Over the weekend, restaurateur Ben Poremba announced the appointment of a new executive chef at restaurants Elaia and Olio: himself.
The three-time James Beard Award semi-finalist will return to helm day-to-day kitchen operations at the neighboring Botanical Heights restaurants, but says he’ll be particularly focused on Elaia. “As a restaurant, we were privileged and honored to have such talented individuals helm the kitchen,” Poremba said in a statement, referring to the likes of Josh Charles, Tello Carréon, Ben Grupe, and most recently, Aaron Martinez. “But as Olio’s star has risen year after year, we’ve seen a slow but gradual decline at Elaia.”
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Poremba was previously spending a lot of time in the kitchen at his most recently opened restaurant, The Benevolent King, but said that things are ticking over smoothly now the restaurant is more established. “When we opened up, I was there a lot,” he said. “But I have excellent cooks over there like Anne Fosterling, people who’ve been with me for a long time and know my style, so they’re able to execute without my daily presence.”
Poremba singled out “identity” as an issue that had given him cause for concern at Elaia but said work is well underway on getting things where he wants them to be. “We’ve worked hard over the last six to nine months to address this issue,” Poremba says. “We’ve changed the menu format, the restaurant’s decor, brought in Alisha Calvert (formerly of Reed’s American Table) to run the wine program.”
Poremba said that former chef Aaron Martinez (now the exec chef at Cinder House) had instigated changes to the decor and furnishings that moved Elaia back to having a sense of cohesiveness that he had felt was lacking. He confessed to missing being in the kitchen, and believes that his return to day-to-day culinary operations will speak to customers’ sense of what Elaia represents. “I think people associated Elaia with me,” he said. “People were excited to come to eat there because it was my restaurant and it was my food. That aspect of the hospitality was probably missing.”
Poremba’s presence in the kitchen and on the floor will certainly be a boost. Customers always appreciate the visibility of owners and executive chefs and love having the opportunity to chat with a chef who’s willing to step out of the kitchen. It’s these little touches that leave an impression on diners and build a restaurant’s identity in their minds.
The menu gives diners a simple choice between the “Chef’s Tasting” or the “Tasting of Vegetables.” Some sample dishes from this weekend’s vegetable tasting menu included charcoal-grilled porcini with polenta, parmagiano and lemon thyme, and smoked beet with napa cabbage, choucroute and mustard cream. The Chef’s Tasting featured sturgeon with smoked potato salad, trout roe, Russian cream and dill, and an olive oil cake with blackberry and peach. Both menus are bookended by pre-meal snacks and post-meal mignardises (bite-size desserts).
These $70 four-course set menus change daily (Wednesday through Saturday) and include a choice of main course. Beverage pairings are available for each menu for $125. The menu also offers several $25 snack plates, which recently included foie gras torchon or country pate and Idiazabal cheese.
Gone are the lengthy tasting menus of old. “That’s not the way I eat any more,” the chef said. Poremba said the change of format is an acknowledgment of where he is in his career and life, but he is uncompromising on the quality he aims to deliver. “I’m not in the position I was seven years ago with the energy and stamina to run a full, brigaded kitchen and do the kind of food I did then,” he said. “I want to do the same quality, but I can’t do as many courses. What I can do is say ‘I’m inviting you to my house for dinner – because it is a house – and I’m going to cook really special food for you.’”
While Poremba believes the recent changes have helped put Elaia back on the map, he doesn’t plan to rest on his laurels. Referring to Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse as inspiration, he says, “I’m determined to work hard to make Elaia not just relevant and busy but also pioneering and exciting.”
Elaia and Olio
1634 Tower Grove
314-932-1088
HOURS
Elaia: Wed – Sat: 5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.; Sun – Tue: Closed
Olio: Sun – Thu: 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.; Fri – Sat: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
