Subject: Gerard Craft

• Food & Wine Offers Love to Niche

  January 9, 2008

• Breaking News: Food & Wine Magazine Names Gerard Craft A "Best New Chef 2008"

  April 3, 2008

• The (Late) Morning Brew: Thursday, 4.3

  April 3, 2008

• Gerard Craft on Being Named Food & Wine Best New Chef 2008

  April 3, 2008

• Gerard Craft of Niche Named "Best New Chef 2008" by Food & Wine Magazine

  April 3, 2008

• Eater Reports on Food & Wine Best New Chef Party

  April 4, 2008

• Your Weekly St. Louis Food Blog Digest

  April 4, 2008

• Congratulations to Drink of the Week!

  April 4, 2008

• In This Week's Issue: Everest Café & Bar, Burger King Snacks

  April 9, 2008

• The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 4.29

  April 29, 2008

• Gerard Craft, Best New Chef, Now Online

  June 9, 2008

• Various Restaurant Tidbits

  June 12, 2008

• Go! St. Louis Weekend Calendar, July 11-13, 2008:

  July 11, 2008

• Three for Three: 7.11-7.13

  July 11, 2008

• James Beard Awards 2009: Open Nominations Have Begun

  October 15, 2008

• The Gut Check Year-End Bonanza Is Back...And It Needs Your Help!

  Cue the cliché: It's hard to believe 2008's almost over...but it is! That means it's time for the second annual Gut Check Year-End Bonanza. If you missed last year's bonanza, I counted down my ten favorite dishes of the year (drawn from my weekly reviews) and also awarded the Gut Check "Thing of the Year" to the best darn thing that obsessed Gut Check throughout the year.I'll begin counting down The Top Ten Dishes of 2008 later this week -- the full list will run in next week's paper -- and I

  December 8, 2008

• Mathew Rice Recipe in February Food & Wine

  Congrats to Mathew Rice, the pastry chef at Niche and the adjacent Veruca Bakeshop. Rice's recipe for milk-chocolate cookies with malted cream are featured in the February issue of Food & Wine magazine as part of an article highlighting milk-chocolate desserts. The cookies are pictured on the left-hand page photographed above. You can find Rice's recipe on page 77 of the issue or by clicking on the recipe name above.This is the second time Rice has been featured in Food & Wine. His rec

  January 7, 2009

• Breaking: Three St. Louis Chefs Are James Beard Award Semifinalists

  The James Beard Foundation today announced the semifinalists (link PDF) for its restaurant and chef awards. Three St. Louis chefs made the cut in the "Best Chef: Midwest" category: Gerard Craft of Niche, Josh Galliano of Monarch and Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe. In addition, Mike Odette of the excellent Sycamore in Columbia, Mo., made the list. Five finalists in each category will be announced on March 23.

  February 13, 2009

• FoodWire: Veruca to Become Niche Taste Bar

  Jennifer Silverberg Just spoke with Gerard Craft of Niche (1831 Sidney Street; Web site) about the news -- first reported by Sauce -- that the restaurant is closing its bake shop, Veruca. In its place will be Niche Taste Bar, where Niche's staff will serve up a selection of small plates.Craft said he sees the bar as something like an enoteca, where diners can enjoy a snack or two with a glass of wine or cocktail. Dishes will likely be priced between $4-$10, and as a "bar," there will be no reser

  February 13, 2009

• Stocking Stuffing: Ian jots down his 2008 Christmas wish list for the local food scene

  December 24, 2008

• Gut Check: Café Balaban's successor is a contemporary bistro

  October 22, 2008

• Grill Marks: Ian turns to the West End Grill to pull us all out of the restaurant-scene doldrums

  August 6, 2008

• Tossed up on the shores of Niche, Malcolm waxes ethereal over Gerard Craft's half a pig's head

  May 28, 2008

• Ian charts S'more comings and goings on the local restaurant landscape

  May 14, 2008

• Days of Wine and Pizza

  April 16, 2008

• Food & Wine finds our Niche!

  April 9, 2008

• Lists Naughty, Lists Nice

  Ian can recommend James Beard nominees Annie Gunn's, Atlas and Niche. But Missouri caviar? Not so much.

  March 5, 2008

• Fat City, Baby!

  Is a meal at Niche better than sex?

  December 19, 2007

• Of Wee I Sing

  At Niche, smaller isn't just better -- it's nearly perfect

  January 4, 2006

• This Week in Gut Check, Regurgitated

  Chad GarrisonSomehow, it's already May. Don't know about you, but my brain is still playing catch up from approximately mid-March. At any rate, it's been another fun week on Gut Check, what with Dara sneaking into the race track, Zach accepting a bet to drink only one cup of coffee a day, Dave profiling one of his favorite wine producers, Stefani somehow squeezing her dining club into Chopstix and Robin whippin' up some surprisingly popular prune...uh, whip.Next week: We learn how Gerard Craft o

  May 1, 2009

• Breaking: Niche's Gerard Craft Is Not "Best Chef - Midwest" at James Beard Awards

  Jennifer SilverbergGerard Craft of Niche (1831 Sidney Street; Web site) lost the Best Chef - Midwest category at the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards to Tim McKee of La Belle Vie in Minneapolis. The award was announced this evening at a black-tie event in New York City. This was the first nomination for Craft -- and the first nomination for a St. Louis chef, period -- in the category.Of course, we here at Gut Check cast objectivity aside and rooted hard for Craft to win, and we congratulate hi

  May 4, 2009

• FoodWire: Even More Restaurant Tidbits

  A surprisingly busy Tuesday on the local restaurant front. First, Sauce Magazine scores a major scoop: Mixologist extraordinaire Ted Kilgore is leaving Monarch for the soon-to-open Niche Taste Bar, which replaces Veruca in the space adjacent to Gerard Craft's Niche.At Feast, George Mahe reports that the second location of Caito's Pizzeria at 10012 Manchester Road has closed. The original Caito's in Chesterfield -- which I liked when I reviewed it way back in 2006 -- remains open.

  June 23, 2009

• Reflections on the Debut of the "Dorm Room" at 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar

  Hedwig von Ebbel, Wikimedia CommonsA who's who of St. Louis food types descended upon 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar (1913 Park Avenue) last night for the inaugural "Dorm Room" dinner.Among those spotted in the crowd -- writing that makes me feel just like Deb Peterson! -- were Gerard Craft and Mathew Rice of Niche, Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Café, Stephen Gontram of Harvest, Chris Sommers of Pi, Bill Burge of STL Bites and at least one off-the-clock restaurant critic trying to keep his head

  June 23, 2009

• FoodWire: Slow Food St. Louis Wine Dinner at the Crossing

  The Crossing (7823 Forsyth Boulevard; Web site) is hosting a wine dinner on Tuesday, July 7, to benefit Slow Food St. Louis. The six-course meal -- the menu is available on Slow Food St. Louis' Web site -- will be paired with wines from Ransom, SNAFU and Murphy's law.The cost is $75 per person. For reservations, call the Crossing at 314-721-7375.Also, another reminder that Slow Food St. Louis' annual Art of Food fundraiser is Saturday, July 25. The event features food from Gerard Craft, Josh Gal

  June 26, 2009

• Gut Check: Ian dines with kings, but keeps the common touch

  July 1, 2009

• Around the Horn: Ian covers all the bases to find you the best All-Star Game chow

  July 8, 2009

• FoodWire: Niche Taste Bar Opens Tomorrow

  One of the more anticipated restaurant debuts of the year occurs tomorrow as Niche Taste Bar officially opens its doors. (The restaurant had a soft opening this past weekend.)Niche Taste Bar is located at 1831 Sidney Street in Benton Park, the same address as its namesake restaurant, Niche (Web site), where Gerard Craft has won national recognition for his cooking.Niche Taste Bar takes over the space to the immediate east of Niche's entrance, which was previously occupied by Veruca Bakeshop &

  July 20, 2009

• Gut Check: New Arrivals: Niche Taste Bar, Chouteau's at 39th and more make their debuts

  July 22, 2009

• FoodWire: Wall Street Journal Visits St. Louis

  In this weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal, the paper's food writer (and former New York Times restaurant critic) Raymond Sokolov paid a visit to St. Louis to check out our restaurant scene. Sokolov dined at Niche and Franco and had good things to say about each. Here, he comments on the technique of Niche's Gerard Craft:Mr. Craft doesn't have a Thomas Keller-size army in his kitchen, but his dishes, while being tasty and well-cooked, do flaunt a surprising amount of hand work. I am th

  July 27, 2009

• Photos: Slow Food St. Louis Art of Food Fundraiser at Mad Art Gallery, 7.25.09

  Chefs and artists gathered Friday night at Mad Art Gallery in Soulard for the Art of Food fundraiser, benefiting both Slow Food St. Louis and Fair Shares Combined Community Supported Agriculture. Photographer Stew Smith was there and has these photos.Photo: Stew SmithStephen Kovac of Winslow's Home shows off garlic-rubbed Benne's Best smoked chicken with Winslow's Home and Farm red onion-jalapeño jam on toasted 222 Artisan Bakery baguette.​ Photo: Stew SmithGerard Craft of Niche featured spi

  July 27, 2009

• FoodWire: Niche, Taste by Niche Closed This Week

  Jennifer Silverberg​Hey! Want to try Taste by Niche (a.k.a. Niche Taste Bar), the new restaurant everyone's talking about? Well, you'll have to wait until next week because Gerard Craft, Mathew Rice and their hard-working kitchen and front-of-house staffs are taking a well-deserved week off. Both Niche and Taste by Niche will reopen next Tuesday.

  August 31, 2009

• St. Louis Food Blog Digest: 9.5-9.11

  Gut Check dishes on our favorite St. Louis food blogs.Becky and the Beanstock: Becky finally reveals her secret dish - vegetarian hot dogs in pretzel dough blankets. Sounding My Barbaric Gulp: Kelly went wild with spiced dove breasts.Bruno's Dream: Bruno made carrot gelato for LiveSTRONG Day. One Hot Stove: Out of desperation, Nupur concocts spaghetti with chocolate sauce.

  September 11, 2009

• Chez Leon gives way to a new Niche

  October 7, 2009

• FoodWire: Niche Hires STL Hops' Mike Sweeney for Beer Menu

  Mike Sweeney of local beer blog STL Hops, which last week was named the inaugural winner of Riverfront Times Best Food and Drink Blog, has been hired to rework the beer menus at Gerard Craft's Niche, Taste by Niche and soon-to-open Brasserie by Niche.Sweeney tells me that at Niche and Taste, "Styles are going to be my most important thing." He hopes to offer examples of ten to twelve individual styles at each, with minimal (if any) cases of having two beers in the same style.

  October 8, 2009

• St. Louis Food Blog Digest: 10.3-10.9

  Gut Check dishes on our favorite St. Louis food blogs.Off the Menu: Joe reported changes afoot at Kitchen K. Stl Bites: Bill's friend Mike Sweeney will be consulting on beer menus for Gerard Craft's expanding empire. Sounding My Barbaric Gulp: Kelly celebrated her birthday with lots of good chow.Cupcake Project: Stef's making cupcakes for another wedding. Pumpkin graham crackers are delicious, but not wedding-appropriate.

  October 9, 2009

• Review Preview: Taste by Niche

  Jennifer SilverbergThe crew, starting in front, going clockwise: Gerard Craft, chef de cuisine Adam Altnether, mixologist Ted Kilgore, cook Nick Blue, pastry chef Matthew Rice and sous chef James Peisker.​This week I visit Taste by Niche, the new offering from acclaimed chef Gerard Craft. Of course, once you're seated in Taste's close quarters, at the bar or the communal table, you'll find it difficult not to order more than you'd planned. The dishes being set down in front of diners mere inch

  October 12, 2009

• Review Slideshow: Taste by Niche

  Photo: Jennifer SilverbergThe crew, starting in front, going clockwise, owner/chef Gerard Craft, chef de cuisine Adam Altnether, mixologist Ted Kilgore, cook Nick Blue, pastry chef Mathew Rice and sous chef James Peisker. See a slideshow of photos from Taste by Niche.​My review of Taste by Niche (1831 Sidney Street; website) is now available online. After the jump, pictures from Jennifer Silverberg of the interior, the food and the cocktails.

  October 14, 2009

• FoodWire: James Beard Foundation Opens 2010 Awards Nominations

  Doesn't seem that long ago that I was reporting on Gerard Craft of Niche, Taste by Niche and the soon-to-open Brasserie by Niche being a finalist for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards. Now the foundation has opened the nominations for the 2010 awards. Anyone can nominate a chef or restaurant in the appropriate categories -- you simply have to register (for free) on the James Beard foundation website. You have until the end of the day on December 31 to submit your nominat

  October 15, 2009

• This Week's Tip of the Tongue Newsletter

  Sign up for Tip of the Tongue here.Gut Check not providing enough dining tidbits for you?Consider subscribing to Tip of the Tongue, the Riverfront Times' weekly e-mail dining newsletter.In this week's edition, learn about the "Pink Plate" specials to benefit breast-cancer research at Eleven Eleven Mississippi and Vin de Set, a blind-tasting dinner by Gerard Craft of Niche to benefit the Contemporary Art Museum and the new round of Cicero's famed beer school.Subscribing is easy. Visit this page,

  October 29, 2009

• FoodWire: Brasserie by Niche Opens Tonight, Tuesday, 11.17

  Brasserie by Niche, the latest restaurant from Gerard Craft of Niche and its still shiny-and-new sibling Taste by Niche, opens for service this evening at 5 p.m. at 4580 Laclede Avenue in the Central West End. As its name implies, Brasserie serves classic French brasserie cuisine, with chef Perry Hendrix -- most recently of North Carolina, he worked with Craft in Salt Lake City -- in charge of the kitchen. Buzz from last week's invitation-only soft opening has been pretty strong, so don't be sur

  November 17, 2009