Veritas' oyster tacos have Cajun and Mexican influences

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

This article appeared in the March 2021 issue of St. Louis Magazine.

At first glance, W.W.M.C. sounds like an acronym for some fancy country club. In the case of Veritas, however, it translates to chef Mathis Stitt’s fancy food, as in What Would Mathis Cook?, a weekly dinner-for-two package. Over time, Stitt has became known for his riffs on short ribs, tributes to tortellini, and unusual takes on tacos, such as this version made with Blue Point oysters. “The customers love it,” he explains, “but since every component is prepared separately, the cooks don’t. It’s a simple looking dish that isn’t.”

The base is a thick-ish flour–and–blue corn taco shell, amped up with squid ink. The bivalves are marinated in buttermilk and oyster liquor; dredged in flour, cornmeal, and spices; and fried at a low temperature in pork fat, “well worth the effort in texture, additional flavor, and crunch” Stitt says. Sliced cherry tomatoes from Tony’s Family Farms smell and taste “like summertime, even in winter...and I never thought I’d say that,” Stitt quips. Since a standard farm egg would dominate the dish, delicate quail eggs are used, alongside hen of the woods mushrooms, long-cut scallions, and two brilliantly colored sauces—an integral chipotle aioli and a garnish of spicy mustard sour cream—rounding out a stunning dish Stitt describes as a “vaguely Mexican taco.”

At press time, Veritas was serving this item and others on its fabric-walled, four-season patio, but in another stroke of brilliance, Stitt arranged for take-out customers to request presentation on returnable glass plates with clear lids instead of disposable containers. Such a dish deserves nothing less.