Last week, chef Colby Erhart assumed the top job at Walkers Restaurant and Bar. The chef, who lives near the South City restaurant at 6245 Gravois Ave., couldn’t be happier that his commute time is now all of two minutes.
Erhart most recently worked in the kitchens at Mosaic Bistro Market in Clayton and Prime 1000 downtown. He made the move from Prime to Walkers, he explained, because his close proximity to the restaurant enables him to spend more time with his infant son and because Walkers co-owners, brothers Griffin and Nate Walker, are close friends. He befriended the Walker brothers while training them in the kitchen at Chez Léon. (Erhart, a 2006 graduate from The Culinary Institute of America, worked his way up the ladder at Chez Léon and served as the executive chef at the French bistro when it reopened in January 2010 at its current location in Clayton. Erhart left Chez Léon when chef Marcel Keraval assumed the post in August of last year.)
Walkers opened in mid-March and, although Erhart plans to retain the “gourmet burger thing” at the restaurant, he is redesigning the lunch and dinner menus. When those are ready next month, look for more creativity on the menu, along with a wider selection of entrées and desserts.
This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2011.