This time Relish is NOT announcing another Mike Del Pietro restaurant...this time the honor goes to his brother Marc, owner of Luciano's Trattoria in Clayton.
Webster Groves will be the home of his next endeavor, specifically a 2500 SF space at 146 W. Lockwood (the corner of Lockwood and Gray). The Block will be part butcher shop, part 80-seat restaurant and bar. All meats will be butchered and dry-aged in house.
The concept is simple, but clever: Del Pietro's back-up prep will be stored in a display case in the front of the house, rather than in a walk-in cooler in back. "So if a customer wants to go prepare a pork chop like they had in the restaurant, we can sell them that exact cut, and tell them exactly how to prepare it," remarked Del Pietro. "Plus, doing all the butchering in-house--like we do at Luciano's--will allow us to keep our general price level low, so The Block will be family-friendly. And it won't be specifically Italian." Look for The Block to bow in late February.
Del Pietro says there are no changes planned for Luciano's, but in related news, Sauce magazine reported last month that he had volunteered his services at Our Lady of Lourdes grade school in University City, his goal being to provide healthier food alternatives to standard parochial school fare. So far, the results have been noteworthy: the cafeteria line now averages over 100 kids per day (up from 15-20), with "Burger Day" averaging between 160 and 180. The best part? "I'm serving them turkey burgers," says Del Pietro. "They're not asking what they are, and I'm not telling them."
