Classing it up
Elevated home cooking at 145 Roadhouse in Campton
HOPE THOMAS NEVER EXPECTED to move back to Wolfe County. By 2022, she’d been a professional chef for two decades, with experience from Chicago to Florida. But when her mother began facing health challenges, she knew it was time to go home and start something new.
After buying out one of the partners in an existing Campton restaurant, 145 Steakout, she closed it and reimagined everything from the menu to the decor. When the new business reopened as 145 Roadhouse on Aug. 4, 2023, it was a “clean slate.”
“We’re a rustic farm-to-table restaurant,” Thomas says, describing a blend of modern and Southern sensibilities. “We know where we came from. We just like to class it up a bit.”
Thomas buys fresh beef and pork each week from Halsey’s Meat Processing in Pine Ridge, chicken from Elk Hollow Farms and eggs and produce from other local farms. Breakfast, served on Saturday and Sunday, features traditional favorites like cathead biscuits and gravy, and scratch-made pancakes and waffles. Popular lunch and dinner items include gourmet burgers, pork chops, steaks and salmon with bourbon-mustard sauce (recipe below). Desserts include cheesecakes, made by a baker in Salyersville, and fried apple pies based on the recipe of Thomas’s childhood neighbor, Betty, and made by Betty’s daughter, using apples from her trees.
“I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve created,” Thomas says, calling out the farmers, community members and teammates who make it all possible. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, look what you’ve done.’ It’s not what I’ve done; it’s what we’ve done.”
Served by Licking Valley RECC, 145 Roadhouse is located at 148 Main St. in Campton, open 3–10 p.m. Monday–Thursday; noon–midnight Friday; 9 a.m.–midnight Saturday; and 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday.
