9 minute read
Short Orders
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SHORT ORDERS
[FOOD NEWS]
Here We Grow
Balkan Treat Box owners to open Telva at e Ridge this year
Written by BENJAMIN SIMON
One of the hottest restaurants in St. Louis, Balkan Treat Box, has announced its second concept in the area: Telva at The Ridge. The forthcoming restaurant is slated to open in early 2023.
Located at the Rolling Ridge Nursery in Webster Groves, Telva at The Ridge will continue to serve food from the Balkan region — but this time, through a cafe and coffee shop.
Chef/owner Loryn Nalic says that she and her husband and partner, Edo Nalic, specifically chose coffee because it is “ingrained” in Bosnian culture. The coffee will be wood-fire roasted, brewed in a small copper pot called a d e va, boiled in water and served with sugar cubes.
“You’re going to be able to get a drip coffee and a latte or an espresso,” Nalic says. “But if you’re looking to have a new experience and something that’s a little more ritualistic, having Bosnian coffee is an event in and of itself. When you go for coffee in Bosnia, it’s different than grabbing a cup of coffee here.”
Telva at The Ridge is not strictly a coffee shop, though; the cafe will also offer salads, soups, pastries and open-faced sandwiches, including a Sloppy Mustafa, a take on the Sloppy Joe, as well as a Baklava Yogurt Parfait. For Nalic, the cafe represents a return to her roots in pastries, where she began her career, and she is excited to showcase a full range of sweet treats such as Balkan-style crêpes and sweet nut rolls. ou ll get flavor profiles from the Balkan region but done in like a different way,” Nalic explains. “Not necessarily with traditional techniques and dishes. … you’ll see some of that, but we’re bringing these kinds of flavors into more of a casual atmosphere.”
According to Nalic, she and Edo jumped on the opportunity to open Telva at the Ridge after learning that Rolling Ridge Nursery was interested in having some sort of restaurant on its property. As such, the cafe will blend into the nursery’s existing footprint, operating next to the nursery’s greenhouse with the ability to accommodate events for up to 60 people. The arrangement was perfect; not only would it allow the Nalics to expand on what they do at Balkan by bringing Bosnian coffee culture to this stretch of St. Louis, Rolling Ridge’s Webster Groves location will allow them to operate both the restaurant and Telva with as much ease as possible since they will be in the same part of town.
Both restaurant industry veterans, the Nalics founded Balkan Treat Box in 2016 as a food truck, garnering critical acclaim and national attention for their delectable Balkan cuisine. The truck became a runaway success, prompting the two to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Webster Groves three years later. Since then, Balkan Treat Box has racked up national praise from Esquire, Bon Appétit and the Food Network and continues to be one of the St. Louis area’s most beloved restaurants.
Though Telva at The Ridge marks the first e pansion for the popular brand since opening its brick and mortar, Nalic says it has always been their goal to continue growing and expanding throughout the area. [ rom] the first day of the food truck, we knew we would do more than just this,” she says. “So it wasn’t a question of why — it was when.” n
Telva at the Ridge, the forthcoming cafe from the owners of Balkan Treat Box, will feature traditional Bosnian co ee. | SPENCER PERNIKOFF
e Nalic family will open Telva at the Ridge. | SPENCER PERNIKOFF
[FOOD NEWS]
A Fresh Start
Hello Juice is redefining healthy eating, one smoothie at a time
Written by CHERYL BAEHR
Jon Maness admits he was an unlikely proselytizer of the benefits of juicing — all he needs to do is point to his initial chat with his wife, Jen, about getting involved with Hello Juice & Smoothie (multiple locations including 1000 South Newstead Avenue, 314-3764135) to drive that point home.
“When we had our initial conversation about it, I was sitting outside smoking a cigarette, and Jen comes out and says, ‘Hey, we need to meet with these people about buying a juice bar,’’ Jon recalls. “I said, ‘Are you fucking crazy? What do we know about juice?’ But it was immediately evident walking in and seeing the product being made that this was something important. I started coming in, learning all of their processes, and I went from doing it to support Jen to falling in love with it. It changed my life dramatically.”
Since getting involved with Hello Juice just a few months after its founding in 2018, the Manesses have been on a mission to make their cold-pressed juices, smoothies, smoothie bowls and breakfast fare accessible to people from all walks of life, not just health food enthusiasts. For Jon in particular, this business model personally resonates because of his own health struggles. After years of hard living, Jon found himself critically ill, literally dying of liver failure, and needing to make a serious lifestyle change if he wanted to make it.
“My doctors gave me a week to live,” Jon says. “I didn’t have a choice but to change.”
That was 2012, and Jon has been sober ever since — one of the many things that connected him and Jen when they met a year later (Jen has been sober since her early 20s). The pair also bonded over their entrepreneurial spirits and got into the home remodeling and realestate business shortly after getting together. They had a successful run, and Jen even owned a brokerage firm for two years. However, her insatiable drive to find new business ventures steered them into a direction they did not see coming.
“I’m always coming up with these crazy business ideas, and Jon is the grounding one who tells me when something probably isn’t a good idea,” Jen says. “But I heard about Hello Juice and met [cofounder] Jordan [Bauer] the weekend they opened in August of 2018. At that time, I was thinking about doing a bar or something, but fast-forward a few months and Jordan and his wife Kayla were interested in having us on as partners.” As Jen and Jon explain, they were excited to partner with Hello Juice founders Jordan and Kayla Bauer because they were impressed by both their product and their creativity. Though there were other smoothie and juice brands on the market, Hello Juice felt different because of its commitment to using only fresh ingredients, rather than the premade mixes and purees used by national chains. When they came on as partners, Jen and Jon quickly realized just how labor intensive this way of doing things was and eagerly committed to learning everything they could about making the best possible juices and smoothies they could offer. This experience paid off when Jen and Jon bought out the Bauers in 2019 and became sole owners of Hello Juice. Since then, they have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into creating a bright, welcoming environment that appeals to everyone, not just those who already lead a healthful lifestyle.
“We don’t want to sell health food to people who are already buying health food,” Jon says. “For me, this is for everybody — construction workers like me who have never had a vegetable in their lives, little kids, everyone. We don’t want this to be pretentious. This is for everybody, not just those living a crazy healthy lifestyle. They already know about us; we want to figure out how to reach others.”
In addition to their first location in the Grove, the Manesses opened a second spot in Kirkwood this spring and are seeing where things go from there. Though they do not see themselves expanding nationally, they would like to eventually have four or five Hello Juice stores in the St. Louis area so they can reach even more people and dispel the myth that you have to be a certain type of person to enjoy their brand.
“I have kind of reinvented myself and who I am and what I am about as the years go by,” Jon says. “I just found that when I would come into Hello [Juice] and it was just so bright — between the food and the employees the space. I know this sounds cheesy, but I’d be lifted up by being there. Life is short; why wouldn’t I want to live in this? It’s not about us making money. It’s a lifestyle.” n
Hello Juice wants to bring fresh juices and smoothies to the masses. | PATTENGALE PHOTOGRAPHY
[FOOD NEWS]
Shooting Star
Star Bakery & Cafe has closed in Holly Hills
Written by CHERYL BAEHR
The air around Holly Hills smells a little less sweet after the departure of a beloved, if short-lived, bakery: Star Bakery & Cafe (5547 South Grand Boulevard). It opened this past July and is now closed. The shop served its last customers last month.
Star’s owner Nikki Ahmadi broke the news on her pastry business’ Facebook page, Bake.with.nikki, on December 16, citing “personal affairs” as the reason for her decision — and by “affairs,” she means a baby, who she looks forward to welcoming in the coming year.
“I am sad to announce that I have closed Star Cafe & Bakery. A year ago today, I was extremely excited to open a storefront to better serve my customers in person. However, due to personal affairs I must shift my immediate attention to my growing family and prioritize my personal life at this moment in time.”
Ahmadi opened Star Bakery & Cafe this past July in a small storefront near the intersection of South Grand Boulevard and Bates Avenue in Holly Hills. An Afghan refugee who moved to St. Louis as a child two decades ago, Ahmadi had a successful career in corporate accounting before leaving it all behind to follow her baking dreams. As Ahmadi told the Riverfront Times in an interview this August, she started baking in her spare time as a form of stress relief, but after taking the Best Tasting Cake award at the 2019 Bride St. Louis’ Cake & Champagne Bridal Show, she realized she had what it took to make a go of baking full time.
Fans of Ahmadi’s cardamom-scented cookies and sweet and salty kulche shor treats need not fret, however; Ahmadi will continue to offer her pastries and custom orders through her Bake.with.nikki brand, which customers can access through her Facebook page of the same name.
Ahmadi does not rule out opening a brick-and-mortar shop again one day, noting in response to a comment that she “will consider reopening and relocating in the long run.” For now, though, she is happy to create her sweet treats at her own pace for the patrons that have shown her support over the past year.
“I want to thank my customers for all your loyalty and support, and I will continue to serve you all to the best of my ability through custom orders and requests as I operated previously,” Ahmadi writes. n
