Traveling the World on Wydown — Sophisticated St. Louis

By Craig Kaminer / Photos by Carmen Troesser

Wydown Boulevard in Clayton has long been the home of some of St. Louis’ and Zoe Robinson’s best restaurants - i Fratellini, Bar Les Freres, and Billie-Jean. For years, Robinson was able to lead the Clayton culinary scene with just three small restaurants each seating no more than 50 people. But as COVID challenged everyone, Robinson decided to make some major life changes, much to the chagrin of her fans, and never reopened. She intended to sell the three beloved restaurants to Susan Barrett, a well-regarded and well-heeled art gallerist, collector, and entrepreneur. But that never came to pass.

Instead, four award-winning restaurateurs, Tara and Michael Gallina, Ben Poremba, and Matt McGuire announced that each would buy one restaurant and in turn relaunch the three hotspots with four of the hottest names in the business behind them.

The Gallina’s, along with partner Chef Aaron Martinez – known for Take Root Hospitality concepts Vicia, Winslow’s Table, and Taqueria Morita – opened Bistro La Floraison in July in the former Bar Les Freres. Bar Moro by Poremba – known for Elaia, Olio, Nixta, and Benevolent King - opens the third week of October and will occupy the sultry space of Billie-Jean. McGuire, best known for Louie on Demun, was supposed to open Wright’s Tavern as a city tavern and steakhouse - actually more of an intimate supper club - sometime in October. But, as anyone who has ever tried to pin Matt down, you know he can be elusive with the media.

In addition to these three, two other notables – Peno’s (Italian) Soul Food and Akar’s upscale Malaysian fare – are part of Wydown’s boast of having the best concentration of casual fine dining in the area. Adding Tony Montano’s floral shop, BUDS, and Protzels Jewish Deli, means you may not need to go anywhere else. Unfortunately, this convenience may drive up prices in the already pricey neighborhoods along Wydown.

Bistro La Floraison

According to Tara Gallina, “‘We originally started out wanting to do a French wine bar and when we figured out that Bar Les Freres was available and an option for us, it made total sense to make it more of a bistro. A lot of the passions of our team came together with this concept. All of us had an affinity for all things French. I grew up learning French cuisine in culinary school; I loved spending time in France. Our chef here had worked in French restaurants. With Bar Les Freres gone, there's been a hole in the market. It all tied together perfectly.”

What they’ve created is a place where you “don't have to be fancy to come, but when you're there, you feel a little fancy.” From the gougeres (French cheese puffs) that you dip in a luxurious cheese mousse, to biting into the chicken cordon bleu, which oozes with beautiful cheese and smoked ham, it's just delightful with a fantastic glass of wine. It's a place that can be whatever you want it to be: stop in for a drink and some cheese with a friend, come for a special date, or just eat dessert. It's nice to have a place that you can pop in, especially on the patio, in a neighborhood like this off Wydown where so many people are within walking distance

This new eating dynamic, with three new restaurants that all feed off of each other, is like traveling the world from France (Bistro La Floraison), to Italy (Peno’s), to Spain/Portugal (Bar Moro), Malaysia (Akar), and then to New York (Wright’s Tavern). Tara playfully commented, “My tagline to everyone who has been coming in and asking about it is that you can travel the world on Wydown. You can have a new dining experience every night if you want. I think we all complement each other. I don't feel like there's anything that's similar about any of our concepts that would be competitive. If nothing else, it just drives more people to want to come to this block, which is good for everybody.”

Of course, there’s never enough parking on Wydown, but the walkability of this area will attract many people who live nearby. At night, thankfully, the parking is free so you don't have to worry about that if you drive. And a short stroll after dinner may just be what the doctor ordered.

The signature must-try dishes include French onion financiers, which are just like a little savory cupcake. It's an onion forward almond cake, with comte cheese piped on top, some thyme oil, and some crispy cheese bits. Texturally it's really interesting and it packs a lot in just a very small bite. The flavors are enhanced when you accompany it with a sip of wine, champagne or a French 75. They bring in phenomenal oysters from Blue Hill Bay in Maine that are not to be missed. “We get them shipped fresh direct, from a source that my husband and I brought with us from New York, and they're just outstanding. We don't have to do much to them, but we do painstakingly shuck them and clean them so that it's a really enjoyable experience.”

Bistro La Floraison has a couple of not-to-miss hors d'oeuvres: the first being the smoked trout rillette toast, which is whipped creme fraiche piped on a sourdough bread (made at Winslow's Table) finished with chives and dill. This is a classic favorite profile but very well executed. The second is a fantastic pate, if you’re into pate - more country style, so chunky. It's made of duck, pork, chicken, nuts, and dried fruit and has a crust. The steak tartare is fabulous, with steamed egg yolk, crispy shallots, smoked bone marrow vinaigrette, salt, and vinegar potato chips.

The chicken cordon bleu is the signature entree. If you love chicken, cheese, and bacon, you're gonna love this. It's not your mom's “cord on blue” that you had in a TV dinner. This dish takes several days to prepare and the end result is unforgettable. Per Tara, it is actually made almost like a sausage that we pipe under the chicken skin with the bacon, as opposed to just being dried down in the middle of the chicken. It is then filled with gruyere cheese and fried. It’s finished with some tangy mustard sauce on top, which helps cut through the richness of the chicken.

Tara’s personal favorite dessert is the heavenly pain perdu. It is made with Clementine’s crème fraîche gelato and salted caramel. It looks like it will be too much, but it is actually just enough.

While French food and French restaurants sometimes don’t feel approachable, that’s not the case here. The menu is small, which sort of forces you to tiptoe out of your comfort zone. Said Tara, “We definitely get folks in here who are very sophisticated eaters. At the same time, we’ve got people who typically do not eat at that this type of restaurant. But the experience is delightful and satisfying for both.”

The Gallinas are about to mark seven years in St. Louis, which is the longest they’ve ever lived anywhere. “When I think about what our life was like when we moved here to where we are now, I would've never in a million years thought I would own more than one restaurant and have a couple of kids,” said Tara. “It's all been a whirlwind. When we moved here, we just had a pipe dream about having our own restaurant, making it special, and making our mark in a new city, familiar to Michael because he grew up here, but not really knowing where that would go.”

“The only reason we ever evolved beyond Vicia has been because of the people we have. You get great people but you can't retain them forever doing the same thing. Eventually, they will want to move on and do more; and they should. We're creating things because we want to find more things for the people working for us to do,” said Tara.

Tara and Michael have two very small kids and love spending time with them, but that is very time consuming. When they're not with their kids or working, they admit to not having any free time for hobbies. Tara acknowledged, “Michael and I actually have one day a week totally off so we try to always do something fun, try a new restaurant, or just get outside and take three or four hours and pretend we're on vacation. I'd love to travel and we're definitely getting more opportunities for that now, which is great. We're going to Chicago and Maine this fall, with a trip to France planned for next summer. I think knowing that the restaurants are in a good place, allowing us to step away and get other experiences that can influence our work, is a great place to be.”

Susan Sherman, long time regular of Bar Les Freres and now Bistro La Floraison raved, “I love the new Bistro La Floraison. I have been for the French 75 and their fabulous cheese plate, for dinner with my family (the salmon was off the charts, loved the oyster presentation as well), and I was recently at a launch party for a new fashion line - with 20 women - in the "green room." It was simply divine. The French spirit remains intact, albeit in a more modern setting. Andy Millner’s artwork adds the perfect touch and Tara is always there smiling! Tara and Michael Gallina know how to run restaurants, period. I'm happy to see Wydown starting to bustle again.”

French onion financiers with almond, thyme oil and comté cheese

Bar Moro

Over the last 15 years, Israeli-born Ben Poremba has built an empire of avant-garde restaurants from Olio, Elaia, Nixta, The Benevolent King, and La Patisserie Chouquette. He is best known for his flair for presenting what’s new, providing culturally different experiences for St. Louisans, and his passion for excellence. He is a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist in the category of Best Chef-Midwest and he continues to take the St. Louis dining scene by storm. Ben learned the art of cooking (and eating) from his mother, Rachel, and will soon open Bar Moro in the iconic Billie-Jean space.

The restaurant's name stands for "Moor" and pays homage to the traditions of Moorish Spain, the Moorish Mediterranean, and Poremba's Moroccan heritage.

Never dissuaded to try something new and different, Ben said Bar Moro celebrates the golden period of the Moors, who controlled Spain for the better part of 500 years. During that time period, Jews were treated fairly and there was a lot of exchange between Jews and Muslims while Spain was under Muslim rule. It's almost unimaginable now to remember this period for its great thinkers such as Maimonides, tolerance, architecture, advances in medicine, and much more.

“It's was a cool time in history and of course the Moors left their mark emphatically in Spain,” said Ben. “You can see it in the architecture, the language, and the food. Spanish food is very unique in that it's indigenous. Of course, they borrowed a lot of ideas from other places, especially from North Africa. I thought that would be a nice little pretext, middle Eastern and North African food. I love the culture. It is also a nice play on the fact that that our location in Clayton is called the Moorlands.”

“I wanted a small space,” he continued. “The story with Zoe is of note because I was really interested in the other two restaurants and negotiated to buy them even before the pandemic. After it didn't work out we reconnected about the Billie-Jean space. I told Zoe I had the perfect concept for it. Of course, the space has its challenges. There’s no back of house to produce and prep. There's no basement for storage. And the kitchen is tiny. But it’s great up front. We had to engineer a menu by what we could cook in the space. Our cuisine actually lends itself to this unusual space because it's pretty straightforward.”

The space was left black, but the table cloths have been removed to show off the brown and black wood tables underneath, and some of the more sleek elements have been made warmer. Local artist Rose Lee is doing a huge funky mural for the space. The servers will wear white coats.

“I’m always trying to open people up to new ideas,” said Ben. “When we opened up Olio, many people had never tried hummus. Now you have 50 different selections at Whole Foods. It's part of our diet now, but many people didn't know what it was when we opened. The same with labneh (strained yogurt). You used to have to spell it out for people. But now people know.”

There are four sections to the menu: a small section of tapas that you can pick up and eat including olives, Marcona almonds, fried peppers, and marinated mushrooms. They will also have a course of Jamon Iberico, the famous hand-sliced ham from Spain. It's like prosciutto in the sense that it's a ham, but it comes from specific pigs that are wild and are fed acorns. They will also have cured meats, a cheese plate, and oysters on the half shell.

There will be a section that Ben calls classics, things that one might expect at a Spanish restaurant. “The tomato bread pan de tomate that we toast, hand rub with garlic, and then top with raw tomato and a drizzle of super good olive oil on top is very simple but we know how to do it right. It's more than just toasting bread.” Also on the menu are an omelet with caviar or truffles. “And then here’s the exceptional shrimp that we buy live from Triple J Farms in Foristell, Missouri, and cook with fresh garlic.” Razor clams will also be on the menu when they’re in season. They are typically not found in the U.S. except for coastal cities.

“Then we will have a section with dishes like rice cooked in squid ink broth with chorizo and octopus. We have a beautiful tomato salad. It looks very simple but there's so much flavor. We have bigger dishes that serve two or four people to share - like a big piece of fish or a big steak. One of the big dishes I'm most excited about is called mari i muntanya or Surf & Turf, it's chicken that's cooked with prawns and lobster. “

You can come to Bar Moro as a single diner, sit at the bar, maybe have an omelet, maybe have a couple of bites or sit down with the big dishes, and have a celebration. The average check will run between $60 and $80 per person, all depending on what you eat and drink.

The beverage offerings are perfect foils for the food. “Of course there will be an extensive list of Spanish and Portuguese wines,” Ben said. “But we're really excited about the sherry. Sherry can be very sweet, but it can be very dry. It's kind of the perfect beverage to accompany this kind of food. It cuts right through and it's beautiful. Our beverage director flew to Spain and did a deep dive into sherry as well as the Madeiras and ports. You can't go to any other St. Louis restaurant and select from 15 different sherrys. This is unique to us.”

The Spanish are crazy about their gin and tonics, and Bar Moro will have five different versions of the drink. There also will be a selection of fortified wines and low alcohol drinks like vermouth. For dessert, the coffee flan is irresistible. Ben and his team are still working on some others. When you go, ask for the special mints, a matchbook, and take a pencil. You want these things to share as you tell your friends about this experience.