Photo by Susan Jackson
Left to right: Ellie, Gerard, Olive, and Suzie Craft
Sitting down to a family meal is tough for any family with two working parents, but when your dad is award-winning restaurateur Gerard Craft, you’ve always got a seat at his table.
During the week, the busy family of four might meet up at one of Craft’s restaurants for a quick meal. But it’s during the weekends—Sunday and Monday in the restaurant industry—when the family “cooks together, eats together, and hangs out,” says Craft.
Like their dad, Craft’s daughters, 9-year-old Ellie and 7-year-old Olive, prefer simple food, such as scrambled eggs, hamburgers, steaks, and meatball subs when dining at home. Olive is “obsessed with making scrambled eggs”—or “soft eggs,” as she calls them—and she’s learned how to fix them French-style with small curds. It’s all about the technique—and lots of butter. “Everything starts in a cold pan,” Craft says. “You stir the whole time, so the curds never develop into the large chunks of eggs that most people are used to.” The result is creamy and decadent—“almost like the consistency of a really soft cottage cheese.”
Craft was “the pickiest eater on the planet” during his teen years and survived mainly on buttered noodles, black beans and rice, and SpaghettiOs.
For Ellie, it’s all about baking. When she first started working in the kitchen, Craft would show her how to do things first, and then she’d go for it. These days, she prefers to take the reins. She’s become a master brownie-maker whose secret involves adding big chocolate chunks to the batter.
Craft’s wife, Suzie, manages the restaurants’ social media. She also does most of the cooking at home during the week, often preparing dishes like oven-roasted chicken with roasted vegetables and rice. Suzie also prepares a number of traditional Japanese dishes passed down from her mom. Her egg rolls—stuffed with ground beef, ginger, onions, and soy sauce—are famous among friends.
Ellie learned how to cook at Saint Louis University’s Gardens to Tables Culinary Camp, which she attended the past three years. Olive joined her this past summer. The children spend half of their time in the garden on SLU’s campus and the other half in the kitchen, where they cook dishes from around the world. At the end of the program, parents are invited to attend a celebratory feast put together by their children.
Though Craft scoffs at the idea that the program’s instructors might be intimidated to work with his daughters, he did admit that he once asked Ellie whether she told them her dad is a chef. Her response: “No, why would I do that?”
Photo by Susan Jackson
On the weekends, per the girls’ requests, Craft occasionally attempts to replicate Southwest Diner’s cornmeal pancakes. But he humbly admits “they’re never as good” when he cooks them.
The family also likes to make use of the wood-burning pizza oven in their back yard, where simplicity and excellence meet in pizza Margherita. Homemade pizza dough, olive oil, crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil from their garden make for the perfect meal. Those without the essential oven can simulate the cooking experience with a pizza stone, heated up by the broiler or on an outdoor grill. Whatever the method, Craft recommends using an infrared thermometer to make sure the cooking surface’s temperature is hot enough before placing the pizza on the stone.
Holidays are another time when the family comes together to cook and share food. Craft’s favorite holiday: Thanksgiving, since “it’s based around food” and “just about being with family.” He gives the meals a twist by sometimes making a porchetta instead of turkey or prime rib, with lots of “fun little sides” like the roasted broccoli with garlic, chili, and lemon juice that’s found on Pastaria’s menu. But the ultimate side dish is his savory giblet bread pudding. It contains leeks, goat cheese, livers, and giblets—“all the scraps.”
Craft’s kids are more apt to stick to their favorite foods from their dad’s restaurant menus, like Pastaria’s cheese pizza (Ellie’s favorite) and the hamburger at Brasserie (Olive’s go-to). After all, kids will be kids—even in a chef’s home.
Photo by Susan Jackson
Ellie’s Brownies (Serves 8)
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted butter
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ounces chocolate chips
- Sea salt (optional)
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Paddle butter, sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl. Add eggs, one at a time while stirring. Add remaining dry ingredients and gently mix. Stir in chips and pour into a 9-inch-by-9-inch pan. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake until the edges are firm (approximately 30 minutes). Let cool completely before serving.
Photo by Susan Jackson
Olive’s Scrambled Eggs (Serves 4)
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 4 English muffins
Directions
Whisk eggs lightly in a small bowl; pour into a cold, nonstick pan. Add 3 Tablespoons of cold butter. Turn the heat to medium and begin stirring with a heat-proof spatula. Cook them as slowly as possible so that the curds are as little as possible. Once the eggs have the appearance of cottage cheese, remove the pan from the heat, and add 1 Tablespoon of cold butter. Continue to stir until melted. Divide the eggs into four and serve with toasted English muffins.
