Photograph by Katherine Bish
In 2004, while searching the Internet for an affordable place to open a restaurant, a 25-year-old Gerard Craft zeroed in on a building in the Benton Park neighborhood, having never even seen Benton Park—or St. Louis. Yet Craft managed to parlay what he calls “the craziest decision I ever made” into three of this city’s most successful restaurants: Niche pushes the limits of creative food; Taste by Niche pushes the limits of cocktail mixology; and Brasserie by Niche limits itself to simple, well-executed, French comfort food. SLM could hardly wait to ask Craft what’s next: Back to the avant-garde or back to basics? Or back to his hometown of Washington, D.C.?
When did you know that cooking was to be your future?
Growing up, all I wanted to do was to own a business and be a businessman. I had a paintball business in the 6th grade, I later owned a clothing company, but I was never any good at any of it. It took me years and opening this restaurant to figure that out and get me to stop. I finally realized that it was cooking that really excited me.
What sealed the deal?
There was one inspirational meal that changed the way I thought about food. Ten years ago, while in France, I stumbled upon a place called Bamboche, where a guy named Claude Colliot made truffle ice cream with glazed Loire Valley vegetables; he also used tomatoes in desserts—something like confit of tomatoes layered with mille feuilles and pastry cream with a rosemary simple syrup. These days, that’s not so mind-altering, but for me back then, food was black or white. Savory was here, sweet and desserts were over there, and there was no crossing over. It was then that I began to approach food as having no boundaries.
Where did you start cooking in the US?
I dropped out of college in Salt Lake City and began cooking at the ski resorts nearby. Incidentally, I worked for Perry Hendrix there, who is now our Executive Chef at Brasserie by Niche.
How did you end up in St. Louis?
I was searching the internet for an affordable place—something not in New York or DC, where my family was from. Larry Forgione had just come to St. Louis, as did Kevin Nashan, Aaron Teitelbaum was at Monarch, Terrene was making news. There were a lot of young owner-chefs settling here and I could tell something good was happening. We showed up, signed some papers and it was done. I wouldn’t have done the same today. But I was 25 and impulsive.
And how did you select Sidney St.?
An ad on Craigslist was offering a wine bar for sale in Benton Park, next to the successful Sidney Street Cafe. Sounded good to me. When we visited, the seller admitted it wasn’t exactly a wine bar yet—there were dirt floors, no electricity, and no plumbing. It wasn’t anything--but it could be. It was, however, the right size [42 seats] to be a small, chef- driven restaurant…others passed because they thought it was too small.
What’s your opinion of chain restaurants?
Maggiano’s does not give me a hard time just because I happen to be with my kids; plus, the spaghetti and meatballs is prepared just as it should be. I can’t say that for other places, chains or otherwise. They can and do undercut other’s prices, but hey, that’s their own genius.
Has Niche evolved over the years…or did it change at all?
It changed 100 percent. At first, it was myself, pastry chef Mathew Rice, and one other guy. I got here at 8 a.m. and left at 3 in the morning. I did all the prep, cooked, and ran the business. It was a true American bistro—and exactly what I wanted it to be.
Then you doubled its size.
As I hired more people, we pushed ourselves to improve, and began using more whole animals, utilizing everything—pig’s heads and feet, heart, livers, kidneys. It weirded people out at the time. Now it’s not considered weird at all. At the time, we didn’t really give a shit [do we allow this online?], we just we just wanted to cook really good food.
How has the “buy local” movement progressed?
As Niche evolved, to get the poussins [small chickens] we were after, we offered to pay the farmer for the first 1000 of them, to lessen his risk. In the same way, a pig farmer was happy to get us the breeds we want. As we evolved, we were able to establish such relationships. Slow Food St. Louis has helped as well by giving farmers grants to supply better products and better breeds.
What’s the secret to Niche’s ongoing success, especially with the distraction of the red-hot Brasserie by Niche?
One of the goals for 2010 is to strive to push Niche’s food envelope even further. Adam [Niche’s Executive Chef] travels to France and right now is heading to Spain. It’s the place where I can stay fresh and imaginative and can always be creative. But Niche takes a lot of hands.
I counted 7 guys in white coats, and it’s only 2:30.
They’ve been here since 9:30.
That’s a lot of firepower. Not sure anyone else is doing that.
It takes that many people, and even then, we sometimes fail to live up to expectations.
Tell us how the space next to Niche evolved…going from nothing to Veruca [a bakery] to Taste by Niche.
Just because Niche was successful and Mathew Rice was the best pastry guy in town didn’t guarantee Veruca’s success. There was no foot traffic. I did a lot of things wrong. It was a humbling experience.
Why was the 16-seat Taste by Niche such a good idea?
It took shape from drink-driven concepts we liked elsewhere around the country. We liked Death and Co and PDT in New York and saw how the Blackbird group in Chicago opened the cocktail-focused Violet Hour. We thought Ted Kilgore’s experimental handcrafted cocktails, paired with inexpensive bites to eat, would work in that small space.
Does Ted work strictly at Taste?
He works 3-4 nights at Taste and works the other Niche’s as well. Fortunately, he has attracted other experimental mixologists from around the country—people who come here to learn from Ted—which has only helped to improve all three places.
What’s his latest drink concoction?
The Quarter Duck, containing Grand Marnier infused with duck fat. Trust me, it tastes way better than it sounds.
Taste may be the coolest concept in town—no kitchen to speak of and 16 seats. What’s the secret to getting in?
You can now make reservations there as well as rent it by the hour, but it’s still a small space. I took a lot of heat for opening a restaurant with only 16 seats…but Ted’s cocktails take time, so the number of seats has to be limited. Hey, I had the space, it was an experiment, and we’re having fun with it.
So is it successful?
Too much so. One of the goals for this year is to find a place that’s a little larger, with at least a small kitchen. Taste has no oven, no salamander…everything comes off of 2 induction burners, a meat slicer, and an immersion circulator.
It’s become an industry hangout as well.
If your peers approve of something, so much the better.
In what parts of town will you be looking?
I love the CWE and I love Clayton. Downtown is not out of the question. We do like areas with high foot traffic.
What’s the reason that Brasserie by Niche is so hot?
Any diner—adventuresome or conservative or chef—enjoys brasserie food because it’s simple and comforting. . That style of food has stuck around for hundreds of years for a reason. No one wants to eat deconstructed food every day. It’s everyday food, but it’s not a dumbed-down version of anything. Yet it’s very intellectual, like Italian food. It’s so basic, but if you do it wrong, it’s awful. If done right, the simplicity means it can also be priced inexpensively, which it is. No one wants to drop big bucks on dinner a regular basis.
Your choice of Brasserie’s French fries has caused quite the local foodie uproar.
For us, that subject caused the biggest menu debate. So we new this was coming. We think our fries taste great. It’s a space issue…Would you rather have homecut fries and some cry-o-vac’d meat or have an excellent frozen product accompany a protein that’s butchered in-house?
So what’s next? Another new concept?
This year, we will be expanding Home by Niche, where we prepare any of our items in your home, right up to a refined tasting menu, for anywhere from two to 50 people. Passed appetizers, wine pairings, Ted Kilgore–crafted cocktails… The sky’s the limit. It allows us to offer more, and more comfortably, to the guest.
Are you planning another restaurant?
I have 5 million ideas, but for 2010, the focus will be on three things: to promote Home by Niche, to look for a larger space for Taste, and to refine our existing restaurants. Both Taste and Brasserie are still infants. Although we’ve been doing well, we will never rest on that. Both still need refinement. Then we can move on to the next one. I refuse to move too fast.
When does a restaurant mature?
Good restaurants require refinement. Constant refinement…fixing faults, in food, in service, in wine and beer knowledge, in follow through. We’ve been doing well but there is a lot we want to refine. There is always something to perfect. This is no longer about me, it’s about creating solid restaurants by establishing a solid restaurant group. I am committed to maintaining good restaurants.
I’d say that any guy who has that many people working at 9:30 in the morning is committed.
You need an all-star staff to provide enough backbone to further the Niche brand…it’s not Brasserie by Gerard Craft, it’s Brasserie by Niche.
Are you planning to stay in St. Louis?
When I was recognized by Food & Wine in 2008, I got calls from all over the country. But when it comes down to it, St. Louis has been a great city for my wife and kids and me. We’ve been supported by loyal customers—and publications—in good times and bad. You don’t get that everywhere. I love my backyard, my kids love their school, we live across from Forest Park This is a good city and it’s only getting better. There are young chefs here doing cool things and they’re getting recognized... Pushing boundaries only attracts better chefs.
Are you seeing that personally?
Four of my chefs are from culinary schools around the country, all doing their externships. Some of them stay on with us. They’d be going somewhere else, if something good wasn’t happening here. They can learn without the fear of “Will I get fired for messing this up?”
Did you ever consider a cookbook?
Actually, we are quietly working on a book with a focus on the Midwest, showcasing all the Midwest has to offer. You hear about the coasts and the South, but no one talks about the Midwest from a food standpoint. We have amazing farms, raise amazing beef and lamb, amazing trout farms. Hoop houses and newer greenhouses can grow all sorts of things that were previously not possible. There is a lot of preservation [of fruits and vegetables] going on as well.
I bet you know some new trends in local cuisine.
Local foraging will be the next big thing…wood sorrel, stinging nettle, indigenous greens. Chefs will pay big bucks for that stuff.
Like dandelions?
Yes! There’s nothing better than wild, young greens, and then preparing and presenting something so “foreign,” yet it could have come right out of Forest Park. I hope people will go out and forage…then show up at Niche’s back door.
What other surprise ingredients are you working with?
We’re using pine—we used essence of pine needles to infuse some pears that we served with lamb, lamb that was partially smoked by the burnt grass from the fields where the sheep were raised. We’re just utilizing and playing off what’s around these animals naturally, reinforcing where the animal came from.
