Thai Food Rising: Just as GQ’s Alan Richman named D.C.’s Northern Thai gem Little Serow the Most Outstanding Restaurant of 2013, our own little outlier from up North opened its doors. At Fork & Stix in The Loop, Southern Thai standbys like pad thai and coconut curry play second fiddle to Northern specialties like pork belly-boasting Hung Lay Curry, lemongrass-laden sausage Sai Oua and the fantastic creamy Khao Soi soup (pictured). Here’s to less stir-fries and more funk.

Gilding the Goat: We’ve long seen goat’s milk used for fresh cheese and get turned into slightly sour desserts. But now the meat of this horn-rimmed roamer is slipping onto menus as well. For a special aptly titled The Goat Rodeo, Guerrilla Street Food braised a goat leg in palm sugar and Filipino lager before shredding it over jasmine rice, and showering it with marinated Napa cabbage, Sriracha cream sauce and scallions. Sidney Street Cafe’s Kevin Nashan turned the tough, strongly flavored flesh into porchetta, while both The Rustic Goat and Five Star Burgers have experimented with grinding it into a rich take on a burger.

Wish List: New Jew Food: From whipped-lardo challah with bacon charoset at The Pass & Provisions in Houston to everything on the menu at Brooklyn’s Montreal-inspired Mile End Deli, classic Jewish deli fare is seeing an artisanal second coming. Could this trend grace STL tables? The gourmet Passover seder Anthony Devoti held at Five Bistro last month gives at least one lox-loving Jew hope.

Fired Up: The barbecue biz is on fire and newly opened Vernon’s BBQ, Hendricks BBQ, SugarFire Smoke House, Lampert’s BBQ, Wilson’s BBQ and Capitalist Pig have rib-lovers from St. Charles to Soulard licking their chops. The perk to opening in chilly temps? Pit masters can work out the kinks before kicking into high gear come prime barbecue season.

Eating Your Curds and Whey: Cheese curds – the semisolid portion of coagulated milk that gets separated from the liquid (whey) during cheese making – are the new finger food. At Five Star Burgers, you can nibble these mozzarella sticks-come-french fries with your burger, atop tomato soup or as a curly-cued bar snack. At Dressel’s Public House, you can dip ‘em into a smoked tomato sauce, and you can munch on Marcoot Creamery’s garlic-and-herb variety with a frothy brew at Perennial Artisan Ales.

Gateway Green: Now that kale has our palates singing the praises of bitter greens, look for mustard greens to make a play for its prominent place on menus. Wilted into goose sugo tagliatelle at Five Bistro, accompanying caramel-edged pork cheeks at Home Wine Kitchen, or sitting pretty beneath sous vide porchetta di testa at Vino Nadoz and rainbow trout at Harvest, these spicy, pungent leaves may even take us beyond new-wave Caesar salads.

The Night Shift: The bracingly bitter Italian liqueur Fernet-Branca isn’t new behind the bar, but it is gaining a broader customer base. At one of the best family of restaurants in town, Fernet appears to be the nightcap of choice for Gerard Craft’s crew.

— photo by Carmen Troesser

Baker Alex Carlson has wowed us since 2010, when we took our first bite of the divine baguettes, boules and buns that he made as the in-house baker at Five Bistro on The Hill. Soon, Carlson was supplying his artisanal breads to places like The Mud House, Big Sky Café, Salume Beddu and The Block. Last year, we saw Carlson become a vendor at the Webster Groves Farmers Market, making his old-world country loaves, focaccia and other Atkins diet-busters available for sale to the public. Now, word comes that Carlson’s company, Red Guitar Bread, will finally have a home to call its own.

The brick-and-mortar location for Red Guitar Bread will be at 3215 Cherokee St., a few blocks east of Gravois Avenue, as he announced on the company’s Facebook page and as reported by Byron Kerman for St. Louis Magazine.

The Scoop has been unable to reach Carlson to discuss details regarding the target opening date – or the latest wild yeast strains he’s using to transform his organic flour into hunky baked awesomeness. More as we learn it.

You go to Five Bistro for a standout burger. You go to Five Bistro to sup from a menu crafted from 90-percent local ingredients. But cocktails? Five Bistro wasn’t on my typical suspects list for a well-crafted mixed drink – until now.

Bartender Mary Mangan came aboard Five this past March. Mangan has tended bar at Carmine’s, Lucas Park Grille and Herbie’s. Her training at the latter – by seasoned bartender Heather Dodderer (now at Taste) – shows in the quality selection of liquors, smart pairing of ingredients for original recipes, and blessed willingness to measure.

Classic drinks on Five’s 10-item cocktail menu include pre-Prohibition gin cocktail The Last Word, a Moscow Mule and a seasonal Bloody Mary. Mangan brings these oldies into the 21st century using products from boutique, small-batch distilleries like North Shore (No. 6 gin for the Last Word and its aquavit for the Moscow Mule) and Boyd & Blair (The distillery’s potato vodka, my personal vodka fave right now, is poured into Five’s Autumn Mary).

Among Mangan’s own creations, the winner was the Prickly Pear (pictured), which showcases Mangan’s ability to stick with chef-owner Anthony Devoti’s fresh-is-best and make-it-from-scratch philosophies. The drink is made with muddled pears, house-made ginger syrup, Ransom Old Tom Gin, Belle de Brillet Pear Liqueur, St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur, fresh lemon juice and St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram. Pear, ginger and a touch of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg from the allspice dram keep the Prickly Pear bundled in winter flavors. Another of Mangan’s originals, The Muse, is an unexpected trio of New Holland The Poet Oatmeal Stout, locally produced Spirit of St. Louis Island Time Amber Rum and a tawny port by Portuguese maker Dow’s. This delicious beer cocktail is filled with chocolate and sweet cherry notes, but, as my husband cautioned, that ounce of rum and half-ounce of port added to the beer is “just gonna get you into trouble.” My response: “Stick with one and be done.”

Ah, but don’t leave without ordering one little edible: the fried deviled egg. This deep-fried delight is filled with a smooth mix of egg yolk, aïoli, crème fraîche, whole grain mustard, freshly grated horseradish, Sriracha and Spanish smoked paprika. It’s served on a bed of micro mustard greens with a dollop of tangy mustard-balsamic aïoli and a smidgeon of subtly citrus lemon-caper vinaigrette. You wont find it on Five’s menu but Devoti’s kitchen brigade will be happy to get this crazy-good creation down your gullet.

After the evening service this Saturday, the crew at Five Bistro will be taking a two-week break before reopening on September 13 with more tasting options and a special late-night menu.

For some time now, chef-owner Anthony Devoti has offered 3-course tasting menus for $25 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (Check out a sample menu here.). Soon, this increasingly taste-centric eatery will include the addition of a 5-course prix fixe for $55 on Fridays and Saturdays as well. Devoti hopes this “unbelievable deal” – both for the price as well as the product (90 percent of which is locally sourced) – will be well received and that it will pave the way for two distinct 5-course tasting menus at the restaurant in the future. For the moment, an à la carte menu will still be available at the restaurant, located at 5100 Daggett Ave., on The Hill, when it reopens next month.

Also in September, Devoti will launch a late-night menu at Five, which will be available Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. until midnight. Moonlight revelers can rest assured that the restaurant’s famed Five Burger will be available, along with other pub-grub-with-a twist items like fried deviled eggs and poutine, a Quebec specialty consisting of French fries and cheese curds topped with gravy. “We want to give people more late-night options,” Devoti explained.

In the first installment of our new online column, Ask the Chef, we put down our pens to let you – our readers – take a turn asking some of the stars in St. Louis’ culinary scene your burning questions. First up is Anthony Devoti, chef and owner of Five Bistro and the shuttered Newstead Tower Public House. And now, from how he got his start to whether he’d ever open another Newstead to his cheese of choice for his cheese steak, he answers your questions …

How did you get started cooking?
Well, we’ve always cooked at home. My folks always cooked a bunch and I’ve always been around food; it’s always been something I’ve been interested in growing up. My grandparents owned a couple restaurants, more I would say breakfast and lunch places. I don’t know if you’d call them greasy spoons but they were more like eggs and toast and working man’s kind of food. My dad worked there when he was a kid; my aunts and uncles all worked there when they were kids. And holiday events, we’re an Italian family and so food was a big deal when we all got together.

How do you source those awesome ingredients?
Well when I first started a lot of this stuff I went to markets for. I was actually actively going to markets meeting farmers. Now I don’t really have to do a whole lot; farmers come to me. They know what we do, we have a good reputation with farmers and we have really good cooks so I think farmers are very proud to bring their products to me. When I first started, I knew Ron Benne (pictured at left) for like six years. I was working in a restaurant in Chesterfield and tried to get that restaurant to be a farm-to-table-to-kitchen type of restaurant. So I met Ron when I was working out there, and when I moved back to St. Louis from San Francisco he was the first person I called. He gave me tips on how to meet these people. I went online and did a bunch of research before the restaurant opened, too. For the last couple of years … people just bring me stuff or they call and they say, “I have this, this and this – do you want it?” Chef-wise we bring each other up, too. Some people say, “Hey this product is unbelievable. I know this guy is good and he will take care of it.” I met Mike Brabo from Vesterbrook [Farm] from Kevin Nashan. Kevin said this guy is a great cook, he loves food and is a really good guy and he would do justice to that product.

A food district executive told me the locavore movement is a “fad, unsustainable and too expensive for 97 percent of consumers.” What are your thoughts?
I just think it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. … Locavore is not a movement; it should be a practice. You can eat local if you want to sacrifice and you want to eat real, local food, then you can do it. Is it a little more expensive? Yes, of course. But we grow a bunch of vegetables on our own; it’s not exactly hard to do. I think that that’s a pretty big cop out kind of answer. You have to want to eat good food to eat local. And just because you’re buying local food it means the product’s going to be better but if you don’t know how to cook it, it’s not going to help anything. It’s up to us to all get together. The more people who eat local and buy local, the more readily available it will be, the more farmers who will take care of us. When you go to the grocery store and 80 percent of things are made from corn or corn-based, that’s not really helpful. People have been eating local since the beginning of man. That, to me, is just a stupid comment from the food executive.

Who do you see as upcoming stars of the St. Louis food scene?
I don’t really know; I think the stars are relatively established. I think Adam [Altnether] over at Taste; he’s a really good guy, kind of a fun person to watch I guess. I think there’s a lot of Gerard [Craft] influence in his food personally, but he’s a great guy and he can certainly think on his own. You have to be a really good cook and he’s a really good cook. I eat in a circle of restaurants and I do a circle of things, and so I like Kevin [Nashan] and I like Gerard’s stuff and Josh [Galliano] and those guys. But when I eat out, I typically eat ethnic food; I don’t really go eat at those guys’ restaurants a lot of times because they’re closed when I’m off. Adam I think is a big one. I got a couple guys working for me that I think are pretty kick-ass cooks, and one day they’ll probably end up leaving, but I hope not. I know what they can do.

As many huge strides as St. Louis has taken, I think there are a lot of steps that go backward too. That doesn’t help what people are trying to do food-wise. … People go to culinary school and they think that, oh I’m gonna go to culinary school and I’m gonna be there for six months to a year, and then I’ll work in a hotel and then I’ll work at Five [Bistro]. That’s not how it is. It sucks, it’s hard, it’s hot and it’s even shittier and hotter on days like today. You have to really love what you do to be in this spot.

Newstead made my St. Louis top five list. The burger is simply the best. The service was great! What were the reasons to close?
To be fairly frank and straightforward, we had to close Newstead because of business. It was a lot of people’s top five but it wasn’t enough people’s top five. The quality of the product we were using there was very expensive; it was the same as we do at Five. We had to do a lot of people to turn that over. And The Grove neighborhood hasn’t done anything. It hasn’t done anything since Five was over there. … It was a cool spot and it was an awesome building, but the rest of the neighborhood wasn’t there. I can think of other corners it would’ve been better on; if it was on any of those corners it wouldn’t even be a question.

Are there any reasons that would get you to open another?
I don’t know – a really good location probably. I’m in the spot now [where] I would want to own my own building; I wouldn’t lease ever again. We own our building at Five, and there’s a lot of BS that comes along with it – if the air conditioner breaks, you’re responsible for fixing it – but I wouldn’t change that for anything, the control that you have. We talk about it all the time. That’s pretty much the only reason we do lunch at Five is the burger at Newstead. We only do it three days a week, but that’s something that we kind of wanted to keep going and keep alive and something we felt very strongly about.

Which do you prefer on a cheese steak sandwich: provolone, Provel or Cheese Whiz?
Cheese Whiz. It can be as processed and as terrible and synthetic as whatever, but Cheese Whiz for sure.

Any sous chef opportunities at your restaurant right now?
No, I don’t hire out for chef management kind of things. We build up totally from within. The crew that I have, the person that’s been there the least amount of time is, well we’ve got two new people at six months. Everybody else is two to three years plus. It’s work up to that position for us. It’s because I’m relatively difficult to work for. I think I’m easy to work with, but we have very high expectations. We do a lot of canning and jarring and we buy lots of potatoes and things in the winter. You have to understand the seasonality of what we do. … We brainstrom about menus and what we’re going to do; it’s a pretty open idea process we have going on. And when asparagus season is only six weeks long, people don’t really get that. … When we get further on, you really understand the best timing of things and the seasonality of all of it. You can work [at] some of these places for a couple years before you really understand that. We’re always learning. We’re a bunch of food dorks to the core. We get off on reading magazines and watching TV and reading books about food and that’s what we talk about whenever we’re around each other. And we have a big garden so we enjoy gardening too; that’s a big deal to us.

— Photo by Greg Rannells

Welcome to Ask the Chef, a new online column in which we take a step back from our journalistic duties to let you, our readers, talk to some of the best and brightest in St. Louis’ culinary scene. First up: Anthony Devoti.

As chef-owner of Five Bistro, the farm-to-table restaurant that sits on the corner of Daggett Avenue and Hereford Street on The Hill, Anthony Devoti is one of the area’s most renowned chefs. A meal at Five is a glimpse of the locavore movement, featuring local and organic produce, freshly caught fish and naturally raised meat prepared using a variety of cooking techniques. Devoti prides himself on using ingredients from several area farmers he has close relationships with, changing his menu daily to provide his diners with a taste of the seasons and the region. A devotee to nose-to-tail cooking, he’s the in-house butcher and charcutier at Five, which he runs alongside his parents (who will greet you at the door with a smile as you walk in).

He’s also the former chef-owner of the now shuttered Newstead Tower Public House, a seasonally focused gastropub and home to what many local food folk have deemed the best burger in the city. Devoti is well-versed in St. Louis’ bustling craft beer scene and can hold his own with a wine list, often handpicking the bottles for the wine and beer dinners he regularly offers to diners at his restaurants.

Devoti’s skills in the kitchen have even garnered a bit of national attention. Earlier this year, he was up for Food and Wine Magazine’s first People’s Best New Chef award for the Midwest region, a new accolade where voters determine the winner. And just last April, Eater included the Five burger on its list of 15 of the Country’s Hottest Burgers.

So there you have it – a few things about this talented chef (more on Devoti’s credentials here). Now, get your pens out (Or shall we say keyboards?) because it’s your turn to play reporter. From what makes the Five Burger so darn tasty to his favorite way to prepare pork to how he really felt about having to close Newstead, this is your chance to ask one of St. Louis’ stars whatever’s on your mind. And it couldn’t be easier. Just post your question on our Facebook wall, tweet us your question with the hashtag #askthechef  or e-mail us here. We’ll be chatting with Devoti next Tuesday, so be sure to get your questions in quickly and check back next week to see if he answered your queries. So what are you waiting for? Go on, ask the chef!

Last December, we spotlighted baker Alex Carlson as the face – and hands – behind the beautiful bread program at Five Bistro. Carlson recently “kneaded” that dough operation into an independent business called Red Guitar Bread, whereby his old-world boules, bageuttes and torpedos made from certified organic flour are now available to the public.

The Scoop ran into Carlson yesterday at the Webster Groves Farmers’ Market as he was readying his booth for the first day of the market season. Carlson explained why the Webster Groves market is the only market he will be participating in this year. “I don’t want to get too big, too fast; slow growth is the key. And what I’m doing now keeps me pretty busy.” That’s for sure. Carlson bakes an average of 75 to 100 pounds of bread daily, subleasing space from the Five Bistro kitchen.

Bread-lovers who can’t make the Thursday afternoon market, which runs through October, can also place orders via e-mail. (A website is coming soon.) Prices range from $3 for a smaller-sized baguette to $8 for Carlson’s newest creation, a hickory-smoked whole wheat loaf. Don’t know whether you want to opt for ciabatta or a hefty 1 and a half-pound pain au levain boule? You can drool over his rustic, edible works of art on the company’s Facebook page.

And for diners who have come to love Carlson’s bread at Five Bistro, Salume Beddu, The Mud House, Cyrano’s, Big Sky Café and even at Entre Underground events, no worries. Carlson will continue to service all of those accounts.

Cheers to chef-owner Anthony Devoti and the talented crew over at Five Bistro, whose burger made the Eater Heat Map: the website’s list of 15 of the country’s hottest burgers. Another cheers to Riverfront Times‘ dining critic Ian Froeb, quoted in the Eater piece for describing Devoti’s burger as “cleaner, lighter, with a definite mineral edge.” As you may remember, this is Eater’s second mention of our fair city recently. Just last week, the website released another of its ritual Heat Maps, this time to 14 of what it called “newish locales that have been garnering serious buzz.”

A Saucy congrats goes to local chefs Gerard Craft of Niche, Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe and Kevin Willmann of Farmhaus Restaurant and sommelier (and Sauce columnist) Glenn Bardgett of Annie Gunn’s, who have been named semifinalists for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards – the chefs in the Best Chef Midwest category and Bardgett in the Outstanding Wine Service category. Semifinalists were announced this morning; finalists for the prestigious award, dubbed “the Oscars of the food world,” will be announced March 21, with the winners announced at a gala ceremony in New York on May 9. The news comes just two days after Willmann, Josh Galliano of Monarch and Anthony Devoti of Five Bistro garnered national attention with inclusion on Food and Wine magazine’s list of People’s Best New Chef nominees, a new award where diners vote to determine the winner.

In a Saucy turn of events, The Scoop unexpectedly became the bearer of the exciting news this morning when sending a text message of well wishes to the three chefs. Neither Craft nor Nashan had realized that he had been named a semifinalist. All three chefs expressed their excitement for the honor. “My only words are I love U STL,” texted Nashan. Willmann responded, “I’m so excited for STL and all of her great cooks!” While Craft texted, “The feeling is good with big plans in the works.” However, he did not enumerate what those “big plans” were.

In addition to Food and Wine’s annual Best New Chef award, the magazine has launched the first ever People’s Best New Chef award – a title granted by the people rather than the magazine’s editors – and three local talents are on the list. A Saucy congrats to Josh Galliano, executive chef at Monarch; Kevin Willmann, executive chef at Farmhaus; and Anthony Devoti, executive chef at Five Bistro, who are all in the running for the title of People’s Best New Chef for the Midwest region and a profile in the July 2011 issue of Food and Wine.

You can do your part to ensure one of these local chefs takes home the medal by voting for your favorite here.

And another Saucy shout-out to Sauce snapper Greg Rannells whose photograph of Devoti is featured on the awards’ official Web site.

Now get voting!

All of our coverage of Josh Galliano

All of our coverage of Kevin Willmann

All of our coverage of Anthony Devoti