PHotograph by Kevin A. Roberts
It is only fitting that a chef who’s checked in at some of the more spectacular venues in the world gets a top job—literally—in St. Louis. Native Rex Hale, Exec Chef at Three Sixty, took SLM for a spin around the striking, all-glass, indoor-outdoor rooftop bar/restaurant atop the 25-story Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, and we were utterly enchanted—from a wide-open vantage point, St. Louis looked and felt like the big city it is. Hale joined us on a cozy, cantilevered perch, below a light wall that kept changing colors…and we’d already jotted down most of the superlatives we knew.
Your resume spans the world. Can a person become a successful chef without traveling so extensively?
I didn’t think you can get there any other way. Learning the different cultures is as critical as learning their cuisine--the two are intertwined and inseparable. That goes for the United States as well. It’s impossible to understand New Orleans cuisine without first knowing how that culture evolved.
It’s really insightful.
Eating what’s around you is a simple concept that soon gets involved. In South Africa, for instance, all these foodstuffs became affected by the different cultures…the Indian influence, the Malay, the Boers—which is really Dutch—the Chinese... That world culture is evident in the Caribbean, too, as well as here. American cuisine was based on what was going on somewhere else.
You were born and raised here, though, correct?
I left in 1976 to go to college and just never came back…until recently. I went to the American University in DC and then to Tulane in New Orleans.
To get your partying in…
Well, yes…but also working in kitchens all along the way. Even during college, I worked at some great restaurants, like Brennan’s, with great people and great chefs. Everybody is just themselves down there.
Let’s face it, you’ve been just about everywhere. Which place was most memorable?
In Houston, I was lucky enough to work with both [Paul] Bocuse and Jacques Maxima, two of the best French chefs in the world. I loved An American Restaurant, at the time considered one of the top restaurants in the country; I returned to New Orleans to work with Emeril [Lagasse], who was the hottest chef out there. I worked with Stephan Pyles in Dallas. It’s almost impossible to choose one place. But, if there was one favorite place, it was Antigua.
You’ve got my undivided attention…
The culture there is dedicated to food—everyone there is a fisherman or a farmer of some kind. You ask a cook if he can get you some cockles, and he says, “sure, my mom can dig some up and bring ‘em right over.” Natives bring seafood to your dock all day long—and it’s not just fresh, it’s alive.
Plus, the hotel, Jumby Bay Island Resort, was so exclusive, the marching orders were to provide the absolute best, as the food was included in the room rate...and the rooms were $1,200 to $10,000 a night. And this was 18 years ago. Still, it was a challenge serving the wealthiest people in the world. For dinner in the restaurant, we’d have five or six menus going at the same time, plus several tasting menus.
Sourcing with no regard to cost is a rarity.
If we wanted a certain cheese, we’d call our supplier in London and it flew like a passenger on the next plane out, on my doorstep the next morning.
Is English the spoken language at that resort?
English is the native language there, but the natives also spoke a dialect that was hard to understand, which, back in the day, allowed them to talk about their owners behind their backs.
Where all have you been?
Dallas, Houston twice, New Orleans twice, Ojai, Shell Beach. I also opened a little place in Los Osos, near Morro Bay, which is an incredible place… On one farmer’s hillside you had papaya trees at the top, banana trees at the bottom, then a myriad of other berries, and fruits and vegetables as you worked up the hill. The combination of the slope, the coast, and the temperature was unique, every single step up a different microclimate. The only other place like it is near the Cape in South Africa, where coastal mountains produce the same result.
Quite a contrast to what you find here.
Yes, but it’s so much better now. The local cheeses I get now are some of the best in the world; Salume Beddu has been praised for having world-class meats; and Missouri beef and pork is incredible.
Regarding fruits and vegetables, how do you counter the winter?
A few local farmers can now supply us until January, then we’re done for a while. There are several organic growers planning to supply us year round from greenhouses. It’ll be better than what’s available otherwise. It’s an interesting time around here. One woman is even considering raising organic tilapia.
Those words aren’t used together too often.
No, most of the farm-raised tilapia is overseas and being fed who knows what, so it’s certainly a worthy idea.
How does a chef begin to broaden his horizons?
It is imperative that a chef have a sense of adventure. You must immerse yourself in another culture… I’d be doing it right now if I didn’t have three young kids. That’s what I’m doing back here. This is a great place to raise kids. Didn’t make sense anywhere else. But when they get a little bit older…
The space up here is pretty hard to beat. It’s huge and it’s all glass.
It’s 6,000 square feet, two and a half times the size of ROOF, the place in Chicago it loosely resembles. The capacity here is 400, with 275 seated, and being 360 degrees, it all flows well. Up here you can look into Busch Stadium, down onto Kiener Plaza, across to the Arch, or look down river, and watch it wind and meander, just like it did years ago. I mean, come on…
What was up here before?
Nothing. A roof with HVAC units. It was stabilized, reinforced, and all the glass walls were built on top of that. Look at those moving doors—indoors becomes outdoors very easily.
How much money went into it?
An awful lot of money. But it doesn’t really matter what the number is…if it does what it’s capable of doing, no one cares. You can make it back in a hurry. ROOF opened to $10 million in sales its first year, and remember it’s less than half this size. I mean, is there a better place to meet for a drink after work? And it goes until 2 a.m.
It’s truly a spectacular place. Have you picked out a favorite seat?
Yeah, that wicker rocker over there that overlooks the Arch. Hope I get some time to sit in it.
I was concerned that the concept focused solely on small plates, but now that I see the casualness, it makes sense.
It’s so airy and open up here, it didn’t make sense to be serving big, heavy entrees. And for a group, small plates become big platters pretty easily.
Several of the spaces you’ve described as “semi-private.” A room is either open to the public or it’s not, correct?
Three Sixty is completely open to the public; the individual rooms are as private as glass rooms can be, so we just called those spaces semi-private.
How important are those spaces to Three Sixty’s business plan?
Let’s just say they’re a really nice add-on. The owners, LHM, own several local hotels, and their business meetings require different venues, dining options, and breakout spaces. I suspect Three Sixty will be used for a lot of the latter, especially in the daytime, when it’s normally closed. It’s a given that hotels never have enough business space…the more you can provide business travelers, the more excited they are about their experience.
How does Three Sixty differ from ROOF?
ROOF is more Italian-focused, we’re more eclectic: there’s an Asian barbecued lamb rib; a braised short rib slider with horseradish aioli, arugula, and heirloom tomatoes; a crab “meatball” slider that’s a twist on a St. Louis meatball sandwich; a jerk chicken item with a lime-chili sauce that I discovered in the Caribbean...
Plus a large pizza oven.
All of the pizzas will feature freshly made dough and local ingredients: wild mushrooms, an excellent, washed-rind goat’s milk cheese from nearby, fresh mozzarella from just across the river, local heirloom tomatoes, sausage and coppa from Salume Beddu…
A lot of rooftop destinations, especially in Chicago, are barely affordable—it’s one drink and you’re out. What is Three Sixty’s positioning?
The owners know they will drive traffic—especially now—only if both drinks and food are reasonably priced. The small plates are $5 and up; and the most expensive thing on the menu is the lobster rolls, two for $15. Beverages are priced the same way.
That’s a deal.
Today, the goal of a restaurant should simply be to keep the seats full. Just do that, and the rest will take care of itself. The covers will cover.
Does Three Sixty take reservations?
The rooms are reservable, and the rest of the space is first come, first serve. But there’s not a bad seat anywhere, and to me, the place to be is the place you end up.
Do St. Louisans shy away from expensive restaurants?
When St. Louisans go to Chicago, or any city in the world really, they’ll blow money and experiment. In their own backyard, though, they do neither. That’s very unusual.
From your global culinary perspective, what cuisine does St. Louis need that it doesn’t have?
There is no South African/Cape-Malay food or anything from Singapore here. That is beautiful stuff. Or Caribbean food. I could see a place that imports that bar culture as well as their indigenous foods and spices, all of which are now readily available.
Why has no one done that?
Probably because there are not enough people from those parts of the world here who could or would want to do it.
Culinarily speaking, what’s the best thing to happen here in recent years?
All of the cottage industries and the advent of people producing and using fresh ingredients. This is not a fad, and with the economy the way it is, it will only continue to grow.
What’s the worst?
You know, I’d say the same thing. People talk about supporting cottage trades and sourcing locally, but the minute they close their mouth, the Sysco truck pulls up. If you’re not doing to do it, don’t say you’re doing it.
What’s your take on Groupons and deep-discounting? Is it the new face of marketing, as some claim? Is it even sustainable?
It needs to go away. It’s just a manipulation of numbers that makes you look like you’re doing fine and making money when maybe you’re not. It creates a false revenue stream—and that’s not sustainable. You give yourself away and you program your customer to wait for the next giveaway. That can’t work long-term.
Where do you go to dine and relax?
I go home. Both my wife and I cook. She’s from Guadalahara, Mexico, so we cook a lot of that kind of food.
Any local Mexican places that she likes?
There’s a little neighborhood place in Ferguson called El Palenque, owned by a couple who makes every order from scratch. It’s in no way Americanized.
What do you think about chain restaurants?
I feel there is a need for them, but they need to be more forward-thinking. If they want to have an identity, they need to provide some identity where they are. They need to look at the market they’re in and service that market, not the entire country. And most won’t do that. Guests in each city are different. They are missing an opportunity.
Would you ever want a place of your own? Wait, you’ve had a place of your own.
Sure, under the right circumstances—and today is not the right circumstances. But it is right for Three Sixty. I honestly believe that.
Except maybe in a blizzard, I see this place having year-round appeal.
With all the fire pits up here, we feel it’s dynamic enough to bring people downtown year round. And, if you do get caught in a snowstorm, don’t forget there are 750 hotel rooms downstairs.
