Providing sand-free river lunches since 2013.
Black Earth Cuisine
High Quality
In-House Chef
Home Grown
Locally Sourced
Seasonal Menu
Our guarantee
High quality. Homemade. Locally sourced.
When Black Earth Angling Co. was in its early stages of development the owner, Kyle Zempel, set a standard that the food served during trips would be high quality, homemade, and as locally sourced as possible.
We are fortunate enough to live in the Driftless region; land of great soils, cutting-edge farming practices, and some of the freshest produce you can find. BEAC is also near to Madison, and it would have been a shame not to take advantage of the incredible Madison Farmer’s Market - often considered one the best farmer’s markets in the country.
Ben Lubchansky
The man behind the eats
Fast forward a year into BEAC’s existence and enter Ben Lubchansky, owner of 608 Community Supported Kitchen (608csk) in Mazomanie, WI. This was the real turning point for BEAC’s mission to turn local ingredients into world class food.
Ben’s need to source high quality ingredients from local purveyors, for his own meal-delivery service, required him to have his finger on the pulse of locally sourced meats and produce. Ben’s business, 608csk, is a family run endeavor with its headquarters and certified kitchen attached to his home in Mazomanie. This made Ben exactly what BEAC needed to ensure that it was able to uphold the high standards of ingredients and meals set from the beginning. The collaboration between Ben and BEAC has been one of BEAC’s greatest, and most delicious, successes.
Our partners in crime
Supporting our community
At BEAC, we do our very best to source what we can from our neighbors. Supporting those in your community equals a stronger community. We live in the land of plenty! Here are a few of the folks with whom we exchange support.
Willow Creek Farms
Willow Creek Farm is an old-fashioned farm in the beautiful Baraboo Hills of Wisconsin. Tony and Sue Renger raise their animals the way it used to be, outdoors and naturally. We source our most delicious pork from Willow Creek.
14 miles away
Kettle Range Meats
A Milwaukee based meat company that specializes in grass fed beef and pork. They work with independent Wisconsin family farmers to source some of the finest grass fed protein around. We source pork from these fine purveyors.
101 miles away
The Tree Farm
A hidden gem just north of Cross Plains, WI. The Tree Farm is a family-owned pick-your-own (U-pick) vegetable farm operating for over 40 years in Dane County, Wisconsin. Ben sources a great variety of vegetables from here.
11 miles away
Belinda's Chickens
Belinda (Hannah’s mother) raises BEAC the happiest chickens around on her small farm in Lodi, WI. Each year we estimate the number of chickens needed for the year and Belinda makes it happen. Once you have free range, organic-fed chicken, you’ll have a hard time going back!
22 miles away
Down and dirty
The Black Earth Angling Co. Garden
Each spring, in the rural hills of Black Earth, WI Hannah Matousek puts her hands into the dirt to plant a large garden at the BEAC headquarters.
The BEAC garden not only provides Kyle and Hannah with enough fresh produce, but it often produces a great surplus that BEAC passes onto our anglers in their daily guide lunches, and specialty camp meals. Kyle waits patiently each summer for the first ripe tomatoes, as a sign it’s time bust out the bacon, and start serving BEAC’s famous BLT wraps.
Other garden delights commonly found in guide lunches include varieties of kale, cucumbers, radishes, cabbage, and whatever else Hannah can conjure up with her green thumb. It doesn’t get more local than this.
Past favorites
Our menu’s seasonal, but our quality isn’t.
Vegetarian? Allergic? Have special preferences about what you can eat? We’re happy to accomodate! Just be sure to mention any food adversions in your booking.
Grilled Short Ribs
Not all ribs need to be low and slow. These Willow Creek pork spare ribs get marinated with Bahamian Jerk, American BBQ, or Korean BBQ and then grilled to order over a medium flame and carved into sticky, spicy, greasy sticks of porky goodness. Don't miss a morsel as you gnaw the bones clean and lick your fingers to get every get drop of seasoning, grill char, and pasture raised goodness from these delicacies. These ribs are staple of our camps : Trout, Crash, and Bonefish, and you will dream of them all winter until your next overnighter with us.
BEAC Brats
What is Wisconsin without brats? Minnesota. Just kidding...but brats are a special part of the Wisconsin experience, so every year we order casings, get out the grinder and stuffer and whip up several batches of custom brats for your BEAC experience. Italian, Traditional Beer Brats, and Argentinean Chorizo are our headliners and are made from locally sourced, pork, beef, and game. Made by us, for you, you will rarely encounter a better brat anywhere west of Germany!
Ben’s Famous Drippy Pork Tacos
Pork shoulder from Willow Creek Charcuterie of Prairie du Sac, WI is spiced with annatto, oranges, and cumin, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly roasted for 8 hours until it is tender and ready to shred. When we fold the meat back into its juices and serve it in a warm tortilla with a creamy, spicy slaw of shredded carrots, cabbage, sweet corn and herbs what you hold in your hand is a perfect street-food taco served stream side.
House-cured Bacon
BEAC Bacon is a custom sweet and savory cure that mixes Willow Creek's Berkshire pork bellies with McClusky Brothers maple syrup, sea salt, black pepper and coriander with wood smoke and time. When you get served up crispy cubes of our homemade bacon combined with greens and tomatoes from Kyle's garden or the local farmer's market you know it's not just smallmouth season it's BLT season!