Coming to Parkland: A restaurant with a menu of roasted meats and vegetables

Expect fried green tomatoes to be on the menu when the new restaurant Roasthouse by Arista opens in Parkland next week. That’s because chef-owner Ben Herreid, who also operates a farm, is sitting on a 600-pound surplus of unripe tomatoes.

His new restaurant, Roasthouse by Arista, will turn produce from Herreid’s farm into plates of roasted vegetables served alongside a wide range of roasted meats. The plan is to open Monday, but that’s contingent on permit approvals. Check facebook.com/aristarestaurant for updates. Roasthouse will serve lunch and dinner daily.

Meat, potatoes, vegetables. It’s a simple concept, but in Herreid’s hands, there surely will be chef touches, such as brisket with cherry mostarda or roasted pork shoulder with chutney.

This is a second restaurant for Herreid, who operates 2-year-old Arista, a handmade pasta restaurant in downtown Puyallup, with his wife, Anne. He’s also the co-owner of the Puyallup Valley farm that feeds both the restaurants with an abundance of produce year round.

He operates his 6-acre farm — which grew from one acre in 2015 — with farm partner Drew Constant, who also has Rolling Rocks Farm in Graham.

Their Clarks Creek Farm produced more than 1,000 pounds of squash this season. So it’s a safe bet to expect roasted squash on the menu for several months, said Herreid.

In the coldest part of winter, crops dwindle as temperatures become less conducive to growing anything overly exciting (yay, chard! And kale!), but he plans to grow what he can over the winter months.

The Roasthouse will feature simply prepared and adorned meats along with those side dishes made from the Clarks Creek Farm produce.

Ordering will be streamlined with a simple mix-and-match menu. “You’ll pick a roasted meat, then you’ll have an option of one, two, three sides,” said Herreid. He expects meats will be draped with sauces or flavor accompaniments that will change seasonally, such as a jalapeno chutney or cherry mostarda.

The dining room also is uncomplicated. Diners order at the counter, then pick a table in the casual 60-seat restaurant that’s been made over from a Mexican restaurant.

A fresh sheet will announce what’s new. Herreid expects to regularly offer roasted brisket, pork belly, pork shoulder, roasted chicken quarters and other seasonal or special offerings.

Every plate comes with house-made hush puppies (fried corn fritters, a staple of Southern cuisine), and side choices will be broad in flavor and ingredients.

He described braised greens slow cooked with bacon, roasted winter squash with maple syrup and spices. (He’s growing delicata, acorn, cinderella and butternut squash, among others.) He’ll also offer a salad, with the same house lemon vinaigrette he uses at his Puyallup restaurant.

He’ll experiment with quinoa and dabble with all kinds of grain- and seed-based salads. He’s proud of one side that he’s spent quite a bit of time researching: hand-cut fries.

Prices will be easy to digest. Expect combination dinners to start at $9.99 for meat with one side, $12.99 for meat with two sides and $13.49 for meat and three sides. Beer and wine will be offered, with taps dedicated to what’s local, but it’ll be a few weeks after they open before they expect final liquor permit approval for the new restaurant.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Coming to Parkland: A restaurant with a menu of roasted meats and vegetables."