Short Orders

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SHORT ORDERS

[COMING SOON]

Global Flavors

Saucy Porka will open its first St. Louis location in coming months

BY CHERYL BAEHR

St. Louis will soon be getting a taste of globally inspired Asian and Puerto Rican fusion cuisine courtesy of Saucy Porka (3900 Laclede Avenue). The Chicago-based restaurant has plans to open its first location outside of the Windy City in the former Kaldi’s Coffee location on Vandeventer Avenue. Though no firm opening date has been set, owner Amy Le hopes to elcome her first diners in late December or early January.

For Le, the St. Louis Saucy Porka represents a homecoming. A St. Louis native, Le grew up helping her mother with two area Chinese restaurants, one in south county and the other in St. Peters. From an early age, she and her brother, Phil Le, spent their free time in the restaurant answering phones, washing dishes and serving guests. The experience was formative, and even after moving to Chicago to pursue journalism and landing a job as employee number fourteen at then-startup Grubhub, she realized that she was meant to pursue a career in the business she grew up in.

“I was brought on at Grubhub to watch the blog and social media, and I got reconnected to the restaurant industry again through that,” Le explains. “Working with restaurant owners and chefs made me realize how much I missed food. I had a side hustle catering for friends’ special events, and I just made a decision that working at a startup I was watching people live their dreams. I should live mine.”

At the time, roughly ten years ago, the food-truck scene was just emerging in Chicago, so Le transitioned her catering business to the roving restaurant DucknRoll. While working in that community, she met fellow food-truck operator Rafael Lopez, and the pair instantly connected over a shared passion for food, especially those nostalgic of their experiences growing up in Asian and Puerto Rican households, respectively.

After working together on events, Le and Lopez decided to merge their culinary styles to create a fusion of Asian and Puerto Rican cuisine, christening their concept Saucy Porka. More than just a simple mix of the two traditions, Le and Lopez were committed to fully merging the techniques and a ors of sian and atin merican cuisine and quickly grew a following for their unique style.

Le points to Saucy Porka’s Asian Paella as emblematic of what she and Lopez (who recently left the business to pursue work outside of the industry) were going for when they created the restaurant. The dish uses Puerto Rican-style rice cooked with soffrito as the base, then adds coconut milk to gi e it a outheast sian a or profile. The rice is then topped with Chinese sweet sausage, Spanish sausage, slow-cooked pork, edamame and scallions, merging the two styles into one delectable dish.

Saucy Porka’s egg rolls are particularly nostalgic for Le. Having spent most of her childhood in her mom’s Chinese restaurant, egg rolls are a staple of her food memories. For Lopez, a similar feeling centered around empanadas and arepas. Le is always excited when their fusion of those experiences, a chorizo egg roll, evokes nostalgia in both their Asian and Latin American guests.

“We have people tell us that the egg roll reminds them of their mom’s Chinese restaurant, but we also have Latin American customers saying it reminds them of an empanada,” Le says. “One time, my mom tasted our pork and said she felt she was eating her pork, but it wasn’t her pork. That’s what we are going for.”

For the St. Louis location, Le is working with both her husband, John Keebler, and her brother, Phil Le, who has spent the past nineteen years with So Hospitality Group, the St. Louis-based brand behind such concepts as Drunken Fish and Kimchi Guys. Le is excited to finally ha e her brother on board for the concept — something the two have talked about for a long time but that finally came together over the past year. Together, they anticipate Saucy Porka being an exciting, quick-service restaurant whose emphasis on hospitality and global a ors ill be an integral part of the St. Louis food scene.

“I’m super excited, because coming back to St. Louis is full circle for me,” Le says. “Coming back to St. Louis, I’ve realized how diversified the food scene has gotten over the past eight or ten years. When I was growing up, it was not as diverse, and now I’m seeing this next generation of kids who grew up in the restaurant business from Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese families, and they are starting these concepts because the timing is right and people are interested. It’s nice to come back. lot of memories are ooding back to us in the process.” n

Saucy Porka will brings its Asian-Latin American fusion to St. Louis in the coming months. | KIM KOVACIK

[FOOD NEWS]

Return of a Classic

Anheuser-Busch brings back classic beer for holiday season

BY CHERYL BAEHR

Anheuser-Busch’s gift to St. Louis this holiday season is the return of an old favorite: the St. Louis Lager.

More than 115 years have passed since the beer was last in production, but Colleen Lucas, vice president of corporate social responsibility and heritage at Anheuser-Busch, says in a press release that it’s a perfect way to “recognize the community that has enabled us to continue to grow and connect with consumers all over the world.”

The beer, a dark lager-style, originally began as a regional beer that ended up being distributed across the world; it will now be produced at the company’s Research Pilot Brewery in St. Louis based on the original recipe. You can find the drink at the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Biergarten (1127 Pestalozzi Street, 314577-2626).

The company is unveiling the beer ahead of Giving Tuesday (November 30), and the beverage will play an important role in giving back this year: For every St. Louis Lager sold, Anheuser-Busch will donate $2 to the United Way-led 100 Neediest Cases campaign. The program helps individual St. Louisans and families throughout the holiday season.

“Each year, the holiday season, including Giving Tuesday, is a time to appreciate all you have and give back to help your friends and neighbors in need,” Julio Suárez from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation said in a press release. “Our amazing St. Louis non-profit partners, like United Way, have helped us build a stronger community in St. Louis and this Giving Tuesday, we are excited to toast a St. Louis Lager to celebrate and recognize their efforts while giving back to a great cause.”

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation also contributed $25,000 to the campaign. President and CEO of United Way Michelle Tucker said in the press release she’s thankful for Anheuser-Busch and the Anheuser-Busch Foundation. With the donations, Tucker said, the United Way will be able to help thousands of St. Louis families this holiday season. n

e classic St. Louis Lager returns just in time for the holidays. | COURTESY ANHEUSER-BUSCH

[SIP THIS]

Winter Wonderland

Wandering Winterland pop-up bar brings holiday cheer to the Lou

BY CHERYL BAEHR

If the pandemic has taught Tiffany Kaltenbach one thing, it’s that people are willing to brave the elements and take their parties outside. That’s why this year — instead of closing up shop for the season — she’s turning her traveling bar the Wandering Sidecar (thewanderingsidecarbarco. com) into a winter-themed pop-up party, Wandering Winterland.

“I’ve always been pretty inspired by Miracle and those other holiday pop-up bars and thought about doing something similar to that,” Kaltenbach says. “I think this is going to be a good opportunity for people who still want to gather but maybe aren’t ready to go inside.”

This is the first year that altenbach, who launched the Wandering Sidecar in 2016, has offered the Wandering Winterland experience. Completely customizable,

Ti any Kaltenbach is keeping the festivities going with Wandering Winterland. | ANDY PAULISSEN

the pop-up includes holiday music, festi e decor, a fire pit, a heater and winter-themed warm and cold cocktails, all served out of her vintage-camper-turned-bar.

A veteran bartender, Kaltenbach has created a drink list that embraces the a ors of the season. Warm offerings include Nutella Hot Cocoa, Mulled Wine and Hot Toddies; those looking for cold libations can choose from such concoctions as the Sugar Cookie Cocktail, the Santa Sangria or the Feliz Navidad Margarita. Typically, she suggests that guests who book Wandering Winterland choose one cold and one hot offering, though each package can be tailored to each party planner’s needs.

Though Kaltenbach expects Wandering Winterland to be popular during the month of December, she believes the party will continue well into the new year. As she’s seen in the past, many party planners, especially those in the corporate space, are opting to host their holiday events after the December rush when things are more low-key. Because of this, she does not have a hard end date for the pop-up, though she expects things to dwindle down near the end of January. However, if the response she’s received to Wandering Winterland is any indication, the pop-up could go on for longer.

“The day we announced was the busiest day my website has ever seen,” Kaltenbach says. “Obviously people are very interested.” n