Matt Daughaday is now the executive chef at Juniper

Former Reeds American Table chef-owner Matt Daughaday has taken over as executive chef at Juniper in the Central West End, as reported by St. Louis Magazine.

Juniper owner John Perkins contacted Daughaday to offer him the position at the restaurant, which is known for its Southern cuisine. “It’s kind of hard to pass up an opportunity to add someone of Matt’s quality to your staff,” Perkins said. “We reached out to him, and it kind of made sense to both of us, so we made it happen.”

Perkins said Daughaday will initially jump into the lunch and brunch menus, revamping them over the next month or two, but he will also have a hand in future dinner menus. The winter menu, which is slated to come out in late January, will reflect some of Daughaday’s ideas, including his cornbread made popular during his tenure as executive chef at Taste.

“[We’ll have] a couple dishes that people have already seen on Instagram,” Perkins said. “His bacon fat-fried cornbread has been a hit for quite a while, and it makes a lot of sense for our menu for obvious reasons. We added some chicken liver mousse to it, which is decadent.” 

Perkins said a couple new dishes will be collaborations between himself and Daughaday. 

Daughaday’s first major event with Juniper will be the five-course Valentine’s Day prix fixe dinner, including options like oysters, she-crab soup, Cheerwine sorbet, skate wing and mushroom potpie. 

“If people want to get a sense of the stuff we’re doing that’s a bit fancier than our normal menu, [the Valentine’s Day dinner] will give some insight into his creative style and process,” Perkins said.

Daughaday did not immediately return request for comment.

Adam Rothbarth is staff writer at Sauce Magazine.