Abbey Hemmann and Johan Jensen opened their Whitecrest Eatery in Stonington’s Velvet Mill in July 2019 and were doing well.

Then came the warning.

In December of that year, a lot of the restaurant industry folks who dined at Whitecrest asked Hemmann and Jensen what they were going to do in January and February.

“We were like, ‘What do you mean? We’re going to open like normal,’” Hemmann recalled. “And they said, ‘Well, it dies. Everyone takes turns closing a little bit because business is so slow.’”

The couple, who are married to each other, had opened Whitecrest Eatery when they were both 26, and they didn’t have big investors as backers. They were quite nervous about what a sluggish January and February might mean.

Sure, enough, “the first week of January — crickets. … It was scary,” Hemmann said.

“Ghost town,” Jensen added.

They worried they’d have to lay off the staff.

What to do? They had the Whitecrest team brainstorm.

They all realized that, during those cold and dark winter months, they wanted to be somewhere else besides Connecticut — a beach in Jamaica, maybe, or eating street food in Indonesia. Like most working folk, they didn’t have the time or money to do that.

The idea emerged to offer customers the chance to travel culinarily.

So began the Wanderlust Menu Series. For five weeks starting in January, Jensen creates a different menu each week for a different country. From the prix-fixe offerings, a customer chooses one of four appetizers, one of four entrees, and one of three desserts. In addition, there are cocktails, wine and beer inspired by the selected country.

Mexico was the focus of the initial week in January 2020.

“It was busier. We like, ‘OK, something is going on,’” Jensen recalled. “Second week (which centered on German cuisine), it was crazy, it was, like, line out the door.”

And the series, whose three-course meal costs $48, continues to be hugely popular. The latest iteration started Wednesday with a Cuban menu that’s offered through today. The dishes for that have included Pescado de Habana (today’s catch, avocado, pineapple, red onion, mojo, rice and beans); Enchilado de Camarones (garlic shrimp, sofrito, red sauce, peppers, herbs); and the cocktail Havana Hurricane (dark rum, ginger, lime, cucumber, mint).

Next up is Korea, starting Wednesday and running through Jan. 28. Among the options: Korean fried chicken with gochujang BBQ (Yangguyem Tangdak), spicy seafood noodle (Jjampong), sourdough scallion pancakes (Haemut Pajeon), and Korean pork ribs and kimchi salad with rice (Dwaeji Galbi).

Jensen said they offer specialties from the selected country while also doing twists on items. For Cuba, for instance, in addition to the traditional flan, there is a mojito cake.

“We try to keep certain things that are not supposed to be touched. Then, (there are) certain things we can be playful with but keep the integrity of that country,” he said.

With the Wanderlust series, customers are more willing to sample types of food they haven’t before.

“People said, ‘I never would have tried this if it wasn’t for you guys doing this.’ ... It’s fun, it’s exotic, but it’s also approachable,” Hemmann said.

Jensen also makes a playlist for each country, so restaurant-goers get the tastes, smells and sounds of that foreign locale.

The sites so far have ranged from France to Indonesia to Argentina.

Jensen grew up in Denmark and has traveled through Europe, Southeast Asia, and Northern Africa with his family. He hasn’t had the chance to travel to more than half the countries featured in Wanderlust, though, and gets inspiration primarily through research.

“We aim to do a delicious interpretation of each country to the best of our ability,” Hemmann said.

They have so far not repeated any countries.For places that have similar food vibes — Ireland and Scotland, for instance, or Denmark and Norway — they only do one for the series.

Wanderlust also boasts a People’s Choice category, where customers select a country for one of the weeks. Whitecrest takes a survey on Instagram. The top three vote-getters this year are Japan, Italy and Ethiopia. The winner will be the last country featured in the series, Feb. 14-18.

One of the tricky elements in Wanderlust is moving from one cuisine to another and recognizing that ingredients used for one country might not be userful for the next.

“It’s a very tight dance you have to do to make sure you don’t have so much left over that you can’t transition into next week efficiently,” Hemman said.

Jensen added, “You don’t want to be stuck with too much crazy stuff.”

Passports and prizes

In addition to the delectable food, the Wanderlust series features the chance at winning a prize: When people do the prix-fixe menu, they get a stamp on a Whitecrest Passport. Once they get four stamps, they’re put into a drawing. The prizes are: a four-course dinner for six people for the first-place winner; one loaf of Whitecrest bread per week for a year for second place; and a $100 Whitecrest gift card for third place.

So while people might tend to eat out less during January and February — whether it be because of the weather or the post-holiday emotional and financial letdown or that some folks are away in sunnier climes — Whitecrest has found a way to draw them in.

In addition, Whitecrest staples like oysters, Caesar salad, and burgers remain available a la carte.

Opening a pizzeria

That’s not all. Hemmann and Jensen are also diving into a new venture. In early March, they will open a pizzeria next to Whitecrest. It’ll be called Back Door Kitchen and Pizzeria, and it will be in the Velvet Mill site where Woodfellas used to be.

They have been doing pop-up pizza events there every Friday for a month to test out the pies, which are sour dough and wood-fired.

What: Whitecrest Eatery

Where: Velvet Mill, 22 Bayview Ave. #14, Stonington

Hours: Dinner, which features Wanderlust, 4:30-9 p.m. Wed.-Sat. and 4:30-8 p.m. Sun. Also, Happy Hour 4:30-6 p.m. Wed.-Sun., and Brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. and Sun.

Wanderlust: Till Feb. 18

Reservations: Recommended, but bar seats first come, first served

Contact: whitecresteatery.com, (860) 908-0984