Hear more about Tony’s legacy on the Arch Eats podcast.
When Vince Bommarito, Jr. left Tony’s, the landmark establishment operated for years by his father Vince, Sr., he had worked at the family restaurant for pretty much his entire culinary career, during a span of more than 35 years. He began as a prep cook when he was in the fifth grade. Three years later, at age 13, he’d mastered the sauces and remembers feeling a sense of pride when the day chef announced that he could take a week’s vacation.
Bommarito transitioned to line cook and eventually to executive chef, sometimes working double duty to help his father and brother James manage the front of the house. Observant eyes would spot Junior in a three-piece suit in the dining room—and then in a chef’s coat in the kitchen minutes later, jumping in where needed.
Bommarito credits his entire family for Tony’s being named a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award in 2018 for Outstanding Service, a national category. His other brother, Anthony, manages the day crew as well as the adjacent Anthony’s Bar. Sister Lucy runs Tony’s AM, a grab-and-go spot that’s open for breakfast and lunch. (Vince, Jr. conceived Tony’s AM with the help of the late Jill Meade, the former owner of Empire Café in Lafayette Square, where Zoe Robinson was a server and then a manager. Empire Café later transitioned into Café Zoe, Robinson’s first restaurant.)
Bommarito left Tony’s in summer 2018 to become chief culinary officer at Butler’s Pantry, one of the largest, most prestigious catering companies in St. Louis. “I had been working at night for over 30 years,” he says. “After all that time, I thought that I deserved a day job. My decision to leave was no more complicated or insidious than that. I will always love Tony’s. My family has an experienced team behind them, and Tony’s is well positioned to resume business post-COVID, especially since we practiced advanced cleanliness and sanitation standards there for years. There are four hand-washing stations in the kitchen. We had a guy who mopped the floor almost continuously. What may have looked like overkill then has become commonplace today.”
Discussing the switchover to Butler’s Pantry, Bommarito said he’d always enjoyed planning private parties and “had an opportunity to work for one of the best in the business [owner Richard Nix],” whom he’d “been friends with since grade school.”
Bommarito described moving from a restaurant environment to catering as trading “one crazy for another crazy… A caterer’s crazy occurs in the daytime; a restaurant’s crazy usually happens at night.” As chief culinary officer at Butler’s Pantry, he was charged with creating unique experiences, such as BP’Que, an elevated barbecue program featuring unusual side dishes and regionally-inspired sauces. He also spearheaded the company’s first wine and liquor program. “All menus now go out with a wine list or recommended beverages,” he says.
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In March of this year, similar to the restaurant industry, the catering business came to a grinding halt. “We were ramping up for the busiest season of the year, and the next day there was nothing,” Bommarito says. “With no work and none for the foreseeable future, I was laid off.”
Similar to restaurants, caterers have had to change their business plans as well. Bommarito says all of the companies he’s talked to are amped up about boxed lunches and dinners, parties for between two and 10 people in the home, and celebrating every conceivable event. “That’s all there is, and until larger parties are allowed, it’s all they have,” he says.
“It might be another year until things start popping again,” he adds. “You don’t plan or replan a wedding in a month. Social events, like anniversaries and small business parties, can be set up a little quicker,” which he anticipates happening in the fall, when he believes people might start feeling more comfortable entertaining again. But he says the bigger companies, including corporations and universities, might not be able to pivot that quickly.
Restaurants are in slightly better shape, he says: “As we turned the corner into June, diners were evenly divided. Half the people I talk to aren’t ready to go out, and the other half tell me they’ve had enough and that they’d be willing to sit on some stranger’s lap, wearing a mask I assume!”
Regarding the limited seating mandates, Bommarito says he was happy to see restaurants reopen—”at any kind of percentage—so owners could give employees some hours again. People are no longer sitting at home, the brain is working, the body is working; it’s beneficial just to be working. And when the seating increases to 50 percent or more, it’ll be a whole new ballgame. The challenge is to keep the seats occupied a few times a night, no matter how many you have available, especially during the week, which is a tough sell in St. Louis.”
Asked what restaurant changes might result from the epidemic, Bommarito had some original thoughts. He expects to see the return of an official maître d, sooner rather than later. “People want to see a calming, familiar face,” he says, “but a person who’s in control. It could even be a former waiter who exudes confidence and can explain the new processes.
“I tend to return to restaurants who have those people in place, and coming out on the other side of this, I think that will be important. You want to see guys like Matt [McGuire] at Louie, Adam [Gnau] at Acero, Thom [Sehnert] at Annie [Gunn’s], Chris [Kelling] at Elmwood…Mary Rose [Del Pietro] when she’s in the house at Del Pietro’s. The next great restaurants will need to have considerate and thoughtful people like that at the door.”
And contrary to what some others believe, he doesn’t think menu prices are going to increase substantially. “Now, if seating remains stuck at 25 percent, that’s another story,” he says.
He also disagrees with some of the current gimmicks, such as mannequins occupying seats in lieu of removing tables. But he does like the idea of chefs taking up that extra space, as Eric Ripert is planning at Le Bernardin, doing live cooking in the middle of the dining room. “His little makeshift kitchen will fill all available seats,” Bommarito says. “And unlike mannequins, they’ll all be paying customers.”
Bommarito believes that chefs should follow Ripert’s lead and play more active roles at their restaurants. “There has been a tendency for some chefs to create the specials, supervise the prep, make the sauces, and be out the door by 6 p.m.,” he says. “It’s a good idea for chef-owners or executive chefs to spend time on the floor at night. People want to see that, especially now. It’s another consideration, another comfort.”
When winter approaches, a time when restaurant volume tends to decrease, Bommarito thinks “many special-occasion places may make their price point a little less special, effectively converting a twice a year place into a four times a year place. Some restaurants, like Sidney Street [Café], are already heading in that direction.”
Regarding his future, Bommarito says he would like to stay in the industry and is exploring the post-pandemic options. “I’m doing a Zoom cooking class, helping a business consultant assist people with reopening their restaurants, and catering dinners in people’s homes, all of which could be stepping stones to a full time gig of sorts,” he says, anxious to get back to work. “All I know is my yard has never looked this good. My basement is really clean, and I’ve rearranged my kitchen…twice.”
