in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego County.

“We’ve always had interest from Southern California, but the time is right to really start expanding into that market,” Turner said.

In addition, the Brewing Company has begun distributing beers from Great Basin in Reno, Rubicon in Sacramento, Hangar 24 in Redlands, and Coronado and Saint Archer in San Diego. Mammoth Brewing Company hosted an Industry Night on Tuesday, October 4, to introduce the brewing companies and their signature flavors to locals.

Taking over ownership of the former Whiskey Creek “has been one of the best challenges of my private life,” said Sean. “I stepped into deferred maintenance. But the team here, from brewers to tasting room crew, has had such great ideas … We really have evolved through force of will. This [restaurant] is just the next stage.”

Turner emphasized that no matter how the Brewing Company evolves, it will always retain its brewpub feel.

“We’re not going for the nightclub feel of previous decades,” he said. “Our focus is on casual and comfortable, with mountain views. At the end of the day, we’re a brewery.”

“We really want to make this a place for the locals,” Theresa added of The Eatery. “We feel like the local business we get at Bleu has carried us through; we want to carry that through here.”