West & Taylor Culinary To Open Near Square

By Damon Stone,
Staff Writer

Positioned at 135 East Main Street, West & Taylor Culinary Co. will offer grab and go home cooked meals around lunch.

Scottsville-native Christina Williams, the owner and chef at West & Taylor Culinary Co., explained that she will do family sized meals, along with catering events, having operated out of the 4-H kitchen with Farm to Fork, and the sides for the last three years.

Williams has also had experience with smaller and larger catering events, such as the community Thanksgiving in Bowling Green at the First Baptist Church, with several volunteers helping with the event.

“I had a ton of volunteers, but it wasn’t just me, but I’m just basically a one-person operation,” Williams explained. “I have family that helped me out, taking things places, and if I need things, but usually, it’s just me.”

In 2015, Williams had participated in a culinary competition on the Rachael Ray Show, having been inspired afterwards to pursue cooking for her career, transitioning from an office job to her current career.

“Slowly but shortly, I started cooking for people and found exactly what I ended to do, to do it right, where I wouldn’t be in trouble, with the commercial kitchen, and that kind of thing,” Williams said.

Williams explained that she had been renting commercial kitchens and doing meal prep for three years, mainly for elderly family members, along with meals for bereavements, and more.

“If somebody needs some meals, they can call me up,” Williams said. “I’ve been a personal chef in people’s homes as well.”

Williams added that she had gone to at least two or three homes, and prepared their food while the homeowners were at work, and can accommodate for people’s needs, if necessary.

“I’ve always been interested in cooking, it’s kind of always been my thing, I grew up in the kitchen, and my family cooks,” Williams expressed. “Watching my aunts, and my mom, and my grandmother cook, and I’ve always been interested in it, and always helped out.”

After the culinary competition, she had started a small food blog under “The Little Red Kitchen,” before rebranding to West & Taylor.

“Mostly, it was just taking pictures of my food, and those types of things,” Williams explained. “Small stuff (to0) try to get my name out there, because there are legalities to cooking for other people. You can’t just cook it from your home, technically, and sell it.”

Williams explained that in order to cook the food she wanted to, and sell it, she would have to cook out of a commercial kitchen, and to follow certain regulations, which the location at 135 East Main Street fulfills.

“I did do some baked goods, and set up at the farmer’s market, (…) but that’s not where my heart is,” Williams explained. “I’m a savory cook. I don’t like the scientific exactness of baking; I like to be able to throw something in the pan and be like, ‘oh, that did work,’ and then I can make a note of that.”

Williams explained that she sticks to her family’s recipes, being things that she grew up eating, occasionally adding in newer recipes, or having newer additions, or specials.

“West and Taylor are the maiden names of my grandmothers,” Williams recalled. “When I was little, I was handed a binder, filled with my maternal grandmother’s recipes.”

Williams explained that the binder was covered in stains and sauces, being something that the family had cooked out of for several years, along with getting her paternal grandmother’s recipes after she passed as well, and recipes from her aunt that had passed.

“I’m kind of the person that gets those in my family, so I use a lot of recipes from my daily, and that’s why West & Taylor is named West & Taylor, because I want to honor that tradition in our family, and the fact that that’s what made me start cooking was all the women in my family,” Williams expressed.

Along with personal cooking, Williams had worked in Bowling Green at Montana Grill and at the Night Cap when it was open.

“I loved it, but restaurant kitchens are a different beast, though,” Williams explained. “I loved the high intensity, I loved the atmosphere and I loved the people, but I did decide that I wanted to kind of go at a little slower pace. I wanted to feed the people that maybe found it a little harder to afford a bigger dinner.”

Williams recalled that there had been a client that, every week, would order five to six family size options that would feed his family for the week, with that being the kind of work she wants to do whenever the location opens.

For whenever the location opens, Williams explained that customers could either pre-order a meal, or come in and order something, which can be reheated for when the customer is ready to eat.

Williams added that she had utilized the kitchen at the UK Extension Office in the past, with her wanting to open a space along with The Local Good General Store, having partnered together at First Friday fairs.

“They mostly were set-up in Bowling Green, and they were just a pop-up grocery store, but were low waste, so if you needed a cup of oats to make some oatmeal, and you didn’t want to buy the whole thing, you could come and buy a cup of oats,” Williams explained. “Same with spices, and that kind of deal. It was a really great business; everybody, especially people who are trying to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable, found their service amazing.”

Williams explained that The Local Good General Store had wanted a brick and mortar location, and with the UK Extension Office kitchen being closed for maintenance, Williams had partnered with The Local Good General Store to share the space.

“I didn’t realize how soon they were considering this, because we talked, and the next week we looked at two locations, and the next week we signed a lease,” Williams recalled. “This is exciting, and nerve wracking, but exciting, and I cannot wait.”

Williams explained that the Local Good General Store still has to put up shelves, and move their inventory into the space, but that she will open up orders within the next two weeks

With the space in particular, it was appealing to them due to its proximity to the square, and being within their scope, and working with the Heart of Scottsville.

“I have always loved that building,” Williams expressed. “There’s a good enough space, and the kitchen is not huge, but it’s not tiny and it works perfectly for me. I’ve been in there a couple of times, just recipe experimenting and getting things set up, and it works really great for me.”

Williams explained that there are some things in the space that she cannot do food-wise, such as burgers, due to the lack of a restaurant-style hood to help with grease, but that she would not be doing such items, because of the unease of reheating them.

“The fact that (the building) was available around the time that we were ready was just kind of perfect,” Williams expressed.

The storefront of West & Taylor Culinary Co. and The Local Good General Store is set to open sometime in mid-February into March, or in the next two months, and will open at 11 a.m.

“I want people to be full, not just of food, but of an experience of art,” Williams expressed. “I try to bring the experiences and the way I felt when I was eating my family’s foods. Every potluck, every family dinner, it was filled with experience, it was filled with laughter and fun, and I want people to be able to still have that, even if there’s not a lot of time.”