Already, Mathis Stitt, the executive chef at Veritas, is pondering the possibilities for the annual Veritas Pig Roast and Country Picnic, October 1 in Ellisville. It promises to be bigger and better than ever.
“There may need to be two pigs this year,” says Stephanie Stitt, his business partner (and mother). But the beauty’s in the details, in all the accompaniments that the chef is pondering, in the embellishments that elevate the event from simple “porky picnic” to thrilling culinary adventure.
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It’s par for the course at Veritas, where the ever-changing menus read like food poetry. The lists of ingredients in each carefully crafted dish whisk diners away. One week this summer, there was an appetizer of street corn with crispy pork, green onions, red pepper, Cotija, lime, tobacco onions, and reshampatti. An entree that same week was Vegetable Napoleon with celery root purée, asparagus, squash, tomato, mushrooms, fiddleheads, raisins, shallots, basil oil, and feta.
Mathis thinks both intricately and endlessly about the dishes. “He’s so cerebral about food,” Stephanie says. “Every dish is so composed.”
It might come as no surprise, then, to learn that the quiet, unassuming Mathis was the recipient of a poetry award in high school and was a National Merit Scholar. He went to college expecting to study philosophy and psychology, but life had other plans.
“He throws it all into this now,” Stephanie says, wagging a clutch of recent menus in the direction of the open kitchen, where Mathis hunkers like a wizard over pans and pots of bright sauce.
For the picnic, he plans to build a cinderblock fire in the parking lot and to butterfly the pig, which he will get from Washington, Missouri. He’ll start it out, cavity down, on an open flame. Mathis and his parents (his father, David, is also a partner) plan to camp at the restaurant overnight, stoking the logs and maintaining the smoking process.
So what will Mathis serve with all of that delicious meat? “It’s just what we’re inspired by in the weeks prior,” he says. “But I’m always thinking; it’s always in the back of my mind.”
Broadly, though, he promises tacos and sandwiches embellished with corn and fruit relishes, salsas, pickles, and garlic custard. Fall squashes will be coming in by then, so those will likely be featured in some form as well.
“We try to stay true to what’s best at the time,” Mathis says.
Veritas also plans to launch its Sunday brunch on October 8. (Soft openings are set for September 17 and 24).Expect such à la carte dishes as shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, and roast turkey, house-made lamb sausage, house-made butter, and plenty of egg dishes. On the beverage side, expect mimosas, Bloody Marys, a “fun twist” on a Paloma, and other seasonal brunch cocktails. Brunch reservations will be taken from 10 a.m.–2 p.m., with the kitchen and bar open until 3 p.m.
Veritas served brunch years ago, but as the restaurant progressed, Stephanie says, it became difficult to maintain “the same caliber as what we were putting out for dinner.” Now, she says, the restaurant is ready to “serve brunch the way Veritas should serve brunch.”
