16 minute read
Short Orders
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[FOOD NEWS]
Turning Tables
Taqueria Morita will move into Winslow’s Table this winter
Written by BENJAMIN SIMON
Taqueria Morita, the newly opened outdoor Mexican restaurant from Michael and Tara Gallina and chef Aaron Martinez, will move inside for the winter. The Baja-inspired, fast-casual eatery, which has been located on a patio outside the Gallinas agshi restaurant, icia, in the Cortex district, will call Winslow’s Table its home for the next few months. Taqueria Morita is set to start serving dinner in its ne digs this eek.
After o ening just five months ago in ay, a ueria orita uickly uilt a follo ing for its aja infused meals and cool beach-style vibe. But with chilly days ap roaching, the restaurant didn t want to spend an entire winter closed. e ere just like, hat are e going to do artine says. o do e kee the momentum u
The Gallinas, who also own Winslow’s Table in University City, decided to rearrange that restaurant’s service to accommodate the temporary move. Fans of Winslow’s Table will still be able to enjoy their favorites for reakfast and lunch, while Taqueria Morita ill take over at night.
“I’m just excited to try a different neigh orhood, artine says. s ecially ecause icia and a ueria orita ere not in a neigh orhood. o I m kind of curious to see ho that s going to change usiness.
The Gallinas and Martinez are thrilled by the reception to Taqueria Morita, which was born on icia s front la n hen the restaurant s dining room as forced to close during the andemic. Unsure of when — or even if — diners would return indoors, the
Taqueria Morita’s eggplant tacos will be one of the dishes available in its new digs. | ANDY PAULISSEN
three set up tables and chairs on icia s s ra ling and reviously unutili ed outdoor s ace, offering everything from urgers to fried chicken. acos ecame such a runaway success that they decided to formali e the arrangement y installing a soaring avilion and outdoor ar that ould give a ueria Morita a home.
Inside Winslow’s Table Martinez will be able to build upon that success y making a fe t eaks to the menu. e lans to kee sta les like the fish and carne asada tacos. ut new food will be on offer as well, such as a fried chicken torta and hot dogs ra ed in acon.
Martinez says he draws inspiration from Empellon Taqueria, the e ork ity eatery that has multiple restaurants, each with its own menu and feel. It s fun and it gives the guests a different experience at each restaurant, he says of m ellon. o [ e re] trying to see if may e that s something that e ossi ly could do. ust give eo le different iterations of what the Taqueria Morita could e.
The restaurant won’t live inside forever, though. As the eather starts to arm u in the s ring, the lan is to return to serving u tacos on the atio outside of icia. n
Brunch Magic
A “wizard’s brunch” pop-up is coming to St. Louis
Written by JENNA JONES
Wands at the ready, St. Louis. Another one of those pop-up experiences is coming to St. Louis (you know, the ones like the rude-staffreigning Karen’s Diner, the Neverland Bar and so on) — but this time, it’s positively magical.
The Wizard’s Brunch brings all things fantasy and magic to the south-county location of Orlando’s (4300 Hoffmeister Avenue, 314-638-6660). Learn spells, drink some potions (hopefully none that will turn you half-cat) and sip a complimentary butterbeer. Included in the ticket price is a three-course meal (a Caesar salad, an entree and a dessert) and an experience led by a “Wizard in Residence.”
“Witches and wizards can expect to lose themselves in a magical world filled with spells and sorcery and enjoy a magical banquet,” a press release reads.
The experience isn’t related to J.K. Rowling or owned by Warner Brothers. It operates as an independently run business. Tickets can be purchased on explorehidden.com, beginning at $99. The experience is only in town for two days on Saturday, January 14, and Sunday, January 15. It is only for those 21 and older. Time slots are available for morning, afternoon and the evening. n
Brunch on with your fellow wizards and witches. | COURTESY OF EXPLORE HIDDEN/WIZARD’S BRUNCH
City Pride
St. Louis CITY SC will be the only MLS club with all-local concessions
Written by CHERYL BAEHR
The buzz around St. Louis CITY SC keeps getting louder as it approaches its inaugural 2023 season. The most recent cause for celebration? Last week’s unveiling of the four restaurants that will be the founding partners in its CITY Flavor program, an innovative stadium culinary experience that celebrates the region’s vibrant food scene and sets the bar for what is possible in sports concessions throughout Major League Soccer.
In an October 17 media event, chef and restaurateur Gerard Craft, a James Beard award-winning chef and St. Louis CITY SC’s chief avor officer, announced local favorites Balkan Treat Box, BEAST Craft BBQ, his own Niche Food Group’s Brasserie and Pastaria Deli & Wine, and Steve’s Hot Dogs as the soccer club’s four initial food partners. The four restaurants will be part of a group of 25 other regional food partners that will be announced over time as the club approaches its highly anticipated inaugural season.
In a speech announcing the initial four partners, Craft said he hopes the CITY Flavor program can make an impact on the St. Louis-area food community far off the pitch.
“Through the CITY Flavor program, e have identified artners that showcase what makes the St. Louis hospitality scene such a great lace, raft said. very restaurant has an inspiring story. Our job is not to just support our partners inside the stadium, but our goal is to drive the community to eat local before, during and after match day.
Craft has been helping St. Louis CITY SC plan its concessions even before the city had a team. As he explained at the event, Craft reached out to the team’s president and chief e ecutive officer Carolyn Kindle when he heard rumors of St. Louis getting an expansion team and told her that he would love to be involved in uilding a avor story for the eventual stadium. When St. Louis as finally a arded a team in 2019, Craft jumped at the chance to be involved and has since been working with the team’s hospitality partner, Chicago-based hospitality management company Levy, to sketch out a vision for a best-inclass stadium food experience that celebrates what it means to eat and drink in the St. Louis region.
As part of his push to identify which local food partners would e a good fit for the rogram, raft engaged the community for help. Using an online platform, area residents were asked to submit suggestions for hidden culinary gems and favorite menu items from neighborhood restaurants with the goal of creating a food story for the stadium that re ects the joys of eating and drinking in St. Louis. The community stepped up to the challenge, submitting more than 10,000 suggestions, which Craft and his team narrowed down to 25 partners.
“Our goal with the CITY Flavor program was to ensure that we highlighted the different cultures of our t. ouis food community, Craft said. “Through the food, fans get a feel for the diverse neighborhoods that make our city so s ecial.
As Craft and Kindle noted at the announcement, St. Louis CITY SC is the only MLS team to have a 100 percent locally focused food program. Additionally, the stadium will feature 52 different points for fans to access these culinary offerings (including a yet-to-be-named pub), the most in MLS.
The local focus is just one of the ways St. Louis CITY SC is innovating in the stadium food space. The team is incorporating state-of-the-art technology and modern design features such as mobile order-ahead, digital menu boards, walk-in walk-out markets and mobile wallet-pay technologies that work together to create a completely ticketless and cashless fan experience.
Fans interested in learning more about CITY Flavor and its food partners can do so on the team’s YouTube channel, where Craft will host a four-part series that tells the stories of the people behind the restaurants. The team will also host pop-up events at each of the featured food partners’ restaurants after each episode. The goal of the series — like the goal of the overall CITY Flavor program — is to shine a light on the people and places that make eating in St. Louis such an exciting event.
“The CITY stadium experience — from the views of downtown St. Louis to the food to the music is designed to e re ective of our region, said indle. ans and guests will get a feel for the culture, innovation, energy and passion of t. ouis at every event. n
Fans will be able to get a taste of Balkan Treat Box at the new Centene Stadium. | CHERYL BAEHR
[FAST FOOD]
The Golden Ticket
You could win free Lion’s Choice for a year
Written by RYAN KRULL
Lion’s Choice is going full Willy Wonka this week. Now through Friday, five lucky customers will find golden tickets included with their orders.
However, unlike in the Roald Dahl book, these golden tickets will not deliver you to some awful fate like swelling into the proportions of a giant blueberry or being dragged into a trash chute by a group of squirrels.
Instead, the St. Louis-based fast-food chain has gone a much more sensible route and opted to give its golden ticket winners free Lion’s Choice for one year.
The promotion is to celebrate Lion’s Choice’s 55 years in business as of today. Today (October 26), even if you don’t find a golden ticket you can still check out Lion’s Choice Instagram and Facebook accounts, which will be posting coupons for some mad deals good for today only.
And hey, maybe for its 60th anniversary Lion’s Choice will let us tour the roast-beef factory. We’ll probably be the kid who falls into the river of au jus. n
Five golden ticket winners will receive free Lion’s Choice for a year. | COURTESY OF LION’S CHOICE
Treat Yo Self
Luxury Sweets & Treats was born from its founder’s dream — and now o ers the confections of yours
Written by CHERYL BAEHR
Rodnesha Chatman admits she’s not much of a cook. She wasn’t even that well versed in baking before she founded her local confections brand, Luxury Sweets & Treats. However, when she thinks about what informed the artistry she applies to her cakesicles, cupcakes and candy apples, it’s pretty clear to her how she developed her talent.
“I don’t feel that I am an artist of any sort — I can’t draw or anything — but my grandmother is deaf, and growing up, she helped my mom raise us, hatman says. y her using her eyes and hands to communicate, that forced us to pay more attention to detail and be more observant. My artistic inclination comes from that attention and thoroughness, which comes through in my teaching and everything I do in life. That has played a role in my creativity — being immersed in American Sign Language and reading the body language of others, I soaked it all in, and it translates to my artistic a ilities.
For the past three years, Chatman has been using this creativity and talent as the force behind Luxury Sweets & Treats, a custom confections and treats brand that allows her to make edible art for everything from weddings and baby showers to sports and corporate events. Though she’s thrilled by the reception her creations have received, Chatman says that she never really intended to make a business out of her sweet treats; the work simply took on a life of its own after she started exploring confectionary as a type of self-care while working in deaf and hard-of-hearing education for the Special School District of St. Louis County.
“Back in 2019, my district did a huge push toward self-care, so we were doing professional development on what things we could do in and out of school, hatman explains. “I started to think about what I could do to really love on myself and relieve stress from day to day, so I figured, hy not try this
Though Chatman really began honing her craft at that time, she notes that the genesis of Luxury Sweets & Treats predates her district’s self-care push. A few years prior, she began experimenting with making chocolates for family, but then she got caught up in the business of being an educator and never took it much further. The push from her day job to explore passions outside of work inspired her to pick up where she left off and see where she could take it. She began researching and experimenting, teaching herself from books and YouTube videos and eventually ecame confident enough to share her goods with her coworkers. They were dazzled and began asking her for custom orders, which made her realize she was on to something.
Chatman’s big break came courtesy of a coworker who asked her to make custom treats for her edding. At first, hatman wasn’t sure she was ready to take on such a large project, but with her colleague’s encouragement — and a check written in her business’s name that forced her to start an LLC and open a corporate bank account — Chatman took on the event and surprised herself with what she was able to accomplish.
If that edding as the confidence-builder Chatman needed to get Luxury Sweets & Treats off the ground, the pandemic was instrumental in building the rand into a ona fide usiness, as customers clamored for ready-made, local treats they could enjoy themselves or send to friends who needed a pickme-up. Though she can’t help but feel somewhat uncomfortable with her business taking off during such a challenging time, Chatman is happy she could bring joy to people in the midst of it all.
Despite her success, Chatman is still committed to her day job in deaf and hard-of-hearing education and is not giving it up just yet, if ever. She notes that her dream is to eventually have a storefront, not simply to sell her treats but to employ high school students and young adults so that they learn about entrepreneurship and see that there are options outside the expected college path. It’s the teacher side of her — something she will never give up no matter where Luxury Sweets & Treats takes her. o I am just trying to figure out how to duplicate myself, because I can’t keep up with demand, hatman says ith a laugh. “I’m still working as a teacher and loving it, and when I clock out, I step into the role of entrepreneur and treat-maker. I still enjoy doing it and enjoy being creative, ut no I have to find self care from my self care. n
Luxury Sweets & Treats is a local confectionary brand, born of self-care. | COURTESY OF LUXURY SWEETS & TREATS
Global Foods Market is launching an international snacks subscription box. | COURTESY OF GLOBAL FOODS
[FOOD NEWS]
Munch Box
“Global Munchies” subscription lets you get your snack on
Written by CHERYL BAEHR
Over the last few years, Shayn Prapaisilp has seen an increase in interest around snack foods from different countries at his family’s international grocery stores, which include Kirkwood’s Global Foods Market as well as Jay International (on South Grand) and United Provisions (in the Delmar Loop). Now, he and his team are launching a new program that will help his customers explore that interest and open their eyes to the way people nosh around the world.
Beginning this November, Global Foods Market will begin offering a curated subscription box featuring snacks from a different country each month. Dubbed “Global Munchies,” the subscription program will consist of six to eight different snack items and an educational ier a out the country eing featured. As Prapaisilp explains, the idea goes beyond simply introducing people to international snack foods; he hopes to take people on a culinary journey without them having to leave town.
“Because of the pandemic, a lot of folks haven’t been able to travel as much as they’d like,” Prapaisilp says. “This is geared toward the idea that, if they can’t travel, we will bring the world to them each month. It’s kind of a passport program.”
Prapaisilp sees global snack foods as the perfect way to introduce eo le to the different avors and ingredients that make up a country’s food culture. In his years running internationally oriented groceries, he’s noticed that customers may be curious about a particular cuisine, but they often don’t know where to start and might be intimidated by the thought of cooking a full meal or unfamiliar dish. Snack items, he believes, offer a good starting point.
“People are getting more and more interested in epicurean food culture, and snacks are a great place to start exploring because they offer the lowest barrier to entry,” Prapaisilp says. “You may not be able to cook an entire culture’s cuisine, so starting with snacks and getting very familiar with them can be a great gateway.”
Though Prapaisilp has designed Global Munchies to be a surprise gift box — subscribers will not know what country is being featured any given month until they pick up their box — he has revealed that the first month ill consist of the snack foods of India. He’s not divulging the box’s contents, but he will say that future ones might feature chocolate candies and tru es from elgium or crunchy shrimp chips and dried fruit from China.
Global Munchies boxes are $35 for a three-month subscription. Though Prapaisilp is unsure how long the program will last, he is hopeful that, if the response is good, the market will be able to extend it into the future.
“I think the great thing about Global is that we have both customers who shop like this every day and those who are just curious,” Prapaisilp says. “We always see people asking what something is or how to cook it; there is a curiosity there, so we just wanted to give folks an entry point and hopefully they can keep exploring from there.” n
