StillwaterEats: Freight House Rolls Out New Menus for Brunch, Lunch and Dinner

After 35 years in downtown Stillwater, the Freight House is rebranding.

“It’s time,” said Brian Ingram, chef and director of operations at the Freight House.

The menu—which now includes weekend brunch items—has been completely retooled and a portion of the patio is also being redone to include a bier garden with 24 craft brews, .

“The menu is chef-driven and overall the changes are culinary-driven,” Ingram, a veteran chef and graduate from the Culinary Institute of America said. “It’s still classic American food—stuff everyone identifies with as comfort food—but we are putting our twist on it, and doing it really, really well.”

Everything on the new Freight House menu is scratch cooking, Ingram said.

“We sat down with our vendors and told them to throw out everything they’ve seen in the past,” he said. “We want fresh produce, fish and beef every day—nothing pre-cut, nothing processed to increase shelf-life. We want our people to have their hands in preparing the food every step of the way.”

The Freight House rolled out the new menu about three weeks ago.

A few items to note on the brunch menu are:

• The Glazed Donut Burger: A half-pound burger with fried egg, cheese and bacon served between two glazed donuts.
• Crisp Hash: House-made corned beef hash with eggs and double-cut Challah Toast
• Stuffed Poblano: Cheese-stuffed poblano peppers, salsa and eggs your style
• Pancake: Jumbo buttermilk pancake, caramel crusted with tree-tapped maple syrup
• Hang Over Chicken and Waffles: 10-inch Belgium waffle with a half-pound of buttermilk-fried chicken

“The philosophy was to put our spin on stuff everyone likes,” Ingram said. “People eat donuts, eggs and bacon, so let’s do a burger.”

The corned-beef has is made from a beef brisket that is slow-cooked for nine hours, and the hash is made in-house, Ingram said. The stuffed pancake dates back to the 1800s in Germany.

The idea behind the lunch and dinner menu was to keep it simple, fresh and homemade.

“If a menu gets to large, it’s not made from scratch,” Ingram said. “We went back to the basics and are cooking comfort food with technique.”

A few items to note from the lunch and dinner menu include:

• River Tots: Idaho taters, crunchy onions, bacon, fresh tomatoes, fried jalapeños and beer cheese sauce
• Ceviche: Shrimp with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, sweet onions, spicy peppers and pressed limes.
• Sourdough Soup Bowls: White Corn Chowder or Flatbush chili
• Freight House Chopped: Cucumbers, red onion, chopped greens, tomatoes, roasted cashews and herb vinaigrette dressing
• Big Pork Cubano: Braised pork, swish, jicama slaw and garlic aioli
• Sausage Sandwich: Freight House beer brat topped with peppers, onions and beer cheese sauce
• Sea Bass: Fresh lemon, capers and brown butter
• Beer Can Chicken: Half of one beer kickstand chicken with Minnesota Lager crusted with cresh herbs
• Lobster Pot Pie: Brandied cream and fresh vegetables
• Baked Truffle Mac and Cheese: Elbow mac, four-cheese sauce, maple bacon, mushrooms, roasted red pepper and truffle oil.

The idea of fresh, local and culinary-focused will also be carried out in the drink menu, Ingram said.

The Freight House is hoping to renovate the Cabooze patio and bar into a beer garden serving 24 craft brews—90 percent of which will be local—spirits, craft wines, and of course, sausage.