Speaker 1: Hello again and welcome to Arch Eats where we take
Speaker 1: a deeper dive into the things that listeners may not
Speaker 1: know about the restaurant scene here in Saint Louis with me.
Speaker 1: As always on this journey is my friend, co-host Copilot
Speaker 1: cohort Cheryl Bear. And I can say happy holidays again,
Speaker 1: my friend. Yes, happy holidays. I wish we were doing
Speaker 1: this with a web cam. They would see our festive
Speaker 1: gear today. I'm not sure that would be a great idea,
Speaker 1: but i it's hard for me to take you seriously
Speaker 1: in those reindeer antlers. But I'm, I'm glad you, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you wore them.
Speaker 1: This episode of Arch Eats is sponsored by Westport Plaza.
Speaker 1: Joining us will be restaurateur, Ben Pemba. Then we will
Speaker 1: finish as we always do with a micro rant this
Speaker 1: time about restaurant appetizers specifically how they're traditionally served and
Speaker 1: how they should be served. But first we'll begin as
Speaker 1: we always do with what I can't stop thinking about
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 1: And Cheryl you gave me a hint and I can't
Speaker 1: believe you're going there again. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to redeem the green bean casserole, so I'm
Speaker 1: sure I broke a lot of hearts or maybe no
Speaker 1: one really cares. But when I grandma's hearts, yes, I
Speaker 1: broke a lot of grandma's hearts and maybe Campbell's Soup
Speaker 1: Company's heart. When I professed
Speaker 1: my deep seated disdain for the green bean casserole, I, um,
Speaker 1: I don't need to rehash that. It's just not my
Speaker 1: favorite dish. It's not even close to my favorite dish.
Speaker 1: It's maybe my least favorite holiday dish. However,
Speaker 1: I recently went to Cellar House, which is a restaurant
Speaker 1: in Oakville, Deep, deep South County Chloe Yates is the chef.
Speaker 1: It's just a wonderful neighborhood restaurant. She's doing a lot
Speaker 1: of fun things there. And one of the things she's
Speaker 1: doing is they've turned the entire restaurant into a Christmas
Speaker 1: pop up dinner.
Speaker 1: They aren't just doing some holiday specials. They've basically thrown
Speaker 1: out their regular menu and their cocktail menu and their
Speaker 1: cocktail menu and they are doing um, really wonderful kind
Speaker 1: of traditional, you know, think figgy pudding and goose pie
Speaker 1: and all of these just very quintessential kind of old
Speaker 1: school Christmas dishes.
Speaker 1: One of the dishes she's doing is a take on
Speaker 1: the green bean casserole. That is wonderful. It is actually
Speaker 1: a savory cannoli. So think green bean casserole. But instead
Speaker 1: it is um, Eric o just sauteed. Um, they
Speaker 1: stuffed into a house made super flaky cannoli shell, green bean.
Speaker 1: Did you see green beans? Cannoli? Yes. A green bean cannoli.
Speaker 1: I promise you. And my Italian foremothers and forefathers, um,
Speaker 1: they would approve. It's actually quite delicious. Um And then
Speaker 1: instead of, you know, the Campbell's soup filling,
Speaker 1: she puts like a mushroom, kind of like a creamy
Speaker 1: mushroom sauce at the bottom of the plate and then
Speaker 1: stacks two cannoli on top of there, it is delicious.
Speaker 1: It is the green bean casserole for green bean casserole haters. Wow.
Speaker 1: That really, actually give you a hard time. But it
Speaker 1: really does sound like a lot of fun. And this
Speaker 1: goes all through December, I think until the sixth, maybe
Speaker 1: until the 6th January.
Speaker 1: January 6th, I believe is the last day of it.
Speaker 1: It's really a lot of fun stuff. The, um, so
Speaker 1: the thing I can't stop thinking about this week is
Speaker 1: a croissant, uh, specifically a chocolate croissant. I think we've
Speaker 1: talked about these before, but this is possibly the best
Speaker 1: one I've ever had. I had it last week at
Speaker 1: a place called 23 West Coffee, a new coffee shop in,
Speaker 1: in Webster Groves. And the thing that's different, you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about these chocolate croissants. They've got those little, um,
Speaker 1: what do they call them? Little nubs of chocolate, they
Speaker 1: call chocolate batons. And there's never enough in there as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned. And it's apparently that's the classic
Speaker 1: way to make them, but it's not the best way
Speaker 1: to make them. In my opinion. There's a place called
Speaker 1: Lucy Anna's pastries, which I've never heard of. It's up
Speaker 1: in Alton, they supply the pastries to 23 West coffee
Speaker 1: and they make a chocolate croissant that's, you know, crescent shaped.
Speaker 1: And instead of those little nubs of chocolate,
Speaker 1: there's like a river of chocolate. I mean, it's solid
Speaker 1: chocolate and it is so good. And what makes it
Speaker 1: doubly delicious is I think they take a little, it
Speaker 1: tasted like honey. They brushed a little honey on top.
Speaker 1: So you've got this little chewy component to this. I
Speaker 1: cut it up with a knife and fork because it
Speaker 1: was so sticky. And let me tell you, it was
Speaker 1: a really, really good croissant. So the chocolate in the center,
Speaker 1: is it gooey or
Speaker 1: you said it's solid. It's, it's kind of, it's go OK.
Speaker 1: I like we point the term on our cheese a
Speaker 1: little of each. But anyway, uh this is again, I
Speaker 1: don't know much about Luciana's pastries. They're up in Alton.
Speaker 1: Um They have, I know a, a high tea that
Speaker 1: they're doing in February, which I've got my eye on.
Speaker 1: I just know their pastries are delicious. They've got, uh
Speaker 1: in the case they've got almond horns and uh they've
Speaker 1: got muffins and they've got quiche and, and they've got
Speaker 1: lemon tarts, oatmeal bars. I mean, I practically memorize this
Speaker 1: because I want
Speaker 1: try every one of these, but they also have a
Speaker 1: chocolate pecan tart. That might be the best one of
Speaker 1: those I've ever had. So anyway, 23 West coffee go
Speaker 1: for the coffee indulge in the pastry. Wow. Well, I
Speaker 1: will definitely be heading there and I'm told the scones
Speaker 1: are incredible quote unquote. So all this on my list,
Speaker 1: great coffee. They don't sleep on the pastries and maybe
Speaker 1: even take a road trip to Alton too if you
Speaker 1: want to check out the pastries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. I might just go there when we
Speaker 1: get done right here. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: We'll take a break and when we come back, we
Speaker 1: will talk at length with restaurateur, Ben Pemba, who has
Speaker 1: lots of surprises in store.
Speaker 1: This fall and Winter Westport Plaza is welcoming Soda Fountain Express.
Speaker 1: And 360 Westport Soda Fountain Express is a spin on
Speaker 1: a classic diner and burger joint from the fifties and
Speaker 1: is a great place to host private events, birthday parties
Speaker 1: and more. 360 Westport is a modern rooftop bar and
Speaker 1: lounge featuring
Speaker 1: cocktails, expansive wine list and small plates. Come for a
Speaker 1: cocktail or dinner with a hand picked bottle of wine
Speaker 1: from the sommelier. Follow Westport Plaza on social media at
Speaker 1: Westport STL to stay informed about giveaways and upcoming events
Speaker 1: experience the unexpected at Westport Plaza
Speaker 1: and now back to the show as promised with us
Speaker 1: today on Archa's Ben Pamba, a familiar name to just
Speaker 1: about everyone within ear shot of this broadcast, but just
Speaker 1: in case, Ben is a three time James Beard award semifinalist.
Speaker 1: He's the owner of Benin Hospitality Group
Speaker 1: which operates six restaurants as well as a O and
Speaker 1: co that little bit of everything culinary shop in Botanical Heights.
Speaker 1: Ben is one of the most prolific and passionate members
Speaker 1: of the local restaurant community. Welcome to the podcast, Ben.
Speaker 1: No pressure. Hey
Speaker 2: George, thanks for having me on. Hey Cheryl. Nice to
Speaker 2: see you again. Great to see you.
Speaker 1: Suffice to say you're a busy, busy guy right
Speaker 2: now. Yeah, tons of stuff going on,
Speaker 2: obviously. Um As uh I've announced before, three of my
Speaker 2: restaurants including my flagship and the one I'm most known
Speaker 2: about Ellie and Olio.
Speaker 2: Uh and Nita are all gonna be closing down uh
Speaker 2: at their current location at the end of the year.
Speaker 2: Uh December 31st is gonna be the last day at
Speaker 2: their tar grave locations and they're gonna be uh relocating
Speaker 2: to the Delmar Maker District. That's that stretch uh on
Speaker 2: Delmar between Union and King's Highway
Speaker 1: before we get over to that area
Speaker 1: on New Year's Eve on the last night. I'm assuming
Speaker 1: everything is sold out but can, can people walk just
Speaker 1: stop by and walk in to, to say farewell or
Speaker 1: is it just gonna be too crazy? I, I
Speaker 2: actually did something uh probably counterintuitive from the, from a
Speaker 2: business perspective. Uh I decided not to have any events,
Speaker 2: uh you know, any ticketed events uh on that night
Speaker 2: and just really celebrate my staff, celebrate the time uh
Speaker 2: uh we've had there
Speaker 2: and so Nita Oyo and Elia are going to be
Speaker 2: closed um, for, I mean, I shouldn't say closed. They're
Speaker 2: gonna be, we're gonna just host a big party at
Speaker 2: Orio starting at 8 p.m. no tickets, like I said,
Speaker 2: no reservations. Uh, the bar is gonna be open for business.
Speaker 2: We're probably gonna put some food out. But, uh, I
Speaker 2: just wanted people to actually do exactly what you just mentioned,
Speaker 2: come in, come through.
Speaker 2: Uh, have a nice time and, and reminisce and, uh,
Speaker 2: and be sure,
Speaker 1: well, so Cheryl and I could just stop by. That's
Speaker 1: what you're saying.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly as you should as you should. So, you know,
Speaker 2: it actually, you know, this, this Year's New Year's Eve
Speaker 2: uh falls on a Sunday,
Speaker 2: which kind of works out really, really well. So our
Speaker 2: official service day at El Oro and hia will be
Speaker 2: that that night and then we decided that the next
Speaker 2: day we will give my step a little time off
Speaker 2: and next we celebrate them. So at 8 p.m. we'll
Speaker 2: just do a big party.
Speaker 2: Great. These are
Speaker 1: places that have meant so much to so many people
Speaker 1: and obviously they meant so much to you. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just kind of curious if, if it's bittersweet, if it's, um,
Speaker 1: you know, mixed emotions, if it feels like the right time,
Speaker 1: maybe all of the
Speaker 2: above. Yeah, I mean, obviously, uh
Speaker 2: it's bittersweet. It's the, it's the intuitive thing to say. Uh,
Speaker 2: we've been at, at those locations for, I mean, I
Speaker 2: started working on Oyo and Elia almost 14 years ago.
Speaker 2: I mean, it took a couple of years to build. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: of course. I mean, it's, it, it's my corner. Right.
Speaker 2: You know, I have, I have Oyo and Elia and
Speaker 2: I have Nita and I have uh sh and I
Speaker 2: have a O and co and, you know, I'm proud
Speaker 2: of what uh what I was able to do over there.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, absolutely. It, it feels, it feels uh a
Speaker 2: little sad. But, um
Speaker 2: you know, at the same time, I think that there
Speaker 2: is kind of like a natural expiration date to, to
Speaker 2: a lot of those things. And uh I'm personally very
Speaker 2: excited uh for the opportunity, you know, when you're at
Speaker 2: the same place for such a long time, you, you
Speaker 2: tend to sort of accept certain things and uh this,
Speaker 2: this is a huge opportunity to sort of bake in
Speaker 2: uh uh pour in new foundation and,
Speaker 2: and do things that I've always wanted to do. I
Speaker 2: was just maybe lazy, maybe just uh you know, the
Speaker 2: inertia of things just uh kept me, kept me away
Speaker 2: from doing um maybe too comfortable. The opportunity now is, is,
Speaker 2: is tremendous. And I really, really like that stretch on
Speaker 2: Del Mar. I think it's, it's maybe uh the coolest
Speaker 2: uh yet undiscovered part. Uh There's so much uh budding
Speaker 2: um energy,
Speaker 2: a creative energy with a 30 degree glass factory and
Speaker 2: with uh made STL and with other restaurant operators that
Speaker 2: are coming over there like uh Steve's hot Dogs and
Speaker 2: founding on Locust and, and uh Alpha Brewing. I tend to,
Speaker 2: I tend to look forward in everything I do. So
Speaker 2: I'm more happy, more excited than I am sad. And,
Speaker 2: but I am a little, you know, it's, it's that,
Speaker 2: it's that kind of film. I
Speaker 1: remember Ben when you were originally talking about this, I
Speaker 1: think you were over there in a coffee shop and
Speaker 1: somebody approached you, I think it was one of the
Speaker 1: guys from third degree glass. Do I have this story? Right?
Speaker 1: And he said, hey, Ben, you know, do you wanna
Speaker 1: do a restaurant over here or how did that come about?
Speaker 1: Because
Speaker 1: as I recall the story was pretty
Speaker 2: funny. Yeah. So, you know, I, you know, opening Delhi Divine,
Speaker 2: I was driving uh every day for the last two
Speaker 2: years on Delmar. Um And um
Speaker 2: I just, there was kind of, you know, first you
Speaker 2: just driving right through. I'm probably on the phone and
Speaker 2: slowly I started noticing some, you know, some, you know,
Speaker 2: the street looked clean and looked like uh he was
Speaker 2: loved and looked like there was a lot of energy there.
Speaker 2: I remember driving there one night on a Friday night
Speaker 2: and they, they, they're holding this, uh you know, open house,
Speaker 2: this Friday third Friday of the month, open house and
Speaker 2: Glass Factory. And the city was at the city, the
Speaker 2: street was packed with cars, there was light out there.
Speaker 2: Uh It has just so much, so much energy.
Speaker 2: Uh And at that point, I've always, I've already uh
Speaker 2: made the decisions to, to leave um to leave uh
Speaker 2: tar grow
Speaker 2: and was actively looking for,
Speaker 2: for either a new neighborhood or for, for a new building.
Speaker 2: And I, I looked everywhere. I mean, my, my day
Speaker 2: was packed with, you know, real estate brokers, calling me
Speaker 2: left and right. Developers uh come to Kirkwood, come to Chesterfield,
Speaker 2: come to uh cattle bill, uh stay in the city
Speaker 2: just every day. I saw so much stuff, a lot
Speaker 2: of cool stuff. Uh But I, nothing gave me this
Speaker 2: sort of kind of um
Speaker 2: um this energy that I saw in Belmar. And then I,
Speaker 2: the story is that I was sitting at brutal loom.
Speaker 2: Uh The now uh uh closed uh coffee shop.
Speaker 2: Um And uh I looked across from bru to Lou
Speaker 2: and there was a new development, looked like a restaurant
Speaker 2: was being built and I uh ran into Doug our
Speaker 2: who's uh now uh one of my, one of my
Speaker 2: uh uh I should say partners on this is the
Speaker 2: landlord on, on a few of these buildings that I'm
Speaker 2: going into. Uh Doug is the founder and of a
Speaker 2: third degree glass factory uh with Jim M Kelby
Speaker 2: and Doug uh told me that the, the, the restaurant
Speaker 2: they were going to do across the street is no
Speaker 2: longer a thing. And if I wanted to tour, and
Speaker 2: so I said, absolutely. And I got a tour of
Speaker 2: that restaurant. Uh But moreover, uh we just started walking
Speaker 2: up and down Delmar and he took me to Ma man,
Speaker 2: which is an architecture office uh right by third degree.
Speaker 2: And um gave me this
Speaker 2: kind of like overview, kind of like his vision for
Speaker 2: the street. And at that point, I really had this,
Speaker 2: you know, II I mentioned this to people like I
Speaker 2: have a kind of like a similar feel like this,
Speaker 2: this I, I would this exhilaration, this uh you know,
Speaker 2: exhilarating uh vibe inside that tells me, oh my God,
Speaker 2: this is, this is where I should be. Um There
Speaker 2: is so much opportunity and there's so much opportunity for
Speaker 2: growth
Speaker 2: as tons of buildings that, that needed, that needed uh loving,
Speaker 2: you know,
Speaker 2: um and right there and then I called my partners
Speaker 2: and I said, hey, I think I found our new
Speaker 2: neighborhood and quickly like started working on, on deals and
Speaker 2: started uh you know, spending more time there. And so
Speaker 2: what I should tell you is,
Speaker 2: and this is kind of like how crazy my mind works.
Speaker 2: And you're the fir and I'm, you're the first people,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell this to. But before we're
Speaker 2: doing uh before we're relocating Nita, which will happen in
Speaker 2: hopefully April and uh and which probably won't happen until
Speaker 2: the summer of 24. Uh We're introducing two new concepts
Speaker 2: to this neighborhood. And so, uh in 2024 we're gonna
Speaker 2: be opening five restaurants on Del Mar.
Speaker 2: Uh the two new concepts, uh one I briefly talked
Speaker 2: about is going to be ESCA that's um
Speaker 2: kind of a coastal Mediterranean concept that uh is gonna
Speaker 2: be in right down the corner. That, that's the first
Speaker 2: building that I saw
Speaker 2: and uh coastal Mediterranean food, uh with an emphasis on,
Speaker 2: on charcoal grilling a very elemental, gorgeous space. And then the,
Speaker 2: that's gonna, I'm, I'm hoping that that's gonna open, uh as,
Speaker 2: as early as February, uh Valentine's Day is sort of
Speaker 2: our peak day. Uh And then once brutal loom closed down.
Speaker 2: Um
Speaker 2: It just made all the sense in the world for
Speaker 2: me to take over that space. There's several aspects you, right.
Speaker 2: You know, a it's a space in a neighborhood that
Speaker 2: I'm going to try to dominate as far as the
Speaker 2: culinary scene goes. Uh It's a space that's fairly, you know,
Speaker 2: fully built. I mean, we're going to change uh uh
Speaker 2: tons of stuff inside. But the big thing for me
Speaker 2: here is that I uh made a commitment to my employees,
Speaker 2: especially those who have been with me for a long
Speaker 2: time that, uh, it doesn't matter if I, if it
Speaker 2: takes a six months or nine months or a year
Speaker 2: to open those restaurants, they're gonna be employed with me
Speaker 2: and that they don't have to go, uh, they don't
Speaker 2: have to go anywhere or, or worry about that. And
Speaker 2: so sure some of them, uh, we're gonna place at
Speaker 2: the deli and some of them are gonna go to
Speaker 2: benevolent King and some of them are gonna go to
Speaker 2: bar moral.
Speaker 2: Um, and some of them are going to be, uh, uh, help,
Speaker 2: you know, some of them are gonna help me open
Speaker 2: this new, uh restaurant ESCA, but it's still a, you know, it's,
Speaker 2: it's dozens of people, uh, literally dozens of people that
Speaker 2: I'm going to, uh, need to, uh, you know, pay
Speaker 2: for their livelihood and what better way to do this, uh,
Speaker 2: than opening a new, a new spot. So this brutal
Speaker 2: loom space. Uh, we're calling Florentine.
Speaker 2: It is named after Mike's favorite, uh neighborhood in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 2: And it's basically a Tel Aviv inspired, uh all day
Speaker 2: breakfast and lunch spot. Uh, with a huge emphasis on shakka,
Speaker 2: those delicious, uh, eggs that are basically poached or braised in, uh,
Speaker 2: in this chunky tomato sauce. Uh, from North Africa. Uh,
Speaker 2: this uh, menu is almost 95% vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian.
Speaker 2: It's, it's, it's great. Look, fresh juices. Uh We're gonna
Speaker 2: open as early as 8 a.m. My hope is to
Speaker 2: open as early as 8 a.m.
Speaker 2: Uh So, yeah, so it's giving me an opportunity to both, uh,
Speaker 2: give employment or continue employment, retain employment, I should say.
Speaker 2: Uh It's giving you an opportunity to uh place a
Speaker 2: lot of my furniture and a lot of my equipment
Speaker 2: in a, in a, you know, instead of in a
Speaker 2: store it actually put to use. And it's another element
Speaker 2: from this neighborhood. You know,
Speaker 2: one thing I learned from doing, from doing a neighborhood, right,
Speaker 2: from cooking up a neighborhood is um that you need
Speaker 2: diversity of businesses and you need different price points. And
Speaker 2: so uh you want people there at different times of day,
Speaker 2: uh spending their money and their and being entertained at
Speaker 2: different levels. So, you know, ESCA is gonna be a
Speaker 2: little more pricey uh uh than yo uh obviously less
Speaker 2: pricey than Elia.
Speaker 2: And that cafe is gonna be kind of like a
Speaker 2: super approachable. Um Everybody, you know, basically a place where
Speaker 2: everybody can, can, can come to. So this sort of daytime,
Speaker 2: night time, uh middle of the day, different price points
Speaker 2: is super important. Uh So you can attract uh a wider,
Speaker 2: a wider market.
Speaker 1: I I think you said ESCA will be, I wanna
Speaker 1: say unique in Saint Louis in that it's got the
Speaker 1: only
Speaker 1: coal burning appliance, right? You're gonna be cooking the meats
Speaker 1: and the fishes and the vegetables over coal.
Speaker 2: Well, the uniqueness of this concept is that we have
Speaker 2: no other surfaces. Uh I it's not like I have,
Speaker 2: you know, a, a grill in addition to, you know,
Speaker 2: a gas stove or, or, or, you know, uh it
Speaker 2: all we have there is just a charcoal oven and
Speaker 2: we're gonna try to do the entire menu out of there.
Speaker 2: So, including possibly baking bread and doing all of our desserts.
Speaker 2: And so, um
Speaker 2: yeah, that, that's, that's a unique concept for sure. I
Speaker 2: think
Speaker 1: a lot of people are familiar with kind of more
Speaker 1: eastern Mediterranean. You know, I think of um Olio benevolent
Speaker 1: King and all of that. You've said that this is
Speaker 1: going to be Italian Riviera, French Riviera, um maybe even
Speaker 1: into
Speaker 2: Spain. Yeah. So for sure. So the idea for S
Speaker 2: Sky is that it's loosely inspired by Western Mediterranean cuisine.
Speaker 2: So if you kind of think of the Italian and
Speaker 2: French Riviera all the way down to the Catalan coast,
Speaker 2: uh um you know, the, the uh western um coast
Speaker 2: of Spain, a little bit of Sicily, maybe a little
Speaker 2: bit of the Amalfi Coast as well. Um Just this
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, the French, call it the cuisine
Speaker 2: of the sun. And this is really what, what inspires us.
Speaker 2: It's very elemental food. Typically. It's a simple salads. Uh
Speaker 2: a lot of olive oil, um um
Speaker 2: healthy, a lot of, a lot of acid, a lot
Speaker 2: of lemon, uh We're gonna use a lot of lemon
Speaker 2: in different uh in different ways. Um So, yeah, kind
Speaker 2: of like that vibe uh for, for ESCA um which
Speaker 2: really is kind of like the difference. Uh The New Oreo.
Speaker 2: Once we do the New Olio, um, gonna be almost the,
Speaker 2: the opposite. It's gonna be the eastern part of the Mediterranean.
Speaker 2: So, it'd be interesting to see, uh, those two kind
Speaker 2: of exist side by side.
Speaker 1: Then I think it's great that you're able to shut
Speaker 1: three places down, but keep everybody busy with your other
Speaker 1: restaurants and then almost immediately opening up two more in
Speaker 1: a different part of town. You know, usually when a
Speaker 1: restaurant
Speaker 1: closes, the, the employees go, why, what are we gonna do?
Speaker 1: You've got that covered completely.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So like I said, I mean, it's, it's super ambitious.
Speaker 2: Um You know, the obvious question uh that you guys
Speaker 2: didn't ask me is why not do y and in those,
Speaker 2: in those spaces, why, why uh you know, why find
Speaker 2: new buildings for them? When I saw the first building,
Speaker 2: the ESA building uh that, you know, right there in
Speaker 2: Del Mar and Academy, it just didn't feel like it
Speaker 2: didn't feel like it didn't feel like Nixta.
Speaker 2: Uh but I really wanted to do a restaurant in there.
Speaker 2: And so I told my partners that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do a new restaurant. Uh When the brutal
Speaker 2: loom space became available, kind of felt a little like
Speaker 2: es but still not, still not, didn't have that vibe.
Speaker 2: And one of my managers said, let's just do all
Speaker 2: you in residence or something in here. And uh I
Speaker 2: just felt like that was gonna be super confusing
Speaker 2: and so the New Orlean Elliot buildings are gonna be
Speaker 2: pretty impressive and ambitious projects uh architecturally and operationally. So
Speaker 2: I will, I will tell you where, where they're located,
Speaker 2: they're right by 30 degree glass factory. We're taking the,
Speaker 2: you know, the Delmar Lee building. Uh The folks at
Speaker 2: Delmar Lee, after being in business for, I think almost
Speaker 2: 40 years have decided to retire. It just again, it's,
Speaker 2: it worked. Um What's the word, uh,
Speaker 1: serendipitously
Speaker 2: serendipitously? That's, that's what I, that's what I was looking for.
Speaker 2: Uh, once they announced that they are going to close,
Speaker 2: I went to Doug and said, this has to be
Speaker 2: also a former uh filling station with this kind of
Speaker 2: a signature glazed white brick on the outside. But we're
Speaker 2: going to take that building and we're going to take
Speaker 2: the building behind it. Uh And then, uh, we're also
Speaker 2: going to construct a new building and so three buildings,
Speaker 2: two existing structures, a whole new one and we're gonna,
Speaker 2: I connect all three of them to house Oro Elia.
Speaker 2: And then we're going to move our commissary kitchen from, uh,
Speaker 2: from Cherokee Street. You know, where we bake everything where
Speaker 2: we cut all of our cheese where we do a
Speaker 2: lot of, a lot of sort of, uh building blocks
Speaker 2: of our, of our restaurants. Uh, we're going to move
Speaker 2: into that structure and so that's going to be almost uh,
Speaker 2: eight or 9000 square foot building housing, like I said,
Speaker 2: two restaurants
Speaker 2: and then a big, uh, a big production kitchen. Uh,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be very, very cool. Very interesting.
Speaker 1: I am so glad that you were able to duplicate
Speaker 1: Olio in another spot because you look at Olio and
Speaker 1: you go, if it's ever done again, it has to
Speaker 1: be in an old service station and if you don't
Speaker 1: do it that way, it's gonna lose something. And I'll
Speaker 1: be darned if one of those wasn't available over on
Speaker 1: Delmar in that, uh, in the Delmar lease space.
Speaker 1: And I drove that stretch and I thought to myself, boy,
Speaker 1: I hope that's where Olio is gonna be. And
Speaker 2: in fact, the constellation of the stars, I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: not a particular spiritual in that, in that regard, but
Speaker 2: that really all worked out this, the, the, the existing buildings,
Speaker 2: the audio and I, the buildings are very
Speaker 2: tough to operate and we're very restrictive and what I'm doing, uh, is,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm gonna be able to implement a lot
Speaker 2: of my ideas for you and, and stuff that I
Speaker 2: wasn't able to do it. It's gonna be cool. Really,
Speaker 2: really cool. Like some of our planning at least is very,
Speaker 2: is very cool. Will
Speaker 1: any of the menus change? And Olio or you've got
Speaker 1: definitely certain
Speaker 1: things you do at each one and this will give
Speaker 1: you an opportunity to change that a little bit if
Speaker 1: you want to. Yeah,
Speaker 2: for sure. So, Oreo's menu is probably the most, uh,
Speaker 2: will be, I mean, we'll keep all of our classics
Speaker 2: and all of, you know, our customers favorites. But, um,
Speaker 2: what we couldn't do with Oreo for real is serve
Speaker 2: hot food. You know, that just didn't work. Uh, we
Speaker 2: didn't have a, like a hot kitchen
Speaker 2: and so the new Oreo kitchen will have, um, a
Speaker 2: grill where we are gonna be able to grill meats
Speaker 2: and do some, some more substantial food. Uh In addition
Speaker 2: to the big hummus and all the, all the things
Speaker 2: we already do, uh the menu, uh the format will
Speaker 2: probably stay the same, but we were working on some really,
Speaker 2: really neat ideas as far as
Speaker 2: uh the experience itself. And uh um you know, when
Speaker 2: I have some more concrete stuff, I'll share it. But
Speaker 2: uh again, it's about 66 to 7 months away. So,
Speaker 2: um for now just to suffice to say that things
Speaker 2: are gonna stay the same, uh the next a menu
Speaker 2: will
Speaker 2: largely stay the same except that we're going to introduce
Speaker 2: uh what I try to do at the existing location.
Speaker 2: I'm going to introduce Barley Mon, which always was kind
Speaker 2: of like a more fun, approachable, cheaper version of, of Nita.
Speaker 2: Uh And uh this is going to be kind of
Speaker 2: like a counter inside of Nita itself that's gonna serve
Speaker 2: uh ceviche and, and to start and, you know, uh
Speaker 2: as the name suggest things that are cooked in lemon
Speaker 2: if you will uh cocktails and things like that. Uh
Speaker 2: the fish cocktails, of course, the seafood cocktails. And so
Speaker 2: um so yes, n itself will also have kind of
Speaker 2: a dual personality one. It's a little more
Speaker 2: uh find an approachable and then a kind of a
Speaker 2: more fun, you know, um formal dining room
Speaker 1: sounds like we're up to 5.5 restaurants banner, you gotta
Speaker 1: keep going, You got next to which sounds like with,
Speaker 1: with bar la me, it's like a restaurant and a
Speaker 1: half there, right? It
Speaker 2: is, it actually is going to be a restaurant and
Speaker 2: a half. There's like a few other elements that I'm
Speaker 2: gonna keep as a surprise. But yeah, it's, it's Nita
Speaker 2: is definitely a restaurant in the hair that, that space
Speaker 2: is super cool. This entire development with Alpha Brewing and,
Speaker 2: and Steve's hot dog and uh Fountain on Locust is
Speaker 2: gonna be really, really neat. We're gonna have some uh
Speaker 2: shareable space kind of like a little uh green area
Speaker 2: in the middle of the whole development for people to
Speaker 2: just come and hang and it's gonna be, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be fun.
Speaker 1: My understanding is that the actual like production side is
Speaker 1: a key component of that. Like people will be able
Speaker 1: to see certain elements of things be
Speaker 1: made and that's part of the experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. So the whole script, the idea of
Speaker 2: makers really kind of fits with my philosophy. I've always
Speaker 2: been a big fan of what I call the element
Speaker 2: of the make. Uh, where you can actually see. This
Speaker 2: is why I have a lot of my kitchen are
Speaker 2: out up front. I mean, at bar more or you
Speaker 2: could just visibly see it,
Speaker 2: uh people making stuff. And so, uh that entire philosophy
Speaker 2: resonated with me and in keeping with what I do.
Speaker 2: So at Makers local, you're gonna be able to see
Speaker 2: uh the big steel at also brewing. Uh And at
Speaker 2: nar you're gonna be able to see people making uh
Speaker 2: the tortillas right there in front of you. So, you know,
Speaker 2: those are the things that in the past people were
Speaker 2: trying to hide. And for me that's part of the
Speaker 2: theater of dining, uh you just see how things are
Speaker 2: made and
Speaker 2: it's part of the show, right? Um The biggest uh
Speaker 2: example of that, that I have at my existing restaurant
Speaker 2: is with Joseph, our gardener, you know, having all these,
Speaker 2: you know, potting soil and all of these gardening tools
Speaker 2: and all of these
Speaker 2: things right up at the entrance of the restaurants. And, um,
Speaker 2: you know, it's, it's, it's, it's always changing. It's part
Speaker 2: of the, it's part of the experience. So
Speaker 1: I'm just amazed as I'm thinking about it, you know,
Speaker 1: in seven or eight months, we're gonna have a part
Speaker 1: of town that doesn't really have a lot of restaurants.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have like, I don't know, I lost count.
Speaker 1: It's eight or nine restaurants. It's that stretch of Delmar
Speaker 1: that
Speaker 1: it's just gonna all of a sudden come alive. There'll
Speaker 1: be synergy right off the bat because these places are
Speaker 1: basically opening up at the same
Speaker 2: time a year from now, that stretch of Delmar will
Speaker 2: be dramatically and drastically different.
Speaker 1: We just love us some Ben Barba. So thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us on this podcast today. Thanks
Speaker 2: George. Thanks Cheryl.
Speaker 1: So that brings us to what's often our favorite part
Speaker 1: of the show, our micro rant and this week's rant
Speaker 1: concerns odd numbered appetizers. I'm gonna set you up for this.
Speaker 1: You've been, I mean, anyone familiar with, with architecture or,
Speaker 1: or spatial design knows that even numbers are symmetrical but
Speaker 1: odd numbers are more interesting. That's why you always see
Speaker 1: a chef, but
Speaker 1: three scallops on a plate or five shrimp on a plate,
Speaker 1: odd numbers are better, which is fine unless there are
Speaker 1: four or six people dining at the table. And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you have to do some serious, you know,
Speaker 1: knife work or some serious uh appetizer subdivision, right? And
Speaker 1: I always thought, wouldn't it be easier as we experienced
Speaker 1: the other night to be offered a little bit extra,
Speaker 1: you know, an extra item for a nominal price if
Speaker 1: there's three to the order and there's four at the table,
Speaker 1: why don't you just add on the fourth? And this
Speaker 1: happened to us with a b
Speaker 1: cheek empanada at idle wolf. Remember there's three to the
Speaker 1: order there and there were four of us and we
Speaker 1: were darn glad to each one of us have one. Well,
Speaker 1: God knows you, you can't be splitting one of those
Speaker 1: like each person needs their. It was perfect. Everybody got one.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, this is something that shows
Speaker 1: the customer that the server is paying attention.
Speaker 1: It's this subtle detail. It's a touch of hospitality. It's
Speaker 1: a great Upsell and that's one that nobody's gonna refuse.
Speaker 1: Everybody will opt into that extra morsel. So let's pay
Speaker 1: attention restaurant folks when we do our appetizers and, and
Speaker 1: always make sure that everybody gets a taste. Sure.
Speaker 1: That's it. This week, folks for Arch Eats, best dishes
Speaker 1: and might I say Happy New Year. There are links
Speaker 1: in the show notes to all the places we talked
Speaker 1: about today. We encourage you to follow Arch Eats and
Speaker 1: share us with your friends and remember that we put
Speaker 1: out a new episode every other week. You can also
Speaker 1: subscribe to our newsletters at STL mag slash newsletters or
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Saint Louis mag or follow
Speaker 1: me at George Mahe.