One of the most anticipated restaurant openings of the year has named its executive chef. Chris Arnold will lead the kitchen at Gamlin’s (2704 Sutton), the forthcoming concept from industry veterans Derek Gamlin (Sub-Zero Vodka Bar, Gamlin Whiskey House, and 1764 Public House) and Henry Arciniega (West End Grill and Pub). The elevated neighborhood restaurant is slated to open in the former home of Elmwood and Burger Champ in Maplewood this spring. It will serve a menu focused on steaks, small plates, and house-made pastas, alongside a refined bar program.
“We want to recapture some of the things that may have been lost before the pandemic, like staying open a bit later,” Gamlin says. “We’ve always had bar-forward concepts, and this will be that as well, but we’re also going to have very good, elevated food. What Henry and I have done over the years is really just entertain people and give people a reason to come in, relax, and forget the world for a minute.”
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Gamlin says the vision that he and Arciniega have for the restaurant immediately aligned with Arnold, whom Gamlin felt was a “no-brainer” for the role of executive chef. Arnold brings nearly two decades of culinary experience to Gamlin’s, having worked at St. Louis restaurants including Scape American Bistro, Olive + Oak, Polite Society, Acero, and The Crossing, as well as the Michelin-starred Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado. Arnold says each of those experiences has built on each other, from his early days at Scape, where he learned to work smoothly and efficiently on a line, to Olive + Oak, where the seasonally driven menu changes daily. At Polite Society, he learned how to refine his techniques, which inspired him to achieve an even higher level of finesse while making fresh pasta at Frasca.
Upon his return to St. Louis, Arnold brought everything he learned together as sous chef at The Crossing. “Without The Crossing, I think I would still be just trying to learn techniques,” Arnold says. “But Jimmy [Fiala] at The Crossing slowed everything down for me. He taught me to look at cooking like it’s my gift that I have to give to people. He made me think, How can I use all these things I’ve added to my toolkit as a gift to make people happy?”
The Menu
At Gamlin’s, Arnold will leverage his classically trained French and Italian background to complement the restaurant’s whiskey-forward bar program. Instead of a classic Bordelaise sauce, which is traditionally made with red wine, for instance, he’s been playing around with a rich bourbon and balsamic sauce to pair with the restaurant’s ribeye. He’s most excited about the restaurant’s pasta program, which will feature familiar, approachable flavors served in new or unexpected ways. “I want people to come here and get a pasta that they can’t get anywhere else that’s still familiar,” he says.
As an example, he points to the mlinci, which features pasta dough made from polenta that is charred on the grill until it takes on a charred corn flavor. It’s then served with spicy Calabrian chili sausage, smoked ricotta, and an orange agrodolce. He says the dish is representative of his cooking style, which seeks to balance different flavors and textures. “I try to hit every note—salty, sweet, sour, crunchy, textured,” he says. “In one bite, you get some smoke. One bite, you get a big pop of acid. And then, in one bite, you get that nice Calabrian chili sausage. It just breaks up that flow to where every bite is a little bit different.”
Beyond house-made pastas, the menu will heavily focus on steaks, including a ribeye, a hanger steak, and steak frites, along with a standout burger and a few seafood dishes that nod to Sub Zero, including a hamachi plate with wasabi, apple, and chive.
In addition to crafting the menu, Arnold is looking forward to building relationships with vendors and customers, who will be able to watch the food being prepared and interact directly with the kitchen staff by grabbing a seat at the chef’s counter overlooking the glass-enclosed kitchen. He’s also excited about leading a team and instilling a strong, healthy kitchen culture.
“To me, it’s about the guests, and it’s about the team,” Arnold says. “I’m looking forward to fostering an amazing kitchen culture, teaching people, helping them grow, and getting better alongside a team of people that are going to be strangers to me at first, and we’re going to develop these deep bonds over our love for food. Derek, Henry, and I are different in a lot of ways, but we really love great food, making people happy, and watching the people we love be treated with care.”
