Short Orders

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SHORT ORDERS

e restaurant, and it’s new dining room, will open up in the spring of 2023. | COURTESY OF REVEL ARCHITECTS

[FOOD NEWS]

Royal Succession

King & I is moving to Richmond Heights next spring

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Major changes are underway for one of St. Louis’ most beloved restaurants: King & I (3155 South Grand Avenue, 314-771-1777) is leaving its home on South Grand Boulevard and moving to Richmond Heights. The restaurant anticipates that it will open in its new storefront sometime in the spring of 2023.

“There have been a couple of threads to me and my family’s thinking,” says Shayn Prapaisilp, who owns King & I with his family. “To be open as long as we have is just incredible, but there are two big things that influenced our decision. The first is the success of Chao Baan, which is close to King & I. Also, the pandemic has been a challenging time for restaurants, and we have been thinking through our business model to make sense for how people dine in 2022.”

Prapaisilp’s parents, Suchin and Sue, opened King & I at the intersection of South Grand Boulevard and Humphrey Street in 1983 — a time well before Thai cuisine had made its way into the mainstream of the U.S. dining scene. It became a runaway success, and the family eventually moved it to its current home a couple of blocks north where it has continued to set the standard for Thai dining in the area for the last three decades.

During that time, the Prapaisilps have opened other concepts, including Chao Baan and the international grocery stores United Provisions and Global Foods; they have also witnessed many changes in the way people eat. Palates have expanded as diners have become more willing to try new things, and regional Thai cuisine — which they explore at their Grove restaurant, Chao Baan — has become increasingly popular in the area. However, one of the biggest changes they have seen over the last two years centers around the way people eat. Prior to the pandemic, the restaurant was filled with guests looking for a more formal, sit-down experience; now, people are clamoring for takeout and delivery.

“King & I used to be all servers wearing tuxedos,” Prapaisilp says. “Back then, Thai food was a special occasion for folks, and now they come in two, three and four times a week, so we are obviously more casual. However, the current King & I manifestation is one of the 1990s with a big upstairs area; the restaurant is just large. We think we can still deliver the same great service and food but with a smaller footprint.”

The new King & I will be located at 8039 Dale Avenue, in Richmond Heights in the former Blaze Pizza storefront. The Prapaisilp family is working with St. Louis architect Jay Reeves of Revel Architects to build out a 3,100-square-foot restaurant that will feel refreshed and modern. Though carry-out will be a focus, Prapaisilp emphasizes that the new King & I will still be a full-service establishment with the same food that guests have come to love and expect over its nearly 40 years in business.

Prapaisilp and his family are excited by the opportunities that the new restaurant will provide. Though they will be keeping the menu mostly the same, they are eager to add different dishes and play around with items that they hope will become new favorites.

“This brand-new kitchen space gives us the opportunity to introduce a few new things that we hope will become flagship dishes,” Prapaisilp says. “People are now more interested than they used to be in trying new dishes, so we are excited to be able to refresh ourselves.”

Though Prapaisilp cannot promise an exact opening date, he and his family are aiming to welcome guests into their new location sometime this coming spring. In the meantime, the current King & I will remain open, though its hours have changed. The restaurant is now open Tuesday through Thursday from 4:40 until 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and from 4:30 until 9 p.m., and on Sundays from noon until 3 p.m. and 4:30 until 8 p.m.

“South Grand is a part of my family’s history; I live in the neighborhood, and my extended family still owns businesses, like Jay International [Food Co.] in the neighborhood,” Prapaisilp says. “We’ve been happy to be a part of that history. Now with the old guard retiring, it gives opportunity for new people to come in and put their mark on it. It’s always been an iconic street, and I think there are good things to come.” n

[FOOD NEWS]

Pizza But It’s Keto

Move over, cauliflower: Chickencrust pizza is the new low-carb darling

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

When you hear the words “chicken-crust pizza,” what comes to mind?

Is it a comparison with the muchmaligned but probably delicious KFC Double Down, which featured toppings between two “slices” of fried chicken? Is it Taco Bell’s Naked Chicken Chalupa, starring a poultry shell? Or is your noggin completely blank because the idea of a pizza where the crust is made of chicken is too downright wild to picture?

But what if that chicken-crust pizza wasn’t strange at all? What if, in fact, it was fairly indistinguishable from any other grocery store pizza?

“You can just put the toppings straight on it and then put in the oven for eight to 10 minutes, and it’s perfectly made pizza and tastes just like a thin-crust pizza,” Omar Atia says. “When you bite into it, it crunches the same as a thin-crust pizza. It just tastes incredible.”

Atia is the CEO and cofounder of ZeroCarb LYFE, the maker of said chicken-crust pizza, which has been in 80 Schnucks locations since October.

The company makes ready-tocook frozen pizzas (sausage, Buffalo chicken) and crusts, which can also be used as wraps. The crusts are all made from the same four ingredients: chicken breast, olive oil, salt and spices. They’re intended to be healthy, low-carb alternatives to pizza made from wheat flour.

Despite the simplicity of the ingredients, Atia says the pizzas don’t taste like chicken. To make them, he says the company removes the water from white chicken, and because of the meat’s low fat content, it doesn’t taste like much. Not a great look for chicken but good for chicken-based pizza.

The resulting product crisps well in the oven and tastes even more savory than flour-based crusts. Atia says it tastes better than cauliflower crust but still has that healthy element. “[The company is] really about changing people’s lives when it comes to food and the joy that can come from it,” he says. “I don’t believe that we should eliminate people feeling happy and joy when they’re eating alone, or when they’re eating together, and that’s really what our goal is at ZeroCarb LYFE. We have this vision that you can still have a very, very fun experience, very joyful experience when you’re eating, and at the same time, have it be healthy for you.” ZeroCarb LYFE, which is based in Indiana, came to life as a collaboration between Atia, a chemical engineer who had worked at companies such as Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods and Dean Foods, and Chief Creative Officer Mohamed Aly, who had discovered the Keto diet as a way to manage his diabetes. He’d had the idea of the chicken crust as a way to still be able to enjoy pizza, but he needed someone to help him make things work. The two launched the company in early 2020, developing a dual business that is both direct-to-consumer and sells to restaurants. Then, in April of this year, the company entered the retail space, eventually finding its way to Schnucks.

To have that much growth in such a short period of time feels amazing, Atia says. But he has no plans to rest on his laurels, mentioning some chicken-based chips that will launch early next year.

“The best is definitely yet to come,” he says. “There’s just going to be some incredible growth that we also see in the near future.” n

ZeroCarb LYFE’s chicken-crust pizza is made from four ingredients: chicken, olive oil, salt and spices. | COURTESY ZEROCARB LYFE

[FOOD NEWS]

Chip Off the Ol’ Block

BEAST Butcher & Block launches new burger menu

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

As if there weren’t already 100 different delicious reasons to go to BEAST Butcher & Block (4156 Manchester Avenue, 314-944-6003) in the Grove, pitmaster and restaurateur David Sandusky is upping the ante with some new menu offerings. Last week, Sandusky and his team introduced Butcher’s Burgers, a new line of butchery-influenced sandwiches that will make the restaurant a must-visit destination for area burger lovers.

“We’re focused on bringing the butcher shop to the menu as much as possible,” Sandusky says. “We’ve found that one of the best ways to do that is to create a burger menu that consists of a lot of the different flavors you might not get at other places. We’re not just focused on building a better cheeseburger; we’re focused on building better patties before you even add anything.”

Since opening the hybrid restaurant, whole-animal butcher shop and live-fire demo space in 2019, Sandusky has taken advantage of the opportunities each side of the business provides to the other by doing such collaborative things as incorporating elements of his barbecue operations into the butchery and using meat cut in-house for his barbecue. The burgers represent the latest way the multifaceted operation results in a unique guest experience, and Sandusky is confident that the Butcher’s Burgers will offer something that diners cannot get elsewhere.

“These are really correlated to the sausages and things we are making in the butcher shop,” Sandusky explains. “Taking what we do well in the butcher shop and doing it as a burger menu, that makes sense.”

Diners can expect a variety of different Butcher’s Burgers, including a boudin burger, made from a half-pound boudin patty that is topped with andouille bacon, pimento cheese and remoulade. Another offering, the Wurst, evokes the butchery’s popular bratwurst, consisting of two seasoned pork patties, Swiss cheese, candied bacon jam, deli mustard and pickled red onion.

In addition to the in-house collaboration, Sandusky is excited to team up with other area chefs on Butcher’s Burger creations. Up first is a bulgogi burger, made in partnership with Tiny Chef’s Melanie Meyer, that pairs her Korean barbecue marinade and smashed beef patties with a fried egg and kimchi on a brioche-style bun.

“We’re excited to bring things to the menu that are foundationally more flavorful,” Sandusky says. “We want to be thought of as the burger destination in the area.” n

e Boudin Burger is one of the new Butcher’s Burgers now available at BEAST Butcher & Block. | COURTESY DAVID SANDUSKY

Box Score

Albert Pujols’ new cereal is very mid

Written by ROSALIND EARLY

Albert u ols played his final season of baseball this year and finished out his career in a St. ouis ardinals ersey, the same one he started in. onors have poured in for the slugger, including the Musial Awards giving u ols its highest honor a ifetime Achievement Award for Sportsmanship.

But before that, he has gotten something some may argue is a little bit better his own cereal.

That’s right, u ols is getting the heaties treatment. The bo of the breakfast bounty known as u ols runch features images of a smiling u ols and a u ols at bat in Busch III superimposed ne t to each other, a la those cool s senior portraits . One thing it notably doesn’t feature is anything ardinals related. learly, the cereal’s manufacturers did not want to run afoul of the M B.

So lamentably, u ols is not in anything resembling a ardinals ersey and instead wears a nondescript black-and-white uniform. But in case you think the idea is to sell the cereal in os Angeles, where St. ouis’ prodigal son briefly and forgettably played with the Angels and the odgers, u ols is thankfully wearing his o. which he didn’t wear when he left , and there’s a huge Arch in the background.

The cereal, which is only available at Schnucks, benefits the u ols amily oundation. e went to Schnucks the morning the cereal launched to pick up the honey-nut-toasted-oats concoction and found that it was not on shelves, but there were some in the back. An in uiry with an employee got us the goods.

The cereal set us back . with ta , which seems on par with other brand-name cereals. ull disclosure e have not bought cereal in a while.

As a service to you collectors out there, we went ahead and tasted the stuff so you could keep yours in pristine condition. Though we don’t recommend letting cereal moulder in a bo for years, if you are buying this specifically to pricegouge on eBay after Schnucks inevitably runs out because you purchased bo es, then don’t bother holding a bo back to give the cereal a try. It is very mid.

That is not to say it’s bad. In fact, one taste-tester asked if the cereal was legal because it tastes e actly like oney ut heerios with a more satisfying crunch . But for one thing, noticeably absent is any connection to u ols inside the bo . In addition to there being no pri e again, we haven’t bought cereal in decades, when did they remove the pri es there’s not a single thrown in with all those ’s as a nod to his entrance to the home-run club seriously, that seems like a no-brainer .

It’s also a little unsettling to munch on a foodstuff that is shaped like a tight little “o” and sports the specific phonetics that accompany the word “ u ols.” But maybe we’re ust being anal.

Still, out of all the cereal options pandering to you by putting your favorite athlete on the bo , this is definitely a better choice than heaties. ongratulations, Al n

e back of the box features a baseball-themed word search. | ROSALIND EARLY

[FIRST LOOK]

Fresh as Hell

Koibito Poke brings healthful seafood bowls to Des Peres

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Thanks to a beloved local sports figure, St. ouis has a new destination for fresh seafood oibito oke, a fastcasual poke-bowl destination from former St. ouis ardinals pitcher Todd Stottlemyre, opened September in es eres.

This is the first oibito oke in the St. ouis area, though a second location is slated to open ne t spring in Ballpark illage. or Stottlemyre, who founded the brand in Ari ona in , the move to St. ouis felt natural because of his connections with the city thanks to his time here as a ardinals relief pitcher from to .

“St. ouis is important to me for a lot of reasons,” Stottlemyre told the Riverfront Times in an interview when he first announced the opening earlier this spring. “I loved playing there it was my favorite place to play. I was a bluecollar player, and they cheered me when I was playing well, and they also stuck by me when I was not playing well. eople treated me incredibly well.”

Stottlemyre founded oibito oke in Ari ona four years ago for reasons that go far beyond his passion for fresh fish. As a professional athlete, he’d always been aware of the importance of health and nutrition, seeing food as both something to be en oyed and fuel that would allow him to

Koibito Poke is now open in Des Peres. | SARAH LOVETT

KOIBITO POKE

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perform at his very best. However, just how important it was became clear to him after his father was diagnosed with cancer about 10 years ago. As he watched his dad battle his own health issues, Stottlemyre began to think of his own children and how important it was to take care of himself for them.

“I was in a place where I did not want to take my health for granted and wake up one day with bad news,” Stottlemyre said. “Not that it’s not going to happen, but I want to do my part to live as long as I can, not for me, but for my kids. I want to see them go to school and get married and be around to have grandkids. I can’t do that if I don’t take care of my health.”

For Stottlemyre, fresh seafood was a cornerstone of healthful living, and as he began to explore business opportunities, his interest piqued when he was presented with a chance to bring this style of eating to a larger audience.

“I’d been approached during my baseball and post-baseball career about a number of different concepts, but, without knowing anything about the industry, I’d always said no,” Stottlemyre said. “I’d heard horror stories of other athletes getting involved in restaurants, so I’d always stayed away. However, when my business partner asked me to go with him for lunch, and I saw it was a poke concept, it just matched perfectly with where I am in my life — and it’s my favorite food.”

Modeled after the other Koibito Poke locations in Arizona, Las Vegas, and Charlotte, North Carolina, the new Des Peres restaurant features a fast-casual format that allows guests to build their own customizable bowls from a variety of proteins, toppings and housemade sauces. Guests start with a base of white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, or mi ed greens. Then they choose from several different proteins including raw salmon, yellowtail, tuna, octopus, spicy crab, tofu and grilled chicken. Accoutrements include everything from pineapple to edamame to shaved Brussels sprouts; guests can opt for condiments ranging from sweet to savory to spicy, such as sweet chili lime sauce, wasabi aioli and champagne butter.

Though patrons can choose their bowls to-go, the dining room at Koibito Poke offers a bright, sunny setting. Cerulean-colored floors evoke an ocean vibe, and the space is brightened by red accents, such as leather chairs and a heart-shaped mural that reads “Reel Food. Real People.”

In addition to bringing healthful food options to diners on the go, Stottlemyre is equally proud of Koibito Poke’s philanthropic work. Through its charitable arm, Koibito Cares, the restaurant group contributes to a variety of efforts, most recently by providing meals to school students who lost school-provided meals during the pandemic.

“We want to do good by doing good,” Stottlemyre says. “We’re not here to take but to give and serve. That is the single most important thing to me.” n

e Koibito Poke bowl is one of the many o erings now available at the first St. Louis area Koibito Poke. | SARAH LOVETT