This First Bite article appears in the May 2021 issue of St. Louis Magazine.
For 20 years, Philip Day dreamed of opening a small, unpretentious restaurant in the countryside. Idled by the pandemic at Tompkins by The Rack House in St. Charles, the well-traveled chef (formerly of Café de France, Chez Leon, Canoe, Malmaison, and Niche) began hosting dinners in a farmer’s field in Wentzville and then indoor events in Augusta last fall, planting the seed for what became his new restaurant, Root Food + Wine.
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When the chef-owner learned that developer David Hoffmann was planning to invest $100 million in a massive winery project nearby, he immediately inked a lease-purchase deal for a 105-year-old historic home on Walnut Street, a former two-room coffee shop, where such accents as gilded mirrors and the stringboard from a local piano complement stained wood trim and moulding.
With a rustic but upscale menu of à la carte and prix fixe options (three, five, or seven courses), Day hopes to attract destination diners, post-winery visitors, and Katy Trail cyclists in search of a snack and beer. While the kitchen equipment is limited, Day’s aspirations are not. Locally sourced proteins include braised, curried chicken thighs from Buttonwood Farm; shrimp dishes courtesy of Triple J Shrimp Farm in Foristell, Missouri; and a hot smoked rainbow trout from Rockbridge Trout Ranch (pictured above), served Oscar-style, with asparagus, trout roe, cured farm egg yolk and hollandaise, red vein sorrel, and nasturtium.
Inaugural service hours are limited to dinner on Thursday through Saturday, as well as Saturday lunch—though we wager that could change when the curious get a glimpse of the 40-seat, shade-dappled garden patio.
