Stock & Barrel may pride itself on its meatloaf, but don’t walk in expecting your mama’s mystery meat recipe slathered in ketchup.
Instead, the signature dish offers a hint of nostalgia for an elevated palate.
For the last nine years, the wagyu meatloaf has remained a menu staple and a crowd favorite at the modern American restaurant, says owner and head chef Jon Stevens.
A roll of wagyu beef mixture is cut into thick medallions, which are cooked over the wood fire grill and served atop a potato, bacon and onion hash. Spicy peppercorn butter melts over the dish, infusing a richness to the plate.
Stevens and his wife, MG, opened Stock & Barrel in 2014. He says the restaurant has become a neighborhood favorite in the last near-decade, cementing itself as a Bishop Arts staple as the district has grown around it.
Originally from San Francisco, Stevens says he was looking for a familiar-feeling area to open a restaurant when he began developing the Stock & Barrel concept. The budding Bishop Arts District reminded him of neighborhood enclaves in his home city, and he was sold.
“We found this building, and it was available,” Stevens says. “So we jumped on it, and we rebuilt the whole building. Basically gutted the whole place out, took the ceiling out, the roof off and the floor out, down to a couple of walls and just started over.”
Now, the dining room is minimalistic but clean. Warm wood tones are complemented by cool industrial finishes, and the 40-person back patio, lit by string lights, is cozy and inviting.
The open kitchen’s backsplash of orange would make it a visual draw even if the bustling kitchen activities didn’t.
For Stevens, having an open kitchen was a priority in designing the restaurant. The open kitchen pulls back the curtain for diners rarely able to witness the nitty gritty of what goes into putting out each dish at a restaurant.
“It adds energy to the room. When it’s roaring in there, you can see the fire from the grill and little flame ups here and there, and it adds a nice comfort feel,” Stevens says. “You see and feel all of the stress and the choreographed event that’s going on.”
The restaurant does have its “regulars,” but Stevens says an ever-evolving menu and dedication to quality keep customers coming back without ever becoming bored.
“There’s always something fresh and different going on that they can explore, and at this point, they feel like they can trust new menu items to be up to mark,” Stevens says.
The menu changes frequently.
A large chalkboard at the center of the restaurant lists daily features, and other menu items may be tweaked seasonally as ingredients go in and out of season, Stevens says.
“There’s a lot of menu renewing, so that’s kind of a nice outlet for my creativity,” he says.
But if the description of the wagyu meatloaf had you drooling, don’t worry about missing out on that one. The wagyu meatloaf, caramelized Brussels sprouts and toffee croissant bread pudding are best-selling menu items that Stevens can’t imagine parting with.
“Those three are the real staples on the menu that don’t ever change and will never change,” Stevens says.
The restaurant boasts an extensive wine and liquor list. Signature cocktails — the cilantro lemongrass margarita for the daring, or an espresso martini for the traditional — are another point of pride.
And if Stevens can make a menu recommendation, he would point to the spicy salmon tartare tacos.
A batter made of miso, sesame, flour and butter is made into tuiles — a thin, wafer-like shell — baked on a sheet and shaped into a taco. Once the shells are organized in rows of four, they’re topped with crushed avocado, a salmon tartare mixture, miso mayonnaise, serrano peppers, pickled onions and herbs.
“They’re little fun crispy bites that are textured and fresh,” Stevens says. “We took them away when we were first getting back on our feet from COVID, because they’re very laborious to make. And when we did that, a lot of people were upset. So I would say that’s probably one of our staples as well at this point.”
