Courtesy The Tavern
The "chef's bar" at The Tavern in Valley Park
Where in St. Louis can diners eat “at the pass”? —Sam S., St. Louis
First off, “the pass” is an industry term for the transfer point where food items get passed from the back to the front of the house. In a completely closed kitchen, the pass is within the kitchen, hidden from view. In other cases, it’s a counter or window to the kitchen where both cold and hot food (look for the heat lamps) gets assembled (often by an expeditor), then picked up and served by a food runner or server. Over the past decade, fueled by patrons’ never-ending fascination with what goes on in a restaurant kitchen, the pass became an experiential thing.
The pass is not to be confused with a chef’s table, which is usually located near the pass and close to (and sometimes within) the kitchen. Dining at a chef’s table is almost always by reservation only and usually involves a themed menu, tasting menu, or prix fixe meal, all prearranged. This is akin to a private dinner party (albeit held on the chef’s home turf), where guests are encouraged to engage the chef regarding sourcing, preparation, cooking techniques, garnishment—whatever.
In St. Louis, the first example of either phenomenon might have been at The Tavern Kitchen & Bar, which opened in Valley Park in 2010. The eight-seat “chef’s bar” was as close to the kitchen as a diner could get without having to don a hat. The chef, working from the kitchen side, could facilitate a meal as cook, teacher, server, and friend. Besides the guest being able to directly interact with the chef, the phenomenon served as a new form of communal dining.
Since then, refined versions of the concept have sprung up across town. One favorite is the arrangement at Pastaria, where a dozen diners sit at various spots adjacent to the pass; we prefer the seats directly in front of the wood-fired pizza oven. 801 Fish provides variety, too, courtesy of a serpentine set of seats that meanders from the pass to the raw bar.
The Peacemaker Lobster & Crab has seating at its raw bar. At Louie, the bar and the counter in front of the kitchen account for almost a third of the restaurant’s seating. (Pro tip: The closer that you sit to the pizza oven, the closer you are to owner Matt McGuire slicing—and occasionally doling out—shavings of Prosciutto di Parma.) At Elmwood, the chef’s counter is separated from the kitchen by large windows. It could be argued that not hearing the kitchen noises paradoxically adds another dimension to the experience.
At the recently remodeled Tenderloin Room, a chef’s counter (along with a rotisserie) was part of the renovation.
Photo by Spencer Pernikoff
There's a large chef’s table at Boundary, topped with hammered steel and located steps from the pass. Overlooking the pizza oven and grill, the high-top table at The Last Kitchen is close enough to the pass to garnish chef Evy Swoboda's duck pot pie. And on Thursdays and Fridays at Dia’s Room at Cinder House, Gerard Craft (pictured at right) prepares a single-seating, multi-course culinary experience for 10 diners.
Two newer restaurants, Savage and Bulrush, are both predicated on the chef’s table concept as well. And I suppose all diners and sushi joints with counters would loosely qualify. (Worthy new offerings include Morning Glory Diner and Nick Bognar’s lights-out omakase dinners at indo.)
While some people still insist on dining at a table (or their table), and some of us (especially industry folk) prefer doing our eating and drinking at the bar, being able to combine a meal with a sensory experience is absolutely an option worth exploring.
Follow George on Twitter and Instagram, or send him an "Ask George" email at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, suaired live bscribe or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
