How much thought goes into a restaurant’s name and logo? If you talk to Matt Daughaday, the chef-owner of one of the most anticipated new restaurants in St. Louis, quite a bit.
Reeds American Table is set to open within the next couple of weeks in Maplewood, but Daughaday took some time from his busy schedule to share a bit about the restaurant, from its location to its dream team in the front and back of the house, and its name and logo.
Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
A former English major, Daughaday (right), who spent six years cheffing at Niche and Taste, appreciates the literal and figurative. The “Reed” in the title is a family name—both his middle name and his father’s mother’s maiden name—but it purposefully lacks a possessive apostrophe (got that, editors and grammarphiles?) because it’s also meant to conjure up tall, grassy plants and what they connote. Daughaday explained that while reeds can be blown over by the storm, they will eventually stand upright again, stronger than before.
The reeds’ resilience and strength in numbers illustrate what Daughaday believes makes a successful restaurant team. Also necessary to the team is a mixture of the new, both creative and playful, resting on the traditional or classically American (thus the “American” in the restaurant’s title). Personified in the logo with an imp astride a rooster, the mixture comes to life in an indelible image.
The six red reeds behind the imp and rooster represent the six primary team members, while the smaller reeds below typify everyone else in the restaurant who helps provide the foundation.
Comprised of friends from high school and the industry as well as experts in their craft, Daughaday’s “dream team” is literally that: “It’s the dream of how you do it,” he said, how you open a restaurant, noting that he wanted to surround himself with people whom he could trust. That team includes Andrey Ivanov, advanced sommelier; Summer Wright, pastry chef; David Schroeder, certified cicerone; Richard Vagnino, mixologist; Zach Althaus, coffee guru; and Andrew Moore, a best friend from high school who will handle the finances and books. Another friend from high school, Adam Smith, will tend bar, while his wife, Nicki Ball, will serve as GM.
With the name, logo, and team accounted for, Daughaday described the restaurant’s concept as “dinner table food” (thus, the “table” in Reeds American Table). He remembers eating dinner with his family every night at 6 PM (both his mom and dad cooked), and wanted to replicate that feeling of coming together and sharing food both “comfortable and delicious.” Using regional, seasonal, and approachable ingredients—the kind you’d find at a local grocery store, he said—Daughaday aims to create a neighborhood restaurant that allows him to continue growing as a chef and fits Maplewood’s reputation as a dining destination.
Like that imp, we’re on board and can’t wait to see the dream realized.
Reeds American Table
7322 Manchester
Maplewood
314-899-9821
Opening mid-August
