Untitled Document
My husband and I always seek out new restaurants.
Sure, we have favorites, but mostly we enjoy trying new places.
That’s true in Springfield but even more so in larger cities, just
because the selection — old, new, ethnic, upscale, downscale —
is much greater. So why, on our last four trips to St. Louis, have we eaten
at Niche? Why are we going there again this month for our 35th anniversary?
It’s not because there aren’t other St.
Louis restaurants worth trying — a fairly long list awaits us.
It’s not because Niche isn’t busy, simply a convenient
last-minute choice — reservations are a must. We just can’t
seem to resist the place. In early 2007 I got an e-mail from St. Louis friends,
Joe and Phyllis Oder: “We’ve just been to Niche, and you have to go!” The Oders
have given us good restaurant tips since moving to St. Louis. Joe was a
server at King Louie’s. We loved King Louie’s — the food
was seasonal and excellent, and we got special treatment from Joe. Even
without Joe, though, it’d have been a favorite: the food was good and
the space gorgeous — an old restored neighborhood tavern with an
outdoor patio and kitchen so beautifully landscaped that it was the
loveliest al fresco dining spot I’ve ever seen, period. Sadly, not long after the Oders’ e-mail, King
Louie’s closed. By our next trip to St. Louis, Joe was working at a
new restaurant, Franco’s. We debated between the two and finally
settled on Niche. I’m sure we’ll get to Franco’s someday,
Joe. Niche’s décor is elegantly contemporary,
yet warmly inviting. There’s no outdoor seating, landscaped or
otherwise. It’s lovely, but frankly I couldn’t care less: The
real excitement is on the plates. Take our last dinner. We ordered the chef’s
tasting menu, five small courses that provided a panoply of flavors and
textures. First came cauliflower soup. I generally don’t
regard cauliflower as delicate, but this was. Halfway between soup and
mousse, it was airy, the texture like warm whipped cream. Garnished with
apple, bacon, and walnuts, it was sophisticated comfort food. A brandade appeared next. It’s a French bistro classic,
reconstituted salt cod cooked in herb-scented milk, mixed with garlicky
mashed potato and spread on toast. At Niche, fresh cod is combined with the
brandade and
formed into a cake that’s crispy outside, creamy within. It’s
served on arugula, topped with poached egg and ramps — another dish
simultaneously homey and new. The next course was the most unusual and our favorite.
It was a riff on a Reuben: rye gnocchi with pickled mustard seeds,
horseradish, and house-corned meat. In less skilled hands this could have
been a disaster — heavy gnocchi, overpowering condiments — but
this was fabulous: light pillows with a distinctive rye taste and perfectly
balanced flavors. Something familiar was transformed into something
completely new. After carrot-and-lime sorbet came rack of lamb. It was
cooked sous vide,
a popular European technique that’s beginning to appear in the U.S. Sous vide items are
vacuum-sealed with flavorings, then cooked at very low controlled
temperatures for long periods, giving them exceptional flavor and texture.
The lamb was rosy and tender, complemented by rhubarb and a hummus that
held a barely discernible whisper of white chocolate that added depth
rather than sweetness. The meal finished with a frozen coconut dessert with
passionfruit-glazed pineapple and house-made granola. Other meals at Niche have been equally memorable,
whether we’ve ordered the tasting menu or à la carte, from tiny chilled
beet ravioli in a pool of herbed buttermilk and cucumber to a pork loin
with apple, maple, polenta, and delicate miniature cannelloni. In fact, the
only item that’s disappointed us is the cheese plate, and it’s
good — just not as interesting as everything else. The service at Niche is attentive without being fussy
or fawning. During our second visit the chef introduced himself; on the
third we were recognized. On the fourth, our previous server came to our
table as we were seated and grabbed our server, saying, “VIP these
guys. They come here all the way from Springfield!” I wasn’t going
to argue about getting VIPed, but I thought, “Jeez, it’s not
like we came from New York.” As it turns out, people have come from New York to
dine at Niche, but more about that later. Niche is the creation of 28-year-old chef/owner Gerard
Craft. It’s extraordinary that someone so young is cooking with such
skill. It’s even more extraordinary that he only began cooking
— and not just professionally — nine years ago. “I wasn’t interested in food at
all,” the Washington, D.C., native tells me. Craft grew up in a
family that traveled extensively and loved food, but he was far more
enthused about another family passion:“When I was a kid, I was
really excited about business. I’d come up with all these schemes for
businesses.” Craft’s grandparents started the Ford Modeling
Agency. How did Craft get into cooking? “I dropped out
of college, and my parents made me get a job,” he says. Craft first
washed cars, then began washing dishes at Salt Lake City’s Fat
Cat’s Grill and Pool. “I just gradually started cooking. I
loved it, but at first it still wasn’t about the food. It was all
about the rush, the pressure, the thrill of pulling it together and pulling
it off.”
Craft moved to a better restaurant, Bistro Toujours.
He also began culinary school, but quickly left. “I was lucky to have
landed with a really talented, great chef,” he says. “I was
learning so much more from him — there was no point in going to
school.”
By this point Craft was excited about the food too,
and began experimenting with flavors and combinations. Eventually, wanting
to expand his horizons as other young chefs do, he began a series of stages, unpaid apprenticeships.
He traveled and worked in Europe — including a gig at the Paris Ritz
— then returned to the U.S. for more stages, including one at a restaurant with its own organic garden,
another important component in his culinary education. Finally Craft was ready for his own restaurant,
opening Niche in 2005. St. Louis has wonderful restaurants but isn’t
considered a cutting-edge culinary city. Craft has elevated St.
Louis’ restaurant scene with food that’s innovative yet
approachable — and, incidentally, much more affordable than
comparable menus elsewhere. Those people from New York? They were from Food & Wine magazine. When
we told Craft that we were coming back on June 14, he grimaced and said,
“The staff will take really good care of you, but I’ll be in
Aspen.” We smiled — we hadn’t known he was going, but we
knew why: He’d be at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic as one of
F &W’s 2008 Ten Best New Chefs. For
chefs, it’s a very big deal — the culinary equivalent of being
named to the NBA All-Star roster. Former winners are a who’s who of
American chefs. Craft is the first St. Louis chef ever to receive the
award; his profile and recipe are featured in the July issue. Pleased as Craft is about being a “Best New
Chef,” he gets his real thrills in the kitchen. When we told him that
we’d think of him while he’s in Colorado, he said,
“I’d rather be here.”
“Yeah, right,” we scoffed. “No,
really,” he replied. “I’d rather be here.”
Craft, clearly, has
found his niche in St. Louis.
Niche Restaurant, 1831 Sydney St., St. Louis, 314-773-7755, www.nichestlouis.com.
This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2008.
