Hello again and welcome to Arch Eats where we take a deeper dive into the things that listeners may not know about the restaurant scene here in Saint Louis with me as always is co-host and co collaborator Cheryl Beer. This episode of Arch Eats brought to you by Saint Louis symphony orchestra. Uh In a prior episode, we elaborated on Saint Louis magazine's best new restaurants list. And today
we're gonna give more details on another subject. We collaborated on our most anticipated restaurant list for 24 16. Must go to places that we know of so far. There's gonna be a lot more. Then we will finish as we always do with a micro rant. But first we'll begin as we always do with what I can't stop thinking about this week. So the thing I can't stop thinking about this week
is the thing. Actually, we can't stop thinking about. Neither one of us could get over the whole Ben Pemba announcement that he's putting not three but five restaurants in the Delmar Maker District. Cheryl. I know you and I were just like on our heels like, you know, holy, we didn't say Molly, but we said something else when he got finished with that and, uh it was just uh an unbelievable announcement and we really didn't know we didn't actually have any, you know,
postgame analysis, post podcast analysis. And that's what I think we should both talk about. Now. What did you, I mean, what was your takeaway from that? I mean, I am, I'm just amazed that he is going to do that. Ben
Pemba is a bold person and I think a lot of people are um raising eyebrows, you know, how is he going to pull off? You know, not only is he closing his flagships and moving them across town, but he's also opening other things in the midst of this. And I think, you know, to the naysayers, I would say, you know, people tried to bet against him in botanical heights as well and look, look what happened, look what all he achieved. So I actually am pretty
bullish on Ben's moves. Um I think they're just going to be really exciting and, and great to see
and he was, and he was the first to say that he said this time, I get to do it the way I wanted to do it in the first place, the way it should be built and I can do it even quicker, you know, basically to come to a new neighborhood that needs this. And quite honestly, I bet he's got great rent there and uh it's just a huge opportunity for him. And, and like you said, he is a, he's a risk taker. He is a, you know,
he is, he's, he does exciting stuff. He, he takes chances and that's what I, that's what I like about this guy. He was joking that Gerard Kraft at one time, moved a restaurant and started another at exactly the same time. Now he's doing that with basically five restaurants. So we've got to hand it to uh to Ben Pemba for doing something that really nobody else has ever done. And, and, and really, you know, there was a Cheryl you were mentioning some concerns and one of them is that there's
no really infill housing in that area. There wasn't any infill housing in botanical heights either. His contention is that, you know, having a density of business in a, in an area would drive a change in population in, in building. And you know, when developers are thinking of putting places up, it's a good idea to have some great restaurants within walking distance and that's exactly what he's gonna do. So my prediction is some, you know, there's gonna be some
infill housing that's gonna follow along here. You know, I don't think that strip between Union and King's Highway is even a mile long. But man, by the end of 2024 he won't recognize
it. And I know you have people in the Skin Oliver neighborhood who are looking for a place that they can walk to, that's closer than the west end. The west end is just around the corner. I mean, what's really exciting about this too is that he's, they're all such different concepts and it's not just different in style but in form as well. You know, he has a breakfast and lunch spot. He has a bar, he has as a fine dining, you know, restaurant here. He has
kind of a reinvention of Olio. So really, he's kind of giving a little bit of something to a whole lot of different kind of interests. And I think that's where um where he's going to find a success.
And I think we might have talked about this before, but what his restaurants, what makes them unique is they work. They will all work in any city and that's the way he designs them that you could pick up a Leo and put it anywhere in the country and it would work. You could pick up Nick to put it anywhere in the country and it would work. And that's, again, that's a testament to him. He's got
incredible creativity. He's uh amazing attention to detail. I mean, he thinks this stuff through so well and uh I, I think that's something that, that, that people overlook that, that uh you know, these things can literally appear on any corner in any city and be successful.
Yeah, they can appear in any corner in any city. They can appear on any corner in the same city. So I'm, I'm looking forward
to it. Boy, me too. Anyway, we'll see, you know, in about nine months we're gonna, we're gonna be hanging out in a different part of town, which I think is very, very exciting. Absolutely. We'll be right back, become a young friend of the Saint Louis symphony orchestra and join a community of fellow Saint Louis arts lovers, young friends nights. Are your chance to experience the thrill of live music, meet new friends and mingle with SL Ss O musicians after the concert.
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and now back to the show.
So our plan today with our most anticipated restaurants episode is to provide some more detail beyond the written article that we put out a few weeks ago. And uh we did 1618, 20 quite a few. And I, I'm gonna start uh with Osteria for which again it's open now. But when we wrote that article, it had, it had yet to open, right? Remember I said we're going to talk more about this place and, and here we go. So it's open out in o'fallon, Missouri. Uh It's uh extended members of the Pio Toso family.
And uh the it's interesting. The, the, the big seller is the a 14 inch bone in pork rib chop, done salt and boca style with prosciutto and a white wine sage sauce and uh Fontanella cheese. That sounds fantastic. I said, why? Fontanella and not Fontina? Well, it's creamier. It's smoother and it's a little sharper which I didn't know. So that's one of the secrets to this beautiful dish that everybody's going crazy about out there. There's a dessert. This is
pretty funny. Uh The, the one of the owners is, is the pastry chef and she makes the Tre Aichi cake, Tre Aichi three friends cake. It's a chocolate cake with three friends. Peanut butter, butter cream, chocolate ganache and salted caramel sauce. Wow. These
seem like friends. I want to hang
and I mean, it's, it's so inc and it's, it's outselling everything else. And the other owner said, you know, you know, we make tiramisu homemade here too and normally that just flies off the shelves. He goes, don't forget about the tiramisu guys. He's telling the servers, you know, don't forget to push the tiramisu because everybody's ordering this tray, Amici cake, you say peanut
butter butter cream and I don't think you can convince me of anything else. It,
it's, it's, it's a really cool place. It's out in o'fallon. Uh If, if, if you can get there in time I don't know if they can keep making this, but they're making a homemade barrel aged orang cello out of uh you know, ma macerated orange peels and, and, and sugar and they ferment all that for three months in toasted oak barrels. And the owner said I love this stuff and everybody's loving it, but I don't know that I can continue to make it because it's so labor intensive.
So get out there and have some Orano with your tray. Aichi cake. So that's Osteria Foro. Now open in o'fallon. You've got a place down in uh it's called Manalo that I don't know that much about. I know it's getting ready to open.
Yes. So that's one of the places I'm particularly excited about. I think, you know, over the past few years we've seen some really great Filipino restaurants open here in town. You know, I think of uh fatten calf, I think of can and Te'o Exactly. That's a wonderful one too over there in mid out and we're going to add this to the list. Um They're going to open in Tower Grove South, I believe they originally said end of 2023 but looks like it might get pushed as, as most things do into
the next month. So hopefully sometime in January they are taking over, um, the very short lived restaurant space. Um, that was at one time snow. And um they're looking to do a very traditional Filipino restaurant what the family has said is that this is going to be the sort of place where think home cooking, think stews and, you know, Slow Breed Oxtail that have been simmering for hours, maybe even cooking for like days.
You know, in, in someone's home kitchen, they want this really traditional soulful, satisfying, slow cooked kind of feel to their place there. Um, some of the dishes, like I said, Oxtail soup is going to be there. Um, you know, they'll have pence it, of course, Adobo. Um, they also said they're going to do some sweets and some imported coffee from the Philippines. So I'm really excited
about that and it's a restaurant that's on two floors. Always interested to see what happens on the second floor of a restaurant. If it's as appealing as the first floor, snow was that way snow was pretty cool upstairs. Um Now a place that we went to again, it, it kind of sneaked open all of a sudden I thought it was gonna open toward the end of the month, but it's uh it will be open by the time listeners hear this. It's called None of the Above. And
it is the new speakeasy esque bar. I guess if you want to call it that it's City Foundry, you know, it's, it's, it's in literally in a tunnel underneath City Foundry. It's uh from Gerard Kraft's Niche food group. You know, it was underground. We didn't, we couldn't like peek through the window to see what was going on and you enter via a very nondescript man door out on Foundry Way that has a single red light above it.
No signage. And, uh, I, I don't wanna, you know, uh, spoil too much of the, of the surprise, but there's, there's some passageways and there's some secret doors and, uh, you were there, what was your impression of the place?
I mean, you walk in and I was there in the middle of the day and I might as well have been there. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. You walk in, you go through these tunnels, you just descend into the subterranean world that, you know, used to be
and there's all a lot of hallways. It's, it's a, it's not a long hike, but you definitely feel like you've earned it when you get there. And what I
think is interesting is you're gradually going down these ramps like it's not this, you know, you climb down a massive stairwell, like everything's just very gradual as if it's kind of setting this tone to get to this space and then you walk in the store and
it is just absolutely stunning. I mean, the way I described it is it kind of as if art deco and mid century modern like had a baby together, you know, just think like these lux velvet banquettes, this gorgeous kind of, um, you know, amber cognac kind of colored wooden bar, downcast lights like brass fixtures on each table individually. It's
stunning. It's sexy. It's romantic. The cocktails are great. Uh It's interesting, the food component, there's no kitchen there. So at the present time, the food is some uh some cold items, but they're all really good and they're not
going to do a, you know, a full blown food program there because, you know, they're right underneath city foundries. So they figure this is going to be just a special place where people will go for really elegant cocktails. They emphasize the, they see this as a sophisticated place. They don't have a dress code per se. You'll feel
like you should dress a little bit to go to this. It's, it's that cool. It's that sophisticated and it's gonna be that popular. It's gonna be one of those places you brag about to your friends, family, people from out of town. And, you know, with that in mind it's no reservations, admittance is by walk in only and you just have to remember that. But once the place fills up, you go on to Rezz and go on to that Rezz waitlist, which is a really convenient thing.
It's that, you know, hey, we've got four people. They said very well, you know, your table should be ready in 20 minutes, 25 minutes, whatever it is. So at least you won't be, be hanging there. Uh, I understand again. This place is gonna be so popular that there will be some sort of time limit
on the table, sir. Uh I was told that it and it's gonna be generous, but it won't be a place where you can just, you wanna hang out there all night, but you won't be allowed to because I'm telling you, it's just going to be that popular that, that so many people are gonna want to get in there and that's kind of, uh that's kind of a thing that's happening, I think across the country and especially in Europe, these time limits on tables, these guys have to make their
money when, when the people are out there. So, so that, that's, that's how that happens. But none of the above open at City Foundry STL You heard it here, it is outstanding.
Must visit. Absolutely an essential food and beverage destination of Saint Louis.
Um out at Westport, I was excited to see all the goings on out there. They tore a bunch of buildings down. There's this huge uh uh green space that's being constructed for concerts and parties and, you know, parties at the plaza and they've, they've recreated uh the, the soda fountain uh restaurant. They uh kind of a mini me version of the soda fountain down at Union Station and they didn't spare any expense. It's exactly the same and they spent a fortune on this place.
It is really cool looking burgers, freak shakes, fast casual stuff. It's not table service like it is uh at Union Station so that it should be opened by year's end. I'm told. And then you've got on the 12th floor of the Gold Tower, the, you know, the new 360 which is, again, we love 360 downtown. It's on the rooftop here. It's not, I think it's a couple floors down but there's operable windows that open up. So it kind of feels you've got, you've got the open air feel there.
Plaza is, it's all of a sudden, it's like it's happening there again. And I'm just glad to see that you've got a place um in Webster Groves that we both love. This
is Tel the at the Ridge. Um I said, Lauren Nick, she and her husband Eddo are the owners of Balkan Treat Box, which I think if you're listening to this podcast, you are very well versed with Balkan Treat Box. It is a vital part of the Saint Louis restaurant scene and this is a fun little. Um I guess she, she calls it a coffee shop. She calls it a cafe that has their flavor profile, which is, you know, Balkan cuisine, um very focused on kind of the Balkan um in particular Bosnian coffee
drink, the Balkan coffee experience, which is done in, I haven't experienced this yet. It's in a little copper pot and I don't even dare try to pronounce it. There's two, there's two Z's and a V in the name. It's, it's impossible to pronounce, but they brew to order this coffee. And I guess the name t the, the name comes from the grounds found at the bottom of this coffee. And apparently fortune tellers use that to tell the drinkers
fortune. Yes. Instead of like reading the tea leaves, you read the coffee.
I don't know if that's gonna happen there, but it should. Exactly.
Well, and that's a, that's a really fun place and she's going to have kind of daytime fair there. You know, she's not spilling the beans too much on what her things are. But think of things like, you know, toasts and pastries, a lot of different coffee drinks. It's going to be just a really fun spot.
There's a bread pudding that's got, it looks like about three tablespoons of cinnamon in it. Have you seen that with that made with the so moon bread that is just outstanding. Nexus. Nexus has been a long time coming. It is
and I am so excited about Nexus. Um I don't know if, well, I'm sure you, do you remember the restaurant bait in the central west end? That really just sophisticated seafood cocktail lounge. Their chef, at least their opening chef Sarah Jackson is just this, in my mind. She's just this culinary powerhouse. She has this knack for flavor that, um, that I feel like she's just one of the most
chefs that we've seen recently in ST Louis. Um, she's been on the scene for a while, but I started knowing about her at a place in SARD that's since closed, called Fleur De Lily's. That was wonderful. Um, and then at Bait, I was really a big fan of her food. Now, she's getting to step out on her own. She's going to be chef and owner of this restaurant and it'll be located in midtown. It's part of that, um, you know, development there that houses a lot of really great
restaurant. I call it the 2700 Locust development. I don't think it has an official name, but there's five restaurants under one roof. I think it started with um Quinte Filipino Place. Uh Anita Cafe is there. But Dra Wine Bar and now Nexus and there's, there's a brewery coming in, coming in. So anyway, 2700 Locust is gonna be a happening little corner and, and it really is, it's, it's kind of reached critical mass. So, so Nexus one's that supposed to open. So
that is, that's another one of those where I think the goal was sometime in December of 2023 but it looks like it'll get pushed into January, possibly even February and what diners can expect at that place. She really, you know, she's true to the name. She sees the place as kind of this culinary crossroads. She doesn't want to use the word fusion, but she's
really drawing on global flavors. She's taking inspiration from a lot of different culinary traditions and she's really trying to create this gathering place where you can experience small plates from around the world
and I peeked in the windows there. It's really charming. It looks kind of like a, like a parlor in the central west end. You know, the, the old fireplaces and, and, and, you know, cushy chairs and it looks very, very, uh cozy and charming and appealing. That's Nexus. We go out to Chesterfield to Napoli Brothers and this is gonna open, I think in about April and this is the, the restaurant from uh the Napoli Brothers being Ken and Andy Pio Toso, the sons of uh uh Tony
Pio Toso of Cafe Napoli fame. Anyway, their thing there, Napoli Brothers pizza and pasta is these coal fired pizzas and it'll be the only place in town that has a coal fired the Black Blisters, New Haven style um pie that's cooked in 1000 degree oven. It's hotter than any other pizza oven in town. And so you get this incredible uh crispness and, and blistering and charred flavor like you would from a charcoal like like you're cooking it on, on a charcoal grill.
So, so that's gonna be their claim to fame. But I also understood that they're gonna do some pastas there, some fresh and dried pastas like they do at some of their other stores. So, but the, the signature item out at Napoli Brothers is gonna be the same thing that they have out at Napoli C it's a pasta that's finished in a hollowed out half wheel of Italian Parmesan. This giant £45 wheel that they cart out to your table. Throw
some grain alcohol in there. Light it lighted a fire, soften up some of the cheese and then they throw some seafood risotto in there and scrape some of that cheese into that and serve it right. then in there table side, it sounds borderline obscene because it no casual place out in Chesterfield. I said that's pretty darn cool for being casual. So that's gonna be their
one table side item. And again, they're, they're making a big deal out of it because it's the biggest seller at Napoli C and they said we just have to repeat it because it's just so cool. Go for the pizza but definitely hang out for the flaming uh Parmesan half wheel. Yeah, I mean,
hang out with the flaming Parmesan
one in doubt. Light it on fire. It's one of the, it's, it's probably the slickest tableside preparation in town. I learned a lot talking to the folks at forehands slash peacemaker. The one that's gonna open in Kirkwood. Speaking of taking a long time to open again, this is the, the two Kevins Kevin Lump and Kevin Nash. And this is going to be really quite large 315 seats, which is, that's an insane amount. What I learned was 75 inside, 75 under like a
four season edition. And then it, it, their quote backyard has 100 and 50 seats as well. So, um, a lot of, uh, fun things. It's gonna be 50% peacemaker and 50% forehands. It's not gonna be, it's not gonna lean in either direction. But what the fun thing about that is they got a menu board from a place called Oat Foundry, which I'd never heard of who creates menu boards that are akin to those London train station, those old type of boards with the numbers that flap and flip over. And
so they'll be able to change their beers. They'll, they'll be able to change their menu. Everything can change, that whole board can change completely in 45 seconds. And again, they're right next to the Amtrak Station and they said we'll even put the Amtrak schedule up on this board. That looks like an old train schedule board. Anyway. I, I just, I had to laugh at that. I was talking to Kevin Lump about it and he said, it's, it's,
it's the little things that, that separate you. I want people to say this is the coolest menu board I've ever seen. And I said, and they will, so they're going for, uh, hospitality, they're going for experience, they're really taking their time on it and I know that they're gonna do, um, every quarter they're talking about doing outdoor shrimp and crab boils with
a specific beer brewed for that occasion. They've got all kinds of things cooked up for this and they're talking about finally, I think they're finally ready to announce an opening after kind of hemming and hawing, uh April May opening. And, um, that's, that's the story there. And again, that'll be a place that everybody's gonna hang out and especially in that, you know, backyard that seats 100 and 50 people.
Absolutely. Yeah, that, that will be a, uh, one of those places where get there early. I have a feeling it'll be a very popular spot and rightfully so,
yeah, definitely. And, and like, yeah, long time comment, but it'll be worth it. So, um, good company. Is that the name of it?
It is. I am so excited about good company. Um, if you're familiar with Good Ice, this is, I guess you'd call it a sister company to them. Um, Good Ice. It was started by a few bartenders, Jordan Goodman, Kyle Gillespie. Um, they're just veteran bartenders, um, here around town and they've been doing if you've been anywhere and seen those one just embossed ice cubes that are at some of the higher end cocktail bars, some nice restaurants around town. Um,
they got their start doing those. They have all sorts of special equipment. It's actually very helpful. It's not a gimmick for restaurants.
They're the ones that have the giant spheres and the long, um,
the giant spheres, the long rectangles. Um, they have like, people can put their logos in the ice cubes. If you've seen that at places, it's just a wonderful company at their hearts though. Their bartenders and they always thought, ok, well, maybe we could open up a cocktail bar that complemented our ice business. It would be kind of an ice focused cocktail bar. So, um, that's the idea behind good company. At least that was
the genesis of the idea. But when they found the space in the former Leila in the grove, which is where they're going to be opening, they really saw that. Ok, we think the space necessitates us doing something a little bit bigger. So in addition
to Fancy Schmancy Ice, yeah,
exactly. In addition to Fancy Schmancy Ice and, and I must, I must say that Fancy Schmancy Ice does not translate into Fancy Schmancy experience. They, you know, they wanna have a nice, comfortable elevated hospitality focused experience, but it's not gonna be, you know, like none of the above where you feel like you have to dress up. They're not going for that. In fact, one thing they are going for is they really wanna be in the conversation is one of the best burgers
in town, their food menu. They're gonna have a very small food menu, but it's going to center around burgers. And uh Jordan told me not a smash burger but not as thick as a like really hearty eight ounce steakhouse burger. Somewhere in between. Not too big, not too small goldilocks burger. Exactly. You know, just focus toppings. Maybe a fried egg, some really great bacon, good cheese. Um, so that's what they're looking to do and they do not have an opening
date at this point. I'm thinking we're probably like into spring sometime around there when they're looking to be open. But that is good company in the growth.
But they're doing brew. Are they brewing and distilling? I know, didn't they, didn't somebody call it a breil? Do I have the right place there? No,
that's not. I don't think that's good company. I think that might be alpha, which is next on the list. Yeah, good company is just strictly think cocktail bar, think kind of neighborhood gathering spot with uh elevated hospitality element to it
in the Delmar Maker District is a brew stiller, what they're calling a Bruil that's opening up in the springtime, right
where you're talking about the Bruil is Alpha Brewing Company. Um They are located in Tower Grove South currently and they're getting ready to open in a facility in the Makers District, kind of like a combination events and food space called the Maker's Locale. And the whole idea behind this is it's going to be food and beverage focused, but you will be able to witness your food or drink being made in some sort of capacity. The focus
is on the maker side. So with that being said, Alpha Brewing company, they have their, a brewery that they're doing there and uh you know, tasting room, of course, but they've also just launched a uh distillery and they're going, their main focus is Fruited Vodkas, which they've already released them. Um They're called Sqush, I believe, is the name of them. Um I believe that's how you pronounce it. Um So those have already been released, but that's going to be
the place where those different it is. It's kind of fun to say. And so yeah, I guess I'm thinking about like squishing up like a strawberry in my fruit vodka. You know, I guess it's aptly named there. So they're a lot of fun, but they're not the only ones in makers local, two very beloved places from the Hustle Hospitality Group which owns Steve's Hot Dogs and Fountain on Locust. They are opening a second location of Steve's hot dogs as well as a ice cream concept
called Fountain Off Locust. So think of the ice cream and the dessert side. They do at the original fountain on Locust, but they won't do the food component there. And the idea is you'll get to see your ice cream being made, you'll get to see like your hot dogs prepared to order. Um Just a really fun spot that they're gonna do
there. I was really interested to talk to Gerard Craft about his new Barbecue concept called Expat Barbecue, which was announced a while back. Um, and, and again, he said, you know, the barbecue is kind of universal across the world. The only thing that changes are the flavors and the marinades and the sauces and you know how the, the, the meats are, are treated. And he gave me a little sneak peek into one
of the, uh, items that he's gonna be serving there. Uh, it's a Saint Louis style spare rib, not a baby back. We all are baby back to death. He loves, he loves the big Saint Louis. Spare the big long flat spare rib that I call the rib. My dad used to cook when I was a kid and on this, he's going to put a uh here and this is what makes you, there's Chinese five spice fermented black bean paste, black vinegar, lychee juice and bajo whiskey. And you know, I know most of these except for
bajo whiskey and I had to look that up. I didn't know what the heck it was. It's, it's a clear Chinese spirit and apparently it's the world's best selling liquor more than whiskey, vodka, gin rum and tequila combined. We are to believe Wikipedia. But anyway, I was impressed to see that, that there was all this detail going into the spare ribs. So uh again, this is uh what he calls different but
still familiar uh flavors. He's going to um he's going to take brisket and use seasonings from the Yucatan on that particular piece of meat, cinnamon oregano, burrito, chilies, things like that. So the brisket is gonna taste different. He's going to do a triple smoked sweet potato sounds delicious with flavors from Spain. So there's gonna be some vegetable focus there too. Anyway, there a lot of cool things going on. And if you remember this is that giant space at City
Foundry STL two stories. I think it's 16,000 square feet. And what he's experimenting with this is really wild is this food delivery system? It's finer dining downstairs and much more casual kind of sandwich focused upstairs. He's creating this conveyor system to carry the bags from downstairs all the way through the space kind of looping around to see your food traveling up this conveyor to the second floor. And he said, if I can pull this off, it's it's really gonna
be cool. So look for a food conveyor at uh expat BB
Q. It's like that little choo choo train restaurant. It is a city that all the
kids go to and, and, and I, I was impressed enough with all that. And he goes, well, let me tell you about the life size pink elephant. He said, we've named it Patty for expat and he's, he consulted the guys at City Museum. Apparently, it's this sculpture life size pink elephant. And according to legend, if the tusks and trunk are in a certain position, it's good luck. And he made sure that everything is,
you know, the way it needs to be. Apparently, Gerard is a very, very superstitious guy and he had to make sure that all this was proper and good luck. This will be Patty will be his good luck charm. And that barbecue is that for a, just a wacky story? Oh, it
sounds fun. And I know he's, uh, I think he said it's the large, it's by far the largest restaurant he's opened to date
16,000 square feet is just huge. And, and again, on that second floor, if you, if you see, you can see it when you go up the Foundry way, that patio stretches for like a mile, you can like bowl do bowling up and down there. So it's gonna be a really cool space upstairs again, slightly more upscale little finer dining downstairs. Anyway, that's expat barbecue. And I think he said, uh, April May. No. He said March April for that. That is a cool place.
And maybe the, one of the more interesting places kind of under the radar is neon greens. And that's opening up in the, the old rise coffeehouse space in the grove. And it's really the first of its kind in the country, a quick service concept because they grow their own greens and they use these giant uh vertical hydroponic systems to
do that. And, um, it's, it's, it's crazy. Apparently there's uh these giant vertical hydroponic systems that allows the restaurant to grow six acres worth of produce in this little 1200 square foot space. So they will produce, uh, produce on site, uh, all year round. And they're actually doing it right now and they're selling it to restaurants. Yeah, I
went to Mainlander and Mainlander is using greens from there for a salad that they had and I can tell you you really can taste the difference between this level of quality. I mean, just think the most tender
homegrown. Well, it's as fresh as it gets. It's literally plucked right there and it arrives apparently at neon greens on a conveyor. They're, they're, they're conveying this lettuce uh past the people that are ordering it. So anyway, this is gonna be a really, really fun place to go freshest salads. You can possibly get first of its kind in the country, uh opens sometime this spring. But in the meantime, you might see some of these greens popping up at some
local restaurants and, and local shops. I just really like the whole idea and the whole concept. It's just extremely
cool. I feel like we've unearthed a potential new food trend for 2024 food via conveyor
belt. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's great. You know, you can't beat a conveyor belt. I think we've got one more Yale bar and I'm letting you have it because I know I know you're just going to just,
I will wax poetically for the next 20 minutes about why Parker's Table is the happiest place on earth. No, I will, I will keep it toned down. But this really is an exciting place for those who really see Parker's Table, not just as a wine shop, but as a market, but a community gathering place, the Yale Bar is going to actually make that official. They took over a law office that had been operating
um next door for probably like, yeah, forever. And I think they'd always wanted to open something like this, but the opportunity was just never there. So when the law office was out, they, they jumped on it and they're basically just doing a very low key 30 seat wine bar. Um, they'll have beer and wine. No hard liquor. They're going to be open. What John Parker, the owner calls English pub hours of, you know, 5 to 10 p.m. PM, you know,
probably have some little snacks here and there from the market. Um, but just a really low key cozy spot and they have such a wonderful wine selection there and such knowledgeable people. I can only imagine it's gonna be such a fun curated list. I bet it'll be the kind of place where you're not just getting the usual suspects, they're probably pouring some fun stuff and it's gonna be ever changing. Just a really fun spot and
he's got such a knack for, for decorating and detail and doing all of it. It's very organic and very homegrown and he puts his tool belt on and goes to work and everything he does. Uh, everything over at the Oakland room is cool. Everything at, you know, his wine shop is cool and now we've got nail bar at the corner of Oakland. And yeah,
and Steve Carvelli, the chef over there is just, not only is he just a wonderfully talented chef, but he's also just a great human being. So I'm excited to see what of opportunities there are for um, him with the Yale
Bar as well. And that's, I mean, we could talk more. I mean, we've already yammered on enough, but that's just a smattering of the new places that we're looking forward to in 2024. And, uh, like I said, that really only takes us to June. We haven't even scratched the surface for the rest of the year. So we will probably weigh in again, uh, later on with future picks, uh, that we're excited about and I'm sure there'll be tons of them. So that brings us to our micro rant.
And this week we're gonna talk about restaurants that don't answer their phones during open hours from that just drives me crazy. There are so many times that, you know, you might be wanting to order something to go or, you know, you lost your wallet or you're seeing if the place is open on Monday or, uh, this happened to me. I was trying to get a message to somebody that I knew was there and wasn't responding.
And another time I was trying to buy him a dessert and I wasn't able to do it just because they, they weren't answering their phone. And, and so that's just, I, I know that, you know, the, the, the defense is, hey, we're too busy. We'd rather, you know,
take care of the customers that are there. But I think there's a point where you either have a phone and use it or just say the heck with it, we're not gonna have a phone and there's a lot of people that do that too, you know, and, and my contention is, hey, if you're not answering the phone, there's a good chance that your competitor is. I just think for all those six reasons I stated that it's a darn good reason to pick up the phone
during business. Exactly. Well, I mean, I'm of the, uh, I'm of the mindset that you should have a phone anyway. Like you said, you're running late for a coveted reservation that you probably sat online at midnight to secure. And what if, you know, you had car trouble or there was an accident on the highway or something and you're in danger of having your table given away. So, no, I, I
completely agree with you. I think it's, it's just one of those things where hospitality does not begin and end with when you walk in the front door it's an entire ongoing and evolving relationship with that restaurant and the phone is definitely a part
of that. I totally agree and, and I agree with you about the reservation thing that happened to us. It's like, you know, reservations are held for 15 minutes and then anything goes, well, some people run late and if you can't get through to them, it's really frustrating and then you go in and say, I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry that we're running late. But we tried to get through and, you know, it's just, it just shouldn't, it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't happen that way.
Exactly. Answer your phones. Everyone.
That's it. This week, folks for Arch Eats, best dishes and might I say Happy New Year. There are links in the show notes to all the places we talked about today. We encourage you to follow Arch Eats and share us with your friends and remember that we put out a new episode every other week. You can also subscribe to our newsletters at STL mag slash newsletters or follow us on Instagram at Saint Louis Mag or follow me at George Mahe.