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
Speaker 1: me as always is co-host and co collaborator Cheryl Beer.
Speaker 1: This episode of Arch Eats brought to you by Saint
Speaker 1: Louis symphony orchestra. Uh In a prior episode, we elaborated
Speaker 1: on Saint Louis magazine's best new restaurants list. And today
Speaker 1: we're gonna give more details on another subject. We collaborated
Speaker 1: on our most anticipated restaurant list for 24
Speaker 1: 16. Must go to places that we know of so far.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot more. Then we will finish
Speaker 1: as we always do with a micro rant. But first
Speaker 1: we'll begin as we always do with what I can't
Speaker 1: stop thinking about this week.
Speaker 1: So the thing I can't stop thinking about this week
Speaker 1: is the thing. Actually, we can't stop thinking about. Neither
Speaker 1: one of us could get over the whole Ben Pemba
Speaker 1: announcement that he's putting not three but five restaurants in
Speaker 1: the Delmar Maker District. Cheryl. I know you and I
Speaker 1: were just like on our heels like, you know, holy,
Speaker 1: we didn't say Molly, but we said something else when
Speaker 1: he got finished with that
Speaker 1: and, uh it was just uh an unbelievable announcement and
Speaker 1: we really didn't know we didn't actually have any, you know,
Speaker 1: postgame analysis, post podcast analysis. And that's what I think
Speaker 1: we should both talk about. Now. What did you, I mean,
Speaker 1: what was your takeaway from that? I mean, I am,
Speaker 1: I'm just amazed that he is going to do that.
Speaker 1: Ben
Speaker 2: Pemba is a bold person and I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people are um raising eyebrows,
Speaker 2: you know, how is he going to pull off? You know,
Speaker 2: not only is he closing his flagships and moving them
Speaker 2: across town, but he's also opening other things in the
Speaker 2: midst of this. And I think, you know, to the naysayers,
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, people tried to bet against
Speaker 2: him in botanical heights as well and look, look what happened,
Speaker 2: look what all he achieved. So I actually am pretty
Speaker 2: bullish on Ben's moves. Um I think they're just going
Speaker 2: to be really exciting and, and great to see
Speaker 1: and he was, and he was the first to say
Speaker 1: that he said this time, I get to do it
Speaker 1: the way I wanted to do it in the first place,
Speaker 1: the way it should be built and I can do
Speaker 1: it even quicker, you know, basically to come to a
Speaker 1: new neighborhood that needs this. And quite honestly, I bet
Speaker 1: he's got great rent there and uh it's just a
Speaker 1: huge opportunity for him. And, and like you said, he
Speaker 1: is a, he's a risk taker. He is a, you know,
Speaker 1: he is, he's, he does exciting stuff. He, he takes
Speaker 1: chances and that's what I, that's what I like about
Speaker 1: this guy. He was joking that Gerard Kraft at one time,
Speaker 1: moved a restaurant and started another at exactly the same time.
Speaker 1: Now he's doing that with basically five restaurants. So we've
Speaker 1: got to hand it to uh to Ben Pemba for
Speaker 1: doing something that really nobody else has ever done. And, and,
Speaker 1: and really, you know, there was a Cheryl you were
Speaker 1: mentioning some concerns and one of them is that there's
Speaker 1: no really infill housing in that area. There wasn't any
Speaker 1: infill housing in botanical heights either. His contention is that,
Speaker 1: you know, having a density of business in a, in
Speaker 1: an area would drive a change in population in, in building.
Speaker 1: And you know, when developers are thinking of putting places up,
Speaker 1: it's a good idea to have some great restaurants within
Speaker 1: walking distance and that's exactly what he's gonna do. So
Speaker 1: my prediction is some, you know, there's gonna be some
Speaker 1: infill housing that's gonna follow along here. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't think that strip between Union and King's Highway is
Speaker 1: even a mile long. But man, by the end of
Speaker 1: 2024 he won't recognize
Speaker 2: it. And I know you have people in the Skin
Speaker 2: Oliver neighborhood who are looking for a place that they
Speaker 2: can walk to, that's closer than the west end. The
Speaker 2: west end is just around the corner. I mean, what's
Speaker 2: really exciting about this too is that he's, they're all
Speaker 2: such different concepts and it's not just different in style
Speaker 2: but in form as well. You know, he has a
Speaker 2: breakfast and lunch spot. He has a bar, he has
Speaker 2: as a fine dining, you know, restaurant here. He has
Speaker 2: kind of a reinvention of Olio. So really, he's kind
Speaker 2: of giving a little bit of something to a whole
Speaker 2: lot of different kind of interests. And I think that's
Speaker 2: where um where he's going to find a success.
Speaker 1: And I think we might have talked about this before,
Speaker 1: but what his restaurants, what makes them unique is
Speaker 1: they work. They will all work in any city and
Speaker 1: that's the way he designs them that you could pick
Speaker 1: up a Leo and put it anywhere in the country
Speaker 1: and it would work. You could pick up Nick to
Speaker 1: put it anywhere in the country and it would work.
Speaker 1: And that's, again, that's a testament to him. He's got
Speaker 1: incredible creativity. He's uh amazing attention to detail. I mean,
Speaker 1: he thinks this stuff through so well and uh I,
Speaker 1: I think that's something that, that, that people overlook that,
Speaker 1: that uh you know, these things can literally appear on
Speaker 1: any corner in any city and be successful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can appear in any corner in any city.
Speaker 2: They can appear on any corner in the same city.
Speaker 2: So I'm, I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to it. Boy, me too. Anyway, we'll see, you know,
Speaker 1: in about nine months we're gonna, we're gonna be hanging
Speaker 1: out in a different part of town, which I think
Speaker 1: is very, very exciting. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back, become a young friend of the
Speaker 1: Saint Louis symphony orchestra and join a community of fellow
Speaker 1: Saint Louis arts lovers, young friends nights. Are your chance
Speaker 1: to experience the thrill of live music, meet new friends
Speaker 1: and mingle with SL Ss O musicians after the concert.
Speaker 1: Join us for our next young friends Night music fables
Speaker 1: featuring the Timeless
Speaker 1: classic Peter and the Wolf, accompanied by the Academy Award
Speaker 1: winning short film and Francis Poulenc's colorful Les, an animal
Speaker 1: model narrated by Broadway star and Saint Louis Native Ken
Speaker 1: page on January 27th at Steel Theater. Get your tickets
Speaker 1: today at slso.org/young Friends
Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
Speaker 1: So our plan today with our most anticipated restaurants episode
Speaker 1: is to provide some more detail beyond the written article
Speaker 1: that we put out a few weeks ago. And uh
Speaker 1: we did 1618, 20 quite a few. And I, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start uh with Osteria for which
Speaker 1: again it's open now. But when we wrote that article,
Speaker 1: it had, it had yet to open, right? Remember I
Speaker 1: said we're going to talk more about this place and,
Speaker 1: and here we go. So it's open out in o'fallon, Missouri.
Speaker 1: Uh It's uh extended members of the Pio Toso family.
Speaker 1: And uh the it's interesting. The, the, the big seller
Speaker 1: is the a 14 inch bone in pork rib chop,
Speaker 1: done salt and boca style with prosciutto and a white
Speaker 1: wine sage sauce
Speaker 1: and uh Fontanella cheese. That sounds fantastic. I said, why?
Speaker 1: Fontanella and not Fontina? Well, it's creamier. It's smoother and
Speaker 1: it's a little sharper which I didn't know. So that's
Speaker 1: one of the secrets to this beautiful dish that everybody's
Speaker 1: going crazy about out there. There's a dessert. This is
Speaker 1: pretty funny. Uh The,
Speaker 1: the one of the owners is, is the pastry chef
Speaker 1: and she makes the Tre Aichi cake, Tre Aichi three
Speaker 1: friends cake. It's a chocolate cake with three friends. Peanut butter,
Speaker 1: butter cream, chocolate ganache and salted caramel sauce. Wow. These
Speaker 2: seem like friends. I want to hang
Speaker 1: and I mean, it's, it's so inc and it's, it's
Speaker 1: outselling everything else.
Speaker 1: And the other owner said, you know, you know, we
Speaker 1: make tiramisu homemade here too and normally that just flies
Speaker 1: off the shelves. He goes, don't forget about the tiramisu guys.
Speaker 1: He's telling the servers, you know, don't forget to push
Speaker 1: the tiramisu because everybody's ordering this tray, Amici cake, you
Speaker 1: say peanut
Speaker 2: butter butter cream and I don't think you can convince
Speaker 2: me of anything else. It,
Speaker 1: it's, it's, it's a really cool place. It's out in o'fallon.
Speaker 1: Uh
Speaker 1: If, if, if you can get there in time I
Speaker 1: don't know if they can keep making this, but they're
Speaker 1: making a homemade barrel aged orang cello out of uh
Speaker 1: you know, ma macerated orange peels and, and, and sugar
Speaker 1: and they ferment all that for three months in toasted
Speaker 1: oak barrels. And the owner said I love this stuff
Speaker 1: and everybody's loving it, but I don't know that I
Speaker 1: can continue to make it because it's so labor intensive.
Speaker 1: So get out there and have some Orano with your tray.
Speaker 1: Aichi cake.
Speaker 1: So that's Osteria Foro. Now open in o'fallon. You've got
Speaker 1: a place down in uh it's called Manalo that I
Speaker 1: don't know that much about. I know it's getting ready
Speaker 1: to open.
Speaker 2: Yes. So that's one of the places I'm particularly excited about.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, over the past few years we've
Speaker 2: seen some really great Filipino restaurants open here in town.
Speaker 2: You know, I think of uh fatten calf, I think
Speaker 2: of can and Te'o Exactly. That's a wonderful one too
Speaker 2: over there in mid
Speaker 2: out and we're going to add this to the list.
Speaker 2: Um They're going to open in Tower Grove South, I
Speaker 2: believe they originally said end of 2023 but looks like
Speaker 2: it might get pushed as, as most things do into
Speaker 2: the next month. So hopefully sometime in January they are
Speaker 2: taking over, um, the very short lived restaurant space. Um,
Speaker 2: that was at one time snow. And um they're looking
Speaker 2: to do
Speaker 2: a very traditional Filipino restaurant what the family has said
Speaker 2: is that this is going to be the sort of
Speaker 2: place where think home cooking, think stews and, you know,
Speaker 2: Slow Breed Oxtail that have been simmering for hours, maybe
Speaker 2: even cooking for like days.
Speaker 2: You know, in, in someone's home kitchen, they want this
Speaker 2: really traditional soulful, satisfying, slow cooked kind of feel to
Speaker 2: their place there. Um, some of the dishes, like I said,
Speaker 2: Oxtail soup is going to be there. Um, you know,
Speaker 2: they'll have pence it, of course, Adobo.
Speaker 2: Um, they also said they're going to do some sweets
Speaker 2: and some imported coffee from the Philippines. So I'm really
Speaker 2: excited
Speaker 1: about that and it's a restaurant that's on two floors.
Speaker 1: Always interested to see what happens on the second floor
Speaker 1: of a restaurant. If it's as appealing as the first floor,
Speaker 1: snow was that way snow was pretty cool upstairs.
Speaker 1: Um Now a place that we went to again, it,
Speaker 1: it kind of sneaked open all of a sudden I
Speaker 1: thought it was gonna open toward the end of the month,
Speaker 1: but it's uh it will be open by the time
Speaker 1: listeners hear this. It's called None of the Above. And
Speaker 1: it is the new speakeasy esque bar. I guess if
Speaker 1: you want to call it that it's City Foundry, you know, it's, it's,
Speaker 1: it's in literally in a tunnel underneath City Foundry. It's
Speaker 1: uh from Gerard Kraft's Niche food group.
Speaker 1: You know, it was underground. We didn't, we couldn't like
Speaker 1: peek through the window to see what was going on
Speaker 1: and you enter via a very nondescript man door out
Speaker 1: on Foundry Way that has a single red light above it.
Speaker 1: No signage. And, uh, I, I don't wanna,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, spoil too much of the, of the surprise,
Speaker 1: but there's, there's some passageways and there's some secret doors and, uh,
Speaker 1: you were there, what was your impression of the place?
Speaker 2: I mean, you walk in and I was there in
Speaker 2: the middle of the day and I might as well
Speaker 2: have been there. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. You
Speaker 2: walk in, you go through these tunnels, you just descend
Speaker 2: into the subterranean world that, you know, used to be
Speaker 1: and there's all
Speaker 1: a lot of hallways. It's, it's a, it's not a
Speaker 1: long hike, but you definitely feel like you've earned it
Speaker 1: when you get there. And what I
Speaker 2: think is interesting is you're gradually going down these ramps
Speaker 2: like it's not this, you know, you climb down a
Speaker 2: massive stairwell, like everything's just very gradual as if it's
Speaker 2: kind of setting this tone to get to this space
Speaker 2: and then you walk in the store and
Speaker 2: it is just absolutely stunning. I mean, the way I
Speaker 2: described it is it kind of as if art deco
Speaker 2: and mid century modern like had a baby together, you know,
Speaker 2: just think like these lux velvet banquettes, this gorgeous kind of, um,
Speaker 2: you know, amber cognac kind of colored wooden bar, downcast
Speaker 2: lights like brass fixtures on each table individually. It's
Speaker 1: stunning. It's sexy. It's romantic.
Speaker 1: The cocktails are great. Uh It's interesting, the food component,
Speaker 1: there's no kitchen there. So at the present time, the
Speaker 1: food is some uh some cold items, but they're all
Speaker 1: really good and they're not
Speaker 2: going to do a, you know, a full blown food
Speaker 2: program there because, you know, they're right underneath city foundries.
Speaker 2: So they figure this is going to be just a
Speaker 2: special place where people will go for really elegant cocktails.
Speaker 2: They emphasize the,
Speaker 2: they see this as a sophisticated place. They don't have
Speaker 2: a dress code per se. You'll feel
Speaker 1: like you should dress a little bit to go to this. It's,
Speaker 1: it's that cool. It's that sophisticated and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: that popular. It's gonna be one of those places you
Speaker 1: brag about to your friends, family, people from out of town. And,
Speaker 1: you know, with that in mind it's no reservations, admittance
Speaker 1: is by walk in only
Speaker 1: and you just have to remember that. But once the
Speaker 1: place fills up, you go on to Rezz and go
Speaker 1: on to that Rezz waitlist, which is a really convenient thing.
Speaker 1: It's that, you know, hey, we've got four people. They
Speaker 1: said very well, you know, your table should be ready
Speaker 1: in 20 minutes, 25 minutes, whatever it is. So at
Speaker 1: least you won't be, be hanging there.
Speaker 1: Uh, I understand again. This place is gonna be so
Speaker 1: popular that there will be some sort of time limit
Speaker 1: on the table, sir. Uh I was told that it
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be generous, but it won't be a
Speaker 1: place where you can just, you wanna hang out there
Speaker 1: all night, but
Speaker 1: you won't be allowed to because I'm telling you, it's
Speaker 1: just going to be that popular that, that so many
Speaker 1: people are gonna want to get in there and that's
Speaker 1: kind of, uh that's kind of a thing that's happening,
Speaker 1: I think across the country and especially in Europe, these
Speaker 1: time limits on tables, these guys have to make their
Speaker 1: money when, when the people are out there. So, so that, that's,
Speaker 1: that's how that happens. But none of the above open
Speaker 1: at City Foundry STL
Speaker 1: You heard it here, it is outstanding.
Speaker 2: Must visit. Absolutely an essential food and beverage destination of
Speaker 2: Saint Louis.
Speaker 1: Um out at Westport, I was excited to see all
Speaker 1: the goings on out there. They tore a bunch of
Speaker 1: buildings down. There's this huge uh uh green space that's
Speaker 1: being constructed for concerts and parties and, you know, parties
Speaker 1: at the plaza and they've, they've recreated
Speaker 1: uh the, the soda fountain uh restaurant. They uh kind
Speaker 1: of a mini me version of the soda fountain down
Speaker 1: at Union Station and they didn't spare any expense. It's
Speaker 1: exactly the same and they spent a fortune on this place.
Speaker 1: It is really cool looking burgers, freak shakes, fast casual stuff.
Speaker 1: It's not table service like it is uh at Union
Speaker 1: Station so that it should be opened by year's end.
Speaker 1: I'm told. And then
Speaker 1: you've got on the 12th floor of the Gold Tower, the,
Speaker 1: you know, the new 360 which is, again, we love
Speaker 1: 360 downtown. It's on the rooftop here. It's not, I
Speaker 1: think it's a couple floors down but there's operable windows
Speaker 1: that open up. So it kind of feels you've got,
Speaker 1: you've got the open air feel there.
Speaker 1: Plaza is, it's all of a sudden, it's like it's
Speaker 1: happening there again. And I'm just glad to see that
Speaker 1: you've got a place um in Webster Groves that we
Speaker 1: both love. This
Speaker 2: is Tel the at the Ridge. Um I said, Lauren Nick,
Speaker 2: she and her husband Eddo are the owners of Balkan
Speaker 2: Treat Box, which I think
Speaker 2: if you're listening to this podcast, you are very well
Speaker 2: versed with Balkan Treat Box. It is a vital part
Speaker 2: of the Saint Louis restaurant scene and this is a
Speaker 2: fun little. Um I guess she, she calls it a
Speaker 2: coffee shop. She calls it a cafe that has their
Speaker 2: flavor profile, which is, you know, Balkan cuisine, um very
Speaker 2: focused on kind of the Balkan um
Speaker 2: in particular Bosnian coffee
Speaker 1: drink, the Balkan coffee experience, which is done in, I
Speaker 1: haven't experienced this yet. It's in a little copper pot
Speaker 1: and I don't even dare try to pronounce it. There's two,
Speaker 1: there's two Z's and a V in the name. It's,
Speaker 1: it's impossible to pronounce, but they brew to order this coffee.
Speaker 1: And I guess the name t the, the name comes
Speaker 1: from the grounds found at the bottom of this coffee.
Speaker 1: And apparently fortune tellers use that to tell the drinkers
Speaker 2: fortune. Yes. Instead of like reading the tea leaves, you
Speaker 2: read the coffee.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's gonna happen there, but it should. Exactly.
Speaker 2: Well, and that's a, that's a really fun place and
Speaker 2: she's going to have kind of daytime fair there. You know,
Speaker 2: she's not spilling the beans too much on what her
Speaker 2: things are. But think of things like, you know, toasts
Speaker 2: and pastries, a lot of different coffee drinks. It's going
Speaker 2: to be just a really fun spot.
Speaker 1: There's a bread pudding that's got, it looks like about
Speaker 1: three tablespoons of cinnamon in it. Have you seen that
Speaker 1: with that made with the so moon bread that is
Speaker 1: just outstanding. Nexus.
Speaker 1: Nexus has been a long time coming. It is
Speaker 2: and I am so excited about Nexus. Um I don't
Speaker 2: know if, well, I'm sure you, do you remember the
Speaker 2: restaurant bait in the central west end? That really just
Speaker 2: sophisticated seafood cocktail lounge. Their chef, at least their opening
Speaker 2: chef Sarah Jackson is just this, in my mind. She's
Speaker 2: just this culinary powerhouse. She has this knack for flavor that, um,
Speaker 2: that I feel like she's just one of the most
Speaker 2: chefs that we've seen recently in ST Louis. Um, she's
Speaker 2: been on the scene for a while, but I started
Speaker 2: knowing about her at a place in SARD that's since closed,
Speaker 2: called Fleur De Lily's. That was wonderful. Um, and then
Speaker 2: at Bait, I was really a big fan of her food. Now,
Speaker 2: she's getting to step out on her own. She's going
Speaker 2: to be chef and owner of this restaurant and it'll
Speaker 2: be located in midtown. It's part of that, um, you know,
Speaker 2: development there that houses a lot of
Speaker 2: really great
Speaker 1: restaurant. I call it the 2700 Locust development. I don't
Speaker 1: think it has an official name, but there's five restaurants
Speaker 1: under one roof. I think it started with um Quinte
Speaker 1: Filipino Place. Uh Anita Cafe is there. But Dra Wine
Speaker 1: Bar and now Nexus and there's, there's a brewery coming in,
Speaker 1: coming in. So anyway, 2700 Locust is gonna be a
Speaker 1: happening little corner and, and it really is, it's, it's
Speaker 1: kind of reached critical mass. So,
Speaker 1: so Nexus one's that supposed to open. So
Speaker 2: that is, that's another one of those where I think
Speaker 2: the goal was sometime in December of 2023 but it
Speaker 2: looks like it'll get pushed into January, possibly even February
Speaker 2: and what diners can expect at that place. She really,
Speaker 2: you know, she's true to the name. She sees the
Speaker 2: place as kind of this culinary crossroads.
Speaker 2: She doesn't want to use the word fusion, but she's
Speaker 2: really drawing on global flavors. She's taking inspiration from a
Speaker 2: lot of different culinary traditions and she's really trying to
Speaker 2: create this gathering place where you can experience small plates
Speaker 2: from around the world
Speaker 1: and I peeked in the windows there. It's really charming.
Speaker 1: It looks kind of like a, like a parlor in
Speaker 1: the central west end.
Speaker 1: You know, the, the old fireplaces and, and, and, you know,
Speaker 1: cushy chairs and it looks very, very, uh cozy and
Speaker 1: charming and appealing. That's Nexus. We go out to Chesterfield
Speaker 1: to Napoli Brothers and this is gonna open, I think
Speaker 1: in about April and this is the, the restaurant from
Speaker 1: uh the Napoli Brothers being Ken
Speaker 1: and Andy Pio Toso, the sons of uh uh Tony
Speaker 1: Pio Toso of Cafe Napoli fame. Anyway, their thing there,
Speaker 1: Napoli Brothers pizza and pasta is these coal fired pizzas
Speaker 1: and it'll be the only place in town that has
Speaker 1: a coal fired the Black Blisters,
Speaker 1: New Haven style um pie that's cooked in 1000 degree oven.
Speaker 1: It's hotter than any other pizza oven in town. And
Speaker 1: so you get this incredible uh crispness and, and blistering
Speaker 1: and charred flavor like you would from a charcoal like
Speaker 1: like you're cooking it on, on a charcoal grill.
Speaker 1: So, so that's gonna be their claim to fame. But
Speaker 1: I also understood that they're gonna do some pastas there,
Speaker 1: some fresh and dried pastas like they do at some
Speaker 1: of their other stores. So, but the, the signature item
Speaker 1: out at Napoli Brothers is gonna be the same thing
Speaker 1: that they have out at Napoli C it's a pasta
Speaker 1: that's finished in a hollowed out half wheel of Italian Parmesan.
Speaker 1: This giant
Speaker 1: £45 wheel that they cart out to your table. Throw
Speaker 1: some grain alcohol in there. Light it lighted a fire,
Speaker 1: soften up some of the cheese and then they throw
Speaker 1: some seafood risotto in there and scrape some of that
Speaker 1: cheese into that and serve it right. then in there
Speaker 1: table side, it sounds borderline obscene because it
Speaker 1: no casual place out in Chesterfield. I said that's pretty
Speaker 1: darn cool for being casual. So that's gonna be their
Speaker 1: one table side item. And again, they're, they're making a
Speaker 1: big deal out of it because it's the biggest seller
Speaker 1: at Napoli C and they said we just have to
Speaker 1: repeat it because it's just so cool. Go for the
Speaker 1: pizza but definitely hang out for the flaming uh Parmesan
Speaker 1: half wheel. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: hang out with the flaming Parmesan
Speaker 1: one in doubt. Light it on fire. It's one of the, it's,
Speaker 1: it's probably the slickest tableside preparation in town. I learned
Speaker 1: a lot talking to the folks at forehands slash peacemaker.
Speaker 1: The one that's gonna open in Kirkwood. Speaking of taking
Speaker 1: a long time to open again, this is the, the
Speaker 1: two Kevins Kevin Lump and Kevin Nash. And this is
Speaker 1: going to be really quite large 315 seats, which is,
Speaker 1: that's an insane amount.
Speaker 1: What I learned was 75 inside, 75 under like a
Speaker 1: four season edition. And then it, it, their quote backyard
Speaker 1: has 100 and 50 seats as well. So, um, a
Speaker 1: lot of, uh, fun things. It's gonna be 50% peacemaker
Speaker 1: and 50% forehands. It's not gonna be, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: lean in either direction.
Speaker 1: But what the fun thing about that is they got
Speaker 1: a menu board from a place called Oat Foundry, which
Speaker 1: I'd never heard of who creates menu boards that are
Speaker 1: akin to those London train station, those old type of
Speaker 1: boards with the numbers that flap and flip over. And
Speaker 1: so they'll be able to change their beers. They'll, they'll
Speaker 1: be able to change their menu. Everything can change, that
Speaker 1: whole board can change completely in 45 seconds.
Speaker 1: And again, they're right next to the Amtrak Station and
Speaker 1: they said we'll even put the Amtrak schedule up on
Speaker 1: this board. That looks like an old train schedule board. Anyway. I,
Speaker 1: I just, I had to laugh at that. I was
Speaker 1: talking to Kevin Lump about it and he said, it's, it's,
Speaker 1: it's the little things that, that separate you. I want
Speaker 1: people to say this is the coolest menu board I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. And I said, and they will, so they're
Speaker 1: going for, uh, hospitality, they're going for experience, they're really
Speaker 1: taking their time on it
Speaker 1: and I know that they're gonna do, um, every quarter
Speaker 1: they're talking about doing outdoor shrimp and crab boils with
Speaker 1: a specific beer brewed for that occasion. They've got all
Speaker 1: kinds of things cooked up for this and they're talking
Speaker 1: about finally, I think they're finally ready to announce an
Speaker 1: opening after kind of hemming and hawing, uh April May opening. And, um,
Speaker 1: that's, that's the story there. And again, that'll be a
Speaker 1: place that everybody's gonna hang out and especially in that,
Speaker 1: you know, backyard that seats 100 and 50 people.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, that, that will be a, uh, one of
Speaker 2: those places where get there early. I have a feeling
Speaker 2: it'll be a very popular spot and rightfully so,
Speaker 1: yeah, definitely. And, and like, yeah, long time comment, but
Speaker 1: it'll be worth it. So, um, good company. Is that
Speaker 1: the name of it?
Speaker 2: It is. I am so excited about good company. Um,
Speaker 2: if you're familiar with Good Ice, this is, I guess
Speaker 2: you'd call it a sister company to them. Um, Good Ice.
Speaker 2: It was started by a few bartenders, Jordan Goodman, Kyle Gillespie. Um,
Speaker 2: they're just veteran bartenders, um, here around town and they've
Speaker 2: been doing if you've been anywhere and seen those one
Speaker 2: just embossed ice cubes that are at some of the
Speaker 2: higher end cocktail bars, some nice restaurants around town. Um,
Speaker 2: they got their start doing those. They have all sorts
Speaker 2: of special equipment. It's actually very helpful. It's not a
Speaker 2: gimmick for restaurants.
Speaker 1: They're the ones that have the giant spheres and the long, um,
Speaker 2: the giant spheres, the long rectangles. Um, they have like,
Speaker 2: people can put their logos
Speaker 2: in the ice cubes. If you've seen that at places,
Speaker 2: it's just a wonderful company at their hearts though. Their
Speaker 2: bartenders and they always thought, ok, well, maybe we could
Speaker 2: open up a cocktail bar that complemented our ice business.
Speaker 2: It would be kind of an ice focused cocktail bar. So, um,
Speaker 2: that's the idea behind good company. At least that was
Speaker 2: the genesis of the idea. But
Speaker 2: when they found the space in the former Leila in
Speaker 2: the grove, which is where they're going to be opening,
Speaker 2: they really saw that. Ok, we think the space necessitates
Speaker 2: us doing something a little bit bigger. So in addition
Speaker 1: to Fancy Schmancy Ice, yeah,
Speaker 2: exactly. In addition to Fancy Schmancy Ice and, and I must,
Speaker 2: I must say that Fancy Schmancy Ice does not translate
Speaker 2: into Fancy Schmancy
Speaker 2: experience. They, you know, they wanna have a nice, comfortable
Speaker 2: elevated hospitality focused experience, but it's not gonna be, you know,
Speaker 2: like none of the above where you feel like you
Speaker 2: have to dress up. They're not going for that. In fact,
Speaker 2: one thing they are going for is they really wanna
Speaker 2: be in the conversation is one of the best burgers
Speaker 2: in town, their food menu. They're gonna have a very
Speaker 2: small food menu, but it's going to center around burgers.
Speaker 2: And uh Jordan
Speaker 2: told me not a smash burger but not as thick
Speaker 2: as a like really hearty eight ounce steakhouse burger. Somewhere
Speaker 2: in between. Not too big, not too small goldilocks burger. Exactly.
Speaker 2: You know, just focus toppings. Maybe a fried egg, some
Speaker 2: really great bacon, good cheese. Um, so that's what they're
Speaker 2: looking to do and they do not have an opening
Speaker 2: date at this point. I'm thinking we're probably like into
Speaker 2: spring sometime
Speaker 2: around there when they're looking to be open. But that
Speaker 2: is good company in the growth.
Speaker 1: But they're doing brew. Are they brewing and distilling? I know,
Speaker 1: didn't they, didn't somebody call it a breil? Do I
Speaker 1: have the right place there? No,
Speaker 2: that's not. I don't think that's good company. I think
Speaker 2: that might be alpha, which is next on the list. Yeah,
Speaker 2: good company is just strictly think cocktail bar, think kind
Speaker 2: of neighborhood gathering spot with uh elevated hospitality element to
Speaker 2: it
Speaker 1: in the Delmar Maker District
Speaker 1: is a brew stiller, what they're calling a Bruil that's
Speaker 1: opening up in the springtime, right
Speaker 2: where you're talking about the Bruil is Alpha Brewing Company.
Speaker 2: Um They are located in Tower Grove South currently and
Speaker 2: they're getting ready to open in a facility in the
Speaker 2: Makers District, kind of like a combination events and food
Speaker 2: space called the Maker's Locale. And the whole idea behind
Speaker 2: this is it's going to be food and beverage focused,
Speaker 2: but you will be able to witness your food or
Speaker 2: drink being made in some sort of capacity. The focus
Speaker 2: is on the maker side. So with that being said,
Speaker 2: Alpha Brewing company, they have their, a brewery that they're
Speaker 2: doing there and uh you know, tasting room, of course,
Speaker 2: but they've also just launched a uh distillery and they're going,
Speaker 2: their main focus is Fruited Vodkas, which they've already released them.
Speaker 2: Um They're called Sqush, I believe, is the name of them.
Speaker 2: Um I believe that's how you pronounce it. Um So
Speaker 2: those have already been released, but that's going to be
Speaker 2: the place where those different it is. It's kind of
Speaker 2: fun to say. And so yeah, I guess I'm thinking
Speaker 2: about like squishing up like a strawberry in my fruit vodka.
Speaker 2: You know, I guess it's aptly named there.
Speaker 2: So they're a lot of fun, but they're not the
Speaker 2: only ones in makers local, two very beloved places from
Speaker 2: the Hustle Hospitality Group which owns Steve's Hot Dogs and
Speaker 2: Fountain on Locust. They are opening a second location of
Speaker 2: Steve's hot dogs as well as a ice cream concept
Speaker 2: called Fountain Off Locust. So think of the ice cream
Speaker 2: and
Speaker 2: the dessert side. They do at the original fountain on Locust,
Speaker 2: but they won't do the food component there. And the
Speaker 2: idea is you'll get to see your ice cream being made,
Speaker 2: you'll get to see like your hot dogs prepared to order.
Speaker 2: Um Just a really fun spot that they're gonna do
Speaker 1: there. I was really interested to talk to Gerard Craft
Speaker 1: about his new Barbecue concept called Expat Barbecue, which was
Speaker 1: announced a while back.
Speaker 1: Um, and, and again, he said, you know, the barbecue
Speaker 1: is kind of universal across the world. The only thing
Speaker 1: that changes are the flavors and the marinades and the
Speaker 1: sauces and you know how the, the, the meats are,
Speaker 1: are treated.
Speaker 1: And he gave me a little sneak peek into one
Speaker 1: of the, uh, items that he's gonna be serving there. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's a Saint Louis style spare rib, not a baby back.
Speaker 1: We all are baby back to death. He loves, he
Speaker 1: loves the big Saint Louis. Spare the big long flat
Speaker 1: spare rib that I call the rib. My dad used
Speaker 1: to cook when I was a kid
Speaker 1: and on this, he's going to put a uh here
Speaker 1: and this is what makes you, there's Chinese five spice
Speaker 1: fermented black bean paste, black vinegar, lychee juice and bajo whiskey.
Speaker 1: And you know, I know most of these except for
Speaker 1: bajo whiskey and I had to look that up. I
Speaker 1: didn't know what the heck it was. It's, it's a
Speaker 1: clear Chinese spirit and apparently
Speaker 1: it's the world's best selling liquor more than whiskey, vodka,
Speaker 1: gin rum and tequila combined. We are to believe Wikipedia.
Speaker 1: But anyway, I was impressed to see that, that there
Speaker 1: was all this detail going into the spare ribs. So
Speaker 1: uh again, this is uh what he calls different but
Speaker 1: still familiar uh flavors. He's going to
Speaker 1: um he's going to take brisket and use seasonings from
Speaker 1: the Yucatan on that particular piece of meat, cinnamon oregano, burrito, chilies,
Speaker 1: things like that. So the brisket is gonna taste different.
Speaker 1: He's going to do a triple smoked sweet potato sounds
Speaker 1: delicious with flavors from Spain. So there's gonna be some
Speaker 1: vegetable focus there too.
Speaker 1: Anyway, there a lot of cool things going on. And
Speaker 1: if you remember this is that giant space at City
Speaker 1: Foundry STL two stories. I think it's 16,000 square feet.
Speaker 1: And what he's experimenting with this is really wild is
Speaker 1: this food delivery system? It's finer dining downstairs and much
Speaker 1: more casual kind of sandwich focused upstairs. He's creating this
Speaker 1: conveyor system
Speaker 1: to carry the bags from downstairs all the way through
Speaker 1: the space kind of looping around to see your food
Speaker 1: traveling up this conveyor to the second floor. And he said,
Speaker 1: if I can pull this off, it's it's really gonna
Speaker 1: be cool. So look for a food conveyor at uh
Speaker 1: expat BB
Speaker 2: Q. It's like that little choo choo train restaurant.
Speaker 2: It is a city that all the
Speaker 1: kids go to and, and, and I, I was impressed
Speaker 1: enough with all that. And he goes, well, let me
Speaker 1: tell you about the life size pink elephant. He said,
Speaker 1: we've named it Patty for expat and he's, he consulted
Speaker 1: the guys at City Museum. Apparently, it's this sculpture life
Speaker 1: size pink elephant. And according to legend, if the tusks
Speaker 1: and trunk are in a certain position, it's good luck.
Speaker 1: And he made sure that everything is,
Speaker 1: you know, the way it needs to be. Apparently, Gerard
Speaker 1: is a very, very superstitious guy and he had to
Speaker 1: make sure that all this was proper and good luck.
Speaker 1: This will be Patty will be his good luck charm.
Speaker 1: And that barbecue is that for a, just a wacky story? Oh,
Speaker 1: it
Speaker 2: sounds fun. And I know he's, uh, I think he
Speaker 2: said it's the large, it's by far the largest restaurant
Speaker 2: he's opened to date
Speaker 1: 16,000 square feet is just huge. And, and again, on
Speaker 1: that second floor, if you, if you see, you can
Speaker 1: see it when you go up the Foundry way, that
Speaker 1: patio stretches for like a mile, you can like bowl
Speaker 1: do bowling up and down there. So it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a really cool space upstairs
Speaker 1: again, slightly more upscale little finer dining downstairs. Anyway, that's
Speaker 1: expat barbecue. And I think he said, uh, April May. No.
Speaker 1: He said March April for that. That is a cool place.
Speaker 1: And maybe the, one of the more interesting places kind
Speaker 1: of under the radar is neon greens. And that's opening
Speaker 1: up in the, the old rise coffeehouse space in the grove.
Speaker 1: And it's really the first of its kind in the country,
Speaker 1: a quick service concept because they grow their own greens
Speaker 1: and they use these giant uh vertical hydroponic systems to
Speaker 1: do that. And, um, it's, it's, it's crazy. Apparently there's
Speaker 1: uh these giant vertical hydroponic systems that allows the restaurant
Speaker 1: to grow six acres worth of produce in this little
Speaker 1: 1200 square foot space. So they will produce, uh, produce
Speaker 1: on site,
Speaker 1: uh, all year round. And they're actually doing it right
Speaker 1: now and they're selling it to restaurants. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: went to Mainlander and Mainlander is using greens from there
Speaker 2: for a salad that they had and I can tell
Speaker 2: you you really can taste the difference between this level
Speaker 2: of quality. I mean, just think
Speaker 2: the most tender
Speaker 1: homegrown. Well, it's as fresh as it gets. It's literally
Speaker 1: plucked right there and it arrives apparently at neon greens
Speaker 1: on a conveyor. They're, they're, they're conveying this lettuce uh
Speaker 1: past the people that are ordering it. So anyway, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a really, really fun place to go
Speaker 1: freshest salads. You can possibly get first of its kind
Speaker 1: in the country,
Speaker 1: uh opens sometime this spring. But in the meantime, you
Speaker 1: might see some of these greens popping up at some
Speaker 1: local restaurants and, and local shops. I just really like
Speaker 1: the whole idea and the whole concept. It's just extremely
Speaker 2: cool. I feel like we've unearthed a potential new food
Speaker 2: trend for 2024 food via conveyor
Speaker 1: belt. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's great. You know, you can't
Speaker 1: beat a conveyor belt. I think we've got one more
Speaker 1: Yale bar and I'm letting you have it because I
Speaker 1: know I know you're just
Speaker 1: going to just,
Speaker 2: I will wax poetically for the next 20 minutes about
Speaker 2: why Parker's Table is the happiest place on earth. No,
Speaker 2: I will, I will keep it toned down. But this
Speaker 2: really is an exciting place for those who really see
Speaker 2: Parker's Table, not just as a wine shop, but as
Speaker 2: a market, but a community gathering place, the Yale Bar
Speaker 2: is going to actually make that official. They took over
Speaker 2: a law office that had been operating
Speaker 2: um next door for probably like, yeah, forever. And I
Speaker 2: think they'd always wanted to open something like this, but
Speaker 2: the opportunity was just never there. So when the law
Speaker 2: office was out, they, they jumped on it and they're
Speaker 2: basically just doing a very low key 30 seat wine bar. Um,
Speaker 2: they'll have beer and wine. No hard liquor. They're going
Speaker 2: to be open. What John Parker, the owner calls English
Speaker 2: pub hours of, you know, 5 to 10 p.m. PM,
Speaker 2: you know,
Speaker 2: probably have some little snacks here and there from the market. Um,
Speaker 2: but just a really low key cozy spot and they
Speaker 2: have such a wonderful wine selection there and such knowledgeable people.
Speaker 2: I can only imagine it's gonna be such a fun
Speaker 2: curated list. I bet it'll be the kind of place
Speaker 2: where you're not just getting the usual suspects, they're probably
Speaker 2: pouring some fun stuff and it's gonna be ever
Speaker 2: changing. Just a really fun spot and
Speaker 1: he's got such a knack for, for decorating and detail
Speaker 1: and doing all of it. It's very organic and very
Speaker 1: homegrown and he puts his tool belt on and goes
Speaker 1: to work and everything he does. Uh, everything over at
Speaker 1: the Oakland room is cool. Everything at,
Speaker 1: you know, his wine shop is cool and now we've
Speaker 1: got nail bar at the corner of Oakland. And yeah,
Speaker 2: and Steve Carvelli, the chef over there is just, not
Speaker 2: only is he just a wonderfully talented chef, but he's
Speaker 2: also just a great human being. So I'm excited to
Speaker 2: see what
Speaker 2: of opportunities there are for um, him with the Yale
Speaker 1: Bar as well. And that's, I mean, we could talk more.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've already yammered on enough, but that's just
Speaker 1: a smattering of the new places that we're looking forward
Speaker 1: to in 2024. And, uh, like I said, that really
Speaker 1: only takes us to June. We haven't even scratched the
Speaker 1: surface for the rest of the year. So we will
Speaker 1: probably weigh in again, uh, later on with future picks,
Speaker 1: uh, that we're excited about and I'm sure there'll be
Speaker 1: tons of them. So that brings us to our micro rant.
Speaker 1: And this week we're gonna talk about restaurants that don't
Speaker 1: answer their phones during open hours from that just drives
Speaker 1: me crazy. There are so many times that, you know,
Speaker 1: you might be wanting to order something to go or,
Speaker 1: you know, you lost your wallet or
Speaker 1: you're seeing if the place is open on Monday or, uh,
Speaker 1: this happened to me. I was trying to get a
Speaker 1: message to somebody that I knew was there and wasn't responding.
Speaker 1: And another time I was trying to buy him a
Speaker 1: dessert and I wasn't able to do it just because they,
Speaker 1: they weren't answering their phone.
Speaker 1: And, and so that's just, I, I know that, you know, the, the,
Speaker 1: the defense is, hey, we're too busy. We'd rather, you know,
Speaker 1: take care of the customers that are there. But I
Speaker 1: think there's a point where you either have a phone
Speaker 1: and use it or just say the heck with it,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna have a phone and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that do that too, you know, and, and
Speaker 1: my contention is, hey, if you're not answering the phone,
Speaker 1: there's a good chance that your competitor is. I just
Speaker 1: think for all those six reasons I stated that it's
Speaker 1: a darn good reason to pick up the phone
Speaker 2: during business.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Well, I mean, I'm of the, uh, I'm of
Speaker 2: the mindset that you should have a phone anyway. Like
Speaker 2: you said, you're running late for a coveted reservation that
Speaker 2: you probably sat online at midnight to secure. And what if,
Speaker 2: you know, you had car trouble or there was an
Speaker 2: accident on the highway or something and you're in danger
Speaker 2: of having your table given away. So, no, I, I
Speaker 2: completely agree with you. I think it's, it's just one
Speaker 2: of those things where hospitality does not begin and end
Speaker 2: with
Speaker 2: when you walk in the front door it's an entire
Speaker 2: ongoing and evolving relationship with that restaurant and the phone
Speaker 2: is definitely a part
Speaker 1: of that. I totally agree and, and I agree with
Speaker 1: you about the reservation thing that happened to us. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, reservations are held for 15 minutes and then
Speaker 1: anything goes, well, some people run late and if you
Speaker 1: can't get through to them, it's really frustrating and then
Speaker 1: you go in and say, I'm so sorry, so sorry,
Speaker 1: so sorry that we're running late. But we tried to
Speaker 1: get through and, you know, it's just, it just shouldn't,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't happen that way.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Answer your phones. Everyone.
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
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Speaker 1: me at George Mahe.