An all-star team is being assembled to launch Madrina, the Italian restaurant that’s slated to open in the former C.J. Mugg’s location in late November. Co-owners Stanley and Arlene Maminta Browne (owners of Robust) and Frank Romano and Laura Burns (owners of The Parkmoor Drive-In) have enlisted some familiar industry names. “Individually, they all excel at their chosen professions,” says Maminta Browne. “Having them all on the same team, let’s just say we’re honored and excited.”
The Management Team
Executive Chef: Max Crask
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A decade ago, after a long stint at The Dubliner downtown, Crask was hired as executive chef at Tripel Brasserie in Lafayette Square, the city’s first Belgian-food-and-beer-themed restaurant. At Tripel, Crask pushed the boundaries to see what worked and what the public would embrace, including using sous-vide cooking to prepare vegetables and opening oysters using liquid nitrogen, which kept them intact, unbruised, and shell- and grit-free. At the time, his mantra was “Be different or don’t bother,” which carried over to Ices Plain & Fancy, where Crask and his team of alchemists mixed ice cream base and add-ins in KitchenAid stand mixers, using liquid nitrogen as the freezing agent and a plumber’s torch to help dislodge the contents, a cold smoke and fire show that captivated kids of all ages.
At Madrina, the concept is an Italian steakhouse bolstered by a mix of classic Italian-American dishes and “some different daily specials,” he says. “On the menu is a handful of traditional steaks, plus less expensive cuts such as a hanger or culotte, cooked on a wood-assisted, high-BTU gas grill. Using hickory in this application produces an absolutely delicious steak.”
Another menu standout will be Spaghetti Carbonara, “which is different everywhere you have it,” Crask says. “We’ll be importing full wheels of pecorino and Parmesan, and rendering the guanciale properly, so that dish will be the best it can be.” Other pasta options include linguine con vongole, using a dried pasta made on a single farm in Italy, plus ravioli and specials incorporating house-made pasta. The restaurant inherited a Baker’s Pride pizza oven, as well, Crask says, “where the experimentation continues.”
Many items will rotate, such as the crudo. “There’s a foie gras mousse with raw tuna that doesn’t sound like it would work but does,” he says. “On the fritto misto, besides just calamari and shrimp, you’ll see fried fennel and artichokes.” And the subject of toasted ravioli is “still being discussed,” whether it should be a traditional version, something different, or both.
For vegans, Crask will compress king oyster or lion’s mane mushrooms to create a hearty, steak-like density. And look for a naturally raised, deboned, seared, and oven roasted half-chicken, served Marsala-style.
The majority of the entrées will be served “a la carte, steak-house style,” Crask says. “The team likes the idea of seeing a full table, with side dishes and sauces being passed back and forth and people chattering away,” he says.
Desserts will include Italian cream cake, a secret-recipe tiramisu, classically churned gelato, and sweet and savory sorbets (such as pecorino) that can also be used for an intermezzo.
General Manager: Charlie Bongner
Long before entering the restaurant industry, Bongner earned an MBA from Lindenwood University and spent several years as a business professor and soccer coach at Missouri Valley College. “I was 24 and the youngest head college coach in the country at the time,” he recalls.
A decade later, after expanding a local tanning salon company from 20 locations to nearly 100 locations nationwide, he entered the restaurant industry somewhat by accident. “I went from enjoying dinner and drinks at the bar at Napoli 2 to joining their ranks” he says, “first as a utility man, then server, manager, and general manager for five years before moving to manage Café Napoli for another five years… Upon reading about Madrina and hearing about the team that the owners were assembling, I was anxious to jump on board.”
Bongner describes his management style as hands-on with customers and respectful of staff. “I’m not an iron-fist kind of guy,” he says. “My goal is to get people to want to work for me rather than have to work for me. My strength as manager has always been being the best assistant to my entire staff. At Madrina, given the strong team of other managers, my plan is to guide the ship, let them do their thing, and stay out of their way.”
Bongner says Madrina will have three dining areas, each with a slightly different degree of service: an energetic 60-seat front room, including a bar, for casual dining; an 80-seat middle room, which includes several curved, six-person booths for slightly more elevated dining; and a more dimly lit, quieter back room that seats 40 for romantic dining.
Assisting Bongner in the front-of-the-house is Rhiannon Beckley, whose prior history includes front-of-house manager at Anthonino’s Taverna on The Hill, training the bar staff at The Pitch, and working the bar at the Four Seasons Hotel–St. Louis.
Beverage Director: Alisha Blackwell-Calvert
One of the city’s consummate wine sommeliers, Blackwell-Calvert is one of only nine advanced sommeliers in the city (and two who are actively working restaurant floors). In 2017, she worked with now-master sommelier Andrey Ivanov at Reeds American Table. In 2018, she was included in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers” and was named its “Sommelier/Wine Director of the Year” in 2021. Most recently, she was named the 2023 James Beard Iconoclast Wine Honoree and honored at the James Beard House in New York City.
Having worked as sommelier at Elaia, Olio, and most recently Cinder House, Blackwell-Calvert is excited to execute Stanley Browne’s vision to list domestic wines and their Italian counterparts side by side, both reds and whites, from lightest to fullest body. “People are hesitant to try Italian wines due to the unfamiliarity,” she says. “A list like this will open a lot of eyes to Italian wines.”
Blackwell-Calvert admits that putting such a list to paper is a challenge. Even though it’s the shortest list she’s ever written, it’s also the hardest, she says, explaining that “since Italian wines are more similar to each other than American wines, which are more diverse, I’m more limited. I don’t have a lot of comparative options to cover all that we want to do, given the concept.”
Blackwell-Calvert’s list will also include both Italian and domestic sparkling wine, a few Champagnes, as well as a dozen hand-picked outliers—“Alisha’s Global Inspirations of the Moment,” worthy wines from other regions and places she’s traveled across several price points, “to make doubly sure there’s something for everyone at all times.
“I want people to ask questions,” she adds. “I welcome the curiosity. That’s why I’m there. I’m Madrina’s beverage director, but I prefer advanced sommelier because it’s a title that I earned.” (Blackwell-Calvert plans to take the master sommelier exam in 2025, hallowed ground in that there are only 300 masters worldwide.)
Blackwell-Calvert describes her style of service as “elevated but approachable,” she says. “One advantage of having an advanced somm on staff is that we are hyper-focused on serving wines at the proper temperature and in higher-end stemware, so they’re showing at their absolute best. Another elevation is pouring wines tableside, beginning with a taste and returning with the bottle later for an additional glass or half glass.”
Blackwell-Calvert considers Stanley and Frank “well-respected patriarchs in the industry,” and the idea of being part of their family-run restaurant in Webster Groves—where she’s from—secured the deal. And don’t be surprised to see her occasionally playing the role of server as well. “I still love to do that,” she says. “It’s fun for me and fun for the guest.”
Bar Manager: Brian Clark
For the past six years, Clark helped develop the beverage program for Tin Roof, a 20-unit live music, bar, and restaurant concept. Clark most recently served as its national beverage director, a behind-the-scenes job that he equates to “running the business side of the bar business.” Tin Roof was just as much about the experience as anything else, Clark says, an aspect that translates to Madrina. “Besides having high standards of service, our focus will be on how we make people feel when they walk in the door and how they feel when they walk out,” he says.
Clark is assembling a beverage menu of classically made cocktails. The menu occasionally veer down Italian side roads by creating interpretations of popular cocktails to show the versatility of Italian drinks. “Replacing, say, a whiskey with an Amaro, opens all kinds of doors,” he says. “Adding a limoncello to a cocktail can brighten it up.
“Due to the size of the space, speed and efficiency are paramount,” Clark adds, referring to his preference for “four-touch cocktails” (in which only four bottles are used in their preparation). The draft and bottled beer list will be led by Menabrea, a popular Italian beer, with local craft beers playing a supporting role alongside a local mainstream beer or two, which Clark refers to as “comfort brands,” he says. “After having a great wine with dinner, there are times when people just want a Mich Ultra after dinner.
“In a restaurant setting, different guests are looking for different things,” he adds. “I was able to cover all the bases at Tin Roof, and Alisha and I will do the same at Madrina. She has a depth of knowledge that includes spirits and spirits judging, so her collaboration and endorsement is invaluable. At Tin Roof, I’d been predominantly working remotely. I’m looking forward to working side-by-side with a team again and helping build what I’m sure will become a community staple.”
The Owners
Arlene & Stanley Browne
Stanley Browne grew up in Ireland, where his family owned a small hotel. He studied hotel and restaurant management in college, which included culinary training. Browne ran a pub and restaurant in Galway for 18 months before coming to the United States and working at the Cheshire Inn and Seven Gables Inn in Clayton before becoming a wine rep at Bommarito Wines. In 2007, he and his wife, Arlene, opened Robust, a combination of small plates wine bar and a wine/gift shop, where they grouped wines according to their ‘Robust Factor,’ a user-friendly method of categorizing wines by body style profile (crisp, mellow, luscious), rather than country or region.
Arlene keeps Robust top of mind in various ways. With an extensive background in marketing, public relations, social media networking, and development, she’s launched innumerable marketing campaigns and promotions at Robust over the years, including Cinco de Vino, offering discounted wines on the fifth of each month; an “Enchanted Decanted” program in which a glass of a decanted, super-premium wine was offered at a super-low price; and a “name our doughnut holes-and-coffee-themed dessert” contest.
Frank Romano & Laura Burns
Frank Romano’s restaurant resume is as weighty as a wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. His CV includes stints at Piccolo’s, Kemoll’s, Truffles, Jazz at the Bistro, An American Place, Miso on Meramec, Araka, BaiKu, Truimph Grill, Angad Arts Hotel, and Robust, where he served as general manager for eight years, establishing a partnership with the Brownes in the process. Most recently, Romano tackled The Parkmoor—a longtime St. Louis institution that he had patronized since his youth. In 2020, he opened his reinvention in Webster Groves two blocks from C.J. Mugg’s and less than a block from Robust.
After graduating with a BFA in graphic communications from Washington University, Laura Burns founded designlab, inc, a collaborative design studio that includes project management, art direction, and design services. Burns was responsible for the branding and design elements of The Parkmoor and was instrumental in the creation of Madrina.
Burns was a catalyst for Madrina, after sending her husband a photo of a Kemoll’s sign (which read “Italian Food’ on one side and ‘Charbroiled Steaks’ on the other) and then helping nail down the name. When Frank was young, his godmother had helped him get his first job at Kemoll’s and, ironically, Frank met Stanley there when he was a wine rep. So when Burns saw Madrina—meaning “godmother”—on the list of possibilities, she said, “That’s it.”
After agreeing, Stanley’s reaction was, “The godfather has gotten enough press. Bring on the godmother!”
