Winslow's Home names Josh Charles as new executive chef

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Photo by Christina Lane

There's a fresh face in the kitchen at Winslow's Home.

The popular University City farm-to-table eatery announced that Josh Charles is its new executive chef. Charles is an alum of Blood & Sand, as well as Element and Ben Poremba's restaurants Elaia and Olio. Winslow's Home operations manager Josh Renbarger had known of Charles through the St. Louis restaurant industry, and reached out to him about six weeks ago.

He fits the "style of food we embrace here," Renbarger says, "simple, to the point, great ingredients, and great execution. He was a natural fit for us. He was the first person I reached out to, and we hit it off right away."

After departing Blood & Sand a year ago, around the time his son was born, Charles was working as a private chef and doing restaurant consulting. He says when Renbarger approached him about a position at Winslow's, he couldn't say no. 

"I used to live off of Pershing, and 10 years ago when [Winslow's Home] opened, I came down here quite a bit," Charles says. "I've always loved the place... and the fact that we have a farm that we directly work with and utilize, to me, is the chef's dream." The mornings-heavy schedule was also ideal, Charles says, for him and his family. 

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The new executive chef plans to debut his dinner menu early next week. Charles has been working closely with Winslow's Home's farm manager Kasey Peters to utilize as much from the farm as possible. "The menu is going to rotate in more of an organic way," Renbarger says. Charles describes it as "new American," and vegetable focused, with as much local sourcing as possible

A few of Charles' breakfast and lunch items are available now. He's introduced a berry toast with melted Brie, strawberry chia seed jam, and mixed berries macerated in honey on Winslow's Home's nine-grain bread made in house. "It's been a huge hit," Renbarger says. There's also a tomato toast on the nine-grain bread, with tomatoes and sunflower shoots. 

Charles says to expect box lunches in Winslow's cooler in about a month and a half. "We'll have prepared box lunches ready to go if the line is too long," he says, "for people who don't want to wait and just need to grab something to go.

The restaurant also has a private event space downstairs (pictured below), often used for bridal showers and corporate events. Renbarger says those menus will change too, to reflect Charles' style. The duo have also been discussing the possibility of more in-house and reservation-based events, like wine and charity dinners.

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Photo credit Ann Lipton

Overall, Renbarger says Charles will bring a "fresh energy" to Winslow's Home, as it enters its second decade. He follows such notable chefs as Ben Poremba, Cary McDowell, Wil Fernandez-Cruz, and Tyson Long, who recently took a position with Sugarfire Smoke House.

"We've been here a long time," Renbarger says. "We're excited to have Josh and a new perspective."

The feeling's mutual. "Everything I've wanted to do, to open, is this," Charles says of Winslow's Home. "What they have was my long-term vision. I had to do it."