Congrats to Michael Gallina! It was announced today that the Vicia executive chef has been named to Food & Wine‘s annual list of best new chefs in America. This year marks the list’s 30th anniversary and includes 11 chefs from nine cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.
“We are so proud,” Vicia wrote on Instagram, in a post sharing the good news.
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“It is a sincere honor to be named to the Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2018 class,” Gallina says. “As a young chef, this is something I always aspired to, a dream goal I have always pursued, but never really thought possible. I am so proud to have created our restaurant in St. Louis. There is truly no place else I would have wanted to plant the roots of my career. It feels really amazing to be recognized amongst such a talented and diverse class of chefs from across the country.”
Food & Wine restaurant editor Jordana Rothman flew 37,000 miles to dine across the country and make her selections. “Michael Gallina spent four years as chef de cuisine at Dan Barber’s farm and restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Westchester County, New York, an experience that instilled a reverence for vegetables,” she writes. “But to bring that sensibility to St. Louis—home to ag giant Monsanto’s world headquarters? That takes some grit.”
Rothman delivers high praise for Vicia’s bread service taken outside, in front of its wood-burning oven. She described the experience as heartfelt. “There’s a tall table set with warm, blistered sourdough flatbread and an ever-changing lineup of toppings: tomatoes burst in the oven, creamy whipped ricotta, a head of young garlic slow-roasted to sweetness, umami salt made with dehydrated tomato skins,” she writes. “You can chat with the chefs while you rip and dip on your feet. And as they tell you about the crate of pawpaw that just came in from a favorite farmer or the new grain mill in Chicago they’ve recently discovered, you might find you’re in no rush to get back inside. They don’t call this the heartland for nothing. ”
This achievement is the latest in a growing number of accolades that Vicia and its proprietors, Michael and Tara Gallina, have received since it debuted in the Cortex Innovation Community last March. The restaurant was also named as a best new restaurant by national magazines Bon Appétit (top 50) and Esquire (top 18), as well as national food website Eater (top 12). USA Today readers also voted it the No. 2 best new restaurant of 2017.
Vicia was also nominated for a James Beard Award this year in the Best New Restaurant category.
