He’s baaaack.
Pepe Kehm (right), one of the more colorful chefs on the local dining scene, has subleased the 25-seat space at 7600 Wydown, the former home of Pizzino, which closed earlier this month.
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In its place will be Peno, a neighborhood Italian restaurant named after Kehm’s grandfather. (When he was young, Kehm couldn’t pronounce his full name—Guiseppino—so he called him simply Peno, then and thereafter.)
The chef, whose ancestors hail from Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria in Southern Italy, described Peno’s focus as “Italian soul food”…which naturally required further explanation. “Think of soul food in the southern U.S.,” Kehm said, “and then consider its equivalent in Southern Italy, because it definitely exists.”
The moniker includes expected items like braised escarole, black eyed peas, and warm green bean salad, but also unexpecteds like a risotto that incorporates chicken necks and backs (“they use it all…we use it all,” Kehm said). The 50-year-old chef inherited Pizzino’s brick oven, so expect a scatter of al forno dishes on a small menu that may offer as many specials as entrees. The chef also mentioned homey, fresh pasta dishes like lasagna and canneloni.
Fresh seafood will be well represented (“smaller portions, six-ouncers,” Kehm said, “so we can keep entree prices in the teens”), as will one-offs like a rolled-then-braised veal cutlet, stuffed with spinach, egg, salami…and a chopped White Castle slider. “I see you laughing,” Kehm smirked, “but wait till you taste it.”
Pizza will play a prominent role as well, in both American and Sicilian varieties. Kehm claims his dough recipe is the same as at Rossino’s and Marietta’s, two legendary St. Louis pizzerias (“the first and second pizza joints in town,” according to Kehm).
Expect fast casual counter service at lunch and table service at dinner. “I’m trying to offer exactly what I think this neighborhood needs and wants,” he said. “A small, friendly, inexpensive place with high quality food designed to eat here or take home.” In the next few weeks, Kehm will be adding window treatments and other “softening” touches to the otherwise sparse storefront (right).
Playing to the dense Moorlands neighborhood, Kehm predicts a brisk delivery business and when weather permits, pizzas and dinners will be dispatched by motorscooter.
Joining Kehm in the venture is chef Freddy Coco (Donovan’s in Rock Hill, Metropolitan Grill in Springfield, Mo). The two accomplished chefs will share FOH/BOH duties.
Kehm got his start washing beer fishbowls at Rigazzi’s (“like 200 a night…which was a lot when you’re 12,” he told SLM in this Q&A), but readers may remember him from Corky’s or Spaghetteria Mamma Mia, both located in Dogtown (collaborations with long-time partner and collaborator Greg Perez). Mamma Mia’s second iteration was in a brick building at 904 S. Vandeventer (originally “Sanford and Son Salvage,” the alleged impetus for St. Louisan Redd Foxx’s famed TV series). And then there was Kehm’s short-lived Bistro Toi (where Farmhaus is now) and more recently, Eros Eclectic Greek Taverna in St. Charles, which Kehm closed last year.
One of the more unique features of Spaghetteria Mamma Mia—a tasty amuse bouche of homemade soup—will be resurrected at Peno, and since the restaurant is scheduled to open in late January, its popularity is assured.
