Photo by Kelle Sutton
Chefs Amy and Vito Racanelli
After temporarily closing this summer, Tempus in The Grove will reopen later this month with some familiar faces at the helm: Vito and Amy Racanelli.
The new concept will focus on collaborative pop-up dinners and curated events, according to a press release, beginning with a ticketed spaghetti dinner next Wednesday, November 23. "That's my wheelhouse, so why not the night before Thanksgiving?" quips Vito.
Courtesy of Tempus
Tempus’ first pop-up series, “ROOTS: A Culinary Journey,” will kick off the following week, beginning November 30. According to Vito, the dinner series will offer an intimate look inside the head of a chef—beginning with his own. "I'll be latching onto my own personal roots, too," he says, "remembering and recreating things like my mother beating braciole with her mallet or reimagining her Sunday dinner with lasagna...looking back to those kinds of childhood dishes. It's going to be very emotional. I'm tearing up just thinking about it."
He adds that Jim Fiala (The Crossing, Acero), who “has had an incredible journey, incredible experiences,” will then help host a dinner in the series. Dinners with other well-known chefs and "emerging chefs with stories to tell" will follow, Vito says.
Tickets for all ROOTS events will be available for purchase through Tempus’ website.
Barbecue & Private Events
In addition to special pop-up events and series, the space is available for private parties, celebrations, and corporate get-togethers for up to 60 people. Menus can run the gamut from “intricate cuisine to casual, family-style food,” according to the press release.
"I've already scheduled a private event that will take place in the kitchen, with me," he adds, "and I hope to pull off a Feast of the Seven Fishes-type dinner on Christmas Eve, [with] seven different fish and shellfish, the dinner I've enjoyed my entire life. I want to introduce people to that."
Beginning this Friday, November 18, the restaurant will also open The Window, where customers can walk up and order pickup items, such as smoked meats from Big V’s Craft BBQ (online ordering to follow). Located on the Newstead Avenue side of the Tempus building, The Window will open for service on Fridays only and initially feature several of Big V’s most popular sandwiches, then “Beer-B-Q” the following week. The hours are 11 a.m. until sold out.
"We'll probably start with the Frisco Brisket," he says, "which is a play on the classic melt, except made with my brisket; the Smokey Cuban, which is great because i cure my own ham; a Pork Shoulder sandwich; and the Mushroom Bomb, a wrap with smoked mushrooms and beans."
“We are still catering barbecue, too” Vito adds. “Brisket, whole hogs, turkey. Big V's isn't going anywhere. Quite frankly, I’m surprised the chef news didn’t get out sooner, since there’s a smoker out back with Big V’s Craft BBQ all over it.”
To summarize, the event and window schedule for November is as follows:
● Friday, November 18th The Window @ Tempus, “Big V’s Craft BBQ Famous Sandwiches”
● Wednesday, November 23 – Spaghetti Dinner (ticketed)
● Friday November 25th – The Window @ Tempus, “Beer-B-Q”
● Wednesday, November 30th – “Roots” a Culinary Journey into the mind of a chef: Part 1 Featuring Vito Racanelli (ticketed)
The Backstory
Photo by Jonathan Pollack
Tempus opened in October 2020, after much anticipation. It initially offered only grab-and-go items and delivery during the pandemic. Its sidewalk patio program provided everything required for a proper to-go dining experience: starters, sandwiches, entrées, desserts, cocktails, and wine, as well as a manager to assure a memorable experience memorable experience.
Expectations ran high when Tempus’ dining room opened in November 2021, with every detail of food, service, and ambiance agonizingly evaluated and finessed by Tempus’ team. It was also one of few local fine-dining restaurants requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination (or a negative result from a COVID-19 test).
Photo by Greg Rannells
The menu focused on familiar-yet-elevated flavors, a distillation of former executive chef Ben Grupe's years in the business, including a stint as captain of the U.S. Culinary Olympic Team, where his team earned three gold medals and a world championship, as well as a second-place finish in the American Mentor BKB selection for the Bocuse d'Or, often called the most prestigious culinary competition in the world. The ambience was “relaxed and urban,” Grupe said at the time. “It’s familiar, fun, and exciting—not your average fine-dining restaurant.”
After Grupe left the restaurant in late August, Tempus temporarily closed. At the time, a spokesperson for the restaurant said Tempus owner Peter Brickler had “decided to postpone service for the next few weeks, so the staff can take care of themselves, spend time with their families, and restructure and refresh the restaurant.”
The Team
The Racanelli name is well-known in St. Louis dining circles. At one time, there were five Racanelli pizza restaurants, which specialized in New York–style pizza. Their predecessor was Racanelli’s Café, a longtime lunch spot on Central Avenue, where all three Racanelli brothers—Sam, John, and Vito—and their father worked.
Vito went on to open Onesto, the Italian cucina that lit up the Southampton neighborhood. He later opened Big V's Burger Joint (St. Louis' first chef-driven burger joint), Mad Tomato in Clayton (where brother Sam was the pizzaiolo). And for a time, he worked for Anheuser-Busch and founded CVR Food Solutions, which produced Budweiser Beer Powder, a key ingredient in developing the flavor profile for many of A-B’s barbecue sauces and ancillary food products.
In 2020, what started as a hobby for Racanelli during the pandemic turned into a full-fledged business. Every Saturday, outside Missouri Beer Company (the former O’Fallon Beer Company) in O'Fallon, Missouri, he and his wife began hosting “Saturday barbecues, just like they do in Texas. We called it Big V’s Craft BBQ and never looked back.” The business continued as a catering operation when the brewery closed last year. He and Amy (who operates a private chef business called Amy's Gourmet) were already looking for kitchen space before it closed.
Brickler met Vito decades ago, while the two were working together as chefs at The Chase Park Plaza. "When Tempus closed, Peter and I started talking and came up with an idea that made sense to both of us," says Vito. “I said, 'why don't we build an event space that focuses on pop-ups showcasing other chefs, from the known to the unknown?' And that's what Tempus will become."
