Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
They opened Tortilleria on a $20,000 shoestring; at Barrister's, they produced a gastropub and proved that a cursed location wasn't; and at Milagro Modern Mexican, Adam and Jason Tilford gave St. Louis its first taste of huitlacoche ("Mexican truffles") and salmon grilled in banana leaves, while sparing us the inveterate serapes, sombreros, and kitschy saguaros. In February, in the Delmar Loop, the above themes all came together at Mission Taco Joint, a gathering place for beer, brown booze, a dozen types of chef-inspired tacos—even a bodega. You'll find us at the grab-and-go window, ordering très, por favor.
At Mission, you purchased a special grill, a possible game-changer.
J: It's an Aztec, a gas-ignited wood burner that guys like Rick Bayless consider the best in the business. Steak, fish, chicken, corn, tomatoes—all end up more flavorful and moist and with added layer of smoke flavor. It's as close to true Mexican grill cooking as we think you can get.
You've also rented an adjacent storefront, right next to Mission.
A: We're going to open a bodega—a small market for the neighborhood—because there isn't one within miles, grocery store or otherwise.
J: It will be open different hours, selling staples plus grab-and-go things, like salsa, guacamole, burritos, chorizo—items we produce next door, along with some of the raw products we use to produce them.
A: We plan to hook up with a local bakery who'll have a section they'll stock for us every day.
J: Maybe some marinated chicken and steak...and maybe it will be all beer. The market will determine the market.
What's the time frame for the bodega?
A: It will open well after we open Mission. We see no benefit in opening two basically independent businesses exactly at once.
Describe the layout at Mission.
A: Ninety seats, all high-top tables, several drink rails, and tables made from wood from a garage we bought and demolished in South St. Louis. A local artist, Angie Cornish, did a street art-type mural on a wall faced with corrugated metal. They'll be lots of wood on the back bar and the bar face as well... It was a good-sized garage!
So no standard, sit-down tables?
A: We want people to think of this as a bar—that's what it is—a bar where you can get some decent, quick, sharable, snack-type food.
How many tequilas will you carry?
A: We won't carry mediocre liquor just for the sake of numbers. At Milagro, we have 60 tequilas—all great in their own way—instead of 160. The focus here will be on tequila, too, plus mezcal, draft beer, and a notable emphasis on bourbon, due to the renewed interest in darker spirits.
Will you emphasize cocktails at all? Mission is, as you said, a bar.
J: Some cocktail programs have gotten into outer space with an intimidation factor to match.
A: You won't see us charging $10 for a cocktail. In the Loop, $6 to $8 is plenty for a well-rounded cocktail.
What were your first restaurant jobs?
A: Cutting pies at the Imo's in Webster.
J: Working for the original Two Nice Guys... Our family grew up in Webster.
You guys currently own three restaurants: Tortilleria, Milagro, and Barrister's. Did you ever do anything else?
A:I studied physical therapy in school, why, I was never sure, because I hate touching people. Then residential real estate, which I was better at.
J: Restaurants are all I've ever done.
Where did you learn the most?
J: We both worked for Levy Restaurants, both at the Dome here and at Kiel Center. They flew us to their sports venues all over the country in the off-season, just to learn from their chefs—both volume and quality. When Kiel first opened, the club was private and super-VIP; Levy wanted a Tony's-type experience and hired Vince Bommarito to make sure that happened. Now that club is open to the public.
A: I went through Levy's management training program—an excellent program, by the way—and came out a sous-chef. Jason had become one of their chefs.
So who's the better cook...really?
A: I learned to be a really good cook; Jason is a creator, an artist. He and I think differently--give him 10 ingredients, and he'll make something great. Not me. But I can duplicate perfectly a dish I just watched him make.
How did you get involved with Barrister's?
J: We were asked to assume the lease at a place called Figaro, and decided to do a simpler concept--a bar with food made from scratch. Today they call that a gastropub, but we're talking nine years ago...back then we just called it a chef-inspired bar.
How did Tortilleria start?
A: Jason asked me, "How about opening a taco shack?" and I had loved Flaco's Tacos near SLU. So I said, "Yeah, sure, what's it gonna take?" We opened it for under 20 grand because we were able to scrounge things like the spinning comal from Casa Grill at the Galleria and the black-with-cowhide booths from Jalapeno's in Clayton. We have some Casa Gallardo chairs stored in the basement at the new place... You may see those when we open up.
Recycling lives! Did you both actively work at Tortilleria?
A: Barrister's had more moving parts so Jason stayed there. We had this "cook it and they will come" mentality about Tortilleria, which was not the case. I quit my job in residential real estate to run it because that's what it was going to take. But it was not until we changed from fast-casual to table service that it was successful—today, the trend is to go the other way. We do a lot of dinners now and the reason is that we had table service.
At some point you decided to make your own corn tortillas at Tortilleria.
J: The existing tortilla presses on the market would break in about a week, so we began to manufacture them, made out of hardwood.
A: We still make those presses today...right on my dining room table...much to my wife's dismay.
I thought it odd when I found out you were the only guys in town making your own corn tortillas.
J: For a long time we were. Now I believe that Siete Lumenarias and maybe one other place on Cherokee makes theirs as well.
Why do traditional taco stands use two corn tortilla shells instead of one?
A: Store-bought tortillas are thin and dry so it takes two to do the job without breaking, but we make our shells thicker so you only need one.
I can't believe no one makes a tortilla press that holds up.
J: They do now. We just bought one for Mission. Our volume will be such that our small, homemade presses would never keep up.
Jason, you've been the chef force behind a ton of local restaurants.
J: My association with Chris LaRocca got me into most of them: working backwards, Mission Taco Joint, EdgeWild, Crushed Red, Mile 277, Kota, Triumph, Milagro, Tortilleria, Barrister's, a couple of Crazy Fish... That's just in the last 10 years.
Of all those places, do you have a favorite?
J: Milagro. Milagro is what I most like to do. Milagro is what put us on the map. People's eyes light up when they walk in--some nodding and smiling like "cool, we finally made it here," others because of how the place looks, different than they expected. That doesn't get old.
Milagro started off more sophisticated culinarily, did it not?
J: Families in Webster wanted something less elevated, less fancy, especially during the week, so we adapted. Although most people order the "chef's specialties," there are tacos and burritos available as well. A: Milagro's menu is certainly more approachable, and when we realized that a lot of people were pronouncing pollo, "polo,'" we switched up the descriptions, too.
So on a continuum, where is Milagro's cuisine?
A: It satisfies today's common desire to eat better, to eat items made with fresh ingredients. It gets confusing when the words "upscale" and "gourmet" get tossed in. You get over $10 an entree, and all of the sudden you're upscale. CJ Muggs has higher price points that we do. We have burritos, but they're not filled with foie gras...nor are they filled with iceberg lettuce, crappy processed cheese, and ground beef cut with who knows what.
It was partly a perception problem then.
J: And that's why we brought in SPACE Architects to soften the place up. The look now matches the experience, and so the perception of us being a gourmet place is changing. After three years, people are finally realizing what we are.
A: We couldn't afford guys like SPACE when we started; we were lucky to have made a name with our food.
Talk about Milagro's location... It's a little difficult to find.
A: Personally, I think it adds to the allure. We do hear, "Yeah, you guys were hard to find," but I've never heard, "Yeah, we didn't eat there because you were hard to find."
Discuss cursed locations...
J: No such thing; only cursed operators. People called Barrister's cursed: It was Crazy Fish for 10 years, Figaro for one, and Barrister's for eight. Figaro failed...so that makes it a cursed location?
Describe the menu at Mission.
J: It's a bar, so instead of burgers and chicken wings, there are maybe a dozen types of tacos, all a la carte: Brisket tacos, cochinita pibil tacos, tofu tacos using MofuTofu, a local tofu maker, oversized burritos, plus a bunch of different side dishes, all items you can share.
A: Most of our tables are big enough to accommodate larger groups, so it's less of a one-on-one date place, more where singles or couples meet to grab a drink like before or after the Pageant.
Any signature dishes?
A: The carne asada fries show promise. They're all over San Diego. Think a high-end nacho, swapping out stale chips with crispy french fries. We'll use frozen fries because they're good and they're consistent... Just ask Gerard Craft.
So what is a "taco joint," anyway. Define that.
J: It's more than a taqueria—which I consider inexpensive, fast food—and less than a restaurant. You'll find cheaper, gristly beef in a taqueria—and don't get me wrong, I love that about a taqueria, it's yummy—but, you'll find lean, marinated flank steak at Mission. That's the separation.
Do you find that St. Louisans prefer corn or flour tortillas?
J: It's changing. Flour was so prevalent here for so long, but as people travel to the southwest and Mexico, they come around. The smell, the taste, the texture of corn...it's all better.
Explain Mission-style burritos...
A: The name came from the Mission District in San Francisco, where they serve big, oversized burritos. California-style burritos are the same thing.
Will Mission have complimentary chips and salsa?
A: Not complimentary. This is not Milagro, this is a bar, a taco joint, where every food item is a la carte, including a salsa and chips sampler. We hope our customers grasp that logic.
J: You have to understand the path of chips and salsa. It's staggering how much this "free" chips and salsa costs us—a huge cost that nets us zero. It's a no win. They fill up on free chips, then buy less. I hope the a la carte setting allows us to better control the whole scenario. [Smiling.] And this all may change.
Will you ever do a something outside of St. Louis?
J: The Mission concept would work in any college town.
A: I could easily see it in Columbia.
What else do you have up your sleeve?
A: A high-end, upscale Mexican restaurant, with entrees priced $15 to $25, with an emphasis on seafood.
J: Somewhere between say, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo... Basically, where Milagro first started, where MEDIAnoche was before it closed, in the 40-to-60-seat range.
What else?
A casual, Mexican breakfast/lunch concept, like XOCO in Chicago, with huevos and tortas and caldos...think a Mexican St. Louis Bread Company. We could see that downtown.
Talk about Tex-Mex as it relates to St. Louis.
J: What is called "authentic" Mexican in St. Louis really isn't. What's served in the resorts in Cancun isn't either. It's mostly Tex-Mex. It's hard to say that without sounding like an elitist, but what's served in Mexican people's homes is still largely absent here.
The line does gets blurred.
A: It would help if some of the local "Best of" polls differentiated the different types of Mexican food: family-style Mexican, Tex-Mex, authentic Mexican, higher-end Mexican, taquerias... So often, they all get lumped into one category: Mexican.
Adam, you're big on social media, but have learned a lesson or two along the way.
A: Today, criticisms can be made and read almost in real time, and the tendency is to react just as quickly. What I learned is to never respond to negative criticism right away, but to take an hour, a few hours. Then it's easier to remain humble and to apologize. And hope like hell you get a chance to make it up to the person.
How much time do you spend on social media, and is it necessary time that's well-spent?
A: Twitter is a conversation, an interaction, about the person tweeting; our Facebook is about the restaurant—about specials and events—and less personal. You can pay people to do it, but it seems more real if you can find time to do it yourself. I'm a cheerleader and a proponent of St. Louis on Twitter; on the restaurant's Facebook, that would be out of line.
What about Yelp?
A: It's a community where like-minded people communicate. Nothing wrong with that. And even with all its imperfections, when I look at the star ratings for a particular restaurant, in most cases it matches my own experience, that they are starred appropriately.
Do you eat Mexican when dining out or stay away from it?
A: Both. I follow the "if I can cook it at home, I don't eat it out" formula, which means I eat out a lot for ethnic food. I generally avoid chains...yet I'm not averse to grabbing some quick sustenance from Taco Bell or White Castle.
J: I approach ethnic places with caution.... There's a lot more bad than good. I had a lead bartender suggest a margarita be made with "Milargo Resposado." That's a problem, several actually.
How about food shows, Jason, any desire to compete?
J: I've been asked and respectfully declined. I think I'd collapse under pressure.
A: Says the guy who won a an RFT-sponsored chef's event. I've tried to get Jason involved with Twitter because people love to see what chefs are up to. No offense, Jason, you're an amazing chef... You're just not popular.
J: Spoken like a true brother.
