Short Orders

Quesabirrias are a glorious combination of pot roast, quesadilla and French dip. | MABEL SUEN

TACOS LA JEFE

Continued from pg 23

ten hours with ancho and guajillo chiles, onions and other spices. The result is the most flavorful pot roast you’ve ever had, served with vibrant red-orange chili-soaked tortillas, chopped white onions, cilantro and hot sauce so that you can make your own tacos — if you can stop yourself from ust palming heaps of the succulent meat into your mouth as you try to stuff it into the tortilla.

The birria itself is positively ma estic, but the reason Tacos La efa has caught fire is because of its quesabirria, a glorious concoction that’s like a cross between pot roast, a cheese quesadilla and a French dip. Amescua’s birria is placed on an open face cheese topped tortilla and griddled, then folded in half. The taco is then dipped in the birria’s cooking liquid and griddled again so it crisps up this has the effect of marrying the molten cheese encrusted edges with the beefy particles in the liquid. It’s outrageously good, but the pièce de résistance is the cup of the coo ing us that comes alongside the quesabirria. Guests are encouraged to dunk the beefy cheese wonder in the savory broth and enjoy how it soaks into every crevice. This is a uice up to your elbows sort of endeavor, and there’s no way you will avoid getting messy (don’t wear a white silk blouse as foolishly did , but even if you do, you will wear that us as a badge of honor.

Tacos La efa serves nothing but the birria tacos and quesabirria. It doesn’t have to. There is nothing

Heriberta Amescua, la jefa original, is always present at the restaurant. | MABEL SUEN

more you could want from such a magical place. That Amescua’s family has been able to work through their grief and eep it going so that we can experience it makes dining at Tacos La efa an absolute honor. f you as them, though, they say the honor is theirs.

“To us, she was a warrior,” say her kids Carmen, Ricardo, Andrea, Ernesto, Elizabeth, Heriberto, Liliana and Marth. “She showed us to never give up and that it’s never too late to follow your dreams. e will eep her dream alive, and we will live one day at a time. e love you and miss you, mother.”

Tacos La Jefa

Birria taco .............................................$3.50 Large quesabirria ................................ $10.50 Birria plate ...............................................$15

26

SHORT ORDERS

[ST. LOUIS STANDARDS]

A Tradition in Chicken

Hodak’s is as St. Louis as it gets

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

It’s 9:50 a.m., and Steve Connors hasn’t even finished cutting up his lemons and limes for coc tail garnishes when two customers appear at his bar. ithout loo ing up or saying a word, he grabs their beverages and a couple of menus, nowing that the latter are mere formalities. These regulars — li e most of the regulars who come into his bar at Hoda ’s — are so well versed in the offerings that a menu is almost an insult. esides, the reason they’re there is obvious: They want the chic en.

Scenes li e this are common at Hoda ’s, the south St. Louis fried chic en institution that has been serving up breaded birds since . riginally a tavern called Matt and Tony’s located on the corner of th and mmet streets, the outfit was more concerned with serving as a watering hole for factory and brewery wor ers than it was with frying chic en. However, once the eponymous Tony Hoda ’s wife, llen, began bringing in her fried chic en for the staff and patrons to en oy, there was no turning bac . t became the tavern’s signature item, and when the husband and wife decided to buy out their partner and move to their current spot on the corner of Gravois and McNair avenues, it was settled that the new restaurant would have chic en as its focus.

Connors hasn’t been there for the entire run, but he has wor ed at Hoda ’s for years. At the time he started, he was out of wor and figured he’d bartend to ma e ends meet until he found, in his words, a “real ob. However, from the moment he wal ed into the place and interviewed with Tony Hoda , he new that he was getting into somewhere special.

“ hen wal ed in the door the first time, felt home for some reason, Connors says. “ can’t e plain it. thought this was ust going to be a temporary thing and had no idea was going to be here this long. ig changes came to the restaurant not long after Connors signed on. n , ust a month and a half after he started, Charlene and alph Hegel bought Hoda ’s from its founders. The husband and wife had been in the restaurant business and were already loo ing for an opportunity to wor together when they learned that the Hoda family was getting ready to retire. t was a perfect confluence of circumstances that allowed them to reali e their dream of running a place together, and they threw themselves fully into the operation. efore they bought the business, Hoda ’s ust served chic en, fries and coleslaw under their leadership, the restaurant e panded its menu, offering sandwiches, salads and appeti ers. They also gave the place a ma eover, and eventually bought the ad acent beauty shop and truc ing company storefronts so that they could e pand to meet the growing demand for their chic en.

The investments paid off. According to Connors, before the Hegels came on board, the restaurant did good business, but nothing li e today. Now — at least pre C — it’s not uncommon to have a line stretched down the entrance hall, out the door and around the building on Saturdays and Sundays.

“ e’re ust an institution and a mom and pop place, and thin people li e that, Connors says. “ e have people come in on their way to the hoc ey or baseball games, for graduations and funerals and first communions and retirements. ’ve seen three or four generations of families come through, some at the same time.

Connors credits the chic en with pac ing the house. The poultry comes in fresh, never fro en,

Hodak’s fried chicken has been drawing crowds for nearly sixty years. | ANDY PAULISSEN

Regulars begin lining up as early as 10 a.m. for Hodak’s famous fried chicken. | ANDY PAULISSEN

and is hand breaded with a secret recipe even he hasn’t been able to get his hands on in his three decades of wor ing at the place. very order comes out piping hot, with steam rising out of each piece when you crac them apart, and he believes the reasonable price point ma es the food accessible to everyone.

However, he understood from his very first day wor ing behind the bar that Hoda ’s is about much more than chic en.

“ very day, you never now who you’re going to meet and what inds of stories you’re going to hear, Connors says. “ very day feels the same, yet different. The bar is such a friendly atmosphere. f you don’t now the person ne t to you when you get here, you’re going to now them before you leave.

His cowor er of seventeen years, enise rice, chimes in while setting up her tables for the a.m. rush: “ t’s not ust chic en it’s tradition. n

e bar at Hodak’s attracts a lively, welcoming crowd. | ANDY PAULISSEN Hodak’s is a St. Louis landmark that’s about much more than the food. | ANDY PAULISSEN

[FOOD NEWS]

Transplant-Based Cuisine

CC’s Vegan Spot is moving to south St. Louis in July

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

For Trezel Brown, it’s been a joyful week. Not only is she celebrating the two-year anniversary of her restaurant, CC’s Vegan Spot (231 East Delmar Avenue, Alton, Illinois; 618-4338300); she’s also thrilled to announce that she is moving the plant-based eatery to south St. Louis, with plans to open near the intersection of Loughborough and Macklind avenues in early July.

The new CC’s Vegan Spot will replace her original Alton location, which will close at the end of June. Though Brown admits the move is bittersweet, she cannot wait to begin the next chapter of her restaurant.

“I wanted to keep the Alton location, but it just didn’t work out,” Brown says. “It’s just best for me to let go so that I can put my whole heart and soul into one location, especially with it being so hard to find employees. It’s bittersweet. I’ll never forget where it all started.”

The forthcoming CC’s Vegan Spot will be located in the former Corner Bistro space and will have the same menu her regulars have come to love, with a few minor tweaks. Brown will be taking the Beyond Burgers off the menu and will instead focus on her own eggplant and beet burgers, which have been great sellers. She will also continue offering her signature Ish Bites, ChickN Sandwich and jalapeño poppers, as well as other vegan savory and sweet items.

A talented home cook, Trezel began experimenting with vegan cuisine about six years ago as a way to help mitigate her dietary issues. She quickly found that not only did she feel better, she fell in love with vegan cooking and developed an extensive repertoire of dishes that her family and friends raved about.

However, she had no plans to open a vegan restaurant. Instead, she originally envisioned CC’s as an icee shop inspired by the ones she loved to visit on trips to Harlem in New York City. With that business plan in mind, she opened the doors to her original Alton, Illinois, location in May 2019, only to shift to a full-fledged vegan eatery six weeks later, after her family members encouraged her to do so.

For two years, she ran the Alton CC’s, finding success throughout the challenges of the pandemic and making a name for herself as one of the most thrilling vegan restaurants in the area. She credits the allure to her deeply flavorful, comfort-food style that reinterprets familiar meat-based dishes in plant-based form.

Brown is thrilled to soon offer those dishes to a St. Louis audience. From the idea’s inception, she thought she’d open CC’s in south city, and even came close to inking a lease on Cherokee Street. However, when that deal fell through, she decided on the Alton location because it was close to her home. Though she loved the spot and had decent support from the locals, 80 percent of her business came from St. Louis. It made the move to Loughborough Avenue a no-brainer, even though she says she will always hold the Alton location close to her heart.

Brown has planned a soft opening of the new location for June 25 and hopes to open the first week of July. She is excited that the new digs will have a smaller, but more useful footprint that will make it easier to manage. She’s also looking forward to the new place’s patio seating, which she believes will be an asset as the industry continues to face pandemicrelated challenges.

“Everything is falling into place, and this is just such a blessing,” Brown says. “I’ve worked hard too, though. This is two years of getting up at 4 a.m. and going to bed at midnight. Am I scared? Yes. Am I nervous? Yes. This is a whole other level and opportunity, that it feels like I am dreaming.” n

CC’s Vegan Spot is planting roots in South St. Louis this coming month. | COURTESY CC’S VEGAN SPOT

Solve for Pie

Pizza Champ, from the team behind Elmwood, is coming to Maplewood this fall

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

When Elmwood (2704 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; 314-261-4708) reopens its dining room on June 10, it will look a little bit different than it did before the pandemic shuttered its doors last March ... at least temporarily. Owners Adam Altnether and Chris Kelling announced that they will resume dine-in service as a pizzeria for the next three months in anticipation of opening a brick and mortar for its pop-up-turned-pizza brand, Pizza Champ, this fall.

“Even before the pandemic, Adam and I have always said that our second concept should be a pizzeria,” Kelling says. “Really, there isn’t a true pizzeria in Maplewood, and when we had to decide what was going to work with carry-out during the pandemic, pizza was familiar. It became its own thing, and we had a number of orders from people who I don’t think ever stepped inside of Elmwood. We wanted to capitalize on that. We’re in negotiations for a lease for a pizzeria, but we wanted to keep the pizza in front of people.”

Altnether and Kelling began selling pizzas as a way to keep Elmwood afloat last spring, but in no time, it became such a success that it took on a life of its own. This prompted the partners to get serious about exploring it as a brand in its own right, and they are on the cusp of making that come to fruition.

However, they are not there quite yet. Because they still have to finali e their lease agreement and convert the space into Pizza Champ, they have found themselves in a position where they are ready to reopen Elmwood, but not quite ready to open Pizza Champ as a standalone spot. Rather than ceasing their successful pizzeria operations, they decided to temporarily reopen Elmwood as a pizzeria while they work to open the doors of Pizza Champ, hopefully in the next three months or so.

Kelling is clear that the changes to Elmwood are only temporary. Both he and Altnether are excited to get Elmwood back to where it was, pre-pandemic, as soon as possible, and they look forward to having two different restaurants that serve two very different purposes in the Maplewood dining scene. In the interim, Kelling expects the temporarily pizza-focused Elmwood to actually be a blend of the two concepts; in addition to pizza, Altnether will be cooking Elmwood’s signature burger, assorted skewers and other dishes that, in his words, have the “Elmwood DNA.”

“There have been a lot of changes since we started this project,” Kelling says. “What’s still important to us is putting out quality product and making our guests happy. This will allow us to have a little more fun doing it.” n

Pizza Champ started as a side project and is now getting a storefront of its own. | SPENCER PERNIKOFF