Short Orders

Mom’s outrageously good sandwiches and nostalgic vibe have turned it into a St. Louis Standard. | ANDY PAUISSEN

Mom’s Deli started out as a grocery. | ANDY PAULISSEN

his daughter, Denise, to carry on the family’s legacy.

“I’ve been working there for 22 years, though I left for a while to go to college, and then work for a builder and get my real estate license,” Denise says. “But then my dad got sick with bladder cancer and asked if I would come back and help out, so I did. It’s family. If they call and need help, that’s what you do.”

Denise believes coming back when she did was a blessing, because it allowed her to work alongside her dad for a few years, learning the ins and outs of the business so that she was well prepared to take over when the time came. That moment happened four years ago when her father passed away, leaving her in charge. She admits it was difficult at first reminders of her dad are throughout the deli but she feels confident she is following in his footsteps the way he would have wanted her to.

Part of that comes from her commitment to keeping Mom’s the same as it’s ever been. As Denise explains, people come for the nostalgia as much as the sandwiches, taking comfort in the fact that the deli remains a constant in their lives. Aside from decreasing the amount of groceries they carry, the biggest change at Mom’s was when they got a credit card machine something Denise had to fight her dad on until he finally relented.

“Dad always carried cash and he never used credit cards,” Denise says. “However, we started losing some of our big party sandwich orders and he didn’t understand why. I told him that people just don’t carry cash for that, and he said, ‘Fine, get credit cards.’ That’s all I had to hear, and I immediately called the credit card company. It really turned our business around, and Dad told me what a great idea it was. It only took me seven years to convince him.”

If the credit card machine is Mom’s biggest change, its most visible constant is longtime employee Marion, who, at 95 years old, still works five days a week slicing beef, onions and tomatoes, and making sandwiches just as she has since September of 1977. The deli’s unofficial figurehead, people often assume she’s the “mom” of Mom’s Deli, but she’s quick to clear things up.

“She tells people, ‘I’m a mom, but I’m not the deli’s mom,” Denise says.

Aside from Marion’s no-nonsense demeanor and shocking sandwich-making speed, a few other things have stood the test of time at Mom’s. There’s the Thousand Island dressing, a glorious concoction that Denise insists on making by hand, whipping upwards of 36 gallons a week the old-fashioned way with a bowl and a spatula. She jokes that she has the biggest right arm muscle around, but she refuses to use a mixer, worrying that it might change the flavor. She’s also hesitant to do anything differently with the other items they make inhouse, like the mostaccioli sauce, the mustard-mayo combo and the au jus for the roast beef. Perhaps no one would notice any tweaks, but Denise would, and she’d rather be a steward than someone eager to change what’s worked all these years.

“We get people to come back because we’re a mom-and-pop and also because of the nostalgia,” Denise says. “We have people come in who haven’t been here in ten years, and they comment on how it’s exactly the same. I tell them, ‘I know. We are all still here with the same menu, the same setup, the same wood paneling.’ I just can’t change it. It’s the nostalgia of it; that’s what you expect to see.” n

People come for the nostalgia as much as the sandwiches, taking comfort in the fact that the deli remains a constant in their lives.

Fun for All Ages

Gather, a new café from the owners of Urban Fort, serves the broader McKinley Heights community

Written by HOLDEN HINES

Megan King-Popp, co-owner of the recently opened café Gather, has strong feelings on the word “pivot.”

“I hate that word. I’m so sick of that word,” King-Popp says.

Regardless, Gather can be seen as a pivot from the previous setup of the space as Urban Fort, a kids’ play-space and café combo. When COVID-19 hit, King-Popp took the opportunity to do what she had wanted to do since the beginning — isolate and rebrand the café portion of her business, while allowing Urban Fort to continue as is.

“People thought we were a daycare, rather than a café,” KingPopp says. “It became really clear that we had to separate ourselves in branding as well in [the physical space] in order to capture a new audience.”

Still, King-Popp sees Gather not as a pivot, per se, but as a way to befriend and serve their neighbors of the last four years. She admits that the atmosphere of kids under the age of six wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but she wanted to bring in the McKinley Heights community, as well as foot traffic from ad acent neighborhoods like Fox Park, Soulard and Benton Park. Seeing people at neighborhood association meetings over the years and not being able to serve them saddened King-Popp, and now, with Gather, she’s reaching members of the community she had not before.

In order to separate the two concepts, King-Popp and her business partner, Monica Croke, sectioned off a portion of the building with a soundproof wall. On one side, Urban Fort continues to exist as a play café, while Gather operates as a standalone eatery. Gather continues serving in Urban Fort, though; food and drink orders can still be made from the Urban Fort side and are brought over through a service door between the spaces. Otherwise, the two are independent with separate spaces and vastly different atmospheres.

“As much as we love the kids — Monica and I are both parents — as much as we love that vibe, we’re trying to make this vibe for other people,” King-Popp says.

The new vibe of Gather is calm. Outside, picnic tables and chairs are protected with umbrellas and tree cover. Inside, wooden furniture is lain with burnt yellow and deep purple chair cushions. The interior design and decor of Gather is all new, whereas at Urban Fort, the focus was on toys, as that was most important for the kids. Focusing on interior design did not make sense in a space where chairs were stained with cupcakes, so King-Popp is excited at the opportunity to lean into the new design and make Gather a comfortable space for the community.

“We have a lot more vintage things,” King-Popp says. “Plants. You don’t normally have plants in a kids’ space.”

Most of the menu remains the same from the Urban Fort days, but new items include a popular biscuit sandwich and a BLT. A French toast bake — a composition of chopped croissants cooked with lemons and blueberries — has also taken off lately, and the quiche remains a bestseller. Espresso comes from Blueprint Coffee, coffee and cold brew come from Living Room, and tea is from Big Heart Tea Co. The menu rotates seasonally, with new items arriving this month.

King-Popp and her business partner Croke emphasize that being moms notably impacts their business ethos, and they’ve been heartened to hear from fellow parents who often express their gratitude for the care taken with the food and coffee.

“We’ve always taken care to make sure that we’re selling the best products, because parents deserve that, too,” King-Popp says. “And I don’t feel like a lot of children’s places put a lot of emphasis on their food and coffee.”

King-Popp and Croke are excited to embody the words on their website that advertise Gather as a “Neighborhood Café,” and they believe that by reinventing the space for an expanded audience, they are able to better serve their McKinley Heights neighbors. Though the food, coffee and ownership of Gather remains the same as it has been for four years, King-Popp emphasizes that this is a new café and will achieve what she felt that they were missing at Urban Fort.

“I like having the opportunity to serve the community that we’ve fallen in love with,” King-Popp says. “That’s been the best part — being able to embrace our neighborhood.” n

Gather, a neighborhood cafe, aims to expand the Urban Fort concept to a broader swath of its McKinley Heights neighborhood. | HOLDEN HINDES

e vegan bagel is part of a carefully cra ed menu at Gather. | HOLDEN HINDES

Don’t Call It a Comeback

at’sa Nice’a Pizza returns to south county a er more than a decade

Written by JENNA JONES

Fast asleep one March night, Jason Guliano dreamed he was looking around Fuego’s Pizza with its coowner Chris Barker. As he hung out with Barker, he realized there wasn’t much food in the store. He told Barker he needed to make some more pizzas. But, Barker looked at him and said the restaurant was actually closing down.

And then, Guliano’s alarm went off.

But that’s not where the story ended. Guliano checked his phone’s messages early the next morning, and there was one from his longtime friend Barker. The weird dream suddenly turned into reality — Barker was offering Fuego’s space to Guliano.

“I was like, ‘Uh-oh,’” Guliano laughs. “I literally woke up and I was like ‘Oh my god, this just happened, it’s so weird.’ And you can’t not jump on that if you have something weird like that happen.”

After that fateful dream and subsequent text message from Barker, Guliano got to work and opened That’sa Nice’a Pizza (11726 Baptist Church Road, Concord, 314-722-3121) on July 6 in the old Fuego’s space.

Before it was Fuego’s, it was Feraro’s Jersey Style Pizza, and before it was Feraro’s — it was That’sa Nice’a Pizza.

The pizza joint, which has operated out of its Arnold location (299 Richardson Road, Suite 2, Arnold, 636-2960950) since the Concord location closed in 2008, is now back in its original community. Concord was home to the original for 34 years, Guliano explains, so going back to where it all started will be a homecoming that’s packed with people that have been waiting for their pizza fix for some twelve years. The Arnold location will remain open as well.

He says the feedback from the community has been crazy. What initially started as him telling five people about the additional location quickly spread throughout the community. The announcement on Facebook had more than 500 likes and nearly 300 comments, something he doesn’t regularly see on his posts as a small-business owner.

For Guliano, the ’za joint was his first job and one he kept coming back to over the years because of the community built around it.

“No other business I’ve ever worked for had the customers just been like in love and expressed it. It’s not for everybody, don’t get me wrong. You may try it and be like, ‘Eh, it’s OK,’ or you may try it and be amazed by it,” Guliano says. “With this place, it’s just constant — it’s all over social media. When people come in, they’re constantly reinforcing, ‘It’s so good! I can’t believe it.’ Especially when they found out we’re still open in Arnold and people haven’t had this in ten years, they’re just ecstatic.”

The menu at the new-old location will be the same as it always has been — pizza, toasted ravs, wings, salads, pasta. You name it, it’s there. There’s not much setting the two locations apart, Guliano says, except maybe the interior. Concord will be decorated with a sports wall, whereas the Arnold restaurant has the classic green and red paint on the walls alongside a menu. Guliano has removed the dine-in areas for both restaurants. COVID-19 revealed the problem with having people too close together and stretching an already-thin staff further.

The main challenge — besides opening itself — has been staffing, Guliano says. Like at many other businesses in a COVID-19 world, the amount of people applying for jobs has been at a low. Guliano has about fourteen employees at his Arnold location, with about five at the Concord location. He worries about keeping his customers happy as he expects a pretty steady, if not busy, opening week. His orders at the Arnold location have doubled as COVID-19 increased his pickup-and-delivery-only business, with weekend wait times reaching 45 minutes to an hour for a pickup order.

Guliano is doing little advertising to ease his opening week — he’s trying not to overload his employees. He’s only putting out Facebook posts and information on his website.

“When I post and tell people we’re going to be open, I’m going to put a big disclaimer like, ‘Look, we don’t have a lot of people but we gotta open, we’re paying rent,’” Guliano says. “I just want to ask people to please be patient. When we first open, it’s going to be busy.”

He’s working to manage an opening weekend like he had when he opened the Arnold location fifteen years ago. When Arnold opened, Guliano said he was sliding around the back of his pizza shop on his knees, trying to get pizzas out of the oven and orders out the door. He had new employees that he was still trying to train and the orders were pouring in.

Guliano just wants to make sure those who order a pizza the first few weeks walk away feeling satisfied. He says he had an old employee whose family ordered during the Arnold location’s opening and hated the pizza because the new restaurant was still working out kinks.

“When he first ordered our pizza, [his family] called it ‘That’sa Not’a Pizza’ because it was bad,” Guliano explains. “I don’t know what was wrong with it, but at some point they decided to give it another shot and just fell in love with it. And now it’s every week, if they’re in town, they’re ordering.”

At Concord, the employees opening the shop with him are more experienced, so he believes they can handle a good amount of business. He’s not complaining about the rush of customers he expects — he’s happy to serve a community that loves the pizza he makes. Guliano says over half of his business comes from regular customers ordering once or twice a week, maybe monthly. Comments flood his new Facebook page for Concord, asking when he’s planning on opening, or just a simple, “We’re eagerly waiting for your return!”

Guliano turned over the “Open” sign on July 6. He describes the movement as something that will spread like Charlotte’s Web, all over the neighborhood and internet.

“I’m not going to complain,” Guliano says. “Something that’s been open for over 47 years, it’s got to be good. You don’t last if it’s not good. I’m definitely feeling blessed, grateful, you know. We care. It’s not just ‘Here, get your pizza, give me your ten bucks and get out of here, I don’t care what you think about it.’ I like hearing people.”

That’sa Nice’a Pizza Concord is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 4 to 9 p.m. Find more information and the menu on the website, at thatsaniceapizza.com. n

Jason Guliano is the owner of at’sa Nice’a Pizza. | JENNA JONES

[SAUSAGES]

Pleased to Meat You

Popular Filipino pop-up Fattened Caf launches sausage brand in area grocery stores

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Last March, Darren Young and Charlene Lopez Young were riding high on the wave of success following their first-ever Filipino brunch. For three years, the husband-and-wife team had been doing pop-up Filipino barbecue events around town under the name Fattened Caf, but even the enthusiastic response they’d received to those paled in comparison to this 300-person affair. Thrilled with the reception, the Youngs left the event exhausted but excited for what they saw as their path forward — bringing Filipino brunch to St. Louis.

Two weeks later, COVID-19 ground the food and beverage industry to a halt and put the Youngs’ dream of perfecting their Filipino brunch events on indefinite hold. However, they didn’t let that stop them. Instead, the pair have reimagined Fattened Caf beyond popups, expanding their brand to include a line of Filipino sausages that is now available in 67 Schnucks markets — and the Youngs are not stopping there.

“We want Filipino food available in mainstream grocery stores,” says Charlene. “For a while, our food stayed in international enclaves at international stores, but now, St. Louis has a local Filipino brand in a mainstream grocery store. I don’t know if other cities like L.A. have that. We shop in mainstream stores. Why shouldn’t our food be on the shelves next to Thai and Indian and Chinese foods? We’re excited for how this can grow and hope that Filipino food becomes a household name for Americans — because it’s good!”

The Youngs’ path to Fattened Caf began roughly four years ago. After moving to St. Louis from Los Angeles, Charlene was struck by how few fellow Filipinos she encountered in her new hometown. Growing up in California, she was always surrounded by a large Filipino community, but in St. Louis,

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FATTENED CAF

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she felt alone.

Around that time, Darren was also noticing something about his new city, albeit a much lighter observation. A California native, his experience with barbecue prior to moving to St. Louis consisted of Chili’s baby back ribs; the moment he had his first taste of Pappy’s Smokehouse, he was overwhelmed by what he’d been missing and set out to discover all that he could about grilled and smoked meats.

Eventually, Darren grew tired of spending the money to go out to eat all the time and started experimenting with barbecue himself. His passion for it was matched by the amount of meat in his refrigerator, and eventually, he and Charlene realized that they had to figure out a way to share their food with others. They began hosting game nights for friends, who were so enamored with Darren’s barbecue that they began encouraging the pair to figure out a way to share it with a wider audience.

That’s when it hit Charlene: Barbecue is a huge part of Filipino food culture. Why not begin doing Filipino barbecue as a way to introduce her culture to her friends in St. Louis? From that moment forward, the Youngs turned their game nights into full-blown Filipino feasts, garnering high praise from anyone who attended. News spread through their social circle of their outstanding food, and before they knew it, they were catering for friends, then friends of friends until they realized they were onto something big.

“We were on our way back from the Philippines and started talking about doing pop-ups or a food trailer and came up with the idea of the Fattened Caf,” Charlene explains. “There’s this scripture in the Bible about the prodigal son, and when he returns, his father says he will slaughter the fattest calf and invite everyone to celebrate. That’s what we wanted to do — to cook a feast because we want everyone to come together and enjoy each other’s cultures and create a culture around Filipino food in St. Louis where there really wasn’t one.”

The Youngs launched the Fattened Caf in 2017 at a pop-up at Milque Toast and have grown their brand over the past four years through other events around town, farmers’ markets and a residency at Earthbound Beer that began in 2019. Though they assumed they were working toward an eventual brick-and-mortar restaurant, the opportunity with Schnucks — part of the store’s effort to help local minority-owned businesses during the pandemic — has changed the way they see their brand moving forward. That, together with a recent $50,000 grant from the University of Missouri-St. Louis Diversity Equity and Inclusion Accelerator, has helped them recast Fattened Caf as a consumer products company as much as a pop-up restaurant, and they hope to keep moving in that direction.

In addition to the Schnucks arrangement and the UMSL grant, the pair credit fellow Filipino trailblazers in the St. Louis food community for helping to pave the way for Fattened Caf. The Youngs point to such places as Guerrilla Street Food and St. Louis Filipino Bread, as well as Malou Perez-Nievera and her pop-up kamayan feasts, for putting Filipino food in the conversation — something Charlene and Darren are both thrilled to be a part of.

“We can’t ever say that we got here on our own, because as much work as we did, the folks in the industry and the community embraced us and pushed us to do what we wanted to do,” Charlene says. “Everything has been a great collaborative effort. It’s taken a village, and this is such a community effort. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the St. Louis community embracing us and giving us a seat at the table.” n

With its new sausage line, the Fattened Caf hopes to bring Filipino food to a broader audience. | MIRANDA MUNGUIA FOR THE FATTENED CAF