Swine & Sons to get Milkhouse menu, head to Vegas with Foxtail Coffee
Chef/ower Alexia Gawlak will head up food ops in both locations
What happens in Orlando doesn’t stay in Orlando. How do we know? Because Foxtail Coffee, which moved across the Florida state line into Georgia in 2021, is about to open its first-ever store in Las Vegas. And it’s bringing another Winter Park-founded business along to strengthen the odds on the gamble.
Swine & Sons, which first partnered with Foxtail last year when it moved into the Farmhouse location to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner (as well as craft the custom BarSwine menu for The Courtesy Bar), will be serving up the same Southern-inspired fare for Las Vegans with Chef/Owner Alexia Gawlak heading up ops.
“A lot of what we’ve leaned on in the past year as our partnership has flourished is [Alexia’s] great culinary background,” Foxtail founder Alex Tchekmeian told the Orlando Sentinel, noting the Swine & Sons menu’s success and popularity. “So, both brands will travel out to Nevada together.”
Two Greater Las Vegas locations — in Henderson and Summerlin — already have been secured, with the former, its kitchen under Gawlak’s direction, to open first.
“Both are really cool markets,” says Tchekmeian, noting that much in the way people think Mickey Mouse when they hear “Orlando,” out in Las Vegas, visitors tend to think The Strip. In both cases, they fail to recognize how much “real” community exists in iconic tourism towns.
A recent survey by U-Haul ranked Henderson as America’s 17th highest-growth city (Ocala was No. 1). Its residents will be sipping Foxtail and supping on Swine & Sons come September, says Tchekmeian. The Summerlin location, a former Starbucks, is amid buildout with a projected opening in the year’s fourth quarter.
“There’s a world of neighborhoods and communities there that I think will be very receptive to a concept like ours,” he said, noting that research they’ve done says these areas are light on coffee options. “With an elevated food program like the one Swine & Sons will be partnering with us on, I feel like it’s going to be a great success.”
He’s banking on it here at home, too, as Gawlak — a past winner on Food Network
star Guy Fieri’s popular “Guy’s Grocery Games” chef competition show — also will be taking over in the kitchen at the multi-concept Milkhouse, where the Swine & Sons signage will soon be hanging.
The current Cicchetti roster of largely shareable items will be gone, but fans of communal fressing will have a whole new Swine-spawned snack menu to enjoy, along with favorites smash burgers and hot chicken sandos when the menu changes over early next month.
“It’s exciting on a whole different level,” says Gawlak, who’s eager to serve a whole new neighborhood under the Swine & Sons brand. And though the Farmhouse is seeing more dinner business than ever before, she’s looking to amplify that at Milkhouse.
“You’ll be seeing all our popular sandwiches, and we’ll probably have at least one more substantial dinner offering, like a meat-and-three barbecue plate with sides, and a few other platters,” Gawlak said.
Historically, Swine always has been more of a daytime spot, she notes. “We definitely want to flip that script and let people know that we’re open for dinner. We’ll have later hours … and we’ll be adding a whole snack section to the Swine & Sons menu that will allow people to come in and still have that shareable experience.” Also, there’s ice cream. Gawlak, a self-described Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream fangirl “on a level that’s almost embarrassing,” says this might be the most exciting part of this new chapter.
“It’s unreal that I have a Kelly’s under my jurisdiction,” she says. Plans for boozy milkshakes, kids’ burger/shake combos and other ideas are in the works.
“I’m also hoping that my kids will think I’m cooler now.”