New fall dishes at Scape celebrate St. Louis at STLFW dinner

{From left, Jennifer Chun, Samantha Pleet, Emily Koplar, Michael Drummond, Fern Mallis}

This past week, several fashion industry notables flew in for St. Louis Fashion Week. On Wednesday evening, Fern Mallis, founder of New York Fashion Week, and NYC-based designers Jennifer Chun, Samantha Pleet and Casanova joined St. Louis fashion experts for a private dinner at Scape in the Central West End. In order to show off our region’s bounty, Chef Eric Kelly created a four-course chef’s table menu focusing on the seasonality of local ingredients. Dishes highlighted late harvest sweet corn, an abundance of mushrooms, and braised quail. “I think the meal went great,” Kelly said. “I think [Mallis] got a real nice sampling of St. Louis cuisine.”

Lucky for us, we don’t have to be style gurus to try these same dishes, for nearly all of them are now available on Scape’s new fall menu.

Guests began their meal with an amuse bouche of creamy fresh burrata in a shallow pool of extra-virgin olive oil, topped with decadent Osetra caviar.

Two Mano de Leon diver scallops took a quick brine bath in salt water before they were pan-roasted and drizzled with a mustard-lemon sauce. The scallops bookended house-made pasta tossed with pickled red onion, plump golden raisins, marcona almonds and wild mushrooms in a garlic-herb cream sauce.

Kelly utilized the last of summer’s bounty in a late harvest sweet corn salad topped with a nest of peppery arugula. Delicate chanterelles added subtle earthiness to caramelized sweet corn kernels, toasted walnuts and smooth, creamy aged chevre.

Scape pastry chef Colleen Johnston finished the meal with a rich chocolate pâté. The cloud-like dessert was paired with a house-made salted caramel gelato and garnished with an almond croquante.

 Sauce Magazine is a sponsor of St. Louis Fashion Week.

-Photos by Michelle Volanksy

This article appears in October 2013.