Chef Chris Anderson, who leads the culinary team at The Inns at St. Albans, recently joined The Sauce podcast to talk about his path through some of the country’s most acclaimed kitchens and his plans for the historic property about 45 minutes west of St. Louis. Anderson shared his vision for the Old Barn Inn, his approach to American cooking and the experiences that shaped his career, from culinary school to a year at a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Lyon, France, and kitchens including Alinea, L2O and Moto. Here, he shares five St. Louis restaurants that showcase the kind of cooking he appreciates most.
Acero
“The pasta work here is pure perfection. You can feel the precise egg-yolk balance in the dough and that ideal al dente bite on every single noodle. They execute classic regional Italian dishes with incredible restraint, letting house-cured salumi, pristine olive oils and exact emulsion techniques do all the talking. It’s a great reminder of how transcendent simple Italian cooking becomes when the underlying discipline is totally mastered.”
Vicia
“Honestly, giving a basic turnip or radish the exact same respect you’d give Wagyu or caviar is pure brilliance. It’s farm-to-table discipline at its finest, where local Midwest vegetables are the absolute stars of the plate instead of an afterthought. You leave with a real appreciation for how much flavor you can pull straight out of the dirt when the technique is this sharp.”
Sado
“What really gets me is their dry-aging program for the fish. It concentrates the umami and transforms the texture in a way you rarely see off the coasts. Every piece of sushi hits that exact sweet spot between rice temperature, precise knife work and pristine seafood sourcing. It’s just top-tier Japanese discipline paired with modern ingredient care.”
Wright’s Tavern
“There are no fine-dining tweezers or crazy garnishes to hide behind here, which means the cooking has to be totally bulletproof. They take classic tavern staples, a perfect seared steak, insanely good fries, velvety sauces, and execute them at the absolute highest level. It’s a great reminder that pristine ingredients cooked with textbook precision will beat fancy gimmicks every time.”
Balkan Treat Box
“Walking in and smelling that wood-fired hearth immediately sets the tone. Pulling hot, pillowy somun bread straight out of the flames and pairing it with charred meats and bright, punchy spreads is about as good as comfort food gets. It proves that casual street food can carry real culinary soul when the underlying technique is this locked in.”
