A conversation with Daniel Gonzalez and Maria Giamportone of Asador del Sur in Maplewood

With roots stretching to South America, the couple recently opened a unique grill in the former Reeds American Table space.

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Daniel Gonzalez grew up tending a grill in Uruguay as Maria Giamportone was mastering seafood cookery in her native Ecuador. They met in New Jersey and moved to Miami before Giamportone’s St. Louis relatives raved about their food, telling them how much the city would welcome a South American grill. The result: Asador del Sur in Maplewood.

How did you meet?

MG: We were both born in South America—Daniel in Uruguay, me in Ecuador—but that’s about as much in common that we have. We have different dialects, words, and ways to say the same word.

DG: We met in New Jersey when we were working for the same cleaning company.

MG: I owned an Ecuadorian restaurant in Miami but closed it when I moved back to New Jersey where my family was.

So you’re both Jersey kids?

MG: Yes, but after a while we got tired of the cold weather and moved to Miami, where we started a commercial janitorial cleaning company in 2005. 

DG: It’s pretty much on autopilot now, but I still go there once a month or so to check on it.

Do you have a cooking background?

DG: My father gave me a little piece of the grill to see how I did with it when I was 15, starting off with things like sausages—which are pretty hard to screw up!—and watching me like a hawk. I’ve been my own grillmaster for 35 or 40 years. 

MG: In Ecuador, we cook a lot of seafood. That’s my specialty. He knows the grill, and I know seafood. We both bring different skills to Asador, which is part of its uniqueness. It means we can introduce items and dishes that St. Louis is not yet familiar with.

Such as?

MG: Red prawns from the Mediterranean that we get from a supplier in Miami, called carabineros. 

DG: They’re huge and similar to langoustines, except they’re in the shrimp family. 

MG: The Mediterranean is high in salt, so they taste different, better. They’re considered a delicacy, and we are addicted to them—well, especially me. 

How did you end up in St. Louis?

MG: We were looking to open a restaurant in Florida that specialized in Dungeness crabs [a meaty West Coast variety], but the supply was disrupted and still is. My two brothers who live in St. Louis suggested we open a place here instead, that there was nothing here like we were planning, nothing like Asador del Sur. But honestly, it was the people here who attracted us the most. Everyone—here in Maplewood and around the city—has been so nice, so awesome. It’s much different than in Miami, New York, and New Jersey. I’m, like, “OK, when are you going to become a monster?” And they never do.

What does the name mean? 

MG: It means “Southern grill,” as in South American. Almost all of our dishes—meat and fish—are cooked or finished on a gas-fired grill, which is used a lot in Argentina. 

DG: We already have the name for our second restaurant. 

Did you do any menu research?

MG: These are our family specialties, things we really like, the things we know other people really like. 

DG: Things we’ve been working on for the past 30 years.

MG: Eventually the menu will be 50/50 meat and seafood, but due to COVID, seafood is expensive and the supply is hit-and-miss, so there’s more meat on the opening menu and vegan options, too. That was always part of the plan. I had hoped to become a vegan by age 45—then I met this meat eater, and it never happened. 

What’s your favorite appetizer?

DG: I’ve eaten soups all over—we travel a lot—and I can honestly say that Maria’s lobster bisque is the best I’ve ever had anywhere. It’s scratch-made, and rich but not thick and pasty, because it contains zero flour. She thickens hers with rice, but don’t tell anybody. 

What’s your favorite item on the menu?

DG: The Uruguayan-style short ribs, which I grew up eating. They’re cut a little differently, and each one is hand selected by the same person at Kenrick’s Meats every day, so they’ll be consistent.

MG: For me, it’s the carabineros, the half-lobster, with chimichurri. 

DG: Some people think it’s just for meat, but anything that goes on a grill goes with chimichurri. Like sriracha, A-1, or ranch dressing [in the U.S.], it’s the go-to condiment in Uruguay.

MG: If there’s something you don’t like, put chimichurri on it, and you’ll like it. 

DG: You can eat our flan with chimichurri and I bet it’s good. 

Are different seasonings and marinades used for the different cuts of meat?

DG: We season with salt, a medium-coarse grain that sticks to the meat called sal parrillera. That’s it—that’s all we use—but every grillmaster has his own method for salting what he cooks.

What are a few of the items that might be new to local palates?

MG: For us, it’s traditional to use the whole animal, so we have blood sausage on the menu. 

DG: My brothers-in-law are all married to women from Missouri. They weren’t too sure about something called blood sausage, but they tried it, and all of them liked it. Everybody should at least try it. How else could you honestly know?

Are you going to emphasize one alcoholic beverage over another?

DG: We will start with 30 affordably priced wines from the Northwest USA, Argentina, Spain, Chile, and Uruguay, many of those made using the Tannat grape—a French grape that became the national grape of Uruguay—which is not well known in St. Louis but pairs especially well with grilled meats. I’m a beer guy, so we’ll have as many local cans and bottles as we can, which looks like 24.

What’s on the cocktail menu?

MG: They will be an attraction, too, since we use fresh juices like pineapple, mango, passionfruit, lychee, and guava. The mojito is one of my favorite drinks, and I’m very particular about how it’s made. If you over-muddle the mint, it looks pretty—until the pieces come up the straw and get caught in your teeth. Then what do you do? Our bar manager, Rowdy Parker, has created an affordable, appealing list of South American–inspired cocktails, including a Leche Tini, made with dulce de leche and cinnamon.

What makes Asador stand out from the other restaurants?

DG: We feel that the dishes themselves, the way our meats are cut and prepared, and items like carabineros, will make us unique. Ours are simple dishes but carefully planned. People have reported back to me about meats from all across the world, saying, “Yours is better.”

What changes did you do make to the interior [formerly Reeds American Table and Home Wine Kitchen]?

MG: We put a colorful cushion on what had been a long wooden bench and covered the main wall with an unusual wallpaper that looks like fine pebbles. The bar is made of white snowdrift marble that’s translucent and can be backlit, so we can lower the light to a glow as the day progresses.

We’re still adding rustic warming touches to the upstairs room, where many of the tables are. There’s also a private room for eight. We put TVs on both floors, because soccer is important—to us, for sure, and now to St. Louis. 

DG: Maria likes wine, I like beer, and we both like cocktails. She knows about seafood; I know meat. We’re the perfect match.

MG: We think we created something here that’s pretty special, too.

Editor's Note: Asador del Sur has subsequently added tables on the sidewalk, a streetside parklet, in a protected alleyway on the side of the restaurant.  

Asador del Sur

7322 Manchester, St Louis, Missouri 63143

314-802-8587

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Wed_Thu: 5 – 9 p.m.; Fri - Sat: 12 to 10 p.m.; Sun: 12- 7 p.m.

Expensive

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