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Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria has expanded in a big-league way, with its largest location yet. Located at 751 Clark, the restaurant is just across the street from Gate 4 at Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. The 10,000-square-foot space seats a total of 400, including a 70-person event room and a 90-person all-season patio. Here’s what to know before you go.
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Before and after
The Space
At the heart of the 240-seat main room is a massive quartzite-topped bar. “We’ve never had a center bar, which is great for watching the action and interaction,” says co-owner Katie Lee Collier. “Each city in Italy has its own color palate, and we were able to find some natural stone in pink, green, charcoal, and cream—the same colors you’ll find in the Duomo in Florence.”
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Above the bar, Cardinals games will be live-streamed on giant, back-to-back screens. When the Cardinals are idle, the screens will show Italian movies, similar to Katie and Ted Collier’s two other restaurant locations, in Rock Hill (9568 Manchester) and Town & Country (14171 Clayton). Happy hour will be the same (2–5 p.m. weekdays), and a new cocktail menu, plus an "Italian spritz" menu has been added, as well as more reserve wines, “when people want to splurge and celebrate,” Katie says.
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Just to the left of the white marble host stand is a terrazzo crest inlaid into the floor that depicts peace, wheat (symbolic of family and life), plants, herbs—and artichokes. "Moving forward, it will be the symbol of Katie’s Pizza,” Collier says. “My father, Tom Lee, loved artichokes, which is apropos since he was prickly on the outside but a softie underneath.” Also on the crest: a small cardinal. “Besides the spatial connection,” Collier says, “both my father and Rolando [Llerena Colon]—who were pretty much the co-founding fathers of Katie’s—were huge Cardinals fans. This place is a love letter to the two of them.”
Photo by George Mahe
Tom Lee was also “a scrounger and a picker,” according to his daughter. “I worked with him in the junk biz for a few years, before he got into the restaurant biz with me,” Collier said. “When he passed away, he left me and my brothers, Tommy and Johnny, six giant storage lockers of architectural artifacts that he had collected. Each restaurant we build from now on will showcase his ‘junk,’ as he called it.”
The new dining room includes an array of decorative concrete and plaster planters and urns, copper artifacts, cast-concrete artichokes, as well as lion sculptures, crests, and medallions that help define the large space. (“Both my father and Rolando were Leos,” Collier says of the lion-themed décor.)
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Photo by George Mahe
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Photo by George Mahe
Several planters are also placed along a row of upholstered booths. “We placed the pieces carefully and deliberately,” Collier says, “thanks to our designer, David Kent Richardson, who wanted to see fewer of them, kind of a loose interpretation of the Roman Forum. Had he not intervened, we would have cluttered up the place.” Other key players were Spiegelglass Construction Company and TAO+LEE Associates, the project architect, whose strong suit is balancing functionality, floor planning, and design: One of the more subtle yet important design details is the use of different sized acoustic sound panels, mounted overhead throughout the space.
Wall art is minimal but oversized and dramatic. Belinda Lee, an accomplished painter and Katie’s mom, contributed, as did Ted Collier, who added two signature paintings, in Cardinals red and Blues blue. Collier’s first sculpture anchors the 80-seat outdoor patio, which is equipped with large heaters, so the space will be usable almost all year long, according to Katie.
Photo by George Mahe
Guests enter the private event space either through two 10-foot antique wooden doors (from the Tom Lee collection) or through two sets of opaque doors, cast from the wooden ones. “We call them the ‘spirit doors,’” Collier says.” The room seats between 20 and 65, and it's equipped with a separate sound system and its own bar. “This is the room that we didn’t have—but desperately needed—at the other two locations,” Collier says.
Photo by George Mahe
Photo by George Mahe
The prime perch is the "owner’s table," a booth seating 10 people with wall art painted by none other than Bill DeWitt III. “Just like in the old Italian movies, it’s the big booth in the back,” Collier notes.
At the same time, as with the other Katie's locations, the restaurant is family-friendly. “There’s a kid's menu and plenty of high chairs," says Collier.
Katie’s open kitchen sprawls along the back wall and includes a large wood-assist pizza oven. “We called this one ‘uccello rosso,’ which means red bird,” Collier says. In addition, steaks and fish are cooked on a Japanese-style yakatori grill using white binchotan charcoal, an expensive, super-hot burning, smokeless variety that produces a char and a delicate smoke flavor in a short amount of time.
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The Menu
The Ballpark Village menu of pizzas, pastas, salads, and sides is the same as at the other locations, with the exception of half a dozen large, sharable plates, including Bistecca alla Fiorentina, whole fried branzino, lobster thermador, chicken parmesan, and salmon served over Italian succotash. “We always wanted to offer items like this; we just never had the space,” Collier says. “Plus, this is now our iconic location. Guests will expect to see dishes like this.”
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Lobster Thermador
A whole branzino is scored, stuffed with shaved fennel and preserved lemon, tempura fried, and served with salsa verde. Lobster Thermador—a throwback dish predicted to be a best seller—includes a Maine lobster split in half, its meat chopped and returned to the shells along with a sauce made from fish stock, heavy cream, celery root, apple, and shallot that’s been allowed to steep. The dish is finished with salmon caviar, dill, and herb oil. “There will be people who remember it fondly from their youth,” says Collier, ”and younger people who’ve never heard of it, so we’re excited to offer it.
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Chicken parmesan
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Cured and binchotan charcoal-seared Ora King Salmon, chickpea and summer vegetable stew, fresh mint garnish
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Filetto di Manzo - Binchotan charcoal grilled 10-ounce tenderloin filet, gorgonzola butter, chianti reduction
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Oysters Fellini – East Coast oysters with sturgeon caviar, Cipriani mignonette, horseradish and lemon crumble, and Calabrian firelli sauce.
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Roasted broccolini with lemon vin, pepperoncino, reggiano, and ciabatta bread crumbs
One of the more substantial new dishes is chicken parmesan: two flattened 8-ounce chicken breasts stuffed with fontina, prosciutto, and chili bomba, then breaded with Parmesan and panko, and pan-fried. The dish is topped with an heirloom tomato salad, chili oil, and wildflower honey.
Another is a bone-in, 24-ounce ribeye that’s charcoal-grilled, napped with a secret garlic sauce, sliced, topped with arugula and reggiano, and finished with aged balsamic, olive oil, and fennel pollen. On the side are roasted, smashed, and fried potatoes, served with a Teleggio fonduta. Both of the dishes qualify as “multi-person sharables,” according to Collier.
Photos by Gregg Goldman
Three of Katie's classics: Pizza Marchertia Classico, Ricotta Stuffed Fried Squash Blossoms, Taleggio Cappelletti
Beyond the Menu
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Executive chef Jake Sanderson, Katie Lee Collier, and Katie's brother, COO Johnny Lee, who oversees daily operations
Executive chef Jake Sanderson, who’s been with Katie’s for more than a decade, has staged at some of the finest restaurants in the country: Felix, Flour & Water, Che Fico, Catania, Rich Table, Boka in Chicago, and Oak & Reel, Selden Standard, and SheWolf, all in Detroit. “When we see some daylight in the schedule, I ask Jake to find a place to stage, and he’s gone for several weeks,” Collier says. Sanderson also traveled to Bologna for a month and trained at VSB Bologna with Alessandra Spisni, “the top pasta maker in the world,” according to Collier. “I work, take copious notes, and some of what I learn ends up on Katie’s menu,” Sanderson says. “One thing Katie and I both learned in Italy is that you must use the best products: olive oil, butter, cheeses, tomatoes... That’s one reason their culinary simplicity works so well.”
Along those lines, in the "pasta room," fresh pastas are produced seven days a week. “If we’re open, we’re making pasta,” Collier says. “We’ll make the pasta for all three restaurants here, and it’s fun to watch, which is why we installed an eight-stool counter where guests can eat while they watch the process.” Made-on-site pastas include spaghetti, squid ink spaghetti, tortelloni, cappelletti, mafalda, triangoli, paccheri. lasagnatte, and Katie’s signature fiori noodle.
Photo by George Mahe
Photo by George Mahe
In an area Collier calls the "charcuterie deli," guests can load meats, cheeses, and bread into a 9-inch pizza box to take outside or into the stadium. It’s also the hub for Katie’s pickup window, where guests can order individual pizzas, meatballs, signature artichoke toasted ravioli, and soon, two canned beverages: Katie’s signature watermelon cocktail and its basil margarita. “Tom Lee will be on one can, and Rolando is on the other,” says Collier. All Katie’s pickup window food can be taken inside the stadium but not the cocktails.
The same menu is served all day with the exception of a handful of brunch items offered from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. daily.
Reservations can be made on Resy, walk-in tables are available, and guests can jump on the waitlist via Resy’s Mobile Wait feature. “We’re open all day every day at all of our locations,” Collier says, “so people never have to wonder if Katie’s is open or not."
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