The Preston turns 10 with a refreshed space, new menu, and reinvigorated team

A decade after opening inside The Chase Park Plaza Hotel, The Preston is evolving again. Think of it as The Preston 3.0.

The restaurant debuted in 2016 as a small-plates-and-craft-cocktail concept. It went dark during the pandemic and then returned in 2023 as a more formal, French-leaning restaurant. Its latest iteration is decidedly more approachable, with a refreshed dining room, a largely new menu, and a formidable team leading the charge: restaurant chef Culley Freese, veteran executive pastry sous chef Sara Alderson, bar manager Jeremiah Townsend, and hotel manager Alen Tanovic.

Here’s what to know before you go.

The Space

The bones of The Preston remain familiar, but the dining room recently underwent a complete soft-surfaces refresh, bringing new furniture, fabrics, and other touches to the space. The result feels polished and sophisticated without the formality that once characterized the restaurant.

The dining room showing the open kitchen at The Preston

The room still draws inspiration from Preston J. Bradshaw, the architect who designed the Chase Hotel, but the current approach is as much about comfort as history. The open kitchen—one of the most aesthetically pleasing iterations you’ll ever see—remains part of the experience, as does the prominent bar, which has become increasingly important under Townsend.

The Preston serves breakfast daily and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Restaurant guests receive complimentary valet parking, as well as validated self-parking in the hotel garage—a not-insignificant perk in the Central West End.

The Team

The strongest argument for The Preston’s latest iteration might be the team orchestrating it.

Freese joined The Chase in late October 2025 and oversees the kitchens at both The Preston and Chase Club. A St. Louis area native, he attended the University of Missouri and culinary school in Louisville before a career that took him to Minnesota, Louisville, Boston, and Kansas City.

His longest stint was a decade at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar in Kansas City, eventually becoming executive chef before returning to St. Louis as executive chef at The Franklin of Soulard.

Beyond bringing the hotel’s spectacular gingerbread village to life each holiday season, veteran pastry chef Sara Alderson, who joined the staff in 2014, has built a following of her own, delighting Chase wedding couples with elaborate custom cakes and giving The Preston’s guests a memorable finish with her artfully composed, intricately detailed desserts.

Townsend, also a St. Louis native, returned home after working at The Ritz-Carlton in Denver and now oversees The Preston’s bar program. His superiors claim, “He’s got it…that X factor,” while guests refer to him as “a local treasure.”

Tanovic, meanwhile, brings luxury-hotel experience from Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons properties.

Together, the quartet represents a noteworthy concentration of restaurant, bar, and hotel experience under one roof.

The Menu

Freese describes the new menu as an homage to the things he’s excited to eat, with dishes that reflect stops along his career path. More importantly, he wanted to make The Preston more accessible. He felt the previous menu had become overly complicated and disconnected from the history and character of the hotel. It was all “just too, too much” he says, invoking a return to simplicity.

The roasted bone marrow is perhaps the most personal example. Freese fell for the dish while working at a Boston restaurant where it was a signature item. “I love it, and it’s my goal to get other people to love it, too—or at least try it,” he says. At The Preston, the marrow comes with harissa, which cuts through the richness, and grilled Companion baguette. “My goal is to sell bone marrow in this building,” Freese says.

Mushroom toast grew from another goal: creating a substantial shareable (Ozark mushrooms and sherry paired with white-bean purée) that happened to be vegetarian. A jumbo lump crab cake topped with pea tendrils gets a lift from Tabasco aioli, while burrata imported from Italy basks in near simplicity, napped with pistachio pesto and balsamic. The garden salad combines mixed greens and seasonal vegetables with whipped ricotta and a vinaigrette Freese infuses with roasted apples.

Seafood occupies a prominent place on the menu, fitting for a chef who spent years at Jax Fish House. Seared scallops are paired with romesco, cauliflower, chickpeas, and panisse (chickpea fries), while mussels come with Chardonnay, garlic, and grilled baguette, a similar dish to one he served at Jax.

Among the entrées, Freese’s favorite is the flat iron steak—both his preferred dish on the menu and his favorite cut of beef. Once something of an insider’s cut known mainly to chefs, flat iron has become increasingly familiar to diners. Freese keeps his version uncomplicated: The steak is seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled medium-rare and served with Ozark mushrooms, salsa verde, and potatoes that are confited, smashed, and fried until crisp.

A ribeye with potato purée, asparagus, and béarnaise butter offers a more traditional steakhouse option. The kitchen also grinds its own beef—primarily ribeye and teres major—for the half-pound burger, topped with bacon jam, arugula, and smoked Gouda.

At the other end of the spectrum is pasta puttanesca, a vegan entrée made with Castelvetrano olives, capers, onions, garlic, Chile flakes, and San Marzano tomatoes. Diners can add a protein, but Freese intentionally designed the dish to stand on its own.

The Preston’s pretzel croissant, served with whipped butter and local jam, is the lone holdover from the prior dinner menu. The dish dates to the original 2016 menu and has survived all three incarnations—an edible link between Preston past and present and a must-try.

Desserts are made in-house and occasionally take a playful turn. During the BMW Championship, Alderson created the Hole in One, layering white-chocolate mousse, pistachio mousse, flourless chocolate cake, and milk-chocolate pistachio crunch. Current offerings include a fancified take on carrot cake, a chocolate and pistachio dome, and creme brulee with a citrus honey madeleine, made using honey from the Chase’s rooftop bees.

The Fabulous Fox – Beefeater Gin, Aperol, orange, lemon, vanilla

Townsend is bringing similar energy to the bar. Happy hour is offered from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, while the wine program remains a strength. The by-the-glass list focuses on premium French and American selections; the approximately 275-bottle list leans French and American as well, with offerings from Italy, South America, and elsewhere.

Upcoming Events

Freese’s interest in one-off dining experiences will be on display September 18 at The Preston’s Honey Harvest Dinner, a five-course dinner centered around honey produced in six beehives on the hotel’s roof. The limited-seating dinner opens with a honey-and-burrata amuse-bouche and concludes with lavender panna cotta, with wine and cocktail pairings served throughout. Tickets are $125 per person.

Townsend has his own recurring event, The 1917 Cocktail Society, a hands-on series exploring the drinks, rituals, and lore of early American cocktail culture. Rather than simply serving the drinks, Townsend walks participants through their history and construction. The inaugural sessions focused on two classics—the Bee’s Knees and Bijou—making the intimate gatherings equal parts cocktail class, history lesson, and social event. The next experience takes place September 19. Tickets are $65 per person.

The Backstory

The Preston opened February 1, 2016, replacing Eau Bistro after a four-month renovation. Named for Preston J. Bradshaw, architect of the Chase Hotel, the original restaurant emphasized shareable plates and craft cocktails. (Royal Sonesta took over operations of the historic Central West End hotel the following year, at which point the name was changed to The Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza.)

During the pandemic, The Preston remained closed for roughly three years before reopening for dinner in June 2023 after a significant overhaul. Preston 2.0 shifted toward a more traditional upscale French restaurant, with a menu and service style considerably more formal than its predecessor.

Three years later, the pendulum has swung again. The Preston’s third incarnation borrows pieces from both predecessors—the handsome hotel setting and bar emphasis of the original, the technique and polish of the second—but Freese’s cooking provides the clearest indication of where the restaurant is headed. He says his goal is straightforward: make the restaurant more approachable by relying on quality ingredients, proper technique, and fewer elements on the plate. “Sometimes—a lot of times in a kitchen—less is more,” he says. After 10 years and several iterations, Freese thinks getting back to basics is the best way forward.