The team behind Wyoming’s CWC the Restaurant — chef Caitlin Steininger, her sister and front of house Kelly Trush and their business partner Karen Klaus — are expanding their empire with a second neighborhood eatery. The new Station Family + BBQ opens Friday (Dec. 7).
“Station Family + BBQ is the place that Caitlin, Karen and I — the three of us as business partners — that we want to go with our kids,” Trush says. “Collectively, we have 10 children with ages ranging from 4 to 14 and this is the place that we want to go to where we, as adults, can connect and have space for our children and kind of camp out if we want, but also have really good food. In our neighborhood.”
The food menu, created by Steininger, will feature five main proteins smoked on site, plus seasonal sides and desserts. Right now, the menu lists proteins from Cincinnati sausage to brisket, pulled pork and salmon available naked (by the quarter pound) or as a platter ($8.50-$12.50), served with two sides. Sides include macaroni and cheese, homemade apple sauce, braised greens and caramelized onion gratin. In addition, the menu offers desserts (Texas sheet cake, floats and spoonbread sundaes), “composed” items like a pulled pork sandwich, smoked wings and four different sauces: classic tomato-based barbecue, mayo-based Alabama white, mustard-based South Carolina and a vinegar and red pepper North Carolina.
The building that houses the eatery, well known in Wyoming as the former Sturkey’s restaurant, has been completely renovated. “People know the space the best as being the old Sturkey’s — that’s what everybody calls it,” Trush says. “We have not changed the footprint but we have changed everything else about the building; we made it unrecognizable. But we have kept the existing bar, which a lot of people — a lot of customers — have a lot of memories and strong feelings about.”
Guests can get traditional table service in that bar area or move to the dining room for a more casual, modern take where you can walk up, order and then have a seat at a communal table to wait for your food to arrive. Or head to the game room for ping-pong, shuffle board or wall games.
The bar menu features signature cocktails — the current crop is named after the construction crew with options like “The Bearded Man,” with Disaronno, fruit and simple syrup — beer and wine on tap, bottled beer and a special collaboration brew with Valley Vineyards made especially for Station Family. “(The beer is) called 1908, which is the year the building was built to be the fire station for the neighborhood,” says Trush.
The restaurant plans to open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, with Friday lunch and Saturday brunch hours. Brunch will feature Steininger’s twist on familiar dishes, like goetta made from smoker scraps, and clever cocktails.
While Steininger created the menu, she won’t necessarily always be in the kitchen — her main cooking gig will still be manning the scene at nearby CWC the Restaurant along with Trush. Instead, Trush says, they pulled together a “dream team of rockstars” from CWC to work at Station Family, and they are all excited to continue to expand in Cincinnati, and Wyoming in particular.
“Between lack of sleep and focus, it’s hard to talk about without starting to cry, but the fact that the groundswell of support that we receive in Wyoming and Cincinnati, there’s just no other place on the planet where we would want to start a business and grow a dream," Trush says. "It’s just a huge gift. The love is palpable, and we appreciate it so much.”
Station Family + BBQ will be open 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday. 400 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, cincystation.com.
