A conversation with chef Andy Roesch of Sunny’s Cantina in Dogtown

We first met Andy Roesch a decade ago when he was creating pizza anomalies at Felix’s Pizza Pub, New York-style pies topped with the likes of smoked curried coconut chicken, baby back rib meat, and nickel-sized crabcakes. Now 32 and the creative force behind Sunny’s Cantina, the chef hopes to take Mexican food on a similarly inventive cruise. Opening in “southern Dogtown” in late February, Roesch is bringing the cuisine back to the same neighborhood where, for decades, Chuy’s was the landmark cantina. 

When and where did you start cooking?

When I was like 14, I would have friends over after parties, and I’d cook pasta. I’d bring garlic bread and giant bowls of it downstairs and we’d have at it. No frozen pizzas for us. One time I brought the deep fryer down and the basement smelled like French fries and chicken strips for a week. My parents gave me a lot of leeway when I was cooking, but I did get yelled at for that one.

What the very first dish you remember making…and was it any good?

Mac and cheese, and it was great. I’d melt down some Velveeta, add some milk, parsley, some spices, a little crushed red pepper. For me, shell noodles were always the way to go. I almost use that same recipe to this day. It’s the basis for my pulled pork mac and cheese.

When did you catch the restaurant bug?

When I was 15 and a half and eager to make money, I started at Caruso’s in South County, as a barback, busser, go-to guy…staying until sometimes three in the morning washing dishes and mopping floors. You get exposed to a lot of things working as a barback…drinks served under the counter, relationships beginning and ending, fights, and bar shenanigans that young eyes had never seen.  

Is that where you started cooking? Sounds like you could already hold your own.

Not really, but I did learn a lot from a guy named Peanut—a goofy kitchen name for a big guy—who’d throw together random items for me to taste that became great dishes. He’d say, “here, let me show you how to make that real quick.” Peanut taught me how to make modiga sauce. My interest in sauces began then and there, thanks to Peanut.

When did you know that cooking might become your career?

Besides the love and the passion of just creating something, it was the family aspect—one I learned from a big Hispanic family that worked at BRIO —which attracted me to the kitchen and to the business in general. There’s something about being able to please groups big and small and the togetherness that it brings. You can tell by people’s faces if they like what you brought to the table. And then you look to see what they leave behind. You can ask, but the intuitive ones already know.

Is it your career?

Eventually I will definitely do some non profit work, but that’s way down the line.

Did you ever go to culinary school?

I was so motivated to learn more that I enrolled in Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, then went to the sister campus in Denver. After that, I moved on to Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, where I learned about fine dining, $96 cowboy cuts of meat, and $300 per person wine dinners. When I became homesick for St. Louis, came back to St. Louis I approached Tina Campieri, the co-owner of Giancarlo’s, a little place I liked on Hampton, with hoping to learn some of her great recipes. I got the job, but she never shared the recipes.

Eventually you ended up at Felix’s.

Yes. So Felix’s had shifted to more casual food and two chef friends who worked there had moved on. I got hired, food sales increased, Steve [owner Steve Kolb, now VanderKolb] trusted my talents, and so he asked me what I thought the neighborhood needed, and I said pizza. Let’s do pizza and beer. This was in 2010. Steve made me a partner, I wrote him a nice check, and he gave it right back to me, saying, ‘spend this money in the kitchen. Do what you need to do,’ and that’s how we transitioned to Felix’s Pizza Pub. My mom was my assistant, she was the chopper. She could chop basil faster than anybody.

The pizza pub concept took off immediately. Why was that?

We were one of the first places to successfully pull off a slice and a pint program, which at the time we sold for $5.99. We always have par-baked slices on hand that get customized to order, and a no cheese option, which is becoming more popular. I also added ingredients to my dough, which no one else was doing, fresh basil and oregano, roasted garlic oil that I made, using agave as the sweetener. We had fun back there. I had a local artist paint a skyline of St. Louis on the stainless hood, which you could see from the dining room, along with us tossing doughs.

And your product was different. I remember a pizza that had a teepee of baby back ribs on top of it.

Felix’s had gained a reputation for its barbecue program, so we continued that, but truth be told, the baby backs weren’t selling all that well, and that pizza was a way to keep that item fresh. That was a bad ass pie.

I eventually upped the quality level of the pizza ingredients, like using pepperoni from Volpi, fresh G&W sausage that I season in house, and Grande, an authentic Italian cheese. We serve a sixth of a pie cut from an 18” pizza. No square cuts.

Do you get asked for it to be cut in squares?

Occasionally. My pizza is meant to be cut into slices. If I cut it in squares, it doesn’t eat the same. I’m not a jerk about it, I’m just not going to do it.

So why move a successful across the street? Sometimes the vibe gets lost when that happens.

We had a line out the door and saw our guests going elsewhere. We had an opportunity to move into the Latitude 26 space across the street that was three times larger. Plus, some people still thought of us as a small martini bar and we wanted to attract more families. We now seat 150 total, including the patio, not including the slice and a pint crowd that hangs out on the rail.

Was there an unintended consequence with moving across the street?

The place was so much bigger, and we were doing so much more volume, that all the recipes had to be rewritten for way bigger batches. I’d been making the same recipes for so long that it never occurred to me. And recipes aren’t always linear, so most of them had to be tweaked. 

So you never regretted the move.

We were given the opportunity to buy the building, which is invaluable to a restaurant owner. There won’t be any rent increases after five years. (smiling) I look at it as my 401-K, and fortunately, it’s paying dividends.

How does a pizza owner come up with specialty pizzas?

Personally, I went through a phase of taking my favorite dinner dishes and turning them into pizzas. That’s how the modiga pizza came about. I built a base of 60 to 80 specialty pizzas that way, all of which get rolled back out from time to time. In Lent, I use Cajun lobster cream sauce as a base and top it with nickel-size, mini crab cakes. Or the lobster pesto cream cheese pizza that we bring back from time to time. 

Did any of your ideas just not work out?

I made a scampi pie, with a white wine, butter, and garlic sauce. Sounded great but it never sold.

Is it accurate to say that Felix’s serves a New York-style pizza?

It’s a New York-style pie that I spin my way. The crust is different, for example. There are the add ins and there’s not as much flop. There’s a chewiness and an airiness, which I prefer. It’ll be the same way with the menu at Sunny’s. The basis is Mexican food, but it’s different.

What’s the most popular pizza on Felix’s menu?

The Dogtown, with Volpi pepperoni, pepper bacon, and our special Italian sausage. We smoke our sausage,  meatballs, chicken, bacon…that smoker is my powerhouse. It’s part of what makes our pizza so different.

What’s the most outrageous pizza on the menu?

The coconut curry chicken pie. It gets topped with chopped romaine, diced tomatoes, jalapeno buttermilk sauce, green onions, and feta cheese after the bake.

How about gluten-free pizzas?

We’re spinning floured doughs back there left and right. As much as I’d like to do gluten-free, it’s just not feasible. It’s an I would but I can’t kind of thing.

Talk about Felix’s non pizza offerings, which are substantial.

Our smoked meatball sandwich on garlic cheese bread is a big seller, as is the Lil Madre, a pretty involved riff on Italian beef that my mom taught me to cook a long time ago. Our double deep fried trashed wings get double sauced, too. I learned that technique back at Crusoe’s, which may be the home of trashed wings in St. Louis. We did 175 pounds of wings last Sunday. That said, the percentage of pizza to non pizza items is probably 75/25. We sell a ton of slices.

Why veer into another cuisine? Why not just roll out another Felix’s?

We had looked at doing exactly that but the locations never panned out. When a building became available not far from us, on the southern edge of Dogtown, we knew we couldn’t do pizza, but we’d always wanted to bring Mexican food back to Dogtown. Remember that Felix’s is located in the old Chuy’s, which was popular for decades. My partners knew I wanted to do something new and creative and we liked that there were literally thousands of people who work in the Saint Louis Marketplace complex right across the street.

Talk about the building.

The combination of dark gray paint, new windows, logo signage, and a sunflower yellow steel awning will give it some pop and distinction. Inside, the predominant color is white, accented with oranges, and blues. SPACE [Architecture + Design] designed it so it’s not going to look like a fiesta gone wild in there. Think cool, not kitschy. New tin ceiling. Two rooms, closed kitchen. Like Felix’s, I expect the art to evolve over the years. (smiling) Most of the bicycles hanging inside Felix’s were gifts. We’ll see what shows up at Sunny’s.

Talk about the genesis of the name.

We considered Dogtown Cantina, with a kooky looking dog with a bottle of tequila as the logo, but that dingy bar association wasn’t us. Steve’s first child is named Sunny and we were reminded by the original owner of Felix’s that he’d named that restaurant after his dad and Nora’s after his mother, so why not name it Sunny’s, which has a warm, Mexican connotation. And our lime-slice-with-sun-rays logo is better than that dog could have ever been. 

Talk about the menu, and specifically your take on Mexican cuisine.

I get the spice for my chorizo from my Honduran wife’s family. It’s the basis for the house burger, a pork patty topped with grilled pineapple, a little pico, avocado, and Oaxaca cheese. This chorizo is not super red, crumbly, and greasy. It’s better balanced, not as spicy, and with more true chile flavor.

What else are you especially proud?

I fell in love with the concept of the machete. Ours is a 12-inch long, flat, house made, stuffed tortilla that resembles the knife. But up, it’s a great sharable item that don’t see in many places here.

The asada fries are topped with a really good marinated, sliced flank steak. The nachos come with chicken carnitas, or asada-style. There’s a triple tostada stack, too, which is tall and beautiful.

Your jalapeno poppers are not standard issue, either.

Not at all. First, I roast the peppers with olive oil and sugar, cool them, split them, fill them with herbed cream cheese, tomato, and bacon. I hit them with a house barbecue drizzle, then I roast them again. The sugar makes the difference and ignites that sweet-hot fire. I make my Mexican lasagna with tortillas and a combination of two sauces, green chili mixed with a cilantro lime cumin cream.

Are there other riffs on common items?

I’m not sure why you don’t see many Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches, but we’re doing one, served on Texas toast with warm salsa cream for dipping. It’s a loose take on grilled cheese and tomato soup. And why has no one ever crossed over with a fajita fried rice? That’s on the menu, too. I love cooking Asian food so I’m doing a fried rice with straight fajita vegetables or with protein add ins.

Talk about your salsa, which has become the main barometer of a Mexican restaurant.

I just bought a huge tumble roaster, mainly for wood-roasting the tomatoes peppers, and onions that make up the salsa. The street corn will get roasted that way as well.

Talk about the drink program and how it will be different.

We’ll focus on the tequila selection, obviously, complemented by some top notch mezcals. All the juices will be fresh, nothing from a can, so that means fresh grapefruit in the paloma. Several different simple syrups will be made fresh in house, too, so the margarita game will be solid as well as affordable. The house marg is eight bucks. No need to go top shelf to get a proper margarita.

Will there be another Felix’s, another Sunny’s, or something else in the future?

I dunno. How about a Felix’s Slice House?