Hearth of Gold

Nope, what I was thinking was: I'll have the lamb.

In the four years I've lived in St. Louis, visiting restaurants on my own dime and now reviewing them for the RFT, I've said this phrase or something like it so many times I can't possibly keep count. I'll have the lamb or the duck or the pork or the steak or the short ribs or the salmon or the fresh fish of the day.

If I don't have the crab cake to start, I'll have the butternut squash soup. If I don't have the crème brûlée for dessert, I'll have the flourless chocolate cake.

When you think of St. Louis restaurants, in general, a few categories probably come to mind. Pizza. Old-school fine-dining emporiums like Tony's or Kemoll's. Steak houses. Italian cuisine of questionable provenance.

In 2007, though, our strongest restaurant category may be a nebulous one. Call it New American or Modern Bistro or something else entirely. (Just make sure it's catchy.) It's a mix of classic rustic dishes, topnotch ingredients — preferably, local, in-season and organic — maybe a dash of fusion and a soupçon of showmanship.

The restaurants aren't identical: Moxy looks nothing like Atlas. Franco's cuisine has a French accent, while 1111 Mississippi's has an Italian note. But at each I could feel confident ordering "the lamb" or "the duck" with nothing more than a cursory glance at the menu to learn the exact preparation or accompaniments.

That way, at least, I'd regain the element of surprise.

I wasn't here when Harvest opened in 1996, so I can only imagine how surprising such a rustic menu, dependent on the seasons and the whims of nature, must have been. The fact that we now have so many restaurants that adhere to a similar mindset is a testament to the continuing success and influence of their local wellspring. And the food is so good, so hearty and comforting, that we return to it again and again.

So the field, as it were, has caught up to Harvest. And while I could tell you that Harvest's pea risotto is the best side dish I've had at any of these restaurants, that its hanger steak ranks a skosh above the strip steak at Atlas but a notch below the hanger steak at Balaban's, what fun is it to split hairs?

When I spoke to Stephen Gontram on the phone, he said something that struck me: that what continues to separate St. Louis from the restaurant culture on the coasts is that our restaurant scene isn't chef-driven.

Agreed. But I'd take it a step further. I think that as diners, we need to actively seek out new chefs as well as old favorites. While we're at it, we need to make clear to those old favorites that we'd like to see something new from them as well. Because although we might know what we love now, that's not half as exciting as not knowing what we'll love in the future.

Have a suggestion for a restaurant the Riverfront Times should review? E-mail ian.froeb@riverfronttimes.com.