Tenderloin and shaved truffles, part of the tasting menu at Privado.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated from the original version.
Chef Mike Randolph has closed Privado, the year-old tasting menu restaurant located at 6665 Delmar, the former home of Randolfi's Italian Kitchen (its sign, incidentally was never taken down from above the door).
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Ian Froeb was the first to report the news.
Chef Randolph, the city’s most restless restaurateur, has opened a handful of restaurants over the past decade, some more successful than others. Give him credit for introducing St. Louisans to authentic Neapolitan pizza at The Good Pie, and then creative breakfast, lunch, and brunch fare at Half & Half (fried chicken livers and eggs, anyone)? He hit a home run at Privado (for which he earned James Beard nominations for Best Chef: Midwest and Best New Restaurant), but never found an audience at Medianoche nor its successor, Little Country Gentleman.
Randolfi’s Italian Kitchen, a combination of old- and new-school Italian, was a solid and critically acclaimed endeavor (curiously, its sign was never taken down from above Privado's doorway). When Randolph closed Randolfi's, his reason was symptomatic of many new restaurants—it was popular but not profitable.
Privado, by all estimations, was an unusual and risky endeavor. A descendant of prix fixe dining, the restaurant featured a multicourse, chefs-choice menu, offered to 16 guests at a single seating on weekend nights only (à la carte dishes were later offered at the bar). The cost—$120 per person, prior to tax, tip, and beverages—equated to a very expensive meal, but one that was well worth it, according to every food critic in town. Froeb awarded it a rare four stars and SLM’s Dave Lowry raved, calling it "a must for those who appreciate serious dining in St. Louis."
Alas, Randolph told the Post-Dispatch that “in spite of the sold-out dinners, Privado was not financially tenable.” Popular but not profitable. Randolph said even though they “accomplished so much and are very proud of that…it was time to cut our losses and move on.”
It’s interesting that two tasting menu restaurants opened and closed on the same day. At Savage in Fox Park, chef Logan Ely prepares different-sized tasting menus for 20 guests seated at a U-shaped table. Ely's kitchen (and his assistants who double as servers) is at the hub.
Ely has cast the net a little wider by offering more options and (eventually) opening for more shifts. As he noted in interviews with SLM, the rent on Fox Park is reasonable and the decor and buildout are very garage band ("We redid the ceiling, redid the floors...tiled it, built the wall, the lights, the doors”), the ideal tools to turn around that “popular, not profitable” axiom.
