Let's proceed straight to the bottom line: in what will certainly come as a surprise to most readers, Chef Wes Johnson is no longer involved with Salt (4356 Lindell, formerly Savor), the acclaimed restaurant he co-owned and helped conceive. Although Johnson would not share any specifics, in passing he did tell Relish that he had another project in the works and that "it will be awesome."
Salt opened robustly in April of last year, garnering an SLM Q&A for Johnson, a 2011 A-List mention and a "25 Best New Restaurants" mention from same, a favorable review from Joe and Ann Lemons Pollack, and a superlative: a "Best New Restaurant" nod from the RFT's Ian Froeb. This year, Salt was a 2012 James Beard Award semi-finalist for "Best New Restaurant," the first local restaurant ever to be nominated for that national distinction.
The eyebrow-raising began several weeks ago when purveyors (on several occasions) were unable to reach Johnson at the restaurant. St. Louis Magazine had arranged for Johnson to represent Salt at its 2nd annual Food Wine Design event last week, but 10 days prior, Salt's co-owner, Armando Siliceo-Roman, informed SLM that Josh Roland would be representing Salt in Johnson's stead.
Chef Roland had been working alongside Johnson at Salt for the last seven months. Local foodistas will remember him from his involvement at WildFlower, and before that at Jim Edmonds' Fifteen. What many may not know is the depth of his resume: Orrery in London, (Guenter) Seeger's in Atlanta, and Daniel in New York. He also was Executive Sous Chef at NYC's award-winning Jean Georges. Roland's culinary career began with stints at two of St. Louis' more trendsetting restaurants: Brandt's in The Loop and the original Balaban's in the CWE.
More as we know it...
Update: 5/22, 10 a.m.: Relish just received news announcing that Wes Johnson will serve as the new chef at Cafe Pintxos (apparently solidifying his job there as consulting chef), the "breakfast, lunch, and tapas" restaurant inside Hotel Ignacio at 3441 Olive. Oddly, the attractive one-year old hotel has remained pretty much under local radar and its Cafe even more so. (It doesn't help that no one knows how to pronounce it, a violation of Restaurant Rule #1...the Basque word for tapa is pronounced PEENT-choh. We've heard people simply bail and call it "that tapas place...inside that hotel.")
The announcement further stated that the hotel's new culinary program was a perfect match for Johnson, whose style is "simple, yet refined, elegant and approachable."
Even before Johnson's departure from Salt was made public yesterday (by Relish), he had hinted of several other projects in the works, from TV appearances to book deals to spearheading other restaurants. It appears his first order of business is a sleepy hotel restaurant in Midtown. New menus and wine lists are already in the works.
