Nestled in the Five Points Shopping Center in Calallen, The Wild Goat is a rustic food trailer offering specialty cheeses and charcuterie. Open weekdays from 10:30 am-2:30 pm, fans of epic grilled cheese sandwiches and other cheesy delights can order ahead or on the spot.
From meeting distributors to prepping the cheeses, taking orders, and running them out to customers, Jaylon Welch, owner of The Wild Goat is a one-woman show honing her interest in artisan specialty cheeses made from local farms and smaller dairy businesses.
“[Aristan cheese] just has a lot more flavor. There’s more love that goes into it – artisan workers making the cheese mostly by hand. I try to focus on those cheeses instead of cheese made by corporations,” shares Welch.
The Wild Goat menu uses local, fresh ingredients to create their delicious specialty platters and sandwiches including the top seller, the Classic Grilled Cheese which includes tomato jam, shallots, and a mixture of house cheeses. Rotating grilled cheese specials also include the Smoky Croissant Grilled Cheese, Black Bean and Corn Grilled Cheese, and a Pizza Grilled Cheese featuring fresh cheese from Knolle Dairy Farms in Sandia, Texas.
“If you really love a cheese that we have, you can get it cut to order,” says Welch, “if you want like a fourth of a pound of the powerful Welsh cheddar cheese, we can cut it for you and wrap it up. We have the old school wax paper that we wrap it in and put the name of the cheese on it – just like you would get in a cheese shop.”
Welch’s dream is one day to expand The Wild Goat into a storefront. Her background in culinary arts and experience of working in a European-style cheese shop in Denver fuels her knowledge and passion behind The Wild Goat’s offerings in the Coastal Bend.
“Starting a food trailer and a small business has been a slow learning process, but I’m learning a lot,” Welch says. “I have a lot of goals for the future; to have a storefront and have a cheese shop where people can sit down and try cheeses with wine and beer and get that whole experience. I want Corpus to be able to have something like that, and that’s what I plan for The Wild Goat’s [future].”
13933 Northwest Blvd.
