Asador del Sur opens tonight in Maplewood
The South American–themed grill features different cuts of meat, unusual seafood offerings, and tempting cocktails.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Grilled, rolled skirt steak at Asador del Sur
Daniel Gonzalez grew up in Uruguay, tending the family grill, as most young men do. Twenty-five hundred miles away, Maria Giamportone was learning the art of seafood cookery in her native Ecuador. They met in the U.S., got married, started a commercial cleaning business in Miami, and then got the itch to open a restaurant together.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Photo by George Mahe
Relatives convinced them that St. Louis was the ideal spot for what they were planning: a grill featuring the foods of their respective homelands. Tonight, in conjunction with the beginning of the weeklong Taste of Maplewood, Asador del Sur (southern grill) comes to life (in the former home of Reeds American Table and Home Wine Kitchen).
There are several reasons to experience a restaurant that could have (and should have) opened months ago. Start with the signature items, like the Mediterranean red prawns (carabineros) that are grilled with lemon, garlic, parsley, and coarse salt, presented simply. “They’re a delicacy in Europe. Unfortunately, my husband and I are addicted to them,” Maria confesses. “The high salt level in that sea gives them a flavor like nothing else in the shrimp family.”
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
A less expensive but just as worthy option are the South African Grilled Tiger Langoustines, served with chimichurri sauce. “Some people think it’s just for meat, but anything that goes on a grill goes with chimichurri," Daniel explains. “It’s a go-to condiment in Uruguay, like sriracha, A-1, or ranch dressing is here. If there’s something you don’t like, just put some chimichurri on it. I could put it on our flan, and I bet it would taste good.”
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
He recommends that he condiment be served on the side of another house specialty (and Daniel’s favorite item on the menu), the Uryguayan short ribs (tira de asado). “The secret is the cut, which is different in Uruguay, and keeping them consistent,” Daniel says. “And all of ours are hand-selected by the same butcher, so we’re covered there.”
Courtesy Asador del Sur
The meats are cooked in a gas-fired grill, and the seasoning method is simple: salt, specifically a medium-coarse grain that sticks to the meat called sal parrillera, or grilling salt. Daniel says that “in Uruguay, we tend to use the same salt, but every grillmaster has his own method for salting what he cooks.”
Other entrées include several cuts of steak, Argentinian pork sausage, and two show-stoppers, a vegetable mixed grill (vegeatbles parrillada) and fried green plantains (patacones rellenos), filled with beef, shrimp, or mushrooms. The seafood offerings that Maria plans to serve will be introduced slowly, as supplies and prices stabilize, she says.
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Courtesy Asador del Sur
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Although Daniel is a confirmed carnivore, he has a weakness for his wife’s lobster bisque. “We travel a lot and eat a lot of lobster bisque” he says, “but I can honestly say that Maria’s is the best I’ve ever had. It’s made with rice flour, so it’s never thick or pasty.”
One of the dishes that the couple is most proud to share is the blood sausage. “In both our cultures, it’s traditional to use the whole animal,” Daniel says, “so that’s one reason we have blood sausage on the menu. My brothers-in-law are all married to women from Missouri, and they weren’t too sure about something called 'blood sausage' until they tasted it, and all of them liked it.”
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Bar manager Rowdy Parker has assembled an affordable, appealing list of South American–inspired cocktails, including a Lechetini, made with dulce de leche, a Yuzutini (“think a lemon drop with a botanical kick”), a margarita that’s more salt than sweet (“the salt is in it, not on it”), and the house special, Piña Asador, a pineapple juice–added riff on the pisco sour, a cocktail that’s popular along the western coast of South America. Several dozen beers in cans and bottles are also available (nothing on draft), and the 30-bottle wine list includes affordable offerings from the Northwest USA, Argentina, Spain, Chile, and especially Uruguay, many of those made using the tannat grape, a French grape that became the national grape of Uruguay and pairs especially well with grilled meats.
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Photo by George Mahe
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Photo by George Mahe
Diners who remember the space's previous interior, with long pew–style seating, will instead find a bench covered in earth tones and the rustic barnwood above overlaid with a pebbled, textural fabric. The bar is lined with socially distanced stools, leaving room to appreciate the bar top of white backlit snowdrift marble, which changes hue as the day progresses.
Photo by George Mahe
Upstairs is a large room that had been underutilized in prior iterations. Maria and Daniel are adding rustic, warming touches and plan to use the space (and a private room for eight) for special events and general dining.
In opening the restaurant of their dreams, the two hope to bring a new offering to the dining scene. “We feel that the dishes themselves, like the carabineros and the rellenos, and the way our meats are cut and prepared, will make us unique," Daniel says. "People have reported back to me after eating meat all across the world and tell me, ‘Yours is better.’"
Asador del Sur
7322 Manchester, St Louis, Missouri 63143
Wed_Thu: 5 – 9 p.m.; Fri - Sat: 12 to 10 p.m.; Sun: 12- 7 p.m.
Expensive
