Courtesy Vicia
Rendering of the garden-side pavilion at Vicia, the home to Taqueria Morita, opening in May 2022.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS
Tara and Michael Gallina
The acclaimed team behind Rooster and the Hen Hospitality has announced that it will be changing its name to Take Root Hospitality, with a new restaurant on the near horizon.
Michael and Tara Gallina launched the hospitality group in 2017, with the opening of the nationally acclaimed Vicia in the Central West End. The couple also operates Winslow’s Table, and a third restaurant, Taqueria Morita, is slated to open early this summer.
Along with the name change, the Gallinas will be adding a new partner, former Vicia executive chef Aaron Martinez, who also served as the executive chef at Elaia and Cinder House. Martinez will become the hospitality group's culinary director and oversee food for all three restaurants.
“Aaron brings a tremendous amount of creativity, leadership, and thoughtfulness to his new role,” Michael said in a press release. “We are grateful to have him as a partner on all endeavors and are confident he will help us grow TRH while staying true to our values.”
Take Root Hospitality also announced that Jane Chatham will become chef de cuisine at Vicia. “Jane has so much talent, and we’ve viewed her as a rising star at Vicia from the start,” says Michael. “We are excited to have her in a role that perfectly combines her leadership and cooking skills.”
This marks the fifth year of operation for Vicia. Prior to opening the restaurant, the Gallinas worked at the lauded Blue Hill at Stone Barns. As Michael told SLM shortly before opening Vicia, "We’re prideful of what we’ve done and what we’ve learned, so why not share it with more people, bring it back home, and communicate it to a new audience? I wake up every day thinking, 'Why can’t one of the next best restaurants in the country be in St. Louis?' We did not move here to lay back and coast."
