Sage Advice
New restaurants usually do a soft opening -- for the first couple of days they bring in family, friends, and the new neighbors for a shakedown cruise. Usually the food is on the house and you just pay for the booze you drink. The kitchen and waitstaff get to figure out how the place really works and how the traffic really should flow (as opposed to what it says on the blueprints).
Restaurant Sage took advantage of Taste of Clayton on Sunday to do a pre pre-opening. The restaurant is looking to be up and running by mid-July in the former digs of the Lynch Street Bistro (1031 Lynch Street, St. Louis). Chef Jack Mac Murray turned out his culinary brigade in force at Shaw Park, complete with a full mini-kitchen.
A charcoal grill at the back was cranking out 15 Spice Ribs. The meat was moist without being mushy. They ribs had not been smoked, but did have a rich flavor from the spice mixture which included some adobe paste.
Twin deep fat fryers were set up down one side perpendicular from the grill. Out of them came Crispy Cha-Cha Calamari -- flash-fried squid dunked in an Asian Aioli. The effect was captivating. The crisp hot breading and the soft/chewy flesh were in perfect tandem. The aioli sparkled in your mouth with a citrus/garlic tang.
A cold station stood across from the fryers. From it came the Shanghai Steak and Noodle Salad. What a kick-ass salad. Chunks of mango, shreds of Napa, and slivers of carrots were tossed with noddles, mint, and basil in a screaming rice vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste dressing. Three or four slices of chewy, peppery beef were laid on top and the whole thing rocked your mouth with every bite. Most Asian salads you find in St. Louis tend to be sedate, solemn, gaze-at-the-water-lilies-from-the-bridge affairs. When they are assertive it is more often from a bungled hand on the sesame oil bottle. Mac Murry displayed a Kurosawa deftness with his ingredients--each shouting for attention, each playing its role in a larger gustatory kaleidoscope.
Owner John Schute describes the Sage concept as Urban American Grille. This narrows it down just about not at all. Judging by my First Taste of Mac Murry's cooking, "Urban" is going to mean brash and diverse, a swirl of inspirations. It is also going to mean a great addition to the St. Louis food scene.