Position: Executive Chef
Married? No, currently engaged
Kids? Proud father of 5
Where are you originally from? St. Louis, MO
Where did you go to school? Ritenour High School, Forest Park Culinary Program
How did you get to where you are? Growing up I always knew I wanted to be in the kitchen. My first job was at Charlie Gitto's Downtown. It was a restaurant that my dad worked at while I was growing up. I started, like most people do, as a dishwasher and
eventually moved to sautée and multiple other positions on the line. Being a chef isn't an easy road to take, but I dedicated my life and energy to this and it's amazing to be living out my dreams right now as an executive chef and running my own kitchen.
New things going on in your restaurant: Being a new restaurant, it's very challenging, but fun, because we're constantly developing new dishes and new ways to provide our customers the most enjoyable experience we can. One of my favorite things we've done is host a 4-course wine paired dinner. I got to really explore my creative side while
creating that menu. I know my team and I are excited to start planning the next one!
Favorite menu item: Our shrimp scampi
Three cool facts:
• Recently had triplets. It's been a wild and exciting experience.
• I enjoy gaming - my favorite game is God of War.
• I can dunk a basketball
What is your favorite piece of equipment or kitchen item? My favorite piece of equipment is my Nakari knife.
Vangel's Restaurant & Bar, 10017 Manchester Rd, St. Louis, vangelsrestaurant.com
PUBLISHER EXECUTIVE
Allyson Mace
Meera Nagarajan
Liz Wolfson
Lauren Healey
Iain Shaw
Meera Nagarajan
Michelle Volansky
Lauren Healey
Heather Hughes Huff
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Virginia Harold, Izaiah Johnson, David Kovaluk, Christina Musgrave, Greg Rannells, Michelle Volansky
Lauren Healey, Meera Nagarajan, Stacy Schweizer, Iain Shaw, Matt Sorrell, Michelle Volansky, Liz Wolfson
Allyson Mace
Kelli Jones
Amy Hyde
Amy Hyde
Alexander Olson Wenting Yu
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RANNELLS
PHOTO BY GREG RANNELLS
Missouri Baking Co., 2027 Edwards St., St. Louis, 314.773.6566, Facebook: The Missouri Baking Company
Chocolate drops from Missouri Baking Co. are as much a staple of growing up on the Hill as church bells and salami. Is it a flat cupcake? A festive pancake? An obscure style of doughnut? These spongy treats topped with creamy, fudgy chocolate fondant feel more like sinking your teeth into your own personal yellow cake with chocolate frosting – the most superior kind of cake, in our opinion – than munching on a cookie. Whatever it is, we’re here for it.
Shared Brewing’s slow pour tap delivers a delightfully voluminous, creamy head on a rotating selection of beers. A traditional Czech faucet provides variable pour speeds (in contrast to a standard American tap that has just one), allowing for multiple styles of pour ranging from all foam to all beer. The slow pour technique strikes a balance between these two poles, infusing the drinkable beer with smooth foam.
Shared Brewing, 2657 Lyle Ave., Maplewood, sharedbrewing.com
There’s no shortage of festive destinations to get you in a merry mood this year. Here’s a list of some of the season’s hottest holiday-themed spots.
Union Station’s Train Shed is transformed into a holiday wonderland, complete with a pop-up bar featuring seasonal tipples like the boozy HoCoCoa, made with decadent Ghirardelli cocoa. Free admission. 201 S. 18th St., St. Louis, 314.923.3949, trainshed-stl.com
This season, the expansive Budweiser Brew House at Ballpark Village hosts Tinsel Tavern, a pop-up bar with a festive food and drink menu and decor for days. Reserve a table or drop in for first come, first served bar seating. Free admission. 601 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314.797.7530, stlballparkvillage.com
For the fourth year in a row, Molly’s aims to prove Soulard isn’t just about Mardi Gras. Enjoy tons of holiday merriment and photo ops galore. Reservations are available for two to 10 people. $10 per person. 816 Geyer Ave., St. Louis, 314.241.6200, mollysinsoulard.com
Hit the beach at the original St. Louis holiday tiki bar and celebrate Christmas in the islands. Reservations are available, but walk-ins are welcome. $5 per person for reservations. 1000 Mississippi Ave., St. Louis, 314.696.2603, plantershousestl.com
Enjoy Christmas-themed drinks and bites plus holiday karaoke and games. A two-hour reservation includes a welcome cocktail and snacks, with additional drinks for purchase. $20 per person. 5555 St. Louis Mills Blvd., Hazelwood, 314.528.2020, powerplexstl.com
Live entertainment, food trucks and seasonal cocktails from STL Barkeep are just a few of the attractions at this pop-up. No reservations required. Free admission. 4271 Northeast Drive, St. Louis, 314.771.2679, towergrovepark.org/frosted
The OG of local holiday-themed popup bars. Belly up to the bar and be part of the Miracle tradition. Reserve your space or walk on in. $5 per person for reservations. 2800 Indiana St., St. Louis, smallchangestl.com
Revel in over-the-top holiday decor, hot and cold seasonal drinks, plenty of food and the best view in town at the top of the Hilton St. Louis at The Ballpark. Free admission before 10 p.m. 1 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314.241.8439, 360-stl.com
Whether you're looking to keep it cozy or go glam, here are four ways to spend your New Year's Eve in St. Louis this year.
You're invited to Armory STL's first ever New Year's Eve Party! Enjoy a laser show, live entertainment by The Party Feels, retro arcade games, food stations featuring Armory STL menu items and a champagne toast. VIP ticket holders get access to a premium open bar, food stations, and private bathrooms at The Michelob Ultra Officers' Club. Get your tickets online today.
Armory STL, 3660 Market St, St. Louis, 314.282.2720, armorystl.com
Executive Chef Andrew Simon will offer delectable food stations including a raw bar, pizza station, carving station, dessert bar, ice sculpture and more! Sip on cocktails, beer, and wine from the open bars. Dance the night away with St. Louis' premier dance/rock party band McLovin. Don't forget to capture the memory in the STL Glitter photo booth. We will ring in the new year with a champagne toast at midnight. $150 per person plus tax, all-inclusive, gratuity included.
Edera Italian Eatery, 48 Maryland Plaza, St. Louis, 314.361.7227, ederastl.com
Treat yourself to a luxe New Year's Eve dinner at home with The Art of Entertaining. This year's NYE Dinner Menu (available for two, six or ten people) begins with crab au gratin dip with sliced baguette and a mixed field greens salad with feta cheese, fruit, carmel pecans and poppyseed dressing. The main course is Tenderloin Modiga with mushrooms, white wine sauce and provel cheese, twice baked potatoes, fresh asparagus with pistachio butter and artisan rolls. The grand finale is a build-your-own cheesecake bar with all the toppings. Availability is limited – call to order yours today.
The Art of Entertaining, 8796 Big Bend Blvd, St. Louis, 314.963.9899, theaofe.com
Wear your best bling, sparkle and shine and together let's make it a Robust New Year! Best dressed/costume wins a bottle of bubbles. Enjoy a 4-course menu with wine pairings available and five sparkling bubbles by the glass. They have lots of champagnes to choose from in addition to their vast wine collection.
Robust Bistro & Wine Bar, 227 W Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, 314.963.0033, robustwinebar.com
Give the gift of meat this year! Bulk packs of ground beef come with a discount and make great gifts, plus ribeye steaks and charcuterie – the possibilities are endless. Butchering classes make great gifts – whole hog, sausage making, beef butching and more. Tickets include class, charcuterie sampling and two beers. "Meat Money" gift certificates are always available.
Bolyard's Meat & Provisions, 2733 Sutton Blvd, Maplewood, 314.647.2567, bolyardsmeat.com
Exit 11 Coffee has the perfect gift ideas for the coffee lovers in your life. Get bags of locally roasted, organic coffee from their roastery in Washington, Missouri. Gift cards are available which can be used at any of the five Exit 11 Coffee drive-thru locations. Order either online or purchase directly at any drive-thru. exit11coffee.com
Discover unique, beautiful, and unusual handmade ceramic art by Ashley Bevington at Craft Alliance. Bevington makes humorous and fun ceramic work that mashes together unrelated elements. Her unique cups, bowls and vases are the perfect gift for friends and family who like to add a touch of whimsy and color to their table.
Craft Alliance, 5080 Delmar Blvd, craftalliance.org
Noboleis Vineyards is a family-owned winery located in the heart of Missouri Wine Country. The Owner's Reserve Vidal Blanc is an oak-aged, dry white wine made from 100% locally grown grapes! Notes of pear and butter followed by a soft, velvet finish make this the perfect wine to enjoy at your next holiday party. Cheers! noboleisvineyards.com
Sedara offers a wide variety of Iraqi and Turkish baklava made with love. Order and ship boxes of assorted baklava in multiple sizes. They make a perfect gift to send to friends and family across the country.
Sedara Sweets & Ice Cream, multiple locations, sedarasweets.com
saucemagazine.com
Le Macaron authentic French Macarons are made with the world’s finest ingredients, au natural! Also offering gourmet chocolates, tarts and cakes, French gelato, classic French pastries, and more. Treat your friends, family, employees and business partners! Create your own holiday gift boxes in 6, 12, 24 or 36 count boxes with your choice of 20+ flavors. Open M-Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 9am-9pm.
Le Macaron French Pastries of Saint Louis, 111 W Lockwood Ave, Old Webster Groves, 314.395.6094
Drink Swirl this holiday season! The Swirl Botanicals by Noboleis Vineyards are made from 100% real fruit, infused with botanicals and lightly spritzed. The Swirl Botanical White: Apricot & Thyme is the perfect beverage to dazzle at parties! Whether enjoyed chilled, right from the can or poured over ice in a festive glass, 'tis the season to sip on Swirl Botanicals. drinkswirl.com
Swear off dishwashing liquids with their harsh chemicals and cloying synthetic fragrance. Sink Side Soap Block quickly removes grease, dirt, and germs to clean most anything. Herbaria, 2016 Marconi Ave., The Hill, herbariasoap.com
This 2022 single malt whiskey release exemplifies Switchgrass Spirits' connections to craft beer brewing traditions. They present an ingredient-forward whiskey in a different style from mainstream spirits with notes of tart cherry, chocolate, and fresh bread complimented by the warm vanilla flavor from aging two years in Missouri White Oak barrels. Order yours online or pick it up at a Farmers' Market or your local bottle shop. switchgrassspirits.com/american-single-malt
Bon Bons are a customer favorite at Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream. Christmas Bon Bon Packs contain 3 of each: peppermint, cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate. Chanukah Bon Bon Packs contain 3 of each: coffee, cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate. Don’t forget ice cream pies: regular or a bird’s nest with 2 flavors. Gift cards available both online and at their new shop in The Grove. Scoopers and pint koozies pair with holiday ice creams: peppermint, peppermint bark, cinnamon, pumpkin, eggnog, sufganiyot, and Chanukah cookie. Hats and shirts are available too. serendipity-icecream.com
Clementine's Naughty and Nice Ice Cream offers more than just ice cream. Get cozy this holiday season with their s'mores and portabile bonfire gift bundle. The bundle includes a s'mores kit with 8 honey graham crackers, 4 vanilla marshmallows, and 4 dark chocolate squares and a portable bonfire. The s'mores kit retails for $28, the portable bonfire for $20 and as a bundle for $45. Clementine's Naughty and Nice Ice Cream, multiple locations, clementinescreamery.com
By Lauren Healey, Meera Nagarajan, Iain Shaw, Michelle Volansky and Liz Wolfson
PHOTOS BY GREG RANNELLS
previous spread, from left: the team at menya rui, the best new restaurant of the year; tantanmen opposite, chef and owner steven pursley in the dining room at menya rui tsukemen at menya rui
Without fail, your arrival at Menya Rui will be greeted within a few seconds by at least one staff member. This might seem like hospitality 101, but after multiple visits you appreciate the intentionality behind the gesture. “We really make it a point to acknowledge everyone as soon as they walk in the door,” said chef-owner Steven Pursley. For Pursley, this is his way of adapting the traditional Japanese greeting of “irasshaimase” to the St. Louis context. “We say, ‘Hi,’ we say, ‘What’s up?’ or if we can’t be with you right away, it’s like, ‘Hey, we’ll be right with you,’” he said.
That consistency and earnestness of execution are a running theme across any meal at this compact noodle shop in Lindenwood Park, habits that sit at the core of everything
Menya Rui does. Pursley is understandably comfortable swapping out linguistic niceties, so long as customers receive the same warmth and hospitality purveyed by the kinds of noodle shops where he worked while living in Japan for several years. In the kitchen, however, Pursley has made no such compromise while pursuing his vision for a singularly outstanding noodle shop.
From your first chew-perfect bite of Menya Rui’s noodles, or your first slurp of steamy shoyu ramen broth, it’s evident that the bar has been raised for ramen in St. Louis. Each bowl of shoyu (soy sauce) ramen that arrives at your table is a blend of five distinct components: tare (the base seasoning), stock, aromatic oils, noodles and toppings. Whereas some restaurants use pre-
packaged shortcuts, each component of Menya Rui’s ramen is prepared from scratch prior to service. Although he has recently trained a new hire to make noodles, Pursley is still very much the key player pulling the strings in the kitchen. “I do 90% of it,” he said.
“I do the prep work, and then I’m here every service night making food, so it’s mostly me still.”
“It’s mostly just kind of slow processes,” Pursley said, downplaying the love and care he invests in every component. Preparing the tare involves steeping dried seafood, kombu (kelp), niboshi (dried baby sardines) and shiitake mushrooms in three different types of soy sauce overnight. “Just jam-pack it with umami, and then the next day I’ll bring it up to a boil and strain it off,” Pursley
said. “The aromatic oils I’ve got to babysit, it’s actually cooking,” he admits. It’s only at the last minute, when the kitchen receives your order, that the elements are combined, one layered on another until the finishing touches are applied: pork shoulder chashu, seasoned bamboo shoots (menma), chopped scallions, nori (dried seaweed). For enhanced satisfaction, add a softboiled egg to your ramen order.
Pursley and his small team, including his sister Erika Pursley, infuse into each bowl of noodles is palpable, no matter what you order. These are dishes that you want to come back to, and it’s to Menya Rui’s credit that you can form an intimate relationship with this menu in relatively short time. This restaurant is great at what it does, but one of the restaurant’s strengths is also its confidence in restraint. Just three or four visits is enough to take a tour from shoyu ramen to spicy tantanmen , the tsukemen – thick-cut noodles for dipping into a scallop broth –and on to the brothless aburasoba ramen . Inevitably, you’ll come full circle and start over. Currently, there are no vegetarian or vegan options. Pursley plans to add a miso ramen over the winter, but only when he feels he’s got it right.
All this takes place in a setting strikingly
redolent of the noodle shops Pursley loved during his time in Japan. At busy times, a line of eager customers forms outside, like a Tokyo lunch hour. On the other side of the door, diners huddle at the counter or side by side at shared tables. The walls are decorated with retro Japanese signage and a mix of vinyl record covers featuring American and Japanese pop stars of eras gone by. The background playlist alternates jazz and mid-century Japanese pop. The music is perhaps the one aspect of the restaurant for which Pursley has willingly abdicated responsibility. “Erika, my sister, is in charge of that,” he laughed, admitting his own musical selections had been less well received by diners in the early days.
There are restaurants on this list that do more than Menya Rui, but what Pursley and his team have created is remarkable in multiple ways. Theirs is a restaurant that is clear in its identity, passionate and proud in its craft, and rigorously on point in its execution. It’s the realization of a dream that Pursley prepared for patiently, learning how to do it right, then fine-tuning some more. And it’s a restaurant that does what it does so well that it almost feels like we’ve never had something quite like it before in St. Louis. That’s why Menya Rui is our best new restaurant of 2022. – IS
from top: yuca fries, ceviche and peruvian corn nuts
genuinely a revelation.
St. Charles’ historic Main Street may be an unlikely setting for a Peruvian bistro, but this is a restaurant worth crossing the Missouri River for. And be sure to bring others along for the journey – even your apathetic “Isn’t it a bit far?” friends will thank you.
We haven’t had a lot of Peruvian restaurants in St. Louis over the years, but in Jalea’s dining room guests will find an approachable, comfortable space to explore a rich cuisine that has been influenced by indigenous cultures, Spanish colonization and immigrants from China and Japan, to name a few. The concise, informative menu is not only a blessing for diners who fear choosing the “wrong” item from page upon page of dishes. It also suggests a focus on quality over quantity, a hunch that is happily confirmed as one winning dish after another emerges from the kitchen.
The yuca fries , fluffy on the inside after a
delightfully crunchy exterior, are unmissable. Each one of the handful of entrees, categorized simply as “By Land” or “By Sea,” is a delight in its own way. The seafood is perfectly fresh, whether in the form of the jalea ’s crisp, breaded cod, shrimp or calamari, or the citrusenhanced chunks of ceviche . The latter’s “tiger’s milk” marinade chimes with layers of flavor – clam stock, lime, garlic, ginger, red onion, Peruvian peppers – that surprise in every bite, and there’s added texture from sweet potatoes and Peruvian corn.
Sharing these dishes affords you the fun of bouncing from the zingy ceviche to hearty dishes like the chaufa aeropuerto . Topped with an omurice-style omelet and Nikkei sauce, this short rib, pork belly and shrimp fried rice dish reveals the particular Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine. Chef and co-owner Andrew Cisneros recently reintroduced the tender, wood-fired rotisserie chicken (pollo a la brasa) he first introduced to St. Louis at the now-closed Original J’s Tex-Mex & Barbecue and later with
his Brasas pop-ups, and Jalea is all the better for its revival.
Cisneros’ use of sauces is another area of consistent excellence. The pepper cheese huancaina with yuca fries , the house tartar and aji-citrus mayo , the assortment of sauces served with the pollo a la brasa: Over the course of your meal, these sauces add distinct color and diversity to an already rich experience.
One of Jalea’s most endearing features is the impulse to make every detail count, an aspiration that is again evident on the drink list. Looking for a Peruvianstyle lager, Cisneros eventually collaborated with Perennial Artisan Ales to create Waska , a beer brewed with heirloom quinoa. The cocktail selection is built significantly around Peruvian pisco – start with the wonderful pisco sour and go from there.
With Jalea, Cisneros – along with his sister, Samantha (Mimi) Cisneros-Guliyev, and other close family members – has created a restaurant where you quickly learn to look
forward to the arrival of the next dish. The restaurant’s achievement is that the payoff is typically not only as delicious as you want it to be, but frequently provides an unexpected flavor or a new insight.
If you haven’t been following Cisneros’ career, it may seem like Jalea has come out of nowhere. In fact, this restaurant represents the arrival of a talent who has worked under some of St. Louis’ most respected chefs and restaurateurs, and who has been a team player in former Sauce Best New Restaurants: Mike Randolph’s Privado and Original J’s, as well as Gerard Craft’s Cinder House. If this is what Cisneros has achieved with his first restaurant, we can’t wait to see what he does next. – IS
Lauren Healey, digital editor: Potato and rajas taquitos –Taqueria Morita Broccolini – Louie
Fiesta Verde microgreens salad – Micro Meadows
Liz Wolfson, managing editor: Soft pretzel – Eat Crow
Skirt steak sandwich – Buenos Aires Cafe
Winnie ice cream sandwich –Sugarwitch Pani puri – Namaste Restaurant & Bar
Iain Shaw, staff writer: Brisket sandwich – Bubba’s Deli
Bun Bi Cha Gio – Pho Grand (RIP)
Ceviche – Jalea
Rosso pizza – Union Loafers Cafe and Bread Bakery Sichuan cold noodle with chicken – Perfect Taste
Michelle Volansky, senior designer: Chile wontons – Tiger Soup Dumplings
French onion financiers –Bistro La Floraison
Chooch’s chicken bowl – Eat Duckbill
Tantanmen mazemen – Menya Rui Grilled Spanish octopus –Louie
Michael Renner, Sauce restaurant critic: Malaysian curry gnocchi –Akar
Spicy tantanmen brothless ramen – Menya Rui (shout out to the Karaage Japanese fried chicken)
Tie: Lomo saltado and fried fish dish – Jalea
In fond memory: Oxtail Stew –De Palm Tree
Meera Nagarajan, executive editor Wookiees fries –Intergalactic
Onion pakora – Flavors Indian Cuisine
Cheese curds – Olive + Oak
Chocolate chip cookie – Knead Bakehouse
Green goddess salad –Pastaria Deli and Wine
Crab ceviche – Cinder House
If one aspect of “new” is the thrill of discovery, Jalea is
Root Hospitality coowners Tara and Michael Gallina know a lot about opening a restaurant: We named Vicia the best new restaurant of 2017. They also know about acquiring a beloved place and making it their own: Winslow’s Table (formerly Winslow’s Home) made our Best New Restaurants list in 2020.
What’s remarkable about this restaurant is the staff and the expertise they bring to their roles. Certified sommelier and Take Root beverage director Kara Flaherty and house sommelier Patricia Wamhoff, who is an advanced sommelier, have curated
an impeccable (mostly French, naturellement) wine list. They’ve also educated everyone on the floor about it, so they too are adept at guiding diners to the perfect selection, whether Muscadet for the Maine oysters with seaweed mignonette or a Sancerre for the gougeres with Gruyere foam. The cocktails, spearheaded by Take Root’s bar manager, Phil Ingram, are without flaw here. The eponymous cocktail, The Floraison, a mix of suze, passion fruit liqueur and sparkling rosé wine was worthy of its name; the interplay from the passion fruit and suze allowed subtle notes from each to be amplified by their pairing – citrus, bitter, tart, sweet.
Head chef Patrick Fallwell and Take Root partner and culinary director Aaron Martinez worked together previously (at Michelin-starred restaurant Quince as well as other restaurants), and Bistro La Floraison’s food program shows the fruits of blending that long-term collaboration with chef-owner Michael Gallina’s own experience in Michelin-starred kitchens. (Fallwell and Martinez have also worked in other Michelin-starred restaurants on their own.)
No dish exemplifies this
better than the French onion financiers, which Fallwell and Martinez have executed in different forms (sweet, savory) and flavors (corn, black olive) throughout their years of working together. Little almond flour cakes, flavored with onion powder, are topped with a comté cheese concoction made by first heating the cheese with milk and a thickener, then cooling it before blending and piping. They’re finished with thyme oil – just a couple of drops – made by plucking the herb’s leaves and blanching and shocking them before blending them in oil and straining it. It’s years of work condensed into just one bite; and like so much of La Floraison’s menu, from the chicken cordon bleu to the crab tartine to the delightful pain perdu dessert, it’s been edited over and over to strike the perfect balance between familiar and fresh.
More than anything, Bistro La Floraison’s success is an excellent reminder that it’s the people that make a restaurant exceptional. In an era in which restaurant employees are hard to find, Bistro La Floraison features a star-studded cast that is taking this little corner of Clayton to new heights.
opposite, from top: the bar at bistro la floraison one of the dining rooms at bistro la floraison this page: the french onion financiers at bistro la floraison
1. Menya Rui
3453 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, 314.601.3524, Facebook: Menya Rui
2. Jalea
323 N. Main St., St. Charles, 314.303.0144, jaleaperuvianbistro.com
3. Bistro La Floraison
7637 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, 314.725.8880, bistrolafloraison.com
4. Bar Moro
7610 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, 314.296.3000, bengelina.com/bar-moro
5. Bowood by Niche
4605 Olive St., St. Louis, 314.454.6868, bowoodbyniche.com
6. Taqueria Morita
7213 Delmar Blvd. (currently inside Winslow’s Table), St. Louis, 314.725.7559, taqueriamorita.com
7. Fordo’s Killer Pizza 3730 Foundry Way (inside City Foundry STL), St. Louis, fordospizza.com
8.
98D Gravois Bluffs Circle Drive, Fenton, 636.678.7180, Instagram: Tiger Soup Dumplings
For the past 10 years, restaurateur Ben Poremba has provided St. Louis’ diners a culinary tour of the Mediterranean, with twin restaurants Olio and Elaia, informed by Poremba’s Israeli background, and with The Benevolent King, inspired by his mother’s Moroccan roots. The trip’s latest installment, Bar Moro,
ferries us across the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow waterway that divides northern Africa from the Iberian Peninsula, to Spain and Portugal.
Poremba is equal parts curator and chef, as demonstrated by the bespoke inventory at his shop, AO&Co., and his restaurants’ interiors,
where every design element shows careful consideration. At Bar Moro, this curatorial touch is visible not only in the restaurant’s decor, but also in the menu itself, which reflects Poremba’s appreciation of the region’s fine ingredients and deep knowledge of its culinary history and traditions.
“Mar i muntanya” translates to “sea and mountain” in Spanish, a nod to the dish’s traditional blend of meat and seafood. Poremba is quick to clarify that Bar Moro’s version is not exactly authentic, however. “Traditionally, it’s just basically a stew that has all these
different ingredients” –rabbit, sausage, shellfish, whatever’s on hand. Bar Moro’s version features chicken thighs, which they confit and then crisp just before serving, while housemade shrimp stock and lobster, seasoned with piquillo pepper, saffron and other aromatics, provide notes of the sea.
Due to the small scale of Bar Moro’s kitchen, you won’t find paella regularly featured on the menu; “to do paella right, you have to cook it to order, and we don’t have the real estate,” Poremba said. (He hopes to eventually do one-off paellaonly nights). Knowing he wanted to have a rice dish on their regular menu, he turned to a black rice dish he’d done previously at Elaia, where the rice breaks down to a creamy, almost grits-like texture. “It just makes sense that I’d bring in a little bit of those paella flavors, so the squid ink, a little bit of chorizo, braised octopus and that sort of thing.”
Bar Moro’s Basque cheesecake is the restaurant’s rare, technique-driven dish, one that’s more happy accident than tradition. Due to the limited kitchen space, Poremba borrowed a Japanese technique in which the cheesecake is first steamed and then browned in an oven. “The original idea was to keep it cold. But I was so impatient, I just ate it the minute it came out of the oven, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m on to something here,’” he recalled. He’s the first to admit that it’s not really a cheesecake – it’s served hot and the texture is closer to a souffle – but it’s so good, there’s no reason to split hairs.
Shrimp (gambas) show up in several places on the Bar Moro menu, but the simply prepared gambas al ajillo, sharp from garlic and cooked in sherry, is our favorite. The shrimp are delivered live daily from Triple J Farms, an aquaponic shrimp farm based in Foristell, Missouri. “Obviously these are not wild shrimp that were just caught. But you get the closest to the experience that you get in Spain and in the Mediterranean, because they’re alive when we get them.”
Bar Moro’s robust selection of sherries and vermouths reflect Poremba’s “personal obsession” with vermouth and wine director Luciano Racca’s extensive research on sherry, which involved traveling to Spain. “We wanted to have both breadth, so allowing different styles of sherry, but also depth, so having more than one representation of what [sherry] is,” Poremba noted. “Sherry runs the gamut of being very dry to being very sweet. Because it has high acidity and a really nice, dry finish on the dry ones, it lends itself to all kinds of foods pretty beautifully.” The same is true of vermouth, which also features herbaceous and botanical notes, he said.
Bar Moro’s extensive selection of conservas – tinned, highquality seafood that the restaurant serves in-can – are a revelation. “The canneries that you find in Portugal and Spain … understand that there is this benefit of minimally processing those things and preserving them in such a way where they really retain the freshness and the flavor that otherwise you can’t get,” Poremba explained. “I went to great lengths to curate a list of those things, with what I think were the best producers, the best representation that I can get in town.”
According to Poremba, jamon (Spanish dry-cured ham), is both like and unlike its Italian cousin, prosciutto. “Prosciutto is meant to be eaten sliced thin, the color of it is peachy, it’s a lot creamier and sweeter,” he explained. “Jamon is supposed to be hand sliced into smaller, thicker pieces. It has a little bit of a chew, it’s much nuttier and earthier and richer” – a result, in part, of the pigs from which it’s made being fed on acorns. – LW
The challenge –and opportunity –of the restaurant space attached to aspirational garden store Bowood Farms is crafting a dining experience that matches the shop’s upscale-yet-cozy, au naturel vibe. Niche Food Group’s Bowood by Niche strikes just the right note with a superlative brunch program and a vegetable-forward dinner
menu focused on locally sourced, seasonally available ingredients. Here, the category is familiar with enough of a twist to take you “one step outside your comfort zone,” executive chef Dakota Williams said.
You can’t go wrong with the burger, taken up a notch with pickled shallot and caramelized onion aioli, or the comforting
roast chicken served with grain porridge and local vegetables with a lemon-rosemary jus. We particularly enjoyed the Fall Forward pizza: local butternut squash and mozzarella are topped with purple sage lending pungent herbaceousness, and finished with a spicy drizzle of unctuous Perennial Artisan Ales chile crunch. The cocktails are pleasant with some fun
seasonal offerings, such as the spiced pear gimlet, which tastes like autumn in a glass.
Pastry chef Suji Shaw's show-stealing desserts are the perfect way to end your meal. The hearty Dia’s rice pudding, served warm in an adorable mini Dutch oven, is ambrosial with caramelized dulce de leche. (The mini Dutch oven also puts in an appearance at brunch, where it helps put the exceedingly delicious baked oatmeal with brown sugar, cultured butter and three kinds of fruit – roasted, dried and jammed – over the top.) The toppings vary seasonally, but the iteration with butternut squash sous vide with rosemary caramel was almost savory, perfect for when you want something that’s not too cloying. The sweet, rich panna cotta is silky-smooth with a hint of tang thanks to the addition of mascarpone
and studded with crunchy puffed buckwheat for an impeccable textural contrast.
A pizza oven was recently added to the patio, and a wood-fired grill should be installed within a month or so, making way for a whole new range of grilled items to be added to the menu. In the future, the staff hopes to ramp up the to-go breakfast pastry and coffee offerings and to eventually be open seven days a week. – LH
opposite page: the patio at bowood by niche this page, from top: fall forward pizza panna cotta the dining room at bowood by niche
Once
start eating at Take Root Hospitality’s Taqueria Morita, it is difficult to stop. No, this is not a Mexican menu of everlasting enchilada platters the size of an infant or burritos the size of your face. If you want chips and salsa – and believe us, you do – you
will have to order them, and they will not be refilled (unless you pay for another order, that is). It is a menu largely inspired by northern Mexican cuisine, designed by chefs experienced at executing at a high level, who are applying those skills to a culinary tradition with which they are intimately acquainted. That’s why, once you start eating, you
won’t want to stop until you’ve tried everything on the menu – so you don’t leave wondering about the things you didn’t try.
Take Root culinary director Aaron Martinez grew up in southern California, and it’s his taste memories that anchor Morita’s menu. “We don’t tie ourselves to any particular region, but you will find a lot of the flavor profiles are inspired by the northern part of Mexico,” he explained. Part of what makes Morita’s menu outstanding is the way it sparks curiosity through ingredient selection that accentuates the best in Mexican flavors. The citrus-y salsa cruda, served with the aforementioned chips and salsa; the potato and rajas taquitos, with poblano cremosa, chiles toreados and queso fresco; and the Baja-style crab tostada with white soy, cilantro and guacachile (a salsa made with emulsified fresh peppers and garlic oil) all introduced us to new flavors and ingredients, expanding our understanding – and elevating our expectations –for what Mexican-inspired food can be.
Whether it’s the Maine crab in the crab tostada, the Atlantic cod marinated in white soy in the fish tempura tacos, or the buttermilkbrined chicken in the fried chicken torta, Taqueria Morita does not cut corners when it comes to the quality of ingredients or the care with which they’re handled. The sweet potato tacos, with pipian verde, pecan salsa and queso fresco, are a bit firmer than expected, but it’s refreshing that they aren’t relegated to the mushy texture of so many other sweet potato dishes. Everything is spiced to perfection – plenty of fiery bite without overpowering the other flavors.
After starting on the Vicia patio this summer, Taqueria Morita has taken up residence at Winslow’s Table for the colder months. The taqueria will reopen on the Vicia patio once the weather warms, but the owners are actively looking for its own brick-and-mortar, likely somewhere with foot traffic such as Maplewood or Webster Groves. – LH
from left: fish tacos; potato and rajas taquitos; the staff at taqueria morita
For as much pizza as you can get in this town, Fordo’s Killer Pizza has few rivals. 2022’s second concept from Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group merges timehonored pizza-making technique with inventive ideas. You could get into the technicalities of the dough (naturally leavened sourdough) or the fact that it’s Neapolitan-inspired or why the pizza oven is special, but that would miss the point. There are supremely executed classics like a margherita or the marinara , juxtaposed with experimental options like the Hawaiian , chef and pizzaiolo Joe Luckey’s favorite from the menu.
For the Hawaiian, Luckey makes a roasted pineapple sauce, rather than using it as a topping; it’s a smart way to incorporate the fruit’s tropical sweetness. The sauce is topped with red onion, mozzarella, jalapeños for edge and Volpi heritage prosciutto for a local twist. Each component plays a vital role in surprising you from bite to bite – spicy, savory, sweet and back again.
A special from the summer incorporated burrata, pistachios and a garlicky ramp pesto topped with a mellow mortadella shaved paper thin. Ramps’ fleeting season meant it was here one day and gone the next. “Use things in their season, use things in their prime,” is a Niche
Food Group philosophy, Luckey explained. “There’s also a running joke about how much I love pesto.”
Inspiration for new menu items can come from an ingredient, but more often it comes from the challenge of transforming a dish into a pizza, like the shakshuka with red pepper sauce, feta, shaved garlic, eggs and herbs. Right now, Luckey has his sights set on developing a khao soi pizza, inspired by the northern-style Thai dish made with chicken, coconut-curry soup, noodles and mustard greens. How the original will transform into a pizza seems mysterious, but at Fordo’s the rules are meant to be broken, yielding delicious results.
– MN
margherita pizza at fordo's killer pizza
left: steamed soup dumplings at tiger soup dumplings right, from top: yue zhai and victor lai; spicy wontons at tiger soup dumplings
Tiger Soup Dumplings really knows how to show and tell. The centerpiece of the bright, minimalist dining room sandwiched into a strip mall in Fenton is the large glass window into the kitchen, giving guests a peak into the meditative process behind the menu’s star dumplings. Staff gently scoop tiny balls of dough, roll them into flat circles and expertly cup and fold them around juicy meat fillings into their signature purse-like shape.
If xiao long bao (soup dumplings) are new to you, a handy guide to the perfect slurping technique is clearly illustrated on the wall. After ladling one up in your soup spoon, a gentle poke with your chopsticks to let the hot liquid soup pool around the dumpling is not just crucial for those satisfying sips before and after your bite, but for warding off potential third-degree burns.
The full roster of pork, chicken, beef or shrimp
and cheese dumplings can be ordered either steamed or pan fried, offering an extra textural boost with a pleasant crispness in addition to the chewy dough and soft, savory interior. The best supporting nomination definitely goes to the spicy wontons; rich, slippery noodles sliding around in a spicy, oily chile sauce. A cold, crisp side of cucumber salad or golden broccoli and a sweet tiger fruit tea put the finishing touch on your order. – MV
Beth Neff hadn’t lived in St. Louis since she was 12 when she bought a mixed-use building in Carondelet with her daughter, Esther. There, they co-founded Materializing and Activating Radical Social Habitus (MARSH), a “bio-cultural laboratory” that includes a co-op, a sliding scale grocery store, a network of farm lots, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program and a community gathering space. Here, Neff dives into just a few integral parts of MARSH, how she spends her (very long) days, and what the future holds for her passion project. - Stacy Schweizer
“We’re a social arts practices laboratory. We’re exploring what it takes to change existing systems that we see as being exploitive and extractive. Instead of doing a research paper, we’re trying things out.”
“The food system seemed like an obvious place to start our explorations. We know that workers – whether picking in a field or working in a grocery store or preparing food in a restaurant – are generally low paid, work long hours, [and] have little say over the governance of the organizations they’re working in.”
“[An outcome] of membership [in MARSH] is possible distribution of profit – which would be tiny, if at all – but more the idea that the governance of the organization is through the membership.”
“Members nominate and elect board members; they’re involved in decision making, they can use the facility, make a proposal for planning an event or use the kitchen or dining space we have.”
“Anyone can shop here. We’re open to the public 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but we do offer the option for people to become a member [with a] $100 lifetime payment or through patronage: Shop at the store 10 times, and you become a member.”
“We grow a lot of the food that is sold in the grocery, shared with people through our CSA program, [and that’s] available both on the shelf and in prepared foods. We do a lot of cooking.”
“It’s turned out that food waste has been a huge issue that we’re in a good position to address. Nothing goes to waste at MARSH –anything that’s getting close to [being] out of date, any produce that has a flaw – we turn it into something delicious and nutritious.”
“When we’re still in the growing season, my days are long. When it was hot, mornings are as early as 5:30 or 6 a.m., working in the garden, planting, weeding, harvesting –
usually just until it’s intolerable to be outside when it’s 100 degrees – then transitioning into the kitchen, spending most of the rest of the day and sometimes late into the evening cooking.”
“I think we’ve gotten a lot of things figured out. But we really need to get out into our neighborhood right beside us. We have a good, solid membership – over 200 members – but we want to be a neighborhood grocery. That’s kind of the dream.”
“We don’t get a lot of chances in our present world to participate in something that really allows us to think and act on our principles. MARSH is a way to. There are a lot of places that people can meet up with this idea, whether it’s food or music or conversation, to actually put the principles into action.”
6917 S. Broadway, St. Louis, marshcoop.org, marshlife-art.org
The story of LeGrand’s Market in St. Louis Hills is really a tale of three different businesses. Although owner Jim LeGrand bought the business in 1987, the customers who line up at his deli counter today are witnesses to an inheritance that dates back almost a century.
In 1977, 16-year-old Jim LeGrand began working at the store that he would one day purchase. In those days it was known as Binder’s Tomboy Market and operated by William Binder Jr. Binder’s father, William Sr., had operated a grocery store in a different location in the city in the 1930s, before relocating to the present-
day LeGrand’s location. “All his friends thought he was nuts because where my store is right now was just beginning to be developed, and it was all corn fields,” LeGrand said.
LeGrand’s parents had owned a corner confectionary store near Binder’s, and he was drawn by the atmosphere that Mr. Binder (as LeGrand still refers to him) cultivated. “I really liked the way that his store was neighborhood oriented,” LeGrand said. “He knew the name of every customer that came into the store, he looked forward to seeing them every week, and I really enjoyed that.”
The store’s footprint then was very different from how it looks today. “We had six aisles of groceries, a frozen food section and a large meat department,” LeGrand said. “We didn’t offer sandwiches in the deli or things like that. There wasn’t a big need for it. People still came in every Saturday morning and filled their grocery cart, because mom was at home making three meals a day still.”
The young LeGrand learned the ropes at Binder’s, becoming a union meat cutter aged 19. In the 1980s, he helped to create the brats that would become a top seller at Binder’s, which are still among LeGrand’s top sellers today. LeGrand explained their
creation was a happy accident: Binder’s had purchased a case of ground beef seasoning mix, intended for customers to make homemade salami. It didn’t sell well, leaving Mr. Binder puzzling over what to do with it. “I looked at him, and I said, ‘Well, it just looks like a nice spice package, why don’t we try one and see what it tastes like?’”
LeGrand said.
They were impressed by the results. “It tasted like a sausage, it was just a little bit different – a little bit of sweetness and some garlic,” LeGrand said. One summer weekend, they sold a larger batch to customers, labeling it bratwurst. Next,
they deconstructed the seasoning mix so they could replicate it themselves, and the LeGrand’s bratwurst was born. Today, the market makes around 600 pounds of bratwurst per week, all the work done by hand.
Binder’s was part of the Tomboy network of grocery stores, each featuring Tomboy’s signage but independently owned. LeGrand recalls at one time there were over 100 of the stores within a 50-mile radius of St. Louis, but by the late 1980s the Tomboy brand was in decline.
By that stage, Jim LeGrand had purchased Binder’s with his brother, Joe, who passed away in 2015. They bought the store in 1987, but didn’t change the name until four years later, when they purchased the building.
The LeGrand brothers had ideas about how they wanted to change things, but few people saw a future for a neighborhood
grocery store like Binder’s. “The bankers actually told me I was a dinosaur, set for extinction,” LeGrand said. “These were people that I knew. They were my friends.” Did he have second thoughts? “I had second thoughts as to how intelligent I thought they were,” he said, deadpan. “I knew I had faith in what I was doing, and I knew I could make it work.”
LeGrand made changes gradually and as the budget allowed, but in the early years he was also wary of alienating longtime customers who still used LeGrand’s as their grocery store. Over the years, the grocery section was pared down to daily essentials, in addition to snacks, beer, wine and more recent additions like LeGrand’s frozen pizzas, which became a pandemic-era hit with customers.
One of the most decisive innovations in LeGrand’s history took place with the
introduction of deli sandwiches in 1998. Many of these were created by deli manager Joe Scanlon, and a sporting theme quickly emerged. Cardinals and Blues Hall of Famers, the Billikens, Fredbird and other sporting heroes have sandwiches named after them today. LeGrand’s deli counter also offers a range of freshly prepared salads and sides.
Far from alienating customers, LeGrand’s has changed to reflect the neighborhood’s demands. “When I began working at the store in 1977, the average age in St. Louis Hills was probably 65 to 75 years old,” he said. “That neighborhood was really established in about 1940, so all the homeowners were all older people.” By the turn of the century, a new generation of young families had moved in, and they wanted something different from their local deli and market. “By the time 2007 rolls around, we have … 10-year-old and 12-year-
old kids out there eating sandwiches and having fun in the deli area like it’s their little social club,” LeGrand said. “Ever since, it’s still like that every Friday when all the neighborhood schools get out early.”
Today, Jim LeGrand is just as fond of his customers and his place in the neighborhood as Mr. Binder was in 1977. “I really enjoy all the different people that we get as customers,” he said. “And when I say everybody’s nice, man, I mean everybody that comes into the store is happy. I don’t know if it’s because they’re looking forward to having a great lunch, but we have a nice clientele coming into our store every day … It just makes you want to keep making it a better place, because the people really thank you for it.”
4414 Donovan Ave., St. Louis, 314.353.6128, legrandsmarket.com
