In honor of spring’s arrival, husband-and-wife chef team Wil and Lisa Fernandez-Cruz are hosting their first annual Calçotada Festival on Sunday, May 19th at Starr’s, located at 1135 S. Big Bend Blvd., in Richmond Heights. Calçotada is an idea borrowed from a yearly traditional festival bearing the same name that originated in the town of Valls, situated in Catalonia, Spain.
After a long winter, the festival celebrates the advent of spring and the fresh food that comes with it. This is achieved by wood roasting calçots (spring onions native to Valls), sausage and lamb, and dipping them (without utensils) into an earthy romesco sauce (all while drinking porróns of free-flowing rosé). Lisa was first introduced to the festival while working at Savoy in New York City, which celebrated Calçotada for nearly 20 years. When Savoy closed, Lisa moved to its sister restaurant Back 40, which also celebrated the festival. “We would bring in loads and loads of people – it’s just the most fun event ever. It’s like everyone coming out from under their rock in order to celebrate spring with so much food and wine,” Lisa said.
The Fernandez-Cruz’ moved to St. Louis from NYC late last summer to be closer to Lisa’s family and to open The Restaurant at the Cheshire, where the two worked as executive chef and executive pastry chef. Weeks ago, Lisa realized that this spring was going to be the first in many years that she didn’t celebrate Calçotada. “One of my friends suggested I throw the party here, and I wanted to, but I knew our house wasn’t big enough.” That’s when she and Wil decided, why throw a party just for their friends when they could throw an event big enough so that the community could come, too.
After six months working for The Cheshire, both Lisa and Wil left their posts, with Wil now running the kitchen at Washington U.’s fine-dining campus restaurant Ibby’s. “Our first six months here were pretty much nonstop work, and we didn’t have a chance to meet anyone in our community,” Lisa explained, adding how both she and Wil were raised in big families where food was always a communal celebration. “We just figured the St. Louis community would enjoy doing the same thing. It’s kind of something I want to pass on. Maybe people will feel inspired and throw their own Calçotada parties next year.”
This inaugural event starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. The Fernandez-Cruz’ don’t have an end time in mind – perhaps when the rosé runs dry. Tickets are $50 and include food and all-you-can-drink rosé. Seating is communal, both indoors and outdoors, but if groups want to sit together, they can indicate so on the ticket order, available here.
— photo by Ashley Gieseking
This article appears in April 2013.