Ruth’s Chris Steak House veteran mixologist and native St. Louisan PJ Doyle is setting the bar – not only for the steakhouse’s two locations in his hometown, but also for Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses around the nation. Doyle helms the company’s cocktail program and recently created an online bartending course for RC employees throughout the country to learn to prepare the dozen drinks he created for the steakhouse’s latest cocktail menu, which launches this week. Here’s what we like about the new drink menu and why Doyle is leading RC’s bartending team. For a peek at some of the new cocktails, check out our Facebook page.

Classic yet creative Doyle pulls from the annals of cocktail history with the likes of a Sazerac, Hemingway and Mojito but gives them a dose of contemporary flavor, particularly when it comes to selecting the brand of spirit. He’s choosing interesting liqueurs and purées, even using house-made mixers.

An eye for worthwhile new products The beverage market is flooded with new products. Doyle doesn’t fall for the gimmicky ones; rather he selects those that can enhance his drinks. For example, his new coffee cocktail, Café O’Le, uses Patrón’s new XO Cafe Dark Cocoa liqueur, whose more bitter flavor compared to sibling XO Cafe, works well with RumChata and Sobieski Espresso vodka in this grown-up iced coffee.

Premium spirits without the primo price The drinks lining the new menu aren’t made using well spirits nor with something just one step up. Instead, Doyle is pouring from top-of-the-line bottles such as the Don Q Añejo Rum that makes its way into the Mojito or Pyrat XO Reserve Rum, shaken in another beach-happy drink: Pyrat Punch (pictured).

Balance A good drink is about balanced flavors. Doyle’s white sangria deserves mention for not tasting unduly sweet (as so many sangrias do) thanks to a house-made lemon sour and an off-dry riesling that keep a couple sugar-laden liqueurs subdued.

Knowledge of family history Ruth’s Chris is NOLA-born and Doyle showcases those southern roots not just in offering New Orleans classics like Sazeracs, but in the current featured cocktail the Broad Street Hurricane, which pays homage to the street where the steakhouse got its start. Featuring Ron Zacapa Centenario 23-year aged rum, we guarantee that this hurricane tastes a million times better than any grab-and-go yard you can buy on Bourbon Street.

Are you following us on Twitter? Come on, get Saucy @saucemagazine 

daniellesmyname
Snickers for breakfast.

madsquirrel20
I have tons of egg yolks, making creme brûlée today…. anyone? anyone?

Cory_King_ 
So having beer on draft at home has been way more useful than I expected… #IPA#1ontap

Shep133
I really wish someone was here to share bottles with. #worktrip #loonz

inacamba
Today is going to be a good day at work. Armed with coffee, Vicks, and optimism. Let’s do this.

zacduncan
Drinking Romanian moonshine out of a jar. Wednesdays.

MoEats
I cured my allergy induced headache this afternoon with an ice cream sandwich. Take that, big pharma.

mcharcuterie
Did I just strap my growler in with a seatbelt????

rebeccarausch
I know I’m in Dallas when my dining companion orders an Arnold Palmer.

madsquirrel20
Rico learned the hard way, don’t lick the flour on the floor! it was like gluing his mouth shut

aprilamos
Every girl deserves an afternoon snack… http://instagr.am/p/KtDsw0DGUD/ 

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When Sauce arrived to check out the newest location of Pi Pizzeria in the MX district downtown at 610 Washington Ave., the restaurant was abuzz with activity. At one end, bartenders were in the midst of training. At the opposite end, servers were taking menu tests. Meanwhile, the fire marshal and his entourage were inspecting the back of the house. In the midst of such chaos, Pi owners Chris Sommers and Frank Ubile gave Sauce a preview of what the public will see when doors open next Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Pi regulars will notice a few new items on the food menu. Among them are: soups (now that the kitchen has a stovetop); a salad showcasing warm Ozark Forest mushrooms; and a thin-crust pizza called Ballpark (mozzarella, salsiccia, roasted red peppers, onion, fresh basil with tomato-mustard sauce). The lunchtime crowd will see calzones as well as the express menu, which Pi recently launched at its other locations so busy diners can receive their food order within 20 minutes.

On the drink side, look for 24 tap handles, primarily featuring local beer. Pi has quite a few exclusive beverages: Pi Common, a beer brewed exclusively for Pi by Schlafly; Collaboration PiPA by area brewery 4 Hands; and Pi Ginger Beer, made by Fitz’s. The latter two also make their way into a couple drinks on the 10-strong cocktail menu.

Check out our Facebook page for a sneak peek of the soon-to-open Pi downtown.

Chez Leon, the upscale French restaurant located in downtown Clayton at 7927 Forsyth Blvd., has closed. “I would like to thank my clientele for a dozen years of patronage. À bientôt and au revoir,” owner Leon Bierbaum said on the restaurant’s recorded voice message. St. Louis Magazine’s George Mahe broke the news yesterday.

Chez Leon spent its first decade in the Central West End, in the space on Laclede Avenue now occupied by Brasserie by Niche. In January 2010, the restaurant relocated to Clayton, with executive chef Colby Erhart at the helm. In August of the same year, Marcel Keraval, chef-owner of the defunct Café de France, took over in the kitchen. (Sauce spoke with Keraval about his move in 2010.)

While The Scoop has been unable to discuss the closure with Bierbaum, Mahe – as well as Ian Froeb of the Riverfront Times –  report that the restaurateur cited a lackluster economy and unsuccessful Groupon-type discount campaigns as factors in the restaurant’s declining business.

The Chase Park Plaza has been seeking an executive chef to oversee the hotel’s culinary scene since the departure of chef Brian Hale this past winter. Today, the hotel announced that Kyle Lipetzky has been hired for the position.

Lipetzky will be responsible for the creative direction of Eau Bistro, Café Eau and the hotel’s catering operations. Among his first tasks is creating new menus for all of the restaurants at The Chase, according to hotel spokesperson Cathy Levendoski. What should diners expect when the new menus are unveiled later this summer? “I will combine modern techniques and plating with locally grown and sustainable ingredients, delivering a refreshed menu with simple yet tasty dishes that continue to elevate The Chase Park Plaza’s dining experiences,” Lipetzky noted.

Lipetzky comes to The Chase having worked most recently The Phoenician Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he was responsible for half of the resort’s restaurants as well as in-room dining. Prior to that, Lipetzky worked at The Camelback Inn, a JW Marriott Resort and Spa, also located in Arizona.

All month long, we’re bringing you recipes and reviews from cookbooks and chef honored at this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards, which were announced earlier this month. So far, we’ve brought you the latest from Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America inductee Mark Bittman and Stephanie Izard, who was a finalist in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category. Now, we’re moving on Hugh Acheson, whose new book, A New Turn in the South, won a Beard Award in the American Cooking cookbook category this year. The book is pretty with handwritten tips, illustrations and big photographs of gorgeous food (and photos of the author himself sporting his now-famous unibrow). Acheson has three restaurants: Five & Ten and The National in Athens, Ga., and Empire State South in Atlanta. If you don’t know him from his restaurants, you may have seen him appear as a judge on Bravo’s Top Chef.

A lot of the recipes in this book are intense, some with hard-to-find ingredients and many requiring quite a bit of time. But they’re actually all humble dishes filled with comfort. If Southern food is your thing, like shrimp and grits (grits Acheson buys from Mills Farm, which makes grits in a mill … powered by a mule), succotash, fried okra, chess pie, fried chicken … this is the book for you. It’s classic dishes from the South with slight nuances and fun surprises.

I wanted to make Acheson’s braised short ribs with hominy stew. I love short ribs and, despite their reputation, they’re not just for wintertime. I mean, we have air conditioning these days. Slow-braised meat in May? Bring it on. The recipe was long but pretty simple, and the hominy stew was loaded with flavor from roasted green chiles, cumin, thyme and a rich braising liquid.

Would I make it again? Absolutely. In the dead of winter or the middle of a hot summer. Bring it on.

Braised Short Ribs with Hominy Stew
Short ribs are the comfortable recliner of braising. I liven them up with rich hominy stew featuring tomatoes, leeks and roasted chiles. You can find great canned hominy at most Hispanic grocery stores or well-stocked grocers.

4 (6-oz.) portions short ribs, trimmed of connective tissue
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and coarsely cut into large dice
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1 celery stalk, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
1 dried ancho chile
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 cup dry red wine
3 cups beef stock or store-bought beef broth
2 cups canned hominy
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 leek, cleaned and cut into 1½-inch dice
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. canned roasted green chiles
1 lb. fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and cut to ½-inch dice
½ tsp. freshly ground cumin seeds
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• On a large plate, lay out the short ribs and evenly rub with salt and pepper. Heat a cast-iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat. (If you do not have a Dutch oven you can sear in a cast-iron skillet and transfer to a casserole dish with a lid for braising.) Add the olive oil and sear all sides of the short ribs for 2 minutes per side. Make sure the hood vent is turned on before searing; this process is smoky!
• Add the onion, carrot and celery. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the chile, bay leaves, thyme and red wine. Cook to reduce the wine by about half.
• Add the beef stock and bring to a light simmer. Cover and place in the preheated oven. Allow to cook for 3 to 3½ hours, or until the meat is starting to pull away from the bone.
• Remove the short ribs from the Dutch oven. Place them on a large plate and set aside.
• Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the braising liquid into a 2-cup or larger maeasuring cup and discard the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and thyme. Skim all the fat off of the surface. If there is less than 2 cups of the braising liquid, add enough water to bring it up to 2 cups.
• Drain and rinse the honminy. Set aside.
• Lightly heat a 2-quart or larger soup pot. Add the butter, leek and garlic. Sweat the vegetables while occasionally stirring for 4 minutes. Add the roasted green chiles, the tomato, cumin, thyme and the 2 cups of braising liquid. Simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
• Add the hominy and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the short ribs to reheat, spooning the hominy stew over them as they simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley. Ladle the stew into 4 bowls, nestling the short ribs on top.
(Note: I made a potato purée and used it as the base for this dish.)

Reprinted from A New Turn in the South by Hugh Acheson. Copyright © 2011. Photos copyright © 2011 by Rinne Allen. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.

Have a dish that takes you forever to make but you keep coming making nonetheless? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented For Your Kitchen. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column. 

And now, to announce both of our By the Book winners from last week. We’d like to congratulate Sara, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won her a copy of Girl in the Kitchen and Nupur, whose comment on last week’s special-edition By the Book has won her a signed copy of Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. Sara and Nupur, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew!

There’s a new face at Vino Nadoz. Chris DiMercurio has joined the bistro and wine bar located at 16 The Boulevard in Richmond Heights as chef de cuisine. DiMercurio, 26, was formerly at Taste by Niche, where he had worked as a line cook since last November. Prior to that, the CIA graduate worked in the back of the house at various eateries in Vermont.

Although Trent Thrun remains executive chef for Steven Becker Fine Dining, parent company to Vino Nadoz, co-owner Kathy Becker told The Scoop that DiMercurio has “full reign of the kitchen” at Vino Nadoz. “He’s slowly putting his touch on things,” said Becker, noting that he has added items such as pâtés and house-made pickled vegetables to the menu since coming aboard two weeks ago. “He has a modern, contemporary vision. That’s what we want the direction of the wine bar to go [in].”

— Photo by Jessica Becker

All too often, veggies burgers are an afterthought – thrown on the menu to satisfy that vegetarian void; no creativity required. So when I heard that the crew over at Baileys’ Range was making their veggie burgers from scratch, I was one of the first in line at the downtown burgers-and-shakes eatery. The burger had already won points for creativity: a thick pinto-bean patty with an avocado mousse and jicama slaw piled on top, sprinkled with a dusting of queso fresco. Sure, it was house-made, but it was also quite dry and lacked any pop of flavor. Bummer.

Fast forward six months and I’m returning to Range to taste the new veggie burger: still house-made but this time touting a black bean and chipotle patty, smothered with cranberry sour cream and an apple-jalapeño salsa. A sweet-and-spicy mixture is my weakness, so I was ready to be dazzled. The burger certainly wasn’t dry but rather too moist, to the point of downright greasiness. The house-made challah bun was good – light, fluffy, delicious – but it couldn’t stand up to the greasy patty and fell apart in my hands. I also found no hint of the chipotle that was promised and no spicy kick from that fruit-and-pepper salsa. Now, I can’t handle much capsaicin in the first place, so if this wimp couldn’t taste the spice, there certainly wasn’t enough.

Range is, of course, known for its beef – which, for curious carnivores, is both free-range and locally sourced – so it’s just a matter of time before the creativity and talent coming out of that kitchen turns out a darn good veggie burger, too. You can also swap a veggie patty for any of the burger combinations, so perhaps sticking with one like the Ozark – piled with local mushrooms, caramelized onions and black peppered goat cheese – would yield a superior supper. Sure sounds delicious.

And if you’re planning on stopping by Range for a Meatless Monday, don’t restrict yourself to the burger section of the menu. The salads, large enough to be dinner, knock it out of the park. Order up a big Fig Salad, pair it with a milkshake (preferably one of the boozy variety) and you’ve got a very nice way to start the week.

Years ago, my husband and I would get up on Saturday mornings and go to Soulard Farmers Market. We’d load up on produce, watch the doughnut guy do his thing, check out the live chickens and kittens, do some people watching, and then head home. Once we had kids, Saturday mornings became a bit busier and our trips to Soulard became more sporadic and eventually ceased.

In 2006, our brother-in-law, Patrick Horine, founded Tower Grove Farmers Market, and our Saturday mornings – when not taken up by soccer or softball games – were once again filled with fresh produce, crafts and family time. Two years ago, Webster Groves started a farmers market and thoughtfully located it two blocks from my home. Now I have two markets I go to each week. The point of all this? Hooray for the arrival of market season!

One of my favorite vendors at both markets is The Big Cheese. I look forward to a produce-inspired sandwich for breakfast at Tower Grove every Saturday morning, and my girls clamor for grilled cheeses for dinner on Thursday nights at the Webster Groves market. One of my favorite specials is the strawberry and mint grilled cheese, made with Marcoot Jersey Creamery’s Quark Cheese. So, in honor of all things local and seasonal, I present to you the Farmer’s Market Strawberry Mint Grilled Cheese sandwich.

All of the ingredients can be purchased at a local farmers market. Starting with the bread: I like to use Companion’s brioche for this sandwich; it’s wonderfully flaky when grilled. Local strawberries are abundant right now and so juicy and sweet, buying less than two quarts at a time is just downright foolish. Marcoot’s Quark Cheese spread is a fresh cow’s milk cheese – not quite as sweet as cream cheese, not quite as tart as chevre – that works nicely with the sweetness of the berries. Mint and honey battled basil and balsamic vinegar on this sandwich, but honey is local and balsamic is not.

So get out and support your local farmers this market season. We’re fortunate to have so many available, and food just tastes better when you buy it outside!

Farmers Market Strawberry and Mint Grilled Cheese
Adapted by Dee Ryan from a recipe by The Big Cheese’s Susana and Dave Lowell
1 Serving

Unsalted butter (softened)
2 slices Companion Brioche bread* (or other white bread)
2 to 3 Tbsp. Marcoot Quark cheese* (or spreadable mild goat cheese or cream cheese)
¼ cup strawberries, thinly sliced
5 mint leaves, thinly sliced
Drizzle local honey

• Lightly butter 1 side of each slice of bread.
• Spread the cheese on the unbuttered side of 1 of the slices of bread.
• Top the cheese with sliced strawberries and mint, and drizzle about 1 tablespoon of honey over the fruit. Top with the other piece of bread, buttered side facing out.
• Place a skillet over medium heat until hot. Place the sandwich in the skillet and lightly press down with a spatula. After 1 to 2 minutes, check to see if it is browned on the bottom. Once it is, carefully flip the sandwich and cook for another 2 minutes, or until the sandwich is browned on both sides.
• Remove from heat and sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt on top of the sandwich. Slice and serve.

* Available at Tower Grove Farmers Market

Back in December, we told you that Blues City Deli would soon be offering up hot and toasty breakfast fare to bustling Benton Park patrons. Well, it may have taken a little while longer than expected, but Blues City, located at 2438 McNair Ave., officially opened for breakfast this morning, serving a slew of breakfast options and locally roasted Mississippi Mud coffee.

Sticking with its sandwich bent, the deli is featuring six different breakfast sandwiches – ranging from the pork-centric to the vegetarian – all grilled on a panini press. Blues City is known for its flavor-packed, big-as-your-head fare and its breakfast sandwiches are no exception. The ‘wiches boast a bevy of creative combinations including eggs, meats, cheeses, veggies and house-made sauces, either on ciabatta bread or a biscuit from The Hill’s Vitale’s Bakery. Looking for something light? All sandwiches are available as Bambinos – smaller versions that boast only one egg instead of two. Prices range from $3.25 for biscuit sandwiches and Bambinos and $4 to $5.50 for larger varieties. Baked goods like bagels, muffins, bear claws and Danishes from Pratzel’s Eastgate Bakery are also available, and expect to see more made-from-scratch options to be added to the menu soon. “We’re going to get into other stuff later, but we’re keeping it simple right now,” owner Vince Valenza told The Scoop this morning. “Later on, we may do biscuits and gravy and some other things that we’ll figure out back in the kitchen.” Breakfast is available at Blues City Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m.

— Pictured: No Meaty Panini: organic spinach, tomato, grilled peppers and onions with house-made tomato-basil cream cheese spread