Chloe Yates will never forget the call that changed her life. It was February 16 last year, and she was at her home in south county looking forward to a quiet evening until a friend called. With a touch of panic in his voice, he told her that the chef at Cellar House (5634 Telegraph Road, Oakville; 314-846-5100) — the restaurant where he worked and where Yates was a longtime regular — had just walked out, right before service. Could she come by and help out in the kitchen so they could get through the night? Yates, an up-and-coming chef, wanted to help but wasn't so confident that she had anything to offer, noting that she did not know their food. Really, she was intimidated, as Cellar House had always been a place that seemed fancy to her, a girl born and raised in a tiny town in the Ozarks. But she pushed through that negative self-talk and went in to help for what she assumed would be a one-night favor.
Now, a little more than a year later, Yates is both executive chef and general manager at Cellar House. She and owner Patrick Ahearn have unlocked the restaurant's full potential, transforming it from a well-regarded neighborhood restaurant into a place whose bold flavors and warm hospitality reverberate far beyond its south county address. That process has allowed Yates to become the chef she always knew she could be.
In many ways, Yates' journey to becoming a chef began backwards. As a child and adolescent, she displayed a natural talent for cooking, which she developed with her grandmother, and she was always looking for a chance to share that know-how with those she loved. By the age of 12, Yates was throwing dinner parties for friends and family, who dubbed her "the Pinup Chef" thanks to her penchant for vintage fashion. Still, she never planned on entering the hospitality field, but instead pursued a career in medicine and continued to cook in her free time, even starting an Instagram account under her Pinup Chef nickname.
In 2017, Yates left her job in the medical field to move to England for a whirlwind romance. After it fell apart, she found herself back in St. Louis and in need of a job, just as her friend needed kitchen help at her south county restaurant, OSP Tap Haus. Yates did not see the gig as anything more than a short-term arrangement until she could find work back in the medical field, but a phone call from the Food Network would change that. One of the producers of the show Guy's Grocery Games had stumbled upon her Pinup Chef Instagram account while searching for people to compete on an upcoming vintage-themed episode. The next thing Yates knew, she was on national television cooking a riff on chicken fried steak in front of Guy Fieri, an experience that bolstered her confidence and made her realize that she just might be onto something with this path that seemed to be opening up before her.
Guy's Grocery Games accelerated Yates' culinary trajectory. She began working for pre-Mayo Ketchup Mandy Estrella, who was just getting started with a walk-up window inside Alpha Brewing. From there, Yates bought the food truck Frankly Sausages, which she ran as the southern-inflected brand Red Dirt Revival until early 2022. By the time she received the call from her friend at Cellar House, it was clear that the truck was the past. After working that first shift on February 16, it was also clear that Cellar House was the future.
Since coming on board at Cellar House, Yates has put her own unique spin on the place while retaining its established wine- and whiskey-centric identity. Her friend — the one who called that fateful day and who still works at the restaurant — refers to the new arrangement as "Cellar House, Y'all" in honor of the down-home, country-cooking sensibilities that Yates has added to the menu on dishes like the ahi tuna fried green tomatoes, which pair slices of the piquant green fruit with Thai-vinaigrette-dressed raw tuna. It's a delightful melding of two distinct genres.
Crispy Brussels sprouts, another appetizer offering, are shockingly flavorful. The beautifully charred vegetables are placed atop creamy polenta that is infused with boursin and a ponzu butter sauce that has a hint of heat and intense umami depth that pairs beautifully with the earthy Brussels. Baked goat cheese, too, is a stunning match of decadent yet tangy cheese with sweet-tart mostarda. A lovely citrus zest perfumes every bite.
Without question, though, Yates' most stunning appetizer is the empanadas, which feature succulent braised beef and lamb barbacoa wrapped in her grandma's pie crust recipe and deep-fried. Vibrant red pepper chimichurri cuts through the richness, adding mildly sweet flavor to the outrageously juicy meat.
Entrees are equally successful. A seemingly simple spring vegetable pasta is surprisingly complex thanks to verdant pea puree that infuses every bite. Burrata, lemon garlic butter, arugula and pistachios each add richness and complexity to the dish. Salmon, flawlessly seared with a tender interior and beautiful crust, takes on a wonderful eastern Mediterranean inflection with ingredients like creamy labneh and mint. A bone-in pork chop, kissed with grill char and cooked to a juicy medium, has the comfort of a quintessential country-style dish with its mustard greens and beets, but a touch of chili pistachio pesto adds an unexpected punch.
Yates likes to bring up something her father told her not long ago — that the reason she has been able to succeed is that she doesn't know the rules. Her entire culinary career thus far has been all about her being thrust into situations, ready or not, and having to feel her way through them on nothing more than instinct, tenacity and a genuine passion for what she does. In that sense, she is making up her own rules as she goes, while the world — specifically Cellar House — is all the more delicious for it
Open Tues.-Thurs. 4-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 4-10 p.m. (Closed Sunday and Monday).
Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
