Photo by Greg Rannells
It’s a busy week for Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group.
It was just announced that Sardella, the highly anticipated restaurant taking over the former Niche space in Clayton, will open for dinner beginning today, November 2. Breakfast service will commence tomorrow, with lunch to follow in the coming weeks.
While many lament the passing of Niche, Sardella is destined for broader appeal. Where Niche sourced all proteins and produce from a small radius around St. Louis, Sardella adopts a more relaxed approach, which means local sourcing but also food from the sea (Fluke Crudo and Barramundi with mussels, for example) and desserts containing chocolate (such as Pistachio White Chocolate Panna Cotta).
Photo by Greg Rannells
A seasonal restaurant with “a nod to Italy,” Sardella is decidedly more casual than Niche, which many people considered a special-occasion restaurant. The blue-and-white tile scheme and sunny yellow banquette conjures a cliff-side café on the the Amalfi Coast, as do dishes like Uni Carbonara (pictured above) and Miso-Ricotta Ravioli with orange, pepitas, brown butter, and tarragon (pictured below).
Photo by Greg Rannells
Dishes like the Potato Gnocchi with sungold tomatoes, mint, and white wine (pictured below) exemplify the impact of a handful of ingredients that are artfully prepared and artistically presented.
Photo by Greg Rannells
When fully operational, Sardella will present small- and shared-plate options at lunch, dinner, and breakfast. It will be Niche Food Group’s first restaurant to offer all three.
Photo by Greg Rannells
Craft, a breakfast lover who longed for an alternative to high-calorie meals in cookie-cutter establishments, wanted to provide a sensible alternative in a vibrant and versatile café atmosphere. In-a-hurry customers can grab a yogurt bowl (pictured above) at the bar or a breakfast sandwich (pictured below) to go.
Photo by Greg Rannells
The leisure set can linger over an extra cup of coffee and a grain bowl topped with a fried egg (pictured below), a favorite of Craft’s and something new to the area. Hats off to the Sardella team for providing creative and unusual dishes at all hours of the day.
Photo by Greg Rannells
Sardella’s dishes range from $10 to $30. The restaurant's Facebook page notes that “ultimately Sardella will be half reservations, half walk-in, using OpenTable and NoWait,” but until then, it’s walk-ins only. Current hours of operation are noted below.
Photo by Greg Rannells
Meanwhile, at Porano, Niche Food Group’s fast-casual Italian restaurant in downtown St. Louis, Craft’s crew has been busy as well. Beginning this week, the restaurant will roll out new menu items. In addition to build-your-own bowls and salads, customers will be able to choose from five suggested combinations, which helps speed up the decision-making process. (Many pizza parlors offer signature pies for the same reason).
In addition, Porano’s sandwich specials—such as Chicken Parm, MOFU Tofu Parm, and a Meatball Sub—have become so popular, the items have earned a permanent place on the new menu.
But perhaps the most interesting Porano news of all involves the addition of another item: Detroit-style pizza, a pizza style that few people outside Michigan have tried. Michael Petres, Porano’s executive chef and a Michigan native, explains that Detroit-style pizza traces its roots to 1946 and a place called Buddy's Rendezvous, which later became Buddy's Pizza. Petres says the Sicilian-style pizza became increasingly popular as G.I.’s returned from Europe after World War II.
Porano's Detroit-style pepperoni and margherita pizzas
The story goes that Buddy’s was not able to source proper pizza pans and improvised with the steel pans used in the automotive industry in Detroit. The dough was pressed into the oiled pan, and the steel material caused a unique fried crunchiness, as well as the cheese to caramelize at the edges.
Photo by Greg Rannells
Porano offers five varieties: Margherita, Pepperoni, Meatball, Veggie, and Nduja. (Nduja is pictured at right with spicy nduja, mozz, pineapple, red onion, and cilantro.) The pies are priced from $12–$14. Petres uses an aluminum pizza pan made to replicate the cooking properties of steel and cuts the finished pies into large squares, just like in Detroit. Porano's pizza is available at dinner only this week and will be fully phased in as the new menu format finalizes.
Porano's hours are below. Delivery is available via Food Pedaler, and advance orders can be placed for pick-up through ChowNow.
Photo by Greg Rannells
- Page 1 (Results 1-10)
-
1
Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
Sardella
Gerard Craft’s latest endeavor features creative yet comforting Italian-infuenced fare at lunch and dinner, as well as house-baked pastries, grain bowls, and riffs on morning meal classics at breakfast time.
- Page 1 (Results 1-10)
