Take Root Hospitality expands

Eight years ago, Michael and Tara Gallina made a decision that would alter the course of their lives. Fresh from their experience working at the acclaimed Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, New York (where Michael was chef de cuisine and Tara was senior dining room captain), the couple returned to Michael’s hometown of St. Louis, determined to forge their own path. That vision took the form of Vicia, a nationally acclaimed restaurant that has set the standard for farm-to-table, vegetable-forward cuisine here. Now in its seventh year, the menu has recently changed from its set Farmers Feast format to an à la carte service to offer a more accessible way of experiencing the outstanding cuisine and hospitality. But that’s not all the Gallinas have on their plates: Together with their business partner and culinary director, Aaron Martinez, the Gallinas are running two other restaurants, Winslow’s Table and Bistro La Floraison, opening a standalone location of Taqueria Morita, and converting Vicia’s verdant outdoor space into wine and snack spot Vicia Gardenside. 

Vicia has now been open for seven years—it seems like both a lifetime ago and just yesterday that you opened your doors. How do you feel about the decision to come back to St. Louis and go on this adventure?

MG: I still believe every day it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I love being back here. [St. Louis] is an incredible city, and the food community is really awesome here. 

TG: I look back at what has all happened since we came back; it’s been eight years, and so much has happened and changed. I don’t know that I saw any of this going this way. When you are young and in your early 30s, with no children and no idea what is in store, there is so much you can’t anticipate. That’s what is remarkable about this industry, though. It can take you on some pretty cool journeys.

You once described the current iteration of Vicia as “Vicia 6.0,” meaning there have been so many changes to the restaurant since it first opened. How were things different in the early days than now?

TG: The first year felt very ambitious. Looking back, I think we tried hard to make a name for ourselves and distinguish our style of cuisine and figure out what and who we were on a daily basis.

MG: Back then, it was changing so much so quickly. I think we changed concepts in the first couple of months; we started with plated dinners, then went to more communal-style dining to make it more interactive, then started doing our Farmers Feast and tasting menu. We had to find the balance between what we wanted to do compared to what people wanted from us. I remember meeting with Danny Meyer before we moved here, and his advice was to work hard to build people’s trust in the beginning; then you can do the things you want to do because people will trust it.

You went from having a single restaurant to multiple concepts. You also had to upend everything because of the pandemic. How would you describe the journey so far?

TG: I view our career lives here in three chapters. The first was opening Vicia, and then, at the end of 2019, we opened Winslow’s Home. I remember feeling,

Oh my god—I’m going to have two restaurants. It was our first attempt at splitting ourselves in two, but I loved those early days of Winslow’s, where we got to take something old and make it new. I wish we would have gotten a chance to keep the momentum going, but we were disrupted pretty quickly by the pandemic. That’s the second chapter, and I don’t need to tell anyone what a wild time that was. It was almost like having three or four Vicias rolled up in one year because we had to keep adapting to what was being thrown at us. We went from wondering whether or not we should close to not being sure if we’d ever reopen. That was a really weird time, but it taught us some resilience and helped us find this new voice. And now, the third chapter is us evolving the Vicia experience [away from the Farmers Feast to à la carte dining] and us quartering ourselves with the new Taqueria Morita location. We are figuring out how we can have great restaurants while we continue to grow.

How have you been able to do that?

TG: Delegation and trust are critical for us. With Aaron [Martinez] joining our team and becoming a partner, it made all this possible. Michael can only cut himself in pieces so many times and feel that things are being done the way they are supposed to be done. It’s certainly hard because we are personally invested and committed in everything we do, and that makes it difficult because if something doesn’t go how you want, it’s frustrating. We have really high standards, and to be able to do this we have to have great people.

What are some of the biggest changes you’ve experienced since opening Vicia?

TG: If you’re looking at it from a business owner’s perspective, what has honestly changed the most is the financial piece, the greatest of which are wages. This is not a criticism; I think it’s wonderful that everybody is being properly compensated for what they do and get what they need to live in this world, but the increase over a short time is astonishing when you see it on paper. Being able to adapt to that and try to get by when there is only so much you can charge is a challenge.

MG: It’s getting more and more expensive, but people’s perception of what things should cost hasn’t changed. I don’t think that most people think about why that is. It’s not that we are trying to gouge people and raise prices; it’s that everything else is more expensive. People don’t ask this question enough. Not, Why something is so expensive? But, Why the other things are so cheap? We could get everything premade and have a lower labor cost, but that’s just not who we are.

TG: Hospitality has evolved and changed, too; the way it is given now comes in a lot of different forms. The public has gotten used to less touches and more convenience and automation, including computers doing things instead of people. I understand why, but I feel we have a unique opportunity in full-service establishments to set ourselves apart, to give special touches you may not get anymore because people can’t afford it. We take that very seriously, and it means a lot to me to be able to do that. As tech-driven as things are getting, I don’t want to ever lose that.

Your plates seem rather full at the moment. Do you ever stop and wonder how you got here?

TG: I think that a lot of our experiences lie in the idea that we have to put things out there. If the answer is no, so be it, but if you don’t put your desires out there into the universe, you don’t know what will come back to you. 

If you could give advice to the person you were when you started this journey, what would you say? 

MG: I think I’d tell myself to chill out, maybe. I felt so high-strung in the beginning and came in with this New York mentality. I would have told myself to slow down, calm down, relax, and everything is going to work out. You have to lead by example; if your staff sees you out of control, they will be out of control. People don’t respect yelling in the kitchen; you don’t build respect with fear. You have to handle any situation with grace.

TG: I’d tell the old me that it’s going to be really hard, but keep your convictions and you will be rewarded for it. I wouldn’t do it differently—well, of course, anyone would do things differently if they could, but I mean that in the sense that I wouldn’t not do anything we’ve done. We’ve grown in an organic way that has felt natural to us. It didn’t feel forced. It’s been harder than I could have ever imagined, but I wouldn’t have changed that.