9 St. Louis Rising Stars to Know in 2018
Every year in our annual Tastemakers issue, we say that there’s never been as much creativity or energy in the local restaurant scene as there is right now – and every year it’s true. That’s because the volume of talent and innovation we see year after year only continues to grow and flourish. The Midwest is teeming with highly skilled and creative chefs, sommeliers, mixologists and hospitality professionals, and it’s our pleasure to share the following Tastemakers whose boundary-pushing work caught our attention this year.
Some of these men and women have just started making their mark on the industry; they are this year’s Rising Stars. In the coming years, you’re likely to see the same faces helming our region’s next crop of game-changing restaurants and bars.
Alisha Blackwell-Calvert has been working in fine dining since she was 21, but what really sparked her interest in wine was terroir. She became fascinated by how the same grape, grown in three different places, could result in such different flavors. Today, as beverage director at Reeds American Table in Maplewood, Missouri, Blackwell-Calvert has assembled an eclectic array of wines from all over the world; she works with as many as 15 to 20 distributors to sample unusual bottles and hand-picks wines based on the current menu from chef-owner Matthew Daughaday. Reeds has a lot of regular customers, too, so Blackwell-Calvert takes special care to find new wines in flavor profiles she knows guests are already comfortable with; even if you visit weekly, she’ll always have something different in your style. Currently, look for sparkling wines from southern England – not as crazy as it sounds. Blackwell-Calvert calls herself a total science nerd – especially with regard to the effects of climate change on the world’s vineyards – and thanks to warmer temperatures, the sparkling wines coming out of southern England are mimicking some of the flavor profiles you find in French Champagne at a less-expensive price point. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
Reeds American Table, 7322 Manchester Road, Maplewood, Missouri, 314.899.9821, reedsamericantable.com
At Square1 Project, Logan Ely’s Delmar Loop underground supper club, creativity is driven as much by vision as necessity. The 12-seat space (in a secret retail location) debuted in March with Friday and Sunday services offering 12 to 14 courses with beverage pairings. When Ely first returned to St. Louis after cooking in Chicago, New York, Napa Valley, Houston, Hong Kong and Copenhagen, he wasn’t sure something like Square1 would even work in his hometown; luckily, he found that people were excited to check out his concept. The menu, which changes a little each service and drastically every few weeks, is vegetable-heavy, with a bit of seafood and meat used sparingly – think beef fat or dried pig heart. The space literally has no kitchen; Ely and his team cook with a toaster oven, an induction burner and two pots. The minimal equipment – plus a reasonable $60-per-person price tag, including drink pairings – pushes Ely’s creativity. However, he hopes to soon have a permanent space for Square1 Project, with a real kitchen, a set menu, additional staff and a little bit of money to spend – things he says he’s surprised to have made it this far without. For a recent dish, Ely fermented green tomatoes for two weeks and cooked them for another four months until they were black; they were blended with fresh, ripe tomatoes for an umami broth. This was paired with a warm cow’s milk curd – made to order using milk from Double Star Farms – and topped with snap peas, black lime peels and preserved winter cress. (Photo by J. Pollack Photography)
Square1 Project, St. Louis, Missouri, twitter.com/square1_project
Jen Epley admits she wasn’t always a wine connoisseur. But gigs at Five Bistro and Elaia and Olio in St. Louis led her to trade light beer and Relax Riesling for Hefeweizens and bone-dry Australian Riesling. As beverage director at Vicia, she’s put together an inventive program alongside co-owner Tara Gallina to complement the adventurous food menu. As far as spirits, the aim is to introduce guests to something familiar yet crafted on a smaller scale, like George Dickel whiskey instead of Jim Beam. Epley keeps her bartenders in constant communication with chef Michael Gallina so they can incorporate kitchen scraps or other unusual items in Vicia’s cocktails. For example, apple cores from pastry chef Summer Wright’s apple tatin are soaked in vinegar and simple syrup to make a shrub. For wine, Tara balances Epley’s more unexpected picks with classic selections, and they’re careful to consider a variety of price points, as well as the overall vision for Vicia when putting together the wine list. This means Epley thinks about a winery’s practices, sustainability, soil and production before considering whether to feature it. For those interested in learning more about wine, Epley suggests The Wine Folly and its accompanying website. She also advises meeting up with friends and blind-tasting various types of the same wine varietals; it’ll help you understand single varietals and their terroir. Most of all, her philosophy is simply that wine should be enjoyed. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
Vicia, 4260 Forest Park Ave., Central West End, St. Louis, Missouri, 314.553.9239, viciarestaurant.com
Senada Grbic jokes that she became a chef because as a kid, if she wanted to spend time with her parents, it was always in the kitchen of their family restaurant, Grbic, which opened in 2002. Her parents, Sulejman and Ermina Grbic, were both born in Bosnia; Sulejman was a butcher by trade who immigrated to the U.S. in 1974. He met Ermina, who had just graduated from culinary school, on a trip home, and she joined him in St. Louis in 1981. Growing up, when Senada and her two siblings, Ermin and Erna, would ask their mom for the tacos, pizza and chicken nuggets their friends would talk about at school, Ermina would oblige – but with her own spin. Tacos were filled with freshly ground veal seasoned with Vegeta, a spice blend popular in Bosnia, and chicken schnitzel replaced nuggets. After Senada graduated from culinary school in Chicago (she came home every weekend to work at Grbic), she spent 15 years working alongside her mother. The family purchased beloved St. Louis institution Lemmons several years ago, and reopened it as Lemmons by Grbic in May with Senada at the helm. For a few months, Senada was the only chef, prep cook, line cook, dishwasher – what she says her mom calls having “octopus arms” – but as the daughter of entrepreneurs, she knew the tiring work was well worth it. Her menu at Lemmons features personal takes on American pub fare, including chicken-fried schnitzel, cevapi (sausage) flatbread and smoked chicken wings glazed in a sauce made with Rakia, a popular European brandy. Senada still stops in Grbic to spend time with her parents, but now they can visit her in a kitchen of her very own. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
Lemmons By Grbic, 5800 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, Missouri, 314.413.1217, facebook.com/lemmonsstl
Heidi Hamamura knows sushi. She grew up cooking alongside her father, local sushi legend Naomi Hamamura, and still helps him cater events. Instead of culinary school, Hamamura began cooking at her father’s now-shuttered Sansui Japanese Restaurant, and then under some of the best chefs in St. Louis: Andy Huang at Hiro Asian Kitchen, Jamey Tochtrop at Stellina, Ben Grupe at Elaia and Olio and now Brian Hardesty at Guerrilla Street Food (GSF), among others. Hamamura will serve as executive chef at GSF’s upcoming Delmar Loop location. Her impressive résumé – everything from Japanese to Italian to Filipino – gives her an edge. Hamamura grew up making sushi (she says it’s her go-to comfort food) but also thinks St. Louis could use more inexpensive Japanese street food. That’s part of the approach at GSF: Fresh, high-quality and thoughtful food that’s also affordable. The ingredients are never frozen; GSF doesn’t even have a freezer. It’s that level of quality that has Hamamura hoping to be with the restaurant for years to come. (Photo courtesy of Guerrilla Street Food)
Guerrilla Street Food, multiple locations, guerrillastreetfood.com
It’s OK to call Taylor Hamilton obsessive. In fact, he says that’s what attracted him to working at Union Loafers in the first place. Hamilton got to know co-owner Ted Wilson while working as the pizzaiolo at Mike Randolph’s celebrated Randolfi’s and says the two share similar philosophies when it comes to pizza. That means doing the same thing every day – and scrutinizing every last detail – yet accepting that you’ll never fully master the process. Pizzas at the Botanical Heights bakery and sandwich shop, which are served for dinner only, are similar in technique to Neapolitan pies yet baked longer and at a lower temperature. That lengthier time period means there’s more opportunity for things to go wrong, but pushing the pizzas to the edge of the bake results in a deep-red, crispy, caramelized crust. Hamilton, who got his start working in a small Springfield, Missouri, franchise pizzeria at 16, has worked primarily with pizza over the years, including stints at Dewey’s Pizza, Guido's Pizzeria & Tapas and Sasha’s Wine Bar, and says he enjoys the niche nature of the job. Now, he’s excited to see where he can take the pizza at Loafers – and even if the menu doesn’t look too different from one day to the next, you can bet he’s obsessing over every detail. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
Union Loafers, 1629 Tower Grove Ave., Botanical Heights, St. Louis, Missouri, 314.833.6111, unionloafers.com
Most teenagers get after-school jobs to save up for a car, but Evy Swoboda was more interested in buying a food truck. As a child, she relished family vacations to places like China, India, Turkey and Spain mostly for the food: She found the range of ingredients, flavors and cooking techniques fascinating and exhilarating. Swoboda never did get that food truck, but the summer after high school, she landed a job at The Lodge at the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Missouri. In the fall, she moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri, where she worked in the kitchen at the alumni center. Swoboda soon graduated to 44 Stone Public House, where she was “the grill girl” for several years. When she was ready to move back home, her sous chef connected her with Brian Moxey, then executive chef at Gerard Craft’s Pastaria. In five years, she went from staging at the restaurant to chef de cuisine. Craft even sent her on a trip to Rome, Bologna and Venice to experience regional Italian food firsthand. She now helps direct the menu alongside Ashley Shelton, executive chef at both Pastaria and its sister restaurant, Sardella. This fall, Swoboda debuted dishes like a turnip-radish giardiniera with farro and a peppercorn aïoli and spinach lasagna with mushroom Bolognese. Eventually, she sees herself leading a kitchen as executive chef – hopefully, she says, at a future location of Pastaria. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
Pastaria, 7734 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton, Missouri, 314.862.6603, pastariastl.com
Sara Trikenskas is, in her words, a chocolate pusher. On an average night at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis in Clayton, Missouri, it’s not uncommon to see her handing out pieces of a new black licorice chocolate bar for everyone in the kitchen to try. The lead pastry chef first fell in love with chocolate during a stint at the nationally acclaimed Patric Chocolate while in college in Columbia, Missouri, and has judged the chocolate category at the national Good Food Awards for the past two years. Trikenskas, who has worked at The Ritz for around four years, makes all of the restaurant’s French macarons and ice cream (the toasted oatmeal flavor is a recent favorite). Last fall, she combined the two for a spin on one of her favorite desserts since childhood: spumoni. The dish featured scoops of chocolate, cherry and pistachio ice cream served with a dark stout cake filled with cherry ganache, a pistachio macaron and cherry compote. At the end of the day, though, her true passion is artisan chocolate. Early this year, Trikenskas plans to start hosting chocolate pop-up events around St. Louis. Through tastings and education, she hopes to help customers understand where chocolate comes from, and why a $14 craft chocolate bar is better – including why it tastes better – than commodity chocolate. (Photo by Judd Demaline)
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis, 100 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton, Missouri, 314.863.6300, ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/st-louis
In 2001, fresh out of culinary school in her hometown of Montreal, Marie-Anne Velasco landed high-profile jobs with acclaimed chefs Claude Pelltier and Rick Tramonto in Chicago. She’d learned fundamental skills and techniques in culinary school, but those early restaurant gigs, she says, taught her discipline and respect for quality ingredients. She wanted to offer young cooks the same invaluable mentoring when she accepted a chef instructor position at now-shuttered Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in St. Louis. In her free time, she loved grabbing bowls of pho at Mai Lee, Lee Tran’s popular Vietnamese restaurant. Velasco would sit at the bar and chat with Qui, Tran’s son who managed the front of house, about life. Their friendship eventually turned into a business partnership, as he was eager to open his own restaurant: a ramen shop called Nudo House. Over the course of a two-year R&D process, he and Velasco refined their concept and menu and hosted a string of pop ups, gaining help from world-renowned ramen chef Shigetoshi Nakamura along the way. When Nudo opened in Creve Coeur, Missouri, in August, it featured four types of ramen as well as pho, cold apps, sandwiches and sides, but it’s the ramen stocks that make Velasco most proud. Made of just bones (pork, chicken or beef) and water, the stocks simmer for hours and hours until thick, rich and velvety. Velasco says the highest compliment is when the flavor leaves guests speechless – proof that respect for quality ingredients and discipline do indeed pay off. (Photo by Mabel Suen)
Nudo House, 11423 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, Missouri, 314.274.8046 facebook.com/nudohousestl
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New dishes sour fried chicken, salted egg duck toast and kinilaw with diver scallops.
Look for "humble local ingredients prepared with primitive techniques."
