There’s a lot to love about the iconic dishes long associated with St. Louis, from toasted ravioli to gooey butter cake. Reverence for classic eats runs deep in St. Louis, but so does progress—and today the region’s food-and-drink scene is known for both nationwide.
Loryn Nalic continues to be amazed at how far customers will travel to get a taste of her cooking at Balkan Treat Box. In October, eight months after she was nominated for the Best Chef: Midwest James Beard Foundation Award, a guest on a cross-country road trip stopped at the restaurant. Balkan’s dining room was closed because of the pandemic, but the would-be patron was undeterred.
“He picked up the order, and I just so happened to be outside,” Nalic recalls. “He said he was from San Francisco and that [Balkan] was the only reason he was in the area that day. It still blows my mind that people want to come here from all over the country and try this food.”
Likewise, chef Nick Bognar has received his fair share of national accolades, too, with a Beard nod for Rising Star Chef of the Year and a Best New Restaurant nomination for his Botanical Heights restaurant, Indo. In May, Bognar was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2020.
“It’s awesome to see national magazines acknowledge the fact that here in St. Louis we do have some really great restaurants,” Bognar says. “There’s just tons of room for personality.”
Bognar’s approach, partially inspired by his Thai heritage but also by his time spent in upscale sushi kitchens across the U.S., has brought a singular sort of cuisine to St. Louis. Similarly, Balkan’s Nalic cooks food both inspired by family traditions—specifically husband Edo’s Bosnian heritage—and pulling from influences all over the Balkans.
“What we’re doing here as a food community is working really hard to be recognized locally and also as a tourist destination nationally.”
CITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS
Alongside Nalic in the Best Chef: Midwest category in 2020 were Michael Gallina of Vicia, Jesse Mendica of Olive + Oak, and Lona Luo of Lona’s Lil Eats. Two other local favorites were also nominated for nationwide categories: Vietnamese trailblazer Mai Lee in Brentwood for Outstanding Restaurant and Nathaniel Reid, the highly skilled pastry chef at Nathaniel Reid Bakery, for Outstanding Baker. And just a few months ago, Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Creamery owner Tamara Keefe was accepted into the James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program.
When Luo opened her restaurant in Fox Park, in 2014, the neighborhood was not known as a dining district. Fritanga Nicaraguan Cuisine had operated in the community for almost two decades, and spots had opened and closed nearby. Luo’s cooking, which blends the traditions of her youth spent in Xishuangbanna, a prefecture in China’s southwest Yunnan province, drew considerable attention. Six years and multiple James Beard nominations for Luo later, Fox Park has blossomed into one of the region’s most exciting places to grab a meal, with other popular options now including Craig and Mowgli Rivard’s Little Fox, Patrick and Spencer Clapp’s Coffeestamp, and acclaimed chef Logan Ely’s Shift and The Lucky Accomplice.
“There’s such potential all over the city,” Ely says, “and the people here are so supportive.”
Another local restaurateur who’s seen an outpouring of community support is Mark Hinkle. Since opening Olive + Oak in Webster Groves, in January 2016, Hinkle has relocated the restaurant to a larger space down the street shared with Perennial Artisan Ales and opened two additional concepts: cafe and coffee shop The Clover and the Bee and O + O Pizza. Hinkle and his family live in the neighborhood and are passionate about being part of the neighborhood’s evolution.
“We really love the downtown districts that Webster has to offer and the walkability,” he says. “That’s really what drove my family to move here and to be able to help from a business standpoint.”
Webster’s two dining districts (Old Orchard and downtown) have seen a renaissance of sorts in recent years. In addition to Hinkle’s beloved spots, other notable recent openings include The Frisco Barroom, The Parkmoor Drive-In, Guerrilla Street Food, Chiang Mai, The Annex Coffee and Foods, and, of course, Balkan Treat Box. Meanwhile, such legacy spots as Robust Wine Bar, The Block, Big Sky Café, and Cyrano’s Café continue as neighborhood draws.
As new dining districts have emerged and established ones evolved, a different sort of culinary destination has débuted in Affton. Last July, after months of anticipation, 9 Mile Garden, the first food truck garden and outdoor entertainment venue in the St. Louis area, opened for business. The project is led by managing partner Brian Hardesty, who, alongside business partner Joel Crespo, helped inspire the food truck scene in St. Louis almost a decade ago with Guerrilla Street Food. The garden features more than 40 food trucks operating on a rotating schedule; an indoor/ outdoor bar, The Cantina; and live music, movies, and more.
STAYING ON TREND
At the same time that the food truck scene evolves, new trends are surfacing, including the emergence of the ghost kitchen, allowing a restaurant to experiment with different menus from inside its existing space. The craze really took off in St. Louis in 2020, with such concepts as Wing Ding Dong! and Playing Ketchup, from Baileys’ Restaurants; KC Bones, from the team behind Sugarfire Smoke House and Hi-Pointe Drive-In; Sub Division Sandwich Co., from Polite Society and The Bellwether; Wing Runner, from BEAST Craft BBQ Co.; and Motor Town Pizza, a Detroit-style pizza concept run from Revel Kitchen, known for its organic, gluten-free, and vegan eats. Motor Town allows owners Simon and Angelica Lusky the flexibility to continue operating Revel, which infrequently needs the ovens in its kitchens, to expand their audience and offerings. “We threw out a lot of ideas and ended up on this one because of the [open oven] space we had,” Simon says, “knowing that it will deliver really well.”
Such creativity can be seen across every sector of the local dining scene, including the local coffee industry. MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse, on South Grand, has been a haven for artists, inclusivity, and activism since 1994, and Rise Coffee House, in The Grove, has fostered a similar community since 2013. Oliver’s Coffee + Flower Bar, the latest community-focused coffeehouse to début in the area, was founded by Olivia Ridgel in 2019 as “a space where you feel like you can be yourself.”
Engaging and forming a dialogue with customers is essential in the hospitality industry, and that’s something few people know better than Natasha Bahrami. Raised in her family’s Persian restaurant, Cafe Natasha, Bahrami has literally spent her entire life fine-tuning hospitality skills. As a young professional, she first built a career in Washington D.C. before returning to St. Louis and investing in a concept of her own.
“Coming back was a very strategic decision,” Bahrami recalls. “I was making an investment in my permanent future here in St. Louis—and that was assessing that St. Louis had a vibrant cultural community, not only in food and hospitality but also in youth deciding to move here, stay here, and facilitate growth.”
Like Bognar, who watched his mother operate restaurants in the metro area throughout his childhood, Bahrami has blazed her own trail in the industry. Since 2014, she has operated The Gin Room out of Cafe Natasha, located along the bustling stretch of South Grand that spans a vast range of international cuisine. She’s seen firsthand how excited tourists and transplants are to explore St. Louis. Bahrami recalls several patrons, for instance, recently visiting the restaurant who ended up deciding to “spend the night in St. Louis and see what more it has to offer.”
Fortunately, finding a boutique hotel is easier than ever. In the past five years, such hotels as the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, Live by Loews!, the Angad Arts, The Last Hotel, Le Méridien, The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis, and Hotel Indigo have either débuted or upgraded their accommodations and restaurants. Last fall, one of the most established hotels in town, The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis, celebrated the splashy arrival of Casa Don Alfonso, by lauded Italian restaurateur Mario Iaccarino.
“It’s an honor for me to arrive in St. Louis,” Iaccarino told SLM at the time. “It gives me the chance to live a different adventure compared to a New York adventure or Los Angeles adventure. I’m meeting a part of the world where I’m feeling so well. Everybody is so kind to me, and every time I come back home to Italy, my heart is truly full of happiness.”
St. Louis offers an abundance of other options, new and old, where diners can enjoy Italian cuisine. Many of the most well-known establishments are on The Hill, the robust Italian-American community where you can also find some of the region’s top sandwich shops.
In fact, across South City, old-school sandwich shops have entered a new golden age. Beloved favorites such as Adriana’s on the Hill, Blues City Deli, Gioia’s Deli, LeGrand’s Market & Catering, and Mom’s Deli have given way to diverse new spots, including Nomad, Izumi, Pastaria Deli & Wine, The Banh Mi Shop, and Re-Voaked Sandwiches.
Some of these new spots, such as ReVoaked and Nomad, opened before the pandemic; others, such as Izumi and Pastaria Deli & Wine, launched last year to support existing restaurants in more carryout-friendly ways.
Gerard Craft, the first St. Louis chef to win a James Beard Foundation Award, for Best Chef: Midwest, pivoted his fine-casual spot Sardella into Pastaria Deli & Wine for just that reason. “The greatest compliment I had was, one person told me, ‘This is the kind of sandwich you get at, like, 4 p.m. in Italy with an Aperol Spritz,’” says Craft. “That is 100 percent the place we were going for.”
Industry leaders like Craft have helped make St. Louis a nationally regarded dining destination; the work of innovators such as Nalic, Bognar, and Bahrami keeps giving people renewed reasons to visit, taste, and explore all that St. Louis has to offer.
