Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
David and Stephanie Stitt have a problem. But it’s the sort of problem most restaurateurs wouldn’t mind. “People come in during the week looking for the fine-dining menu, and when they find out we don’t have it, they walk right back out the door,” Stephanie says.
Wow. Customers come in and want the prices to be higher? What a concept.
Speaking of concepts, the Stitts’ establishment, Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine, has quite an interesting one. It’s a wine store. It’s a food-related specialty store. It’s a restaurant that serves deluxe sandwiches and a clever hors d’oeuvres menu Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, as well as a short menu of elaborate, mainly locally sourced $20-and-up entrées Thursday through Saturday. Oh, and there’s lunch.
The high-end menu rotates weekly, and the bar menu changes seasonally. The triple pork sandwich is a fluffy brioche bun overstuffed with braised pork shoulder and interspersed with slices of slow-cooked pork belly. Grilled onions peek out from beneath the pork, and lettuce and Brandywine tomatoes top it off. A bacon aioli adds the very essence of bacon flavor when slathered on the bun, providing the third element of the “triple pork” name.
Veritas calls another of its creations simply a “hot dog,” but that isn’t even in the ballpark of its true identity. It’s a thick-gauge foot-long that’s elegantly ornamented with arugula, then in-house quick-pickled cucumber slices and vividly purple pickled onions, as well as snow-white crumbles of feta. If local hot-dog stalwart Woofies has its Big Herm, then Veritas’ dog must be a Big Hermès (although its claim to be Kobe beef is counterfeit).
The hors d’oeuvres menu includes boldly flavored pickled eggs—a spicy dill-onion version, for example, and a sweet-tangy beet one in which the white and yolk are naturally dyed to nearly psychedelic hues. Devils on Horseback puts prunes to the best use ever, as a bacon-delivery device. Six prunes are stuffed with cheese, then wrapped in bacon before being mounted on skewers, deep-fried, augmented with a sweet balsamic gastrique and crunchy peanuts, and decorated with pea shoots.
One example of the fine-dining menu is the densely textured fish cobia, seared with crosshatching and moist inside, its medium to full flavor standing up nicely to a spiced applesauce accompaniment. On the side, the purplish-red of heirloom tomatoes is counterpointed by the rich greens of haricot vert–style beans and pea shoots, while partially dehydrated red grapes add a deeper purple color and bursts of sweetness.
Veritas recently migrated from Chesterfield to a space in Ellisville’s Fountain Plaza. With playful decorative elements like a crystal chandelier hanging from a faux-plaster medallion, the interior serves as a dramatic set for the performances coming from the kitchen.
The lead player on this stage is the Stitts’ son Mathis, who appears to aspire to reach the same heights as his uncle, Frank Stitt, a James Beard Foundation Award winner. And though David had a prior corporate career at Sara Lee and its successors, his and Stephanie’s many visits with his brother—especially in Europe—exposed them to a remarkable, informal wine education from luminaries like British wine expert Steven Spurrier. Their eclectic selection of retail wines is available with a $10 corkage fee. In Veritas, vino.
The Bottom Line: Visit Tuesday or Wednesday for amazing bar food, Thursday through Saturday for clever high-end meals, and anytime for great wine.
Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine
15860 Fountain Plaza
Ellisville
636-227-6800
Lunch and dinner Tue through Sat
