First, there was the wondering: What would chef/restaurateur Steve Gontram’s next move be? Now, there’s only the satisfaction. At Five Star Burgers, the latest in a chain created by his father, Gontram is plating up some outstanding American food. Here, the creative force who originated Harvest and is considered a local pioneer in the farm-to-table movement, talks Turkey, goat and quail.
You’re famous for cooking meals and delivering them yourself right from the kitchen. At 5 Star, are you in the back or front of the house?
Both. Today I toasted 200 buns for lunch. On Saturday, I was expediting and running food. I do a little bit of everything. This afternoon I’m filling out W-2s for my employees.
What’s the farthest you’ve traveled for a great meal?
I had a great meal in the “Fairy Chimneys” area in Cappadocia, Turkey. This is an area of rock formations that look like huge stalagmites, and people live in them. Turkey is so gorgeous. The meal was very traditional, with Turkish coffee, clay-oven cooking and Turkish wine.
What’s the most unusual item on the menu at 5 Star?
On the core menu, the burger that gets the most raves is Dad’s Green Chile Cheeseburger, which is a New Mexico staple. Ours has crispy Hatch chiles, pepper jack cheese and green-chile mayo – it’s got a kick. We’re doing a fun burger-of-the-month year round, too. In January, it was the Goatburger, made with Jones Heritage Farm goat, topped with a little ancho chile-mango salsa and fried plantains.
You’ve been in Bon Appétit, on the Food Network and were invited to prepare dinner at the James Beard House in New York City. What’s the highlight of your culinary career?
Definitely the James Beard house. They can put me on the cover of Rolling Stone, but my career highlight will always be the Thanksgiving of ’98. It was a lot of fun and a great honor. I remember I did a yellow beet-Champagne as an aperitif, and fig-stuffed roast quail. It was like eight courses, a decadent meal.
Describe your single greatest episode of gluttony.
A 24-course tasting menu at Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit in New York, a few years back. There’s also the times when you whole-roast a pig with some friends and eat the whole thing. I’m a chef. I don’t have a dainty figure. It’s the indulgence industry. A couple decades ago, fine dining was all about caviar and foie gras, but it can still be pretty indulgent.
If you’re going to be drinking for hours, what’s your drink?
A low-alcohol session beer by The Civil Life or my drink of choice: a perfect rye Manhattan, which I call “Manhappy.”
That amazingly, amazingly delicious bread pudding at Harvest was your creation?
Yeah. That is a great dessert. I sold that when I sold the restaurant, though; I can’t sell it anymore.
You were one of the founders of the St. Louis Originals?
I was one of the three or four that floated the idea and brought everybody together. The core group was Cardwell’s, Annie Gunn’s, Tony’s, Harvest and a few others. Five Star is not in the group as of yet. The Originals are now centered on a rewards program called the Power Card, that can be redeemed at any of the restaurants. We’re just three months old and haven’t decided if we want to get involved in a rewards program yet.
Do you have any secret parking tips for 5 Star?
A lot of people don’t realize we have a massive lot in the back, and if it’s not the middle of lunchtime, there’s usually a space back there.
You worked for Wolfgang Puck at his Bay Area restaurant, Postrio. What’s it like to work for him?
Wolfgang was an awesome guy, very friendly, very eager to educate and offer advice – a very cool guy and a very shrewd businessman.
For your beef you sought out Creekstone Farms, where celebrated cattle expert Temple Grandin designed the facility. Have you met her?
Creekstone has their facility in Kansas, and she designed it from the ground up. I haven’t met her, but I’ve seen videos of her speeches and watched the HBO movie about her.
The 5 Star happy hour deals sound tempting.
Yes. From 4 to 6 p.m., seven days a week, it’s half price on all drafts, and mini burgers – call them sliders if you will – [are] anywhere from $1.25 to $1.50, and $2 cheese curds, and other specials. The mini burgers come in Angus beef, turkey, veggie and fried chicken.
What’s it like to work closely with your dad, who created 5 Star Burgers restaurants and operates them in New Mexico and Colorado?
It’s been fun. We’ve talked about this concept for a long time, and he has a ton of experience in the burger business. It’s fun to bring his knowledge and my chef background together and do creative burgers.
What’s the funniest and the most frightening thing you’ve seen in a restaurant kitchen?
The funniest was when we had a great server leave us at Harvest, and the kitchen decided we would bake him a goodbye cake, and we threw all this awful stuff in it including ghost chiles and served it to him with candles. He took a huge bite, and I don’t think he made it through service, I think he had to leave early. He was a good sport about it.
The most frightening was also at Harvest. One Saturday night we were extremely busy, and I was doing an osso bucco special, and I was searing off osso bucco and one slipped from my tongs and hit the pan of oil and splattered up and coated the back of my hand and burned the hell out of my hand. The skin was not really there. I was working the line, though, and there was no one to replace me. So I bandaged my hand up and kept it in a bain-marie of ice water and worked one-handed the entire Saturday night, which was pretty much an impossible task. That was a bad night. Every cook has a good burn story.
This article appears in February 2013.