Daniel Higgins

Gather Americana in Grand Chute is in step with the hot food and beverage trends including, farm to table (entrees feature ingredients from more than a dozen local farms) and craft beers (more than 70 bottled selections and 24 on draft) but the restaurant is a step ahead when it comes to offering wine on tap.

Tap wine is gaining popularity in larger cities and even made a few of those trends-to-watch lists at the end of 2013 with plenty of good reasons. First off, kegs of wine eliminate two of wine’s biggest enemies — light and oxygen — meaning the last glass of wine tastes as fresh as the first, which is important because there is the equivalent of about 25 bottles of wine in one keg.

Owner John Chastain says once a keg is opened it stays fresh for up to three months, though he’s never had a keg last that long. Selections of tap wine include a 2011 Liberty School cabernet sauvignon ($8), 2011 Boomtown chardonnay ($7), and 2012 Tangent sauvignon blanc ($7).

Flanking the wine tap on either side are a dozen craft beers on draft. Chastain has tapped into local breweries including Titletown Brewing Co. (Johnny Blood Red), Stillmank Brewing Co. (Wisco Disco), and Old Bavarian (Tanjanator); popular Wiscosnin breweries including Lakefront, O’so, Capital Brewery, Ale Asylum, St. Francis and Tyranena; and national brands to fill the lines.

Originally, Gather was conceived as a wine and craft beer bar, says Chastain. But when his two business partners dropped out, he saw his chance to do something bigger.

“As I was developing that concept and researching it more, I realized that I had an opportunity to serve kind of a mission and more of a passion to keep people healthy and work toward a healthy lifestyle,” said Chastain, who has a master’s degree in health care administration.

From the original concept to the opening Feb. 14, it was two years of researching, recruiting the right chefs and remodeling to create a dining experience that matched Chastain’s vision of a restaurant focused on farm-to-table practices.

The menu is a blend of creativity and restraint.

The braised pork shoulder tartine ($11) uses pork from Painted Rock Farms in Amherst Junction that is topped with cilantro, radish, pickled onion, carrot and farmers cheese over three toasted pieces of French bread. It’s nice to find a restaurant that allows pulled pork flavor to prevail rather than bury it under thick, sugary barbecue sauce.

Another trend Gather follows is the move toward offering small, medium and large plates, allowing diners to mix and match.

Two popular large plate dinner options are the grass-fed ribeye ($30) served with potato gratin, carrots, demi glaze and haystack onions and the house smoked bone-in pork chop ($24) served with spaetzle, sauteed spinach, onion confit and bacon jus.

However, The Ridiculous Burger has already established itself as a crowd pleaser. The burger is a third-pound ground beef patty — made with meat from Sweet Grass Farm in Suring — topped with roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, Wisconsin Swiss cheese, garlic mayonnaise, truffle oil on a brioche bun from Breadsmith.

It was offered as a dinner option earlier this year but only made the lunch menu during July and Chastain heard from customers about the move.

“People were disappointed when we took the burger off our dinner menu,” said Chastain. “It’s funny when you play with menus, you get very little resistance when you switch to the new fresh produce and lettuces and vegetables that are coming out, but people have that one menu item they came here to eat.”

Likewise it took a bit of communication to let customers know that the pulled pork sandwich had transformed into the braised pork shoulder tartine.

“I hate to disappoint people, but we try to encourage them and say, ‘yes, but look, this is pretty much the same thing, but in a little different format. Sure we took this pulled pork sandwich off, but now it’s an open face pulled pork tartine and it’s got extra flavors and ingredients and you should try it.’”

Changes in the menu are driven by the commitment to the farm-to-table dining experience. Adjustments are made based on what local farmers are supplying but Chastain insists on all of it getting minimal treatment from the chefs to allow the flavor of the foods to shine through. Though minimal treatment doesn’t mean easy work; everything is prepared from scratch because it comes in fresh.

The work begins early at Gather, which serves breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday. The breakfast menu ranges in flavors from the classic bacon and eggs to German-style potato pancakes to corn bread French toast to chai spiced doughnut holes.

A small deli allows guests to pick up locally produced food, wine and beer. Chastain says customers can get a picnic to-go with everything — even a tote bag — to enjoy a meal outside during the few days of summer. For customers who would rather be a grill hero at home, they can pick up meats featured on the menu, including the smoked pork chops.

Even customers just popping in to take advantage of the deli are treated to the calming atmosphere signaled by the warm red color and rustic wood backed by racks of micro greens in the entryway. Soft music plays in the dining room that features a stone and glass fireplace, a large chalkboard framed in weathered wood. An intimate dining room, which can be closed off for private gatherings, features large windows and walls bathed in a honey color that invites in plenty of sunshine to create a feel of outdoor dining on days when it’s too hot or cold or rainy to dine on the patio.

Located just south of Fox River Mall, Gather’s menu options that include light, healthier fare and the soothing setting, is a stark — and welcome — offers a nice respite from a day of noisy, hustling, bustling shopping.

Gather Americana

• Where: 231 S. Nicolet Road, Grand Chute

• Hours: Breakfast 7-10 a.m., Monday-Saturday; lunch 11 a.m.- 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday; dinner 5-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday and 5-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; bar 11 a.m.-close; deli: 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Entrees: Small plates $4-$8; medium plates $8-$14; large plates $8-$34; breakfast $5-$8

• Contact: gathereat.com; (920) 750-7290;

• Social: facebook.com/Gathereat; Twitter @gathereat

• Locally sourced: Greens from Green Valley Acres, Neenah; eggs from Sun Brothers Naturals, Appleton; oils from The Olive Cellar, Appleton; pork from Painted Rock Farms, Amherst Junction; beef and pork from Sweet Grass Farm, Suring; cheese from BelGioioso, Denmark; greens from East Slope Farm, Manawa; cheese from Springside Cheese, Oconto Falls; micro greens from Grow Local, Neenah.