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Editor's Note: As scribblings on Post Its and cocktail napkins pile up here at Relish Central, a periodic round-up article is in order. To that end, the latest edition of Loose Ends.
Itacate Mexican Grill & Catering is slated to open sometime this May at 3324 N. Lindbergh in Water Center Plaza (the former El Triunfo Mexican Restaurant Y Taqueria). Itacate (“provisions,” in Spanish) will feature seasonings and recipes from the owner’s Mexican mother and grandmother but served “in a more Americanized manner,” meaning specialties like Mission District-style overstuffed burritos, as well as the usual suspects, like tacos, quesadillas, and enchiladas. Service will be fast casual and we understand that catering will be a focus, as will delivery. Additional information is forthcoming.
Relish has learned that a second location of The Shack will be opening in the space recently vacated by Wild Agave at 13645 Big Bend (at Dougherty Ferry) in Valley Park. The Shack is owned by OG Hospitality Group, the same folks who own the flagship The Shack in Midtown, Cucina Pazzo in the CWE, two Corner Pub and Grills, and The Tavern. The Shack will be the third OG restaurant located on the same corner (following the flagship Corner Pub and The Tavern).
If this keeps up, there should be some consideration given to naming the center OG Plaza. Details on the opening date and any refinements to the original concept are being—and will be--kept mum. OG will publish any and all updates on Facebook as they materialize, and that goes for the opening date as well, but we’re told it would be “very soon.”
In a Q&A in the April issue of St. Louis Magazine, Mike Johnson (right), owner/chef at Sugarfire Smokehouse spilled the baked beans about his appearance on BBQ Pitmasters, a barbeque smackdown reality show now in its sixth season.
Hoping to include Sugarfire in a Missouri edition, the show's producers requested a short video, “just showing what we do best,” according to Johnson. He contacted Falk-Harrison, Sugarfire's web designers, who arranged for the audition video. “Next thing I knew, the show contacted me and said I was on,” Johnson said. “They never met me until the first day of taping.”
Johnson is contractually bound not to reveal the winner of the three-team competition, and the man is always smiling, so it was impossible for Relish to get any kind of a read. Guess we’ll have to watch the episode—it airs April 26 on Destination America.
To learn more about Johnson and his appearance on BBQ Pitmasters, click on the SLM Q&A, here.
Photo of Mike Johnson by Kevin A. Roberts
