September 2021

GUIDE TO DRINKING

espresso martini from casa don alfonso, p. 13

September 2021 S T. L O U I S ’ I N D E P E N D E N T C U L I N A R Y A U T H O R I T Y // S A U C E M A G A Z I N E . C O M // saucemagazine.com F R E E , S E P T EI SAUCE M B E MAGAZINE R 2 0 21I 1

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SEPTEMBER 2021 • VOLUME 21, ISSUE 7 Cappuccino

made with Sump Allyson Mace Coffee beans Meera Nagarajan Liz Wolfson Lauren Healey Splash of 2% milk, no Adam Rothbarth sweetener.

Julie Cohen Meera Nagarajan Michelle Volansky Julie Cohen, Meena Viswanathan I like my tulsi Heather Hughes Huff Virginia Harold, Izaiah Johnson, tea with honey!

David Kovaluk, Meera Nagarajan, Adam Rothbarth, Carmen Troesser, In espresso Michelle Volansky martini form.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Julie Cohen, Meredith Kelling, Meera See page 13.

Nagarajan, Adam Rothbarth, Meena Viswanathan, Michelle Volansky, Liz Wolfson ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Allyson Mace ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Angie Rosenberg EVENTS COORDINATOR Amy Hyde LISTINGS EDITOR Amy Hyde I don't.

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PUBLISHER How do you EXECUTIVE EDITOR take your MANAGING EDITOR coffee?

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Our reviewers are never provided with complimentary food or drinks from the restaurants in exchange for favorable reviews, nor are their identities as reviewers made known during their visits.

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St. Louis, MO 63103 September 2021

contents S E P TE M B E R 2 02 1

editors' picks

features

COVER DETAILS

9 EAT THIS

20

The espresso martini is back, baby. Learn more at p. 13.

Dal makhani at Khanna’s Desi Vibes

HOP OUTDOORS by adam rothbarth

by meera nagarajan

24

10 HIT LIST

by adam rothbarth 30

by julie cohen, adam rothbarth and liz wolfson

SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

14 SPRITZ ’N’ CHIPS by julie cohen 18 HOW TO SHOP FOR WINE LIKE A PRO by adam rothbarth

last bite

PHOTO BY DAVID KOVALUK

THE BITTER TRUTH

3 new places to try this month

13 COME TO THE DARK SIDE by michelle volansky

COME TO THE DARK SIDE

How St. Louis’ coffee, tea and chocolate retailers are pursuing direct trade relationships to access superior materials, partner with farmers and help the environment.

Tune in to St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 FM this month when Sauce joins St. Louis on the Air.

by meredith kelling 40

FRENCH VINES, MISSOURI ROOTS by julie cohen

la veritas distilleria's fernet, p. 24

48 WHAT I DO Mark Schwarz of Omega Yeast

by liz wolfson 50 LANDMARK Grassi’s Ristorante & Deli

PHOTO BY IZAIAH JOHNSON

by adam rothbarth 54 STUFF TO DO by meena viswanathan

September 2021

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Eat This

PHOTO BY CARMEN TROESSER

E D I T O R S ' P I C K S

The dal makhani at Khanna’s Desi Vibes is a traditional Punjabi dish that owner Pravin Khanna learned to make from his mother. Slowcooked urad dal (black lentils) give the dal its deep, rich color. It’s flavored with tomatoes, garlic, onions and coriander powder that get a dose of richness from being cooked in butter and cream.

Order butter naan to eat alongside this; its pillowy texture and mild flavor allow the dal to shine.

Khanna’s Desi Vibes 13724 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, 314.392.9348, desivibesstl.com

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hit list

3 new places to try this month

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September 2021

opposite page: the dining room at timothy's the restaurant; this page, clockwise from top: the timothy's burger with pimento cheese and crispy onions, kenafeh at afandi sweets & cafe, mixed grill at afandi sweets & cafe

CASA MAYA Earlier this summer, Maplewood experienced a big transition as Casa Maya opened in the place of the former Maya Cafe. Though Casa Maya has different owners, it keeps Mexican food in the game with plenty of tasty, fresh dishes. We enjoyed the nachos as a starter, and relished moving on to the earthy, smoky cheese enchiladas, which were delicious alongside creamy refried beans and fresh lettuce, tomatoes and guacamole.

The chile poblano relleno packed a punch with its Monterey Jack cheese and satisfying red sauce. All in all, Casa Maya is a great new option for Mexican food lovers in Maplewood and beyond.

2726 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, 314.282.0408, Facebook: Casa Maya STL

TIMOTHY'S PHOTOS BY ADAM ROTHBARTH; AFANDI SWEETS & CAFE PHOTOS BY MICHELLE VOLANSKY

TIMOTHY'S THE RESTAURANT In the space previously occupied by the Olive Street Cafe now sits Timothy’s The Restaurant, Creve Coeur’s newest date-night spot.

Though its strip mall location may be unassuming, the interior is sleek and updated – be sure to check out the wall made of wine corks. The menu skews toward elevated comfort food like lobster pot pie and truffle mac and cheese. The filet of sirloin was cooked to perfection and served with asparagus topped with a lobster hollandaise that is not to be missed.

For dessert, order the carrot cake fritters; you’ll be asking for extra cream cheese icing to take home.

12710 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, 314.786.5301, timothysstl.com

September 2021

AFANDI SWEETS & CAFE On entering Afandi Sweets & Cafe, diners are greeted by an enormous pastry case filled with baklava of all different shapes – square, diamond, rolled, bird’s nest – and flavors like pistachio, walnut and chocolate. While it’s all fabulous (the restaurant’s chef and owner is a third generation pastry chef), the baklava with pistachio shines, its shattering top layers of fresh phyllo giving way to a bright green pistachio filling and more phyllo, perfectly soaked in honey.

Those who like their sweets balanced by a savory note shouldn’t miss the kenafeh, a disk of warm, melty white cow’s milk cheese topped with crispy shredded phyllo and pistachios. Don’t just come for dessert though; the kabob is also excellent, and the mix grill platter is a great way to sample it. Tender lamb, chicken and kofta (a blend of ground beef and lamb) kabob are accompanied by your choice of bulgur or rice pilaf, pita and salad with tzatziki.

6997 Chippewa St., St. Louis, 314.359.5144, Facebook: Afandi Sweets & Cafe

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E D I T O R S ' P I C K S

PHOTO BY DAVID KOVALUK

espresso martini from casa don alfonso

COME TO THE DARK SIDE

BY MICHELLE VOLANSKY

September 2021

In December 2016, we noticed a shift in the cultural zeitgeist. Guests on yachting reality show Below Deck began demanding rounds of espresso martinis, of all things. “What is this, the ’90s?” we thought. Soon the young professionals summering in the Hamptons on Summer House were replacing their gallons of rosé with espresso martinis, too. Is Bravo getting a kickback or something?

As trends do, the phenomenon soon made its way into real life. We began seeing trays of them delivered at Louie, while The Golden Hoosier featured a special on their patio

that used spiked cold brew in lieu of espresso. In the age of funky natural wines, light-as-a-feather hard seltzers and sessionable beers, what is the allure of this heavy, boozy throwback?

“I feel like dinner is the new theater,” former Louie bar manager Kaitlyn Gibbs said. “People want entertainment from their restaurant meals and something that feels fancy and gives them a boost to get through a heavy meal.”

Traditionally made with espresso, vodka and coffee liqueur and topped with exactly three espresso beans, an espresso martini certainly feels more

elegant than a vodka Red Bull. Casa Don Alfonso’s classic version features Stoli Vanilla and Kahlua and gives us just what we want: a not-too-sweet, not-too-bitter finale to a meal with the added bonus of a second wind so you can really party like it’s 1999.

Louie 706 DeMun Ave., Clayton, 314.300.8188, louiedemun.com The Golden Hoosier 3707 S. Kingshighway Blvd., St. Louis, 314.354.8044, thegoldenhoosier.com Casa Don Alfonso 100 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton, 314.719.1496, casadonalfonsostlouis.com

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spRItz 'n' CHips B Y J U L I E C O H E N / / I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y V I D H YA N A G A R A J A N

A spritz is an easy cocktail to make at home, and it doesn’t even involve any fancy or hard-to-find ingredients. All it takes to make a good spritz is the 3:2:1 formula: three parts sparkling wine like prosecco to two parts bitter liqueur to one part bubbly water; add a garnish and serve over ice. While this formula won’t steer you wrong, there are a few simple ways to elevate this good-butsimple spritz into something worthy of a special occasion at home.

Tip No.1

Do not buy trash bubbles. They don’t need to be top of the line, but skip the $5 prosecco and instead splurge on the $9 bottle. Even more important than the quality of the bubbles, however, is the residual sugar count.

Prosecco’s scale for residual sugar is a bit confusing; the designation of “dry” is actually the sweetest. The scale from sweetest to the most dry is as follows: dry, extra dry, brut, extra brut, zero.

Pro tip: Zero is hard to find in the U.S., so if like us you prefer super dry, look for an extra brut.

Tip No.2

Buy a stopper for your bottle. I am 100% Team Finish-That-Bottle, but even if your plan is to share the bottle among friends, unless you are pouring out the whole bottle in one round, top it with a stopper. A good stopper will cost you $5 and will save you from years and years of gross, flat bubbles.

Tip No.3

In addition to the typical orange wedge, garnish that spritz with a green olive. I don’t even like green olives, but I always add one to my spritz. It gives just a touch of salt and brine to the drink that perfectly complements the sweet of the prosecco and bitter of the Aperol.

Tip No.4

This is the most important tip, please take it seriously even though this advice sounds like something Homer Simpson might recommend: Never serve a spritz without potato chips.

If this were to happen in Italy there would be a riot. The bar would close.

There would be a strike (in addition to the train strikes already happening every other day). To serve this drink without potato chips is like serving a porterhouse steak without a glass of red wine. Uncouth. Sad. Reckless.

Tip No.5

Be creative! The beauty of a spritz is that you can tailor it to your taste. If you think your spritz is too sweet or too bitter or too dry, experiment with

September 2021

your ratios and types of prosecco. If you normally prefer extra brut prosecco but your spritz tastes too bitter, try bumping up to a sweeter option. Also, a spritz doesn’t need Aperol; instead of Aperol, try the 3:2:1 formula with any bitter or liqueur of your choice such as Campari, amaro, limoncello or St. Germain.

However you decide to make your spritz, if you make it at home, you will be saving your money for a future trip to Italy where you can drink all the spritzes your heart desires on the cheap. In the meantime, cin cin, and don’t forget the potato chips.

Classic Aperol Spritz 1 COCKTAIL 3 oz. Aperol 2 oz. dry prosecco, chilled 1 oz. sparkling water, chilled Orange slice, for garnish Green olive, for garnish • Combine ingredients, stir and serve over ice.

Spritz Hugo 1 COCKTAIL In northern Italy, the Spritz Hugo is just as ubiquitous as the Aperol Spritz. If Aperol is too bitter for your taste, the Hugo might be your new best friend.

In Italy, the star of the drink is elderflower syrup, but St. Germain is easier to find in St. Louis. Because St. Germain is a liqueur instead of a syrup, the ratios are slightly different.

4 oz. dry prosecco, chilled 1 oz. sparkling water, chilled ½ oz. St. Germain Mint sprig, for garnish Lime wheel, for garnish • Combine ingredients, stir and serve over ice.

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PARTNER CONTENT

Korea's best kept secret, until now

BY J ULI E CO H E N

Think the best-selling spirit in the world is whiskey? Vodka? Not even close.

Korean soju has annually sold millions more cases than any other liquor for years. In fact, the brand HiteJinro has been named the world's best-selling spirit brand for 20 consecutive years.

While soju is ubiquitous throughout Korea and has a history that dates back to at least the year 1300, the clear-colored, odorless liquor has only started becoming popular in the U.S.

If you've never heard of it, it's not your fault; however, it's high time you become better acquainted.

In Korea, Jinro soju is the drink of choice for any party and family gathering, and it is always served neat. Tradition holds that you pour the drink for each other, giving the spirit a convivial and festive feel. Plus, with Jinro's Classic Soju having an ABV at just 20%, a gathering with soju will remain memorable and relaxed.

Not sure if you're ready to drink Classic Soju neat? HiteJinro now offers variations

of Jinro soju products infused with subtle flavors like Jinro Green Grape, Grapefruit, Plum and Strawberry. With flavored soju, on its own, the drink becomes a lovely cocktail in a bottle. Plus, the ABV is just 13%, making a glass of it analogous to a glass of wine as far as alcohol content.

With any soju product, all you have to do is chill and serve.

Love playing bartender? If you're wanting to experiment with either Classic or flavored soju in a cocktail, the liquor's versatility makes its mixing options endless. With its clean taste, it can be a substitute for most vodka and gin cocktails like the Collins and the French 75, or you can keep it pure and simple by drinking it over ice with a splash of sparkling water and a squeeze of lime.

Whether you choose the traditional route of pouring soju for each other and drinking it neat or if the mixologist in you wants to try it in a cocktail, it sounds like your next party just got more exciting.

Want to bring a Jinro soju product to your next party?

Buy it here: Pan-Asia Supermarket, 14246 Manchester Road, Manchester, 636.220.9999, panasiasupermarket.com United Provisions, 6241 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314.833.5699, unitedprovisions.com Total Wine & More, multiple locations, totalwine.com Friar Tuck, multiple locations, friartuckonline.com

Prefer to have it poured for you?

Try it here: Seoul Garden, 10441 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, 314.569.4123, koreanbbqstl.com Stella Blues, 3269 Morgan Ford Road, St. Louis, 314.762.0144, instagram.com/stellabluesbar Wudon BBQ Korean Restaurant, 1261 Castillons Arcade Plaza, St. Louis, 314.628.1010, m.facebook.com/WudonBBQ

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E D I T O R S ' P I C K S

REGIONS “If it grows together, it goes together. If you’re having pasta, choose an Italian wine and match it to the color of your sauce. Pair Bolognese with a red wine, Alfredo with a white wine like chardonnay, and pesto with a green-tinted white wine, like an Italian sauvignon blanc. For pork schnitzel, do something German, like a riesling from the Mosel or Rheingau regions. And if you’re serving cornish hen, get something French – southern regions that are off the Mediterranean like Provence and Languedoc offer great value, as do Côtes du Rhône. – JE “The first advice I give people is to go for South African wine. The cool thing about Trader Joe’s is that a lot South African wine is ethically sourced – more so than other grocery stores.” - AF “I love Sicily. I think everybody needs to get on board with Sicily.

Mount Etna has super nutrient-rich, ashy soils with hearty and healthy growing quality.” - JE

H OW TO

“Any Italian Chianti is super approachable, especially for people who like red wine. That’s a crowdpleaser that has bright acidity.” - AF

SHOP FOR WINE LIKE A PRO

BY ADAM ROTHBARH

So you stopped off at the grocery store or the neighborhood market to pick up some ingredients for dinner and you’ve decided to grab a last minute bottle of wine. But the shelves are so long and tall! And you don’t recognize most of the bottles! What the hell is muscadet? You start to panic. “Should I switch to beer?” you think. “Maybe the wine person will walk by right now.” But help doesn’t come. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there – there are more wines out there than any of us have time to try, and unless you’re a sommelier, you might have some difficulty picking out a great wine at the store without any guidance at all. So we talked to some local wine

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professionals to get tips on how to find the good stuff yourself.

Naturally, it all starts with where you’re shopping. Local grocery stores and neighborhood markets are going to have more curated selections, like Local Harvest Grocery, which has an excellent collection full of wine from local distributor F&R Wine Imports (and others). Larger stores like Schnucks have more options but may feel less personal and have fewer locally sourced options. Smaller markets like AO&Co. and Parker’s Table have awesome wine, from local distributors.

“Parker’s has that value wall that’s super approachable,” Veritas Wine Selections account manager (and former Vicia sommelier) Jen Epley pointed out.

When it comes to larger grocery stores, both Epley and O+O Pizza beverage manager Ali Fallows find that Trader Joe’s has great value.

“I’m a hardcore Trader Joe’s gal,” Fallows explained, adding that the chain often offers good wine at low prices and tends to have a much better selection than similar stores.

Epley said that Trader Joe’s label wines frequently use grapes from great wineries, so you might be getting an excellent wine that costs less than it does under its normal label.

Wherever you’re shopping, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re browsing and start to feel in over your head.

“Look at wines from Oregon. A lot of that soil is volcanic soil blended with fossil soil – really fertile, fruitforward, subtle. Any of those pinot noirs or chardonnays – they drink like Burgundys.” - AF “Anything from Spain’s Rioja region is good. They haven’t been having as drastic temperature shifts as the U.S. and France. And any Txakoli.” - AF A C R OY N Y M S “For Italian wine, that DOC or DOCG label is what I look for; for French wine, I look for AOC. No matter the price, it falls in with standards set by the government, so stylistically the wine will be the same regardless of what vineyard produces it.” - AF T H E F I N E R D E TA I L S “Don’t avoid sulfites – there’s more sulphur in orange juice and cured meats than in wine.” - JE September 2021

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E D I T O R S ' P I C K S

HOP OUTDOORS

by Adam Rothbarth

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opposite page: an outdoor dining option at little fox; this page, clockwise from top left: the patio at the frisco barroom, rockwell beer, 2nd shift beer, the new outdoor expansive patio at the crow's nest

Artisan Ales sour, a Stillwater blonde ale and a Rockwell Beer Co. IPA in one sitting.

Nobody should have to make those kinds of choices, but at Little Fox, at least you can make them outside. + 2800 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis, 314.553.9456, littlefoxstl.com

LITTLE FOX AND ROCKWELL PHOTOS BY IZAIAH JOHNSON; FRISCO BARROOM PHOTO BY ADAM ROTHBARTH; CROW'S NEST PHOTO COURTESY OF CROW'S NEST

The Crow’s Nest

I love posting up outside on a chilly fall evening with a stout or a pumpkin beer in hand; but sometimes, even the most hardcore flannels can’t do anything to stop those sub-60-degree nights from overpowering us. That’s why cozy patios with fire pits and heaters are so essential.

Here are a few local restaurants where you can stay comfortable outdoors on a beautiful fall evening while enjoying some fine food and killer brews.

The Royale Food & Spirits

Everybody knows that The Royale has a legendary patio – and it’s even better now that they’ve installed two more fire pits due to the pandemic. But what some (looking at you, my Subcontinental cocktail obsessives) may not know is that The Royale’s beer list has always been one of the best in town. My chilly night goto is a Boulevard Brewing Co. Tank 7 or whatever local stout or porter is on tap; but when beers from Evil Twin Brewing, Duvel and Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale are available, choosing can be difficult. I recommend pairing the beer of your

September 2021

choice with The Royale’s delicious jackfruit tacos or their convivial hummus plate. + 3132 S. Kingshighway Blvd., St. Louis, 314.772.3600, theroyale.com

The Pat Connolly Tavern The Pat Connolly Tavern has long been one of St. Louis’ favorite watering holes, and with its new Pat-io – a garden-vibey outdoor space with hanging lights where you can comfortably chill – it’s become both Covid- and cold weather-friendly. Post up with a Smithwick’s Red Ale, a Guinness Nitro or a local brew from Modern Brewery (Pat’s also has

around 25 other beers if those aren’t your lane), and enjoy the ambiance; ordering from their menu of classic pub food will only enhance the experience. + 6400 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, 314.647.7287, patconnllytavern.com

The Scottish Arms

The patio at The Scottish Arms is a beautiful, rustic journey out of the Central West End and into a place where all that matters is cold beer and powerful cuisine.

Thankfully, The Scottish Arms has both of those. The beer menu isn’t huge, but honestly, you don’t need more than a Guinness or one of the restaurant’s few IPA, Pilsner and cider options to enjoy the space and the dynamic food menu. I mean, I’d be happy with a Busch and their truffle fries on the patio anytime.

Sometimes that’s all you need. + 8 S. Sarah St., St. Louis, 314.535.0551, thescottisharms.com

Little Fox

Little Fox’s modest beer list is full of great selections from local and distant places. You might be paralyzed by having to choose between a Stone Brewing session IPA, a Prairie

The Crow’s Nest’s motto has long been: “Come see what everyone’s complaining about.” Though you may encounter some disgruntled metalheads (especially when I’m there), nobody’s griping about the beer list or the expansive new patio, which is finally open. Catch me with a 2nd Shift Little Big Hop and the vegan burger (with waffle fries, obviously) every time. + 7336 Manchester Road, Maplewood, 314.781.0989, eatcrowstl.com

The Frisco Barroom

The Frisco Barroom has one of our favorite patios in town, and their beer list ain’t bad either. Last time I went, it was hard to choose between the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Wild Little Thing fruited sour and Bell’s Oberon on draft.

They also keep a solid list of locals and domestics from places like Logboat Brewing Co., 4 Hands Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head, and even offer some of 4 Hands’ hard seltzer options. + 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314.455.1090, thefriscostl.com

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PARTNER CONTENT

T H E B E S T WAY F O R M E D I C A L M A R I J U A N A PAT I E N T S T O E A S E I N

BY LAUR E N H E ALEY

If you’re a new medical marijuana patient, some of the most important advice you’ll be given is to go “low and slow,” which is simple to do when microdosing.

“The main goal of microdosing is to receive the medicinal benefits without experiencing a high,” said Connor Cervantes, general manager at Swade Dispensary in the Grove. “Dosing can be a little tricky, so you should always start low and slow and give yourself plenty of time to feel the effects before upping the dosage.”

A microdose is typically considered between 1 and 2.5 milligrams, and edibles and tinctures are often the easiest way to ensure you’re dosing properly, according to Tom Bortz, assistant general manager at the Grove location.

“The idea is to solicit therapeutic value with the least amount of cannabis possible,” Bortz said, adding that the effects are felt at different times depending on the delivery method, from edibles and tinctures to smokeable products. “Slow refers to the time between doses, so you don’t want to take 2.5 milligrams in edible form and wait 10 minutes and decide to take more because it takes 30 minutes to two hours to feel the effects.”

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Cervantes suggests waiting at least two hours after eating an edible before upping your dosage until you find the relief you’re looking for. He also noted that most edibles come in 5 to 10 milligram servings, so you will likely need to cut your edibles in half or quarters before microdosing. Tinctures, however, are taken sublingually (a drop of liquid under the tongue) and enter the bloodstream faster, so the effects are typically evident more quickly than edibles, and that dosage could be increased in about 30 minutes if needed. Tinctures also allow you to dose very precisely – even at a microdose of 1 milligram.

If you’d prefer more immediate relief than edibles or tinctures provide, a smokeable or topical product may be your best bet.

With a product that’s consumed through inhalation, such as cannabis flower in a vaporizer, bowl or joint, as well as cannabis extract oils, microdosing can be a bit trickier. Swade suggests using an apparatus like a one-hitter to smoke flower, which ensures the dosage is consistently low, or an oil vaporizer that controls the dosage for you. “We have a very nice product called Midose that’s a vaporizer pen that shuts itself off after 3 seconds so you get a consistent dose of about 3 to 5 milligrams per hit,” Bortz said. “You can see how

that’s affecting you after about 20 to 30 minutes and take another hit if you need more relief.”

"We want to be there for patients who are on the journey to achieve holistic wellness and balance in their daily life. We designed Midose to be simple and straightforward to use,” says Kate Simpson, co-founder and marketing director with Ananda Brands. “There are 3 varieties of all-natural botanical blends that guide you toward what to expect from each one—whether it’s calm, clarity, or zzz’s. " Topicals like skin balms and salves will not produce any psychoactive effects, even if they contain THC, so microdosing is less important than with other delivery methods. No matter the consumption method you choose, Swade recommends when selecting a product with THC to also get something with CBD to mediate the psychoactive effects of the THC and boost the anti-inflammatory, anti-anxiety and antipain effects overall. For more information, visit swadecannabis.com.

This advertisement is intended only for Missouri medical marijuana patients.

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By Adam Rothbarth // Photos by Izaiah Johnson

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or at least there are things in it that are thought to be good for you. Most Italians innately know this gospel, but many Americans have only realized it in the past decade. Meaning “bitter” in Italian, amaro is a bittersweet, herbal liqueur that’s traditionally enjoyed before or after dinner to aid in digestion and calm the palate.

Popular amari brands include Campari, Cynar, Fernet-Branca (though some claim fernet is its own category), Montenegro, Averna and Nonino, most of which you can drink in cocktails, spritzes or neat.

“Particular bitter roots and herbs in high percentages can be dangerous, like quinine, but the right amount, and we only use a tiny amount, is a digestive agent,” explained Meredith Barry, head of beverage development at Niche Food Group. “All of these roots and herbs have healing properties at some level, in moderation.”

Our bodies want to avoid bitter things because they could potentially be toxic, so amaro spurs the digestive system into gear, helping us break down food more quickly. That’s why most good Italian restaurants have a digestif menu that comes alongside the list of pastries, cakes and frozen treats you get at the end of a meal.

If you haven’t indulged before, order a glass of Sfumato or Branca Menta after your pasta or pizza feast, and you’ll see the light.

as a lauded bartender and began to fantasize about producing spirits of her own.

Enter Niche Food Group co-owner Gerard Craft, whose father’s palate was far ahead of the curve. “My dad has been one of FernetBranca’s largest fans forever, despite most people thinking it’s horrendous,” he said, laughing. “That was obviously before the huge rise in popularity.” On Craft’s 13th birthday, his father took him to a Calvados distillery in Normandy, France. Years later, on his trips to Italy, he learned about the colossal landscape of bitter liqueur. “You go to these mountain towns and everyone’s kind of got their own mountain herb-mountain root amaro, with varying levels of deliciousness,” he explained.

After becoming an award-winning chef with the resources to start making his own spirits, Craft’s path converged with Barry’s, who started working for Niche in early 2020 – just before Covid hit with full force.

Following some consulting work for the Angad Arts Hotel and helping other Niche restaurants

transition into the pandemic, Barry was looking for a new challenge. “I got Taste cleaned up and broken down, which was sad, because I’d just started. It was hard, like mourning a little bit,” she said. Soon after, Craft approached Barry to start a new project called La Verita Distilleria, which would focus on the kinds of liqueurs they’d both grown up loving. “In September [of last year] he was like, ‘Let’s do this thing,’” Barry recalled. “He was like, ‘I’ve always wanted to try making Fernet and Nocino [a bittersweet liqueur made from walnuts] and limoncello.’” Barry began by circling back to her grandmother’s recipes and techniques, which provided strong footing and a path forward. Asking her grandmother’s learned limoncello advice, Barry discovered that using both lemon zest and lemon peels for limoncello was an important secret. “At the end of the day, she was totally right, and I never should have questioned her,” Barry said with a big laugh.

But Barry’s research and development quickly propelled her far beyond her grandmother’s recipes. For limoncello – a lemon-steeped, sugary

opposite page: a selection from la verita distilleria; this page: meredith barry, head of beverage development for niche food group

Comparatively few Americans are producing bitter liqueurs like amaro, but Italy has been doing it for centuries. “These are all things that Italians do in their own homes – even amari,” Barry said. “Those things started off just as families making it. It’s more of a process of steeping [than distilling].” How does Barry know this? For one, because she learned about liqueur from her grandmother, who made a ton of the stuff. “My grandmother has always made limoncello and arancello [blood orange liqueur],” she said. “I remember talking to her about it, because she had it in the freezer, so when I was of age I could just taste it.” Barry observed her technique and asked questions about the process. Those experiences would guide her as she grew up, established herself

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digestif – it took a number of batches for her to figure out the right ratios and techniques. Building on her grandmother’s ideas, she blended lemon zest with lemon peel in different batches until she got it right; she and Craft also experimented with different kinds of lemons. “We thought that Meyer lemon tasted better with a bit of regular lemon in there – the regular lemon was too lemon drop-y,” Barry explained. They eventually arrived at a drink they really enjoyed.

There isn’t much of a road map when it comes to making amaro; in a time where one can find recipes for everything from beer and wine to kombucha online, bitter liqueurs are still fairly mysterious, with most producers keeping their cards close to the chest. “It’s all fairly secret.

They don’t really tell you the specifics and the details. I suppose that’s why people aren’t making it,” Barry said. But she hasn’t let that stop her from finding her own way.

Barry now understands that while making amaro isn’t actually that difficult, coming up with the right recipes is a whole different ballgame. “With the amari, I did 25 tests. If I did number 16 and that was OK, I did test numbers 16.1 and 16.2,” she explained. “17.5 was working killer, so I kind of meddled around with that and then made 19, which is our favorite so far.” The process has forced Barry to become more organized and detail-oriented, turning her into a master notetaker. “I lost one recipe and I went flying,” she said. “I was like, ‘What the fuck!’” Since not every test is an improvement, she’s had to learn to be meticulous about remembering the roads she’s travelled.

So what’s actually going on when you make an amaro? You start by infusing bittering agents – roots and herbs – into alcohol, which is itself a multi-tiered process. “I figured out how much time they really needed, the bittering agents,” Barry commented. “Everything takes different amounts of time, like the herbs. And the bitters expand over time. You can’t just throw everything into one batch and call it a day.” Then, she prepares herbs and spices, toasting baking spices like cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and pink peppercorn. “Juniper is really neat, especially when you’re trying to recreate Alpine flavors – it actually brings a lot of citrus notes, because it’s been dried and aged,” she said. In Italy, regional amari depend on what herbs are available where you live, but in St. Louis, you’re probably not going to find Alpine herbs like Artemisia spicata and mutellina.

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At the same time, Barry also makes a tea with herbs like peppermint, spearmint and mint. “It’s a blend of fresh herbs to the already dried herbs, because they give all different kinds of flavor,” she said. These steps, too, require a huge amount of testing and tampering in order to create the right balance of flavor because having such a high number of ingredients can create a volatile product. “Sometimes it can be too tannic, while other times it has just enough of the tannins to pull through. Sometimes I feel like I’m not satisfied,” Barry said. Beyond flavor, some herbs create heat when combined, changing the temperature of the brew; the decision of glass vs. steel for aging is also an important consideration, because, as Barry has found, resting the tea in steel can mellow it out too much. Time is also a major ingredient in spirits like this. “It’s a patience process, because you can taste the tea once it’s sugared, and you can taste it three months later and it’s changed remarkably. It’s got an

is better than Dolin Genepy,’” she said. “I never thought I would get it that way.” Craft was just as surprised. “We were like, ‘This is amazing.’ It’s kind of a knockout, to be honest,” he added. Now, the genepy is one La Verita’s most popular items.

So far, they’ve sold everything from fernet and limoncello to genepy and a blood orange cordial; their Nocino was so popular that it sold out. Barry expects a new batch to be available during the winter. In the future, the duo wants to grow the brand to offer more products and a higher volume, which will require La Verita to shift its business model, since what they’re currently selling is actually considered ready-made cocktails rather than spirits. “If we go forward with it, it seems like something else,” Barry mused. “For now, we’re just going to keep doing this, and keep researching and developing, putting a little bit on the shelf. I will keep going as long as Gerard wants to keep going – it’s his baby, and

There isn’t much of a road map when it comes to making amaro; in a time where one can find recipes for everything from beer and wine to kombucha online, bitter liqueurs are still fairly mysterious, with most producers keeping their cards close to the chest. evolution and you hope it’s what you want.

Sometimes I look at them and think, ‘Come on, little baby, please work for me,’” she said.

Many of the experiments have felt like failures to Barry and Craft, especially the early ones. “I had moments that were absolutely fucking terrible,” Barry said. “I had ones that were like Malort but worse.”

But the losses eventually turned into wins.

“I had a moment where Gerard came in and tasted it, and we spooned it and we were like, ‘Yeah!’ I was just surprised,” she said. “Finally, I did this. I’m happy with it in some sort of way.” Even her genepy, a liqueur featuring Alpine herbs, surprised her. “The genepy was a happy accident that happened while trying to make my first round of fernet. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I was like, ‘This

I’m just lucky to keep experimenting.” Craft wants to keep the project going as well.

In La Verita, Barry and Craft have found a unique partnership and a new story forged in both family tradition and the desire to create something original. Supporting one another through failures and successes alike, they are figuring it out together. “I keep on trying to get vermouth, but I’ll be honest, I keep fucking it up,” Barry said, dejectedly. But the backing of Craft and Niche has taught her new lessons in perseverance. Now, she’s learning how to be OK with those failures. “When you mess up that many times, you definitely start to question yourself. But Gerard’s been really great. He’s like, ‘That’s OK,’” she said. “I need to hear that it’s going to be OK.” It’s something we all need to hear from time to time.

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father's fernet over ice from la verita distilleria

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opposite page: big heart tea; this page: honeymoon chocolate

FUTURES

How St. Louis’ coffee, tea and chocolate retailers are pursuing direct trade relationships to access superior materials, partner with farmers and help the environment.

B Y M E R E D I T H K E L L I N G // P H O T O S B Y V I R G I N I A H A R O L D

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Ask Blueprint Coffee’s Andrew Timko about facilitating direct trade relationships in specialty coffee, and he’ll almost immediately talk about another dark, crumbly matrix: the soil in which coffee plants are grown, thousands of miles away, in farming regions clustered along the equator. Often, the improvements Timko, Blueprint’s co-owner and green buyer, plans with the company’s grower partners center on maintaining soil biodiversity that’s essential to all kinds of sustainable agriculture, not just coffee.

Direct trade in coffee is touted as an ethical model of business, but stories like Timko’s show how engaging in direct trade can inspire a more holistic view of the whole production process, from plant to customer.

Suddenly, “product quality” stretches beyond the borders of the brick-and-mortar shop to account for ecological health and fair labor. “If I am restricting my partner’s ability to self-invest, to improve their soil and cultivation, then I am directly affecting the quality of our product,” Timko explained.

trade buyers, the lack of bureaucracy can signal other opportunities, such as boosts in quality, for them and for the farmers they work with.

work to control against crop hazards, leaving more room for the kinds of shifts in flavor profile that both roasters and customers geek out on.

Futures are rare in commodity farming; most small farmers work at the subsistence level and have to spend heavily all year just to get the crop to market. For a farmer, a long-term commitment from a known buyer can enable investments in equipment and methods innovation that can increase yields, improve soil quality and make working on the farm more sustainable.

Companies that utilize direct trade methods often say that the mutually beneficial nature of the relationships builds over time, mostly because a longer relationship means that small-scale coffee and cacao farmers are empowered to demonstrate their own extensive expertise over their crops. Farmers often bring to the table an array of local and insider methods for soil health maintenance, fertilization and crop preparation, from picking to drying to some of the other post-harvest processes essential to quality, like the fermentation of cacao beans that is an essential process within the specialty chocolate market.

“Farmers cannot take the risk of improving quality on their own unless they have access to a market or commitment from somebody purchasing their product,” Timko explained. For Blueprint, making such innovation possible through profit-sharing measures that go directly into the soil in turn enables the coffee to get better year-over-year. “We share commitment and risk with the farmer,” Timko continued. “In my mind, it’s their coffee. We are partners in their work.”

All of the businesses interviewed for this piece spoke at length about the importance of site visits, of being able to witness farmers at work in cultivating, harvesting and preparing crops for market. For commodities like chocolate, tea and coffee, that means abiding by a series of careful and often regionally specific practices for drying, fermenting or curing crops before they can be packaged and shipped.

“We know that people are using our product as a healing product,” said Lisa Govro, CEO and founder of Big Heart Tea. “So when we go to growing sites, we’re looking for biodiversity, we’re looking for good relationships. But overall we are looking to make sure that the product is coming from a place of health.”

Generally, the term “direct trade” encompasses a shortened supply chain between a farmer growing a commodity crop like coffee, tea or cacao, and its eventual consumer drinking their morning cup. It also refers to a partnership model that assures mutual benefits for both buyer and seller. In the same way a household might invest in a CSA from a local farmer, in direct trade, a company pays futures on a crop from a specific farmer, essentially buying a crop before it’s been harvested.

As Jamie Jeschke, a co-owner of La Cosecha Coffee Roasters, pointed out, roughly 90% of the world’s coffee is grown on small family farms. “They just don’t have the resources to get these coffees to market themselves” at a fair, above-commodity price, he explained.

In most cases, commodities farmers are at the mercy of the markets at which they sell their goods for fixed prices. But by cutting out some of the middleman activity, direct trade enables small farmers to find the right buyer at fair prices, which buyers of specialty-graded commodities are often happy to pay. Kaldi’s Coffee’s retail training manager and director of coffee, Andrew McCaslin, noted that for the company’s Relationship Coffee line, they generally buy from their partners at about 30% above market price – money they see going into the management of the farm for future crops. And with a long-term partnership, “the farm can plan out their own harvest and processing much better, because they have a better idea of what their internal cash flow is going be like,” McCaslin explained. “Rather than producing and then trying to find a buyer, they can start to invest back into their farm.”

Direct trade isn’t a strictly defined category of practices; there’s no institutionalized certification process required for a chocolate maker or a coffee roaster to call a product “direct trade.” But for direct

On Kaldi’s side, partnering farms are then in a better position to be consistent in terms of quality. Even if the climate and terroir shaping harvest change year by year, a farmer able to improve their facilities can

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Within these relationships, buyers often defer to farmers on aspects of cultivation that directly bear on the quality of the end product. Lawren Askinosie, co-owner and chief marketing officer of direct trade chocolate maker Askinosie Chocolate, says that their company has gained incredible expertise from site visits by being able to witness the way that farmers care for their plants.

“Our entire goal is to honor the farmers as the artisans they are. Their handling has everything to do with the outcome of the flavor of the bars we are selling.”

Ultimately, Askinosie’s company has benefited from farmer knowledge much more than it’s determined it necessary to “intervene.” The farmers are the experts, and part of her job is to get out of their way. “We trust our farmers implicitly at being experts at what they do.

We are here to be a resource, but they are the experts at their crop,” she explained. McCaslin likewise noted a fine balance between the meticulousness with which Kaldi’s makes lot selections and the desire to respect the farmer and the ongoing relationship. “You never really want to tell a specialty coffee farmer how to produce their own coffee,” he said.

You might say the arrangement of direct trade – which requires ongoing communication between farmers and their buyers over time – makes it less likely that a coffee roaster will think of the goods they buy as “raw material,” anonymously harvested, dried, packed and shipped to the U.S. Much as it goes with wine, there are many steps of cultivation and post-cultivation preparation of coffee, tea and chocolate that affect the taste of whatever goes into a U.S. customer’s cup or candy bar. This emphasis on the very possibility that commodity producers – in this case, farmers – might be consulted on how their products will grow and taste is an upending of the status quo of buying and selling consumable commodities. An ongoing relationship, not a one-time transaction, is the model. “We’re not treating the market as it’s supposed to be treated,” Timko explained.

By foregrounding the wage structures that undergird production, direct trade runs against the grain of

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from left: kunthearath nhek-morrissey, vice president of operations at big heart tea and lisa govro, founder of big heart tea

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Generally, the term “direct trade” encompasses a shortened supply chain between a farmer growing a commodity crop like coffee, tea or cacao, and its eventual consumer drinking their morning cup. globalized commodity pricing. And, as both Askinosie and Big Heart Tea’s Lisa Govro pointed out, that can have feminist implications for small farmers, many of whom are women who run grow sites as part of managing their households. “In many cases, the cocoa shamba is like a kitchen garden,” explained Askinosie. “Cocoa might be a secondary or tertiary crop for farmers, often tended to by the woman of the household, who is responsible for harvesting and cultivation of cocoa, and is often doing it with a baby on her back.”

Covid’s many disruptions, she said. And for smaller businesses for which regular visits aren’t always feasible even under normal circumstances, technology has changed the game for how direct trade works: now, St. Louis companies can use WhatsApp and Zoom to check in with their partners, survey production and equipment, and talk shop. “Technology has been huge for people in commodity industries,” Kaldi’s McCaslin pointed out. These technologies have been essential

amongst farmers, as they communicate between themselves about pricing and innovation, searching for buyers who will pay fair prices for specialty goods and trading knowledge, McCaslin continued.

For smaller companies, working with direct trade wholesalers is one way of mitigating costly risks. While flagship direct traders insist that the “purest” form of direct trade is buying a small farmer’s entire crop for

Making commodity farm work sustainable means ensuring that good labor arrangements stay in place, from compensating women equitably, to paying a fair wage to all harvesters and workers, to privileging the knowledge at these grow sites, to advocating for farmers to save money on the sell-side. In industries like chocolate and tea that are rife with child labor, slavery and human trafficking, those are revolutionary shifts. “For us it’s about doing business with integrity,” Govro said, while talking about Big Heart’s quest for partners as a way to work around tea’s “heinous history of colonization and maltreatment of tea workers.”

Working directly with tea farmers in the Indian state of Assam and other regions, Big Heart has been buying and featuring single-origin teas even during the pandemic, and their partners often put them into contact with neighboring farmers and co-ops that might be a good fit for Big Heart – a practice many business owners cite as key to their ongoing searches for small farms.

Scott Carey, Sump Coffee’s owner and roaster, pointed to Le Palma & El Tucan, an internationally lauded coffee farm in Colombia that’s just as famous in its home region of Cundinamarca for its efforts to leverage its brand to increase the purchasing price for its neighbors’ coffee. “They can sell their green coffee for a hundred dollars a pound, and they’re such a strong brand they’ve been able to help tons of farmers in the surrounding area,” Carey explained.

Companies that structure their business model around direct trade make a point of visiting grow sites each year to check in on production. That’s a model touted by flagship names in direct trade like Portland’s Sumptown Coffee and Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee.

But during the pandemic, partners have been able to maintain strong relationships through a flurry of online activity. Askinosie admitted she never thought her company would have gone over a year without visiting its farmer-partners; but the longevity of those partnerships has been somewhat of a buffer against

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the season in advance, that model can be an impossible investment hurdle for a start-up business. In addition to the costs of international travel and partnership investment, direct trade buyers have to be prepared for steep shipping costs, many of which are volume priced, meaning that little guys with smaller shipping lots are paying the same fees as a company that can afford to bring in massive quantities. “I think in my next life, I’m going to run a logistics company,” Govro joked. “There’s such a lack of transparency in the chain from getting your product from point A to point B. With every shipment we think we get it right, and then there’s something.”

and Meridian Cacao, both of which operate long-term relationships with cacao co-ops and farms and adhere to a variety of standards for fair labor and agricultural biodiversity. Specialty importers enable purchasing on a much smaller scale, making it safer for small businesses to purchase and experiment before committing heavily to a particular region or lot. While these companies aren’t as well-positioned to enable the profit gains for farmers as some direct trade companies, it’s a start, both for the farmers and those that buy from them, and a useful education in how to build a growing business around more direct partnerships with producers.

“It’s expensive to be small,” said Cam Loyet, who cofounded Honeymoon Chocolates with his wife, Haley Loyet, in 2016. The couple has had success using direct trade wholesale companies like Uncommon Cacao

“Everyone’s goal in this business seems to be to support small farmers eventually,” Honeymoon Chocolates’ Haley Loyet said of the craft chocolate industry. “There’s a sense of pride within the industry when one of us

in the kitchen at honeymoon chocolate, from left: flynn edgerton, head chocolate maker; cam loyet, co-founder; haley loyet, co-founder; bo buford, chocolate maker

graduates to that next level.” Honeymoon, which produces chocolate sweetened with honey as opposed to cane sugar, initially sought out local apiaries for their honey; similarly, it wants to maintain that small production integrity by partnering with smaller cacao farms as soon as their production level makes that feasible. “Our goal is to start forming those relationships as soon as possible,” said Cam Loyet.

Sump Coffee’s Scott Carey also cited some risks and pains with engaging in the direct trade model, especially for a small business owner in an industry with slim profit margins. Carey explained all of the coffee he can sell in a year might fit into a single shipping container, but throwing that weight behind purchasing a single crop would make it impossible for him to buy across regions and climates, in turn limiting Sump’s menu offerings.

Citing one experience with purchasing a Guatemalan crop in which he negotiated price directly with the farmer, Carey also paid for milling and processing the coffee, then waited anxiously as the shipment slowly made its way from seaport to seaport, arriving in Houston months behind schedule. “At this point, we’re out of pocket, and I still have to buy and roast and sell at Sump. That was a big deal for me, just like it was a big deal for that farmer to sell that coffee.”

Meanwhile, Carey has worried about the optics of marketing coffee through a direct trade story, because for a small business like his, it’s impossible to handle every stage of the crop between picking and its arrival to St. Louis. “There’s so many links in the chain – I know none of the seamen on the cargo ship, there’s so many hands along the way, and I don’t want to pretend I’m managing any of that,” he explained. At this point, Carey has a workable model of buying current crops through forward contract purchasing that hews to the ethics of ensuring a better price for farmers while hedging against the risk of purchasing a crop that is mishandled or that never shows up. “My theory is: I don’t know anything about farming, and it would be presumptuous of me to say I do. I’m here to make exceptional cups of coffee,” Carey said. He worries that some of the buzz around direct trade is implicated in the ongoing power imbalance between commodity buyers, most of whom are white Westerners, and Black and brown farmers worldwide; as coffee roasters look for an edge in the market, their presentation of the farms they’re improving can, in the worst of cases, look to him like white saviorism. “I don’t like taking photos of people working when we go to origin,” Carey said. “I don’t want to exploit anyone brown and I don’t want to exploit a culture I don’t participate in myself.”

The unspoken heroes for smaller businesses looking to buy at origin are importers. In specialty coffee and tea, small importers were crucial to Kaldi’s, Blueprint and Big Heart, who all leveraged their existing importer relationships in building their direct trade partnerships.

Most direct trade practitioners interviewed for this piece

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Making commodity farm work sustainable means ensuring that good labor arrangements stay in place, from compensating women equitably, to paying a fair wage to all harvesters and workers, to privileging the knowledge at these grow sites, to advocating for farmers to save money on the sell-side. In industries like chocolate and tea that are rife with child labor, slavery and human trafficking, those are revolutionary shifts.

rely – at least initially – on valuable relationships with specialty importers to broker the shipment of goods, make introductions to farms and regions, and generally open the door to a particular growing region. Other companies, particularly in coffee, like La Cosecha, Sump and Coma Coffee Roasters, purchase green coffee from importers who focus on single origin specialty coffee, and build on that relationship to ensure that pricing is fair for the farmer, and that the conditions for specialty coffee selection and processing are being met.

Daniel Bueno Gomez, co-owner of Urbania, a locally operated importer of Colombian specialty coffee, has sourced beans for local roasters including La Cosecha, Sump, Northwest Coffee Roasting Co., Coma and Coffeestamp, which is one way that coffee roasters can invest in sustainable partnerships with small farmers without the extensive risks of forging their own direct trade relationships.

There’s a lot of work in coffee importing, from technical expertise to leveraging grower networks to sourcing good beans – especially considering that in Colombia the average coffee farm is between 1.5 and 3 acres. “In the majority of cases, coffee is just one of their income streams,” Bueno said, noting that many farmers they buy from just as often sell cow’s milk, cacao and other cash crops every year. Beyond finding these farmers, Urbania also tastes lots on the hunt for specialty coffee and then incentivizes farmers’ investment in implementing practices that will increase quality and yield over time by buying at 35% over the commodity price and offering interest-free loans for equipment purchasing.

He also partners with local non-profits to encourage sustainable and fair labor practices on farms. This has meant everything from working with a group that builds

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jaguar-safe barriers around coffee farms, to helping farmers divest from cultivating coca plants to growing coffee. “Facilities on small farms are very precarious,” Bueno noted. “In order to maintain quality, our job is to make it possible for these farmers to make investments in their equipment.”

Even though the crops are, by necessity, grown far away from St. Louis, there’s a locavore spirit to buying direct trade coffee, tea or chocolate, at least because small ventures here and small producers far away have a shared desire to work against the tide of globalization to ensure worker security and ecological sustainability. These are the “ways around the edges,” said Carey, that can make possible the sustainability of small farms abroad and small businesses here: “Farmers have the same pressures that we roasters do: to put food on the table.”

ASKINOSIE CHOCOLATE, 417.862.9900, askinosie.com BIG HEART TEA, 314.875.0040, bighearttea.com BLUEPRINT COFFEE, 6225 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314.266.6808; 4206 Watson Road, St. Louis, blueprintcoffee.com HONEYMOON CHOCOLATES, hmchocolates.com KALDI’S COFFEE, multiple locations, kaldiscoffee.com LA COSECHA COFFEE ROASTERS, 7360 Manchester Road, Maplewood, lacosechacoffee.com SUMP COFFEE, 3700 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 917.412.5670, sumpcoffee.com September 2021

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french vines,

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BY J U L I E C O H E N // P H O TO S BY C A R M E N T R O ESSER September 2021

from left: ryan tighe, general manager at bulrush; rob connoley, chef-owner at bulrush; john-paul fortney, coowner of f&r imports; julie fortney, co-owner of f&r imports

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Once upon a time (the 1860s), in a wine-loving land far, far away (southern France), a mysterious disease started killing grapevines.

In less than 30 years, the disease decimated nearly half of all of France’s vineyards.

Yet, just when all hope was lost and French vintners and Francophiles alike were steeled for a fate of financial ruin and inferior chardonnays, Missouri vintners came to the rescue. With the help of Missouri rootstock, French grapevines were nursed back from the brink of extinction.

At least this is the hero’s journey we Missourians love to hear.

But what if I told you the well-known romantic part of this story is actually just Act Two of a three-act saga? And what if I told you the hero and the bad guy turned out to be the same?

Would it still be a hero’s journey? Or would it be some twisted fable-meets-cautionary tale?

vines. But on Missouri vines, the phylloxera only ate the plant’s leaves rather than its roots, making it a nuisance but not an executioner.

In 1870, Riley wrote to Planchon and together, they furthered their research on the insect in order to perform the critical task of saving Europe’s vines.

In 1871, Riley took the first of several trips to France to visit Planchon, who in turn came to meet his colleague in Missouri in 1873. Through their studies, they concluded the rootstock of many Missouri vines, along with some others in America, were in fact resistant to phylloxera.

Where we come in

Word spread about Planchon and Riley’s findings, and by 1872, Missouri vintners were pitching in big time. Combined, winemakers from Hermann, Neosho and St. Louis sent around 500,000 vine cuttings to France.

Would it still be a story Missourians could be proud of?

Pause.

To answer these questions, let’s start from the beginning.

You might be thinking, wait, so French wine is just overpriced Missouri wine?

No.

ACT I If you’ve heard the “Missouri saves the French wine industry” story before, you know that it usually begins in the south of France around 1863. It was then that a few vintners noticed something strange happening to their vines. One vine would yellow, whither and die, and then soon after, another would seemingly catch the same sickness. Within a few seasons, an entire vineyard would collapse, having quite literally rotted from the inside.

This regional disaster would soon turn national. In 1868, the situation had already become so dire that local growers appealed to Montpellier’s Société Centrale d’Agriculture de l’Hérault (SCAH). The SCAH then enlisted a three-man team of less sexy Avengers: the president of the SCAH, a well-respected local grocer, and botanist Jules Émile Planchon.

Their task was to figure out what

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was happening before whatever-itwas spread to the rest of France and continental Europe.

At first, the commission inspected obviously diseased vines, but apart from their physical rot, nothing seemed apparent as to what was causing it.

But then the team dug up a seemingly healthy vine from within a diseased vineyard, and what they saw was nearly Hitchcockian: thousands of yellowish, lice-like insects “tight on the wood, sucking the sap,” according to Planchon.

Lice were everywhere, and they were sucking the life out of the vines!

God save the vines

Charles Valentine Riley, Missouri’s state entomologist (an expert on insects), came across Planchon’s disturbing notes; something about it sounded eerily familiar. He had observed a very similar sounding aphid, named phylloxera, on Missouri

The Missouri vintners sent the phylloxera-resistant rootstock, which was then grafted to French vine cuttings. Missouri roots; French grapes.

And after many failed attempts and trial and error, it worked. Hurrah! A happy ending.

Sort of.

ACT II (or, the real ACT I) Because you’re a budding epidemiologist – or have just lived through the past 18 months during a global pandemic – you might be wondering: How exactly did phylloxera make its way to France in the first place?

This question leads to the part of the story that is told less often.

In the mid-1800s, with the invention of steam power, people could make it across the Atlantic much faster than before. With easier travel, American

and Europeans vintners began to trade vines as they experimented with creating new grapes.

And what was on some of those American vine cuttings sent to France via steamship? A very tiny stowaway named phylloxera that, due to the new speed of travel, didn’t have time to die like it would have in the past.

So in the early 1870s, when Riley and Planchon concluded that American rootstock was resistant to phylloxera, they also figured out that the French phylloxera problem had actually come from America, and now – this is awkward – the French would need American rootstock to fix the problem.

Where we come in (again)

In the past, we have used the term “American vine cuttings” for the plants that were guilty of bringing phylloxera to France. We also know that many Missouri vintners graciously gifted phylloxera-resistant rootstock to save the French vines in the 1870s. But just this past year, a new discovery was published.

Through genome sequencing, French and U.S. scientists have been able to compare the genetics of European phylloxera insects with those found in wild grape vines along the upper Mississippi and throughout the upper Midwest region of the U.S. And who was making wine and trading vines with the French in the mid-1800s? That’s right: Missouri, which as a former French colony had retained close commercial connections with France. Now, the part of the story where Charles Valentine Riley, the Missouri entomologist, was able to identify phylloxera so precisely makes a lot more sense.

Unsurprisingly, some French were suspicious and scared of the idea of using American rootstock to save their vines; after all, it was the American vines that caused this whole mess in the first place. Some areas of France even had laws against accepting American rootstock.

The French wine industry was divided into two camps: one that advanced strategies like insecticide treatments September 2021

french wines from regions where missouri rootstock was used

A real life mystery!

F & R Imports’ John-Paul and Julie Fortney have been assisting the Bulrush team with their research.

John-Paul recently read an article titled “Le Phylloxéra en Europe et en Amérique,” written in 1873 by JulesÉmile Planchon. In his article, Planchon discusses his travels to the U.S. to study phylloxera-resistant vines and one particular stop he made in our very own Kirkwood and Webster Groves.

The problem: Nearly 150 years later, we have no such historical information as to where these said vineyards might have been located.

Clues

In his article, Planchon mentions a “Monsieur Gill” in Kirkwood who had a vineyard.

In Webster Groves, he mentioned a winemaker named J.J. Kelley having Norton’s Virginia grapes next to some Catawba.

Some findings

There is a “Gill House” in Kirkwood built in 1858. While there is not a vineyard now, the yard appears to be substantial enough to have a small vineyard. Is it the location of a long-gone vineyard?

Could that vineyard have possibly helped save the French wine industry?

If you have any leads on these questions, let us know!

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and Bulrush’s wine list features several wines from the vineyards he has identified with help from John-Paul and Julie Fortney of F&R Imports, a local French wine import company. Other wines on his list are chosen from European producers still utilizing the grafting method to make their wines.

According to Connoley, his obsession started because it was a fun research project and he needed a good concept for his wine list; but the project has since taken on a larger significance. For him, it’s about how different countries are connected to each other, and how we are all connected to each other. Even though America was, in fact, the source of the very problem it helped solve, it doesn’t have to be this bitter irony.

and flooding the vineyards with water (and, in some cases, even goat and human urine) in an attempt to rid their vineyards of phylloxera, while the second group advocated using the American rootstock.

During this period of debate, Planchon and Riley continued to experiment with grafting to create phylloxera-resistant French vines. The work wasn’t easy; Planchon’s early grafting instructions resulted in the death of 700,000 French vine cuttings grafted to American rootstocks. But after two more decades of work on the technique, the hybrid vines finally started to thrive.

By the 1890s, much of la défense had finally relented and was ready to try grafting – by then, phylloxera had not only decimated more than 40% of French vineyards, it had

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also spread to much of continental Europe, eventually making its way to South Africa and even Australia. This period of time is now referred to as the Great Wine Blight. By the time the American rootstock-resisters were ready to give it a shot, researchers had perfected the grafting technique so that with the majority of winemakers’ cooperation, French varietals were saved, which is why we are still drinking the likes of great syrahs, Viogniers and chenin blancs today.

ACT III The contemporary connection There is a saying beloved by historians (and usually questionably attributed to Mark Twain) that while history doesn’t repeat itself, it often rhymes. The onset of a mysterious

and terrifying ailment, transported from another country, that bears serious social, cultural and economic implications, is plainly resonant with our ongoing experience with Covid and its proliferating variants.

In a living document that Connoley and the staff at Bulrush continue to update with their research, Connoley and staff member Alyssa Todd write: “As so often, history repeats itself.

This story, full of fear and panic, also highlights discovery, partnership, and triumph. Without the cooperation of both the U.S. and France and the individuals contributing to the cause, we could very much not have wine as we do today. Fortunately, with the aid of research, persistent botanists and scientists, collaboration between American and European governments, and science, we were able to find a solution – to graft to alternative rootstock to save wine. We hope to tell this history in honor of those who contributed to the cause and to offer an example of perseverance and joint effort of others to overcome hardship.”

Chef-owner of Bulrush, Rob Connoley, has been researching the alliance between Ozark and French vintners since 2019. His goal is to locate the exact vineyards in France that accepted Missouri rootstock during the Great Wine Blight. He even has his restaurant staff in on the research. The process is arduous; some French don’t want to admit they took Missouri rootstock. Some just don’t have records that old. Also, there’s the pesky problem of age and time: Most Missouri rootstock grafted to French vines has long been ripped out. Connoley’s investigation has resulted in a few finds though,

As we shuffle through yet another season of Covid – a trial that we had so desperately hoped was behind us – let us look to the historical relationship between the Missouri and French wine industry for education and inspiration – the full history, with all its contradictions and complexity, not the supposed hero’s journey in which Missouri’s winemakers swoop in to save the day. As we have learned, keeping a disease at bay takes full cooperation and humility. While fear will always be with us, maybe, together, we can be made stronger despite – or even because – of it.

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L A S T B I T E // W H AT I D O

and put it in this other one, and basically come up with new yeast that can produce strawberry or banana or all kinds of different flavors. So we’re now expanding the tools for brewers in addition to helping them sleep at night.”

MARK SCH WA R Z CO-FOUNDER/OWNER, OMEGA YEAST

“Generally, yeast eat sugars as an input. They excrete, or output, alcohol,

carbon dioxide and esters. Ester is really what gives a beer its taste. So we sell a hundred-something yeast strains, and each strain produces different esters and has different behaviors and all kinds of things.”

Omega Yeast is a classic example of the “guy behind the guy.” The company supplies one of the crucial components of the beer-making process – yeast, which drives fermentation– to many of your favorite local breweries, like Perennial Artisan Ales and Rockwell Brewing Co., as well as brewers nationwide. Soon after co-founding the company in Chicago, co-owner Mark Schwarz moved back to his hometown of St. Louis in 2015 to open a second base of operations. Since then, Omega Yeast has continued to grow, supplying yeast to over 5,000 professional and home brewers, expanding their staff to 45 employees, and developing new strains to help expand brewers’ creative capacities. Here, Schwarz sheds some light on this mysterious corner of the beer industry. – Liz Wolfson

“I’m originally from St. Louis and got my bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering. I got my first job out in L.A. working for Boeing. I quickly realized I was not a corporate person, and I ended up in law school for some reason; I just thought that would be interesting. To do patent law you need an engineering or science background, so that was just a natural fit.”

“My partner and I were summer interns together at this law firm in

Chicago, and we ended up working there after law school. Another patent attorney we were working with was starting a brewery and was complaining about yeast. He was like, ‘These guys are yahoos, they’re all out West. It’s just so ridiculous.’

My partner Lance came into my office, shut the door, and he’s like, ‘I think we could make yeast.’ That was it.”

“Brewers like to say, ‘I just make yeast food, and the yeast does the rest of the work.’ So it ends up being a very intimate relationship or partnership with brewers because they spend all this time and money to make this yeast food. They use malted barley or wheat or grain, hops – all these ingredients. And if the yeast doesn’t work, they’re done – they don’t have a beer.”

“He didn’t know anything about business or finance or branding. I did not

he has a doctorate in microbiology – and I started eight years ago, we thought we could do yeast better and be a little more customer-centric. We found that a lot of brewers are kind of anxious and neurotic because they were scared their yeast wasn’t going to work. That’s how, from my side of the business, we got into it; we realized that really what brewers want is the peace of mind that the yeast is working.”

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“Yeast has a very short life span of

how viable they’re going to be. So instead of making a large quantity that sits in a cooler until somebody orders it, we do the opposite; we don’t even start making the yeast – propagating is the scientific term – until the order comes in. So we essentially reverse engineer our processes and our schedule based on the brewers’ schedule so they get the freshest yeast possible.”

“Yeast are asexual, but we’ve forced them to mate to create new yeast strains that have never existed. We go through and brew with the children until we find one child that has good traits of both parents.”

“For our newest one, we used a new biological tool, CRISPR, it’s

kind of like a scalpel. We can take DNA from this strain that does some cool stuff

“We’re coming out with new strains all the time – that gives brewers more

tools in their toolbox so they can take these new flavors and keep creating new beers. At the end of the day, it’s selfserving; we like to drink good beer, so we like giving them more tools to keep pushing the boundaries.”

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PHOTOS BY VIRGINIA HAROLD

“When my partner Lance Shaner –

know anything about yeast. So we taught each other and started the business at night. We rented our first space from the Johnnie Brocks equivalent in Chicago, a Halloween costume warehouse. It was kind of freaky – we’d work there from maybe 8 p.m. to midnight or 1 a.m. every night. I’d get home at 1:30 or 2, wake up at 5:30 and do it all over again.”

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L A S T B I T E // L A N D M A R K

GRASSI’S RISTORANTE & DELI

BY A DA M R OTH BA R TH

Grassi’s Ristorante & Deli, 10450 German Blvd., Frontenac, 314.994.1111, grassistlouis.com

strong, moving to its current location in 1996.

The cafeteria line feels like a bygone mode of food service. In recent years – and especially after the pandemic – the thought of going down a line and selecting your lunch items by hand seems more and more foreign; but not at Grassi’s Ristorante & Deli, where it’s been the standard for many years, to great success. “If customers have never been in before, I think they’re kind of going, ‘OK, what’s going on here?’” said Frank Dyer, who took over the business in 2012 and co-owns it with his son, Cameron Dyer. “But when they see how fast the food comes out and how good the food is, they quickly get over the fact that they had to stand in line and get a tray.”

Part of what makes the cafeteria line successful is that customers have the

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opportunity to interact directly with the staff in order to get their food exactly how they want it. First on the line is the salad station, which low key turns out some of St. Louis’ best Italian salads daily. “You can build it a lot of different ways. Trust me, every salad’s different,” Dyer explained.

“The salad person listens to you and creates this beautiful salad for you.”

He went on to say that the salad is by far Grassi’s most popular item, speculating that the dressing, copious green olives and croutons play a big role in that fact. “People buy croutons by the quart,” Dyer said.

After the salad station, you can select a cold sandwich and a dessert from the line or order a hot sandwich or

pasta that will be made in front of you. Other hot dishes, like the steak sandwich, grilled chicken and the Italian press (a weekly special), are made in the back kitchen. “Those are coming off the grill, but we’re able to get the food onto the tray before you even check out,” Dyer said. Suffice it to say, they’ve got the system pretty dialed in.

A lot of the menu has been the same since the early days of Grassi’s, which opened its first location in South City in 1968; a second location, Grassi’s West opened in Frontenac in 1976, followed by a third, located in the Central West End, a few years later.

Eventually the first and third locations closed, but Grassi’s West kept going

For Dyer, Grassi’s legacy is what makes the restaurant so great, which is why it still maintains an old school vibe, from its food to its setup. “We don’t want to change it. St. Louis deserves it. It was an institution long before Cameron and I took it over,” Dyer recalled. “We’re just trying to take care of it so it doesn’t go anywhere.” On that note, the Dyers were able to keep Grassi’s running throughout the pandemic by building a patio and offering carryout through delivery apps. “We used to interface with customers three ways; now we interface with them eight ways,” he said, laughing. “I think it’s important that St. Louis knows that we, my family, appreciate their support during the pandemic. It’s been unbelievable, from customers and corporations buying gift certificates, people coming in religiously, ordering food, buying food for their friends.

The local hospitals are big supporters of Grassi’s.” It seems like, maybe, more restaurants should consider the cafeteria model.

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PHOTOS BY DAVID KOVALUK

According to Dyer, the menu and its history make up an organic story that’s still being told by customers. “There’s always memories being shared of people and their sandwiches they were eating back in the day.” Recently, a customer came in and said that she used to work at the car dealership across from the original location and that she would eat cucumber and onion sandwiches for lunch there. She asked them to make her one. Dyer took the request seriously and even occasionally considers adding dishes like this to the menu. “They’re developing it.

We’re eating it now. If we like it, if our staff and families like it, there’s a good chance we’d roll it out to the community.”

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L A S T B I T E // S T U F F T O D O

SEPTEMBER

BY MEENA VISWANATHAN

Taste of Black St. Louis

Taste of St. Louis

1st Annual St. Louis Bourbon Festival

Sept. 10 to 12 - noon to 9 p.m., City Foundry STL, 3730 Foundry Way, St. Louis, 314.833.7227, tasteofblackstl.com

Sept. 24 – 4 to 10 p.m.; Sept. 25 – 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sept. 26 – 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 844.383.6810, tastestl.com

Oct. 1 - 7 to 10 p.m., Lemp Grand Hall and Loft, 1817 Cherokee St., St. Louis, stlouisbourbonfestival.com

Get ready to celebrate Black Americans’ contributions to St. Louis’ culinary arts scene at the 3rd annual Taste of Black St. Louis. Mocha Latte hosts this three-day event at the City Foundry STL. Highlights include demonstrations by chefs Rhonda Broderick of Posh Plates and C.J. Williams of Edible Art on Friday and chef battles between local chefs on Saturday and Sunday. Remedy and Union House Band rock the Sound Stage along with The Voice’s Tish Haynes Keys and hip-hop artist Champ J. Festival tickets are free, and VIP Access Passes are available for purchase online.

Bring on your big appetite to enjoy signature dishes from 25 of St. Louis’ best local restaurants at the Sauce Magazine Restaurant Row. Browse through the vendor market for homemade products and jam to live music and entertainment all weekend long. This ultimate food experience returns to Ballpark Village and is free to the general public.

Join in this fall premier event hosted by The St. Louis Bourbon Society where you can sip on over 150 whiskies from around the world. Among the participating distilleries, find some local favorites including Spirits of St. Louis, Pinckney Bend Distillery and Switchgrass Spirits. The evening includes light hors d’oeuvres presented by the Lemp Mansion Restaurant, live music, hand-rolled cigars and classic cocktails. The festival features a silent auction benefitting SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Tickets (VIP, general and designated driver) available online.

Saint Charles Oktoberfest

Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival September 18 - noon to 11 p.m., 117 W. Lockwood Ave., Webster Groves, oldwebsterjazzfest.com Groove to non-stop jazz and blues from two stages at this family-friendly festival taking center stage in downtown Webster Groves. The dynamic line-up includes Marquis Knox, Miss Jubilee, Erin Bode and more. Enjoy food and drink from local restaurants like The Block and The Clover and The Bee. Street performers will be there to entertain kids. Bring your strollers and lawn chairs. Admission is free.

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Sept. 24 - 4 to 11 p.m.; Sept. 25 - 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sept. 26 - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Frontier Park, 500 S. Riverside Dr., St. Charles, 314.581.6871, saintcharlesoktoberfest.com Get ready for a fun-filled weekend at the beautiful Frontier Park in St. Charles. Try your hand at hoisting a full liter stein (or drop to drink the beer sooner!) at the Samuel Adams Raise the Stein competition, or take part in Kenrick’s Brat Eating Contest to see if you can come First in the ‘Wurst’ eating contest. Don’t miss the Weiner Takes All Dachshund races, and enjoy live music on three entertainment stages. Usher in fall with sips of pumpkin beers from Schlafly and O’Fallon Brewery. Tickets available online.

Q in the Lou Oct. 1 - 5 to 9 p.m.; Oct. 2 - 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Oct. 3 - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Kiener Plaza, Downtown St. Louis, qinthelou.com Come indulge in a weekend of barbecue, bands and beer at the 6th annual Q in the Lou event at Kiener Plaza. Meet local pitmasters Tim Scheer (Blues Hog Barbecue), Mike Johnson and Christina Fitzgerald (Sugarfire Smokehouse), Mike Emerson and John Matthews (Pappy’s Smokehouse) as they join chefs from around the country to work their smoke magic over 18,000 pounds of meat during this three-day event.

Entry to the event is free. Barbecue and drinks are available for purchase, or get all you can eat or drink with a Q Pit Pass. denotes a sauce-sponsored event

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