Think You’ve Dined at Four Seasons’ Cielo? Think again.

You can dine at Cielo at the Four Seasons-St Louis. You can also DINE there. An invited group of scribes experienced the latter on Saturday night.

Food & Beverage Director Stephen Wancha (featured in SLM’s March 2012 Kitchen Q&A), is an out of the box thinker. He and his team have come up with three innovative ways for guests to experience the considerable talents of Exec Chef Fabrizio Schenardi. Each one is different, each has its application. Experience one, and curiosity is piqued to investigate the other two. Trust us on this.  

First, the most flexible and broad-based: Wancha and company will dress a table in the side lobby, fireside, in an area normally bedecked with luxe couches and chairs (see left). Two diners is the minimum, 35 the maximum (seated in-line or at round tables of 8). Last evening, it was a single, straight-as-Santorum table set for 16. The host chooses the table configuration. And the menu.

Five courses are recommended, several more are possible. Chef Fabrizio prepared seven courses Saturday evening, plus dessert, with a different wine paired to every course. “Paired” is noteworthy here… while we’ve attended more than several such affairs, never has the selection of wines been so spot-on, never so perfectly matched–there’s usually a miss somewhere. But sommelier Pete Beem nailed it like a baseball player at a dream double-header–he went seven for seven.

The next dining option one specifies by number; it’s 1910. Besides being the year The Boy Scouts of America was founded, it’s also the room number of Four Seasons’ Presidential Suite several floors above (at right). Occupancy for a presidential dinner here is two to eight guests. The number of courses, wine, no wine… hey, you’re the boss in 1910. While few may be able to justify spending a weekend–or even a night–in a Presidential Suite, it is now possible to enjoy a memorable meal in the room and claim “I’ve been there.”

The third option is an unlikely venue, accessed via a switchback stroll through Cielo’s nerve center and Fabrizio’s kingdom, the main kitchen. This was our destination, an auxiliary cooking line normally used for prep work. Schenardi was the sole chef behind the line, with guests seated side-by-side at a long granite “table” on the service side, normally the domain of the expeditor. In kitchen parlance, it’s known as “the pass.” Guests at this “Chef’s Table” (2-10 people) face directly into the kitchen, able to observe every flip of every pan (below).

Interestingly, the Chef’s Table can be reserved not only for dinner but for any meal–including brunch. Prices vary, of course, but plan on spending $125+ pp on average for a five-course dinner with wine.

Piemonte-born Schenardi is fluent in four languages (Italian, English, Spanish, and French) and four respective cooking styles. He describes Cielo’s cuisine as predominantly Italian, “using good ingredients and good, homemade pasta,” to which he adds “a good amount of imagination.” This was no better exemplified than on the most casual dish that evening, a whimsical take on tripe: triple-blanched, tossed in three different types of flour, deep-fried, and served in a basket–almost diner-style–with a hearty, ruddy pizzaiola sauce, so good it could make a machine made T-rav taste like a miracle. This night  it transformed tripe…and so well it raised the eyebrows on even the tripe-ophobes.

Of the eight courses, was there a favorite? Some thought the Chilean sea bass atop roasted faro tabbouleh ringed by a Key Lime basil sauce (above left) took top honors, while others favored fresh-made squid ink pappardelle with nuggets of sauteed foie gras (above right). The only unanimity was reserved for Pastry Chef Peter Whitley’s “Coffee & Cigar,” with a lacy, chocolate tuile playing wrapper for a filler of Bailey’s mousse and chocolate shavings as “ashes.” Espresso panna cotta lined the bottom of serving dish: a bona fide glass ashtray (below left)..

Then, another surprise. Long about um, mid-smoke, a beverage cart appeared (above right) laden with chef-made liquid concoctions in decorative stoppered bottles: limoncello, creme de limoncello, a delicious, infused-basil liqueur, and one made using honey sourced from Greg Rannells, a local food photographer and apiarist.  

Although the kitchen setting was informal, the service was not. Guests were served from the left, ladies first, of course, and all plates were placed down identically. Until Saturday night, I never realized that “cigars” look most appetizing when served at a 45-degree angle.     

Chef Fabrizio’s Menu (and one I’d recommend). Titles and descriptions mine:

Char Grilled Octopus: with frisee, blood orange segments, chorizo, and saffron-chorizo oil

LaMarca Prosecco

BLT,  Schenardi’s Way:  with Florida heirloom tomatoes, burrata, crispy prosciutto, Saba, basil oil

Maso Canali Pinot Grigio 2009

Tripe Frites: with pizzaiola sauce

Ceretto Arneis, Piemonte, 2009

Squid Ink Pappardelle: with foie gras, foie gras butter, and fresh marjoram

Terruzi & , Terre di Tufi, White Super Tuscan 2008

Pan-Seared Chilean Sea Bass: atop farro tabbouleh, Key lime basil sauce

Antinori, Cervarro della Sala 2005 (a blend of Chardonnay and Grechetto, Wine Spec 94 pts)

Veal Sweetbreads: with porcini mushrooms and Frangelico.

 Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba, Piemonte, 2008

Roasted Mini Rack of Lamb: with cipollini onions, aged Saba and lamb jus.

Il Poggione, Rosso Montalcino, Tuscany, 2008

“Coffee and Cigars:”espresso panna cotta, chocolate tuile stuffed with Bailey’s Creme mousse.

Chaumette Winery Vintage Port, 2007