The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF CHEESE
Whey Station to settle in North End
MIDDLETOWN — After nearly eight years of sating appetites on the go with hot and wholesome comfort food, gourmet grilled cheese purveyors Josh and Jillian Moskites have decided to settle down.
The husband-and-wife team behind The Whey Station are following the mobile-to-brick-and-mortar trend begun by the likes of Tex-Mex-inspired Lucky Taco, now with a cantina and tap room in Manchester; and Mercado, a Glastonburybased Spanish tapas truck which expanded to a rotisserie chicken business in Wethersfield, and soon Hartford.
Whey Station(ary) is set to open after the first of the year in the 1872 Southmayd building at 544 Main St., in the former Keagan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant space.
The black-and-orange mobile eatery is a late-night staple of Wesleyan University students, and has become a fixture at the Middletown and Coventry farmers markets, Connecticut beer fests, and Hartford’s Xfinity Theater in the warmer months.
Even the logo is irresistible: two halves of a freshly grilled cheese sandwich slowly being pulled apart by hands spill out the words “The Whey Station” in full melted cheesy glory, as a giant splash of cheese radiates out from the truck’s hood like it just barreled through a river of warm
golden goodness.
Jillian Moskites has a culinary degree from Johnson and Wales University and 12 years of restaurant and specialty food experience with a focus on gourmet cheese.
Josh Moskites attended the Johnson and Wales Culinary Program and has nine years experience in restaurants and specialty foods. He worked with his mother, who owned the Wild Raspberry cheese shop in Cromwell, for years before they launched the food truck in 2011.
The couple, who met 16 years ago, and its two fulltime staff also enjoy a robust catering business. Three years ago, they began renting an incubator space at the R.M. Keating Historical Enterprise Park on Johnson Street, so they could prepare and store their ingredients.
Jillian Moskites, who won the “Chopped” Food Network competition earlier this year, has been cooking since she was very young. While growing up, her father, who was being treated for cancer, had trouble sleeping.
“He’d be up all night baking bread. My parents were missionaries, so we were exposed to all different foods,” she said. When the family lived in California while she was young, she’d dip her French fries into guacamole. “What are you doing? That’s so gross,” her friends would tell her.
Jillian Moskites has a “photographic memory” when it comes to recalling the flavors of delicacies she has enjoyed. In El Salvatore, it was the cheese, Nicaragua, the taquitos — memories of which now conjure up, for her, the exact taste. “It’s burned in my head,” she said Friday morning, during a break from working on the interior of the space.
The couple enjoy the vibe of Middletown, its location at the center of the state, and its reputation for being a great food destination, Jillian said. They know the owners of Eli Cannon’s Tap Room and NoRA Cupcake in the NoRA, or “North of Rapallo Avenue,” neighborhood, and thought the Whey Station would be a perfect complement. “I love the fact it’s slowly gentrifying,” she said.
The food truck actually began as a “joke,” Josh Moskites said. The couple arrived at the idea, mulled it over, and he suggested they take the plunge as a part-time endeavor up on the hill at Wesleyan. “I guess we could … Let’s do it!” he remembers saying at the time.
Business was slow for a while. That is, until the last week of classes, during finals. “Then we got slammed,” he said.
Cheese fondue, which most recently enjoyed a resurgence in the late 1990s, is making a comeback again, and Whey Station(ary) will be serving its rendition. They’ll also offer raclette, a quarter wheel of cheese that is warmed up and the melted portion scraped off onto their tater tots, a fan favorite.
Cheeses are sourced from Cabot Creamery, Cato Corner Farm of Colchester and others. Whey Station(ary) will have a dedicated gluten-free fryer and panini press for those who, like her daughter, have celiac or other gluten intolerances.
Specialties include: the Monger, with a signature blend of five cheeses; the Caprese, local mozzarella, tomato and nut-free basil pesto; and others that use the Monger Mix as a base: Barlow, with whole roasted garlic cloves and roasted garlic aioli; Josh It Up, with ham, tomato and roasted garlic aioli; and Nola, spicy andouille sausage, pickled jalapenos and creamy chipotle sauce.
The couple has six children, ranging in age from 18 months to 10, many of whom have already developed an appreciation for the pleasures of gastronomy. The older two love to compete in a version of “Chopped” before dinner by deconstructing the ingredients in a couple of prepared meal kits.
Before they secured the space downtown, Josh Moskities was searching for retail leases online and happened upon the location, which was for rent. At first, “I didn’t tell her,” he said, knowing his wife was the more adventurous one, and that she’d jump at the opportunity once she saw the Southmayd. It had everything she wanted, Josh Moskites said.
The couple is gutting a good portion of the old space, but keeping the antique items, such as the bar — which will be turned into a place to dine in addition to tables — tin ceilings and large street-side windows. The interior will have chocolatebrown butcher-block tables, possibly walnut wood; orange bar stools and an industrial aesthetic.
“We want that New Orleans/New York look,” said Jillian Moskites. The couple’s home is filled with “fun” Day of the Dead art, some of which, such as resin skulls, will adorn the new restaurant’s walls.
The new Whey Station (ary) will offer 10 drafts on tap, bottled beers and wines, but no liquor. “We don’t want to be a bar bar. We’re all about family,” Jillian said. They’ll source the beer and ingredients as locally as possible, citing Spoke + Spy Ciderworks and Forest City Brewing of Middletown.
For information, visit wheystation.com, The Whey Station on Facebook, or call 860-342-8737.