St. Louis Food Blog

Robin Wheeler

Chuck Friedhoff, Director of Food and Beverage at Persimmon Woods Golf Club

​"I never realized that hot dogs and golfers are such a big thing," says chef Chuck Friedhoff, Director of Food and Beverage at Persimmon Woods Golf Club. "I've been told it's because it's an easy thing to eat. It's somewhat clean. I said to myself early on that we should make bratwurst. We did that this summer, and it was a huge success. So we now have our house-made bratwurst. We grind our own sausage."

Since joining the staff of Persimmon Woods last May, Friedhoff has worked to change the nature of club cuisine as the nature of the clubs themselves continue to evolve.

Robin Wheeler

Josh Allen, founder of Companion

​It doesn't take much to change the face of baking in a city. For Companion founder Josh Allen, it started with a few watts. "I have a fond memory of stealing my sister's Easy-Bake oven, so I was pretty good at baking brownies by the heat of a light bulb."

Growing up surrounded by his family's food distribution business, Allen Foods (now a part of U.S. Foodservice), he knew he'd be in the food business as an adult. He also knew he didn't want to wear a tie. After attending Stanford University, he cooked three meals a day for a family living in the largest estate on Lake Tahoe. From there, he started baking at Whole Foods in Palo Alto, where he was approached by the owner of Oakville Grocery. After Allen spent months designing a bakery and distribution system for the company's then-expanding chain of stores, the owner decided baking wasn't feasible.

Robin Wheeler

Steven Caravelli, Chef de Cuisine at Sleek

​When Steven Caravelli taught at L'École Culinaire, students always asked him when they would be chefs. They could do it the way Caravelli himself did.

First, earn a degree in journalism at the University of Missouri - Columbia while working in a gourmet shop. Over the course of the next six years, work days as a bank teller and nights in the kitchen at Chez Leon while writing the occasional article for Sauce Magazine until there's a full-time position available at the restaurant. Make a stop at a local culinary school for one semester.

Robin Wheeler

Blues City Deli owner Vince Valenza

​Vince Valenza has traveled a long journey from his childhood in downtown St. Louis' Sicilian neighborhood to celebrating five years of owning Blues City Deli in Benton Park. Through it all, he's had his family, good food and a lot of soulful music to keep him going.

As the youngest child in his family, he learned about cooking from his mother's Italian kitchen and his father's barbecue pit while getting a musical education from his older sisters.

Robin Wheeler

Josh Galliano, executive chef at Monarch

​In the summer of 2005, Monarch executive chef Josh Galliano was working at New York's Restaurant Daniel when his girlfriend, Audra, paid him a visit. She wasn't happy with what she saw.

"She said, 'Okay, A, you look anorexic. You're working too much and not eating anything. B, you're broke. I can't believe you're paying for this apartment. C, your subletter just bailed on you.' August 17th, she said to pack my bags, we were going back. Got back to New Orleans and started working at Restaurant August."

A native of Laplace, Louisiana, which is 30 miles from New Orleans and sandwiched between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, Galliano wasn't fazed by the hurricane warnings for the weekend of August 26th. Audra talked him into leaving with their two dogs and a full laundry basket shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Robin Wheeler

Chef Jeffrey Constance of Hanley's Grille and Tap

​What do you mean, you haven't heard of Hanley's Grille and Tap? Chef Jeff Constance took over the former J.Buck's locations at St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights, Illinois, and West County Center in Des Peres a few months ago. Though brand new, Hanely's is already providing Euro-inspired comfort food and excellent service like an old pro. For the 42-year-old Belleville, Illinois, native, it's the culmination of many years in the kitchen.

"I started cooking as a kid with my dad," says Constance. "He'd just had a heart attack and had been trying to change his diet. He was home a lot because he couldn't work. I was always close with my dad so that was an opportunity to spend time with him."

Robin Wheeler

Vito Racanelli of Onesto Pizza & Trattoria

​Vito Racanelli, owner and chef of Onesto Pizza and Trattoria (website), comes by his food roots honestly. Born in New York City to parents from Bari and Calabria, he moved with his family to St. Louis when he was thirteen years old.

The Racanellis brought a lot of Old World ways with them: "I didn't have peanut butter and jelly and things like that. Breakfast at my house was a couple of raw egg yolks beat with sugar. More of a European fare, and that's what we were raised on. Most kids' lunch bags were Oscar Meyer bologna and cheese. Mine was olives and eggplant Parmigiana. I was the kid who had the brown lunch bag that was stained with olive oil."

Robin Wheeler

Anthony Devoti of Five and Newstead Tower Public House

​"I think that every food writer should be forced to put their credentials on their write-ups every single week. I don't understand how you can write about what goes on in a kitchen if you haven't worked in a kitchen," Chef Anthony Devoti tells me as I tear into the roasted poulet he's set before me at Five, his restaurant on the Hill. "You can't write about food if you don't understand flavors and if you don't know where things come from."

If it helps, the 31-year-old Devoti and I both attended the culinary program at St. Louis Community College - Forest Park a decade ago. Afterwards, I dabbled in catering and teaching, while he went on to graduate from New York's French Culinary Institute, eventually working at Zuni Café in San Francisco before returning to St. Louis to open Five and Newstead Tower Public House.

Robin Wheeler

Matt Herren (foreground) and Goshen Coffee's DJ Fisher

​Which came first, the coffee or the bread? For Matt Herren, co-owner of Goshen Coffee and 222 Artisan Bakery, beer came first. He brewed huge amounts of home brew while working at coffee houses in his native northern California and Seattle. When he moved to Edwardsville, Illinois, with his then-wife and co-owner of Goshen and 222 Debbie Sultan, his focus shifted to coffee. Specifically, becoming the first single-origin, 100%-organic roaster in the St. Louis area.

When he couldn't find a coffee roaster that suited his needs, he built one himself. How did he do it? "The same way I build everything -- I just did it," Herren, 38, said as we we strolled his wooded backyard on the edge of Edwardsville, drinking cans of Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi. And no, he's not telling where he found the impossible-to-find beer.

Robin Wheeler

Mary Harden, pastry chef at Chesterfield's Wapango.

​When pastry chef Mary Harden was hired by Wapango (website) in 2007, it wasn't much different from any other hiring. "When I interviewed with the guy who hired me and told him what I wanted to do, he said, 'You know what? You're weird. I like you. I need a pastry chef.' I had my second interview with the owner, who said, 'So Chef says you're weird.'"

OK, so maybe not every industry values weirdness how the restaurant biz does. There aren't many professions that would overlook Harden's penchant for wearing mismatched socks on purpose. But it's that same irreverence that's made Harden, 32, a natural among mountains of dough that beg to be turned into much more.

Robin Wheeler

Jerad Gardner at work in the Rotten Apple's kitchen

​Introducing Chef's Choice, a new weekly feature in which St. Louis-area chefs cook and discuss some of their favorite recipes.

Jerad Gardner didn't dream of a career in cooking. The 27-year-old studied to be a teacher and made it as far as student teaching. That career path ended when he called a student a douchebag, got punched in the face and was asked to leave.

What didn't work in the classroom works wonders in the kitchen. Gardner creates dishes as honest and unpretentious as he is. He handles managerial duties for Amalgamated Brewing's the Rotten Apple and the Stable, but his real love is for the smoker and for the craft brews that's made Grafton, Illinois' Rotten Apple a destination for St. Louis beer lovers.