In this week’s print edition of the Scene, we share M.L.Rose founder Austin Ray’s story in hospitality from washing dishes at catering gigs as a teenager to growing into a restaurateur with multiple locations of his M.L.Rose restaurant group.
A big reason that he’s been able to accomplish all this in a relatively short time has been his maniacal focus on details and his commitment to the communities where he lives and works. By “communities,” I mean both the geographical neighborhoods where his restaurants are located and the regional purveyors whom he sources from, but also the larger communities like the craft beer lovers whom he treats to uncommon beers selected through a quarterly beer council that he convenes to seek out new and exciting options.
As part of M.L.Rose’s birthday celebration, Ray has announced a special birthday burger and a new custom beer to commemorate the occasion. The creation of both products offers insight into his philosophy of hospitality that has carried him so far.
First, the burger. M.L.Rose has featured a Burger of the Month for years, but for the Big One-Five, Ray has partnered with Porter Road Butcher to create a Birthday Burger that rules above them all. The two local heroes entered into an agreement last summer for PRB to provide the beef for every M.L.Rose location, and not just any beef. Ray and his team visited the farmers who raise the cattle and Porter Road’s production facility in Kentucky to learn everything they could about the operation. Together the two companies developed a custom grind just for M.L.Rose.
Ray had been looking for a dedicated regional beef provider for a while. He recalls that he had once “used a tiny family-owned processor out of Chapel Hill, and they were great, but they just couldn’t keep up with our demands. When we were shopping for beef that we would be proud to serve to our kids, we ended up having to ask ourselves, ‘Can we charge $20 for a burger?’ We just weren’t comfortable with that.”
Austin Ray
He reached out to Chris Carter and James Peisker at Porter Road at an ideal time. “It’s been an incredible match,” Ray explains. “They’ve been growing like we’ve been growing, and they needed a home for their trim. All their beef is dry-aged, and we were shocked by how much more flavor it has. Plus, we get to work with friends and neighbors on this.”
Not only did they develop a proprietary fat/lean ratio for M.L.Rose, but Porter Road experimented with how they packaged the beef to ship to the restaurants.
“We worked on the texture, the grind process and even how loosely they put the beef into the packaging so that it can maintain the tenderness we want,” says Ray. “It was hard to trust that they could do the volume and consistency for now and the future, but man, Porter Road is nailing it!”
For December’s Birthday Burger, Ray opted for Porter Road’s brisket blend, a noticeably richer and even more flavorful product. The kitchen tops that with homemade barbecue mayo, bacon, pickles and smoked cheddar cheese from a nearby creamery for a burger worthy of the celebration.
And that's not all. For the 15th birthday, Ray knew he wanted to come up with at least one new beer to mark the occasion. Ray is no stranger to the craft of craft beers. He has already partnered with Jackalope to create a Neighborhood Lager for Von Elrod’s Beer Hall & Kitchen that quickly became one of the best-selling beers for both the restaurant and the brewery.
Reaching slightly beyond local to regional, Ray chose Asheville, N.C.-based Hi-Wire Brewing (which has a Nashville taproom) as his brewing partner for this project.
“Hi-Wire Lager stood out the first time we tasted it a decade ago,” he says, “and we knew that they could keep up with our needs. The relationship working with them has been incredible. We know their capabilities, and they know we’re picky, but so far the response has been incredible.”
The result of the collaboration is the new M.L.Rose Owl Lager, named after the sleepy bird that is part of the restaurant’s logo. This American lager is crisp and refreshing thanks to the addition of light Pilsner malt and German hops. Ever the businessman, Ray requested an ABV below 5 percent (“I want it to be something you want more than one of!”), and initial response has been quite popular. It's currently available on draft at all M.L.Rose locations, and you should soon be able to find Owl Lager in cans in the market.
And that’s not the last of the collaborations between Ray and Hi-Wire, as they are currently working on an M.L.Rose Hazy IPA designed to pair perfectly with Porter Road’s beef for the ideal burger and a brew combo. Why a hazy IPA? Ray explains, “I waited a decade for that fad to fade, but it hasn’t, and they are still what I reach for most often at the end of the day. Fans keep asking for them, so we’re working on a sessionable IPA with some West Coast elements like hop oil and piney notes. We’re also introducing melon and citrus notes, but we want it to be dry instead of fruity.”
The reason it hasn’t come out yet is that Ray and Hi-Wire are still exchanging notes on numerous trials to get it exactly right. Ray was dead serious about designing a beer to pair with burgers from the jump.
“We shipped them some of the beef from Porter Road,” he recalls with a chuckle. “At least one of the Hi-Wire guys thought we wanted them to make a beer that tasted like beef! We want it to complement the beefier flavors from Porter Road, so we’re exploring the nuances of flavor profiles and umami. The flavor scientists at Hi-Wire get into the hop profiles and selections to help accomplish that.”
In the end, the process is as important as the result to Austin Ray, and he’s happy about who he has partnered with. “It’s cool the parallel with how we, Porter Road and Hi-Wire have all grown up together, although they’re both more professionalized with infinitely more talent than me. It’s rewarding to get to play with people at that stage of growth.”
It’s also rewarding to get to eat that burger with that beer. Don’t let December slip away without that experience!
