Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
With the number of restaurants rising faster than the number of customers needed to populate them, the restaurateur’s mantra today is “Be different or don’t bother.” Slated for a May opening in Lafayette Square, Tripel (1801 Park, 314-678-7787, tripelstl.com) touts French-style Belgian food and Belgian beer, and unless you’re familiar with waterzooi (Flemish stew), executive chef Max Crask has the “different” angle covered. Don’t bother to ask whether Tripel will serve waffles: It will indeed—a basket of thick minis is gratis, as table bread. Vive la différence.
What was the first dish you cooked that you were proud of?
A pepperoni pizza at Krieger's on Manchester. Very prestigious... Well, it was when you're 15 and a half. But I really didn't like cooking.
What turned you around?
Opening cans and frying foods from frozen is not cooking. It wasn't until a friend, Ben Hamlin, and I started Fleur de Lis Catering in 2002 that I started having fun and learned the creative part of cooking, true cooking.
You were most recently executive chef at The Dubliner.
The Dubliner was the place that opened my eyes. From day one, we did all of our own butchery. I don't think a lot of people know that. When we started, we processed four pigs and four lambs per month, using the whole animal, nose to tail.
So what do you do with a pig's tail, for instance?
We snuck it in…as part of head cheese or the charcuterie. You see pig tails as menu items now. We couldn't get away with that then.
Did you attend culinary school?
I was dying to go to France and found a great gastronomy school with a short curriculum, but it was not a cooking school. I remember only one actual cooking class. Guys like Hervé This [author of Molecular Gastronomy] were the instructors.
What's a gastronomy school?
You study the theory of food, things like terroir and the neurophysiology of taste, why we like particular tastes, universal likes, how a region influences flavors—things like that. Chef This could break down certain flavors—like the taste of the freshest asparagus—into their separate compounds, and then reassemble them chemically, using no natural flavors.
Sounds like esters.
Similar. His goal, same as with molecular gastronomy, was to push the boundaries to see what worked and what the public would embrace. Remember the microwave oven was a freaky, magic thing at one time. We'll be doing a lot of similar stuff here, but no one will ever know it.
Like what?
Like using more advanced techniques—CVAP ovens, sous-vide cooking—and using them to make, say, a stew. Or opening oysters using liquid nitrogen to keep them intact, unbruised, and shell- and grit-free. You just know it's a damn good stew or oyster, but you don't necessarily know the reasons why.
Why doesn't everybody open oysters with liquid nitrogen?
I don't know. It boils off in a vapor cloud as soon as it hits human skin, so it's not dangerous. A lot of the freeze-dried garnishes you see are made using the stuff.
What will you cook sous-vide?
Proteins mainly, but sous-vide vegetables are great too because they can’t lose any of their flavor. My favorite thing to cook sous-vide is cauliflower with Velveeta. Talk about intense.
What style of food do you prefer to cook?
Luckily, it's the style we're doing at Tripel: rustic, home-style, simple—but elevated—food. You can always tell a new chef when you’re served an entrée with a ton of components and half a dozen sauces, few of them with any relationship to one another.
Is there anything that chefs do that drive you crazy?
Keeping something on the menu for too long. Eventually, an item will become staid and boring, and that's when its preparation gets sloppy, sauces don't get tasted, etcetera. If it bores you, it may bore us, too.
Any outlandish customer requests?
One woman insisted that all components of her entrée not just be separated, but plated separately. So we'd serve her the six or eight components on the biggest plates we could find. We enjoyed watching the shuffling.
Explain Tripel in two sentences.
Belgian food is basically Northern French food, peasant food. Expect to see unusual beers, unique surroundings, bigger plates, and generous portions.
Besides waffles, is there a classic Belgian dish?
Waterzooi is essentially a peasant soup made with big chunks of fish or chicken in a broth thickened with cream and egg yolks. It takes on a green cast from the chlorophyll in the parsley and herbs used to make it. We'll elevate it by serving the components and then adding the broth at the table.
Will there be waffles?
We know it may be the first thing people will ask for, so we'll shut that door by providing mini-waffles as the table bread, in different flavors with different butters. Blame Kevin Nashan. He serves beignets on the table at Sidney Street Café.
Do you think the lack of familiarity with Belgian food will scare people off?
Not once they realize it's just a straightforward version of French food, food that fits the local heritage. There's not enough French food in this French town anyway.
How about mussels with frites?
We're planning to use a smaller mussel, blue-colored and uneven in size, or a Mediterranean mussel, which is sweeter and similar to what you'd see in Brussels.
You spent some time in Belgium. What other dishes impressed you there?
Flemish stew—it's more of a ragout, really—gets served over fries along with a small salad. "Blind finches" are veal-wrapped meatballs served with red sauce, so there's been some Italian influence there, too. Look for both of those at Tripel. And choucroute, an Alsatian peasant dish.
How are you preparing the fries?
Kennebec potatoes, cut one-half inch square...traditional, squatty, Belgian-style fries that will be blanched in duck fat or pork lard, and then finished in vegetable fry oil. Bintje's are the best potatoes for making fries, but the supply is not consistent here.
Any outlandish items?
How about beef marrow-roasted escargots, served in a long, pipe bone?
That works. Let's talk about the beer—Tripel is a style of beer, after all.
There'll be 16 on tap—all local, Belgian-style beers at this point—and 50 in bottles. And even some sour beers. I'm challenging myself to pair food with weirder beers like the sours.
How important is location? Or will a good restaurant draw people no matter what?
The latter. But sometimes it takes a while to be discovered, so it's a good idea to have six months worth of operating capital on hand—which we don't, so that's why I'm glad we're in Lafayette Square!
When you open your refrigerator at home, what do you take out?
Schnucks brand cottage cheese. It's not as thick as other brands... It must have a lot of whey in it.
If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
Dead. Cooking long hours keeps me out of trouble.
