Gerard Craft

Niche: Review Slideshow Farewell from Ian

Gerard Craft's Niche (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-773-7755) is the best restaurant in St. Louis. No qualifiers, no equivocations. My review of Niche is now available online.

Adrenaline Junkie Joseph Hemp V Finds a Home in the Kitchen

This is part one of Gut Check's Chef's Choice profile of Joseph Hemp V of Robust. Part two, a Q & A with Hemp, and part three, a recipe from Hemp, will be available on Friday. Growing up, Joseph Hemp V always looked forward to Sunday breakfast. "We were all together as a family," the chef of Robust ... More >>

Fellow Missouri Chef Colby Garrelts Takes the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: Midwest" Award over Gerard Craft of Niche

Colby Garrelts of Bluestem in Kansas City won the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: Midwest" award for 2013 at a gala ceremony in New York City this evening. Garrelts edged out Gerard Craft of Niche (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-773-7755) and three other chefs: Justin Aprahamian of Sanfor ... More >>

Atomicdust's Branding Work for Pastaria Featured in April Issue of Communication Arts

St. Louis branding and marketing agency Atomicdust is featured in the April 2013 issue of visual arts magazine Communication Arts for its branding and design work for acclaimed chef Gerard Craft's new restaurant Pastaria (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-862-6603). Communications Arts is the lar ... More >>

Pastaria's Italian Ramen: One of 100 St. Louis Dishes You Must Eat Right Now

The Gut Check One Hundred is our accounting of the 100 dishes in St. Louis that you must eat right now. These are the best dishes at the newest restaurants and the newest dishes at the best restaurants. These are the 100 dishes that define St. Louis dining in 2013. Our list culminates this fall when ... More >>

Tasting Menus in St. Louis Might Stretch Your Budget, But They Won't Beach a Whale

Our friends at Eater are celebrating "Whale Week," a tribute to high-spending diners -- or whales, as they're known in industry-speak. As part of the festivities, Eater ranked the fourteen most expensive tasting menus in America. The cheapest ("cheapest") tasting menu on the list is at Daniel in New ... More >>

More St. Louis Love from Eater, Food & Wine

The national nods to St. Louis restaurants continue. We've already noted that, as part of its weeklong celebration of cocktails, national food-blogging empire Eater has Taste (4584 Laclede Avenue; 314-361-1200) among its "38 Essential Cocktail Bars" nationwide and Blood & Sand (1500 St. Charles Stre ... More >>

Pastaria Already in "Life-Changing" Pizza Poll?

There are very, very few downsides to being a restaurant critic. One of those few is having to endure your customary two-month wait before visiting a new spot when everyone else is already dining there and buzzing about it. Such is the case at Pastaria (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-862-6603 ... More >>

First Look: Pastaria

"Sorta close to Italy" is the legend on the back of the the staff shirts at Pastaria (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-862-6603). Indeed, the newest addition to chef Gerard Craft's portfolio is a far cry from the Italian countryside. Modern touches such as floor-to-ceiling glass cover the entire ... More >>

The Ten Best Dessert Spots in St. Louis

Selecting Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we are chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists a ... More >>

Put $31 on Redfish: Carnivores can't lose at Kelly English Steakhouse in Harrah's casino, but seafood guarantees a bigger pot

Wes Johnson of Salt on NBC's Today: Video

Wes Johnson of Salt (4356 Lindell Boulevard; 314-932-5787) appeared on NBC's Today this morning -- the second St. Louis chef to do so this very week, following Gerard Craft of Niche on Monday. Like Craft, Johnson had only a few minutes to provide an overview of his recipes for black-pepper pot roast ... More >>

Ten Best Food Events This Weekend: February 3-February 5

Friday (Feb. 3): Missouri Organic Association organic food workshops @ St. Louis Union Station Marriott Catch the last couple of days of this annual conference geared toward urban and suburan farms and gardeners, gardener wannabes and foodies, featuring plenty of workshops ranging from consumer he ... More >>

Bluestem: The Cookbook: Recipe for Pea Soup, Preserved Lemon, Crème Fraîche

Tonight, Niche (1831 Sidney Street; 314-773-7755) presents the Bluestem Cookbook Dinner, featuring dishes from chefs Megan and Colby Garrelts of Bluestem, a progressive fine-dining establishment in Kansas City, Missouri, that features reinvented regional flavors from the other side of the state. Th ... More >>

The Nine Best Tapas/Small Plates Restaurants in St. Louis

Selecting Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we are chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists a ... More >>

The Five Most Anticipated New St. Louis Restaurants of 2012

​To be frank: This was an odd list to compile. If 2012 continues the trend begun in 2011, St. Louis will welcome many new restaurants over the next twelve months, so singling out only five of them as the "most anticipated" seems silly. What's more, many of the restaurants that will open in the new ... More >>

OpenTable Honors Niche, Tony's

​OpenTable, the restaurant-reservation website, has announced the winners of its annual "Diners' Choice" awards, and two St. Louis restaurants are among the 100 "Best Overall Winners": Niche (1831 Sidney Street; 314-773-7755) and Tony's  (410 Market Street; 314-231-7007).OpenTable users vote ... More >>

twinOak Wood Fired Fare has a state-of-the-art brick oven. So how's the pizza?

The Veggielante Puts Niche to the Test

​The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to prosely ... More >>

Flooded Taste Reopening Tonight

​This past weekend's torrential rain flooded more than a few basements and roads. As far as I'm aware, the only restaurant forced to close because of flooding was Taste (4585 Laclede Avenue; 314-361-1200).I just spoke with Gerard Craft, who said that Taste will reopen this evening with its regular ... More >>

How to Bust a Restaurant Critic's Balls

In my generally very positive review of Taste (4584 Laclede Avenue; 314-361-1200), I do lament the absence of some of the more...challenging...fare served at its previous incarnation as Taste by Niche:There is no octopus here, no rabbit and, to use maybe the most famous example from the original Tas ... More >>

The New Taste: Just like the old Taste -- only different

Three St. Louis Chefs and a Sommelier Are James Beard Award Semifinalists [Updated]

​The James Beard Foundation this morning announced the semifinalists for its annual awards (link PDF). Gerard Craft of Niche, Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Café and Kevin Willmann of Farmhaus are among the semifinalists in the category "Best Chef: Midwest."In addition, Glenn Bardgett, the wi ... More >>

Taste by Niche (Version 1.0) Closes Tonight

Jennifer SilverbergThis octopus and potato preparation was one of many memorable dishes at Taste by Niche.​Tonight is the final service for Taste by Niche at its original location at 1831 Sidney Street, owner Gerard Craft announced via Twitter today.The restaurant will relocate to 4584 Laclede Ave ... More >>

Nominate Your Favorite Food Blogger for RFT's Web Awards

Is there a local food blog that makes your mouth water?​Do you sit by your iPhone, eagerly awaiting the next Tweet from @RobustWineBar?Are you Facebook friends with Gerard Craft -- and save screen grabs of the renowned restaurateur's most scintillating status updates?Even if you only dabble in the ... More >>

This Week in Gut Check, Regurgitated

Laura Ann Miller Kakao Chocolate​As we moved into a new month, Gut Check took stock of some changes to the local scene. Among the news, Kakao Chocolate is opening a shop in Maplewood, and Gerard Craft sold Taste by Niche to Adam Altnether. Find a list of the month's openings and closings i ... More >>

Breaking: Gerard Craft Moving Niche and Taste by Niche, Opening Porano [Updated with Comments from Gerard Craft]

Jennifer SilverbergGerard Craft at Brasserie by Niche, the only one of his restaurants not undergoing a change.​Hot off the wire is the biggest restaurant news in quite a while, a wholesale shake-up of the restaurant empire of Gerard Craft.First, the worst-kept secret in the St. Louis restaurant w ... More >>

Gerard Craft of Niche at James Beard Foundation Awards Tonight

​This evening, the James Beard Foundation will unveil the winners of its prestigious awards for restaurants and chefs. For the second consecutive year, Gerard Craft, owner and executive chef of Niche and its offshoots Taste by Niche and Brasserie by Niche, is a finalist in the "Best Chef: Midwest" ... More >>

Gut Check's Week in Tweets

​Don't you know? Gut Check has a Twitter account. You can follow us @gutcheckstl.Here's some of what you missed on the Twitter feed this week: The Ten Best Names of Traditional Irish Dishes - http://tinyurl.com/ykslrxz Beginning Sunday, 3.14, Niche Serving Any 3 Courses for $35 - http://is.gd/ ... More >>

Beginning Sunday, 3.14, Niche Serving Any 3 Courses for $35

Jennifer Silverberg​Owner and executive chef Gerard Craft has announced a change at his flagship restaurant, Niche (1831 Sidney Street; 314-773-7755). Beginning Sunday, March 14, diners can choose any three courses from the restaurant's menu for $35.The price change reflects Craft's desire to retu ... More >>

FoodWire: Restaurant Tidibts from Niche, Sugo's

A few news items for this overhyped snow day: First, Bill Burge reports at STL Bites that Brasserie by Niche (4580 Laclede Avenue; website) is now open for lunch Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and for brunch on Sunday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (A sidenote: Gerard Craft recently tweeted that Taste by Nic ... More >>

All for Aughts: Let's count down the best local restaurant openings of the decade!

FoodWire: November Restaurant Openings and Closings

A fairly busy month for openings. Closings, thankfully, were few. As usual, if I missed anything, please let me know in the comments.OpeningsBalaban's Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar (1772 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield): A resurrection of the famous name by business partners Steve McIntyre and Brian Under ... More >>

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 M ... More >>

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 cours ... More >>

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 t ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 profi ... More >>

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

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 t ... More >>

James Beard Awards 2009: Open Nominations Have Begun

Three for Three: 7.11-7.13

Various Restaurant Tidbits

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

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

Eater Reports on Food & Wine Best New Chef Party

Congratulations to Drink of the Week!

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

The (Late) Morning Brew: Thursday, 4.3

Of Wee I Sing

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