Grand Sammies & Sides To Open Inside Grand Spirits Next Week

South Grand will soon have a new destination for sandwiches courtesy of a rising star chef and some familiar St. Louis restaurant industry players. Grand Sammies & Sides, from chef Pat Skiersch, will open inside Grand Spirits on Thursday, April 20, serving a small menu of classic sandwiches and a handful of side dishes from a window inside the natural wine shop and bar.

"I started working for [executive chef] Matt [Wynn] when he opened Salve last year, but I've always wanted to open my own thing and do sandwiches," Skiersch says. "Ever once in a while I'd bring Mike [Fricker] something I was working on, and one time, I brought him a sandwich I was passionate about, and he texted me 10 minutes later and said, 'Pat, this is awesome.' He told me that he and Meredith Barry were working on something at Grand Spirits and that he would love for me to be a part of it if I was interested."


A southern Illinois native, Skiersch came up in the St. Louis restaurant industry since attending the now-shuttered local campus of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. During his time in the program, he did an externship at the prestigious Flying Fish restaurant in Walt Disney World before returning to St. Louis to work at Niche and eventually Brasserie. Though he excelled in such upscale concepts, he always felt the pull toward more casual dining and hoped to one day do a sandwich concept that would be inspired by the reason he got into cooking in the first place.


"It all goes back to family for me," Skiersch says. "My dad was a self-taught cook; he loved cooking, had a passion for it and did everything he could to grow his passion with the time that he had. He taught my uncle everything he could, and my uncle ran with that and now does barbecue at home. They are both amazing home cooks, and I was fortunate to grow up around that."

Though Skiersch's father took every chance he could to cook, he was limited to mostly weekends because of his full time job. His mom worked outside the home as well, so weekday meals were usually casual and easy to prepare. However, this did not mean they were basic, with dinners consisting of pulled-pork sandwiches, peak-of-the-season BLTs, potato salad and his mom's special spicy chicken sandwich.

Skiersch picked up his father's passion for food, but he did not plan on making a career out of it. Instead, he went to school to become an oral surgeon, working three jobs alongside his studies. When his father got sick, he had to recalibrate and help his father with the business; his studies suffered, and eventually he dropped out of school, unsure of what was next.


During that time, Skiersch often found himself alone at home, where he had to cook for himself. He quickly realized how little he knew about the craft of cooking and decided to go to culinary school, even as he understood that the fine-dining path might not be his calling.

"While I was working at all of these places, I couldn't get it out of my mind that if I was going to be working 70 hours a week, nights, weekends and holidays for someone else's dream, it wasn't there for me," Skiersch says. "I kept coming back to something my uncle always said to me. He'd tell me every time I'd leave his house, 'Remember who you are.' That was very big for me, and when I think about who I am, what I've learned and what I want to do, it always comes back to sandwiches."

Grand Sammies & Sides, therefore, is a passion project for Skiersch, and he hopes that diners will taste that love in his food. He notes that he is not trying to do anything too over-the-top but instead wants to showcase classic flavors and great ingredients at their peak. Though he plans on expanding offerings as the place gets rolling, the core menu will consist of five different sandwiches and three side dishes, including a turkey panini with cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli, greens and optional bacon. A classic grinder will come with various charcuterie, provolone cheese, tomatoes, a salad of iceberg lettuce, red onion and pickled peppers, and garlic aioli, all tucked into a housemade roll. A vegetarian version, the Garden Grinder, will feature a French onion spread and assorted vegetables, and a breakfast-inspired sandwich will consist of egg, sausage and cheese.  Skiersch and the Grand Spirits team are particularly excited about the meatball sandwich, which will be made with Salve's excellent beef and chicken meatballs. The dish will be finished off with melted provolone, tomato sauce and herbs.


As for sides, Skiersch is excited to offer house-made chips, an orzo pasta salad with Kalamata olives, red onion, cucumber, feta and red onion, all tossed in a light lemon-dill dressing. However, the side dish nearest and dearest to his heart is the potato salad, a Cajun riff on the classic picnic dish that he and his family altered from the late great Paul Prudhomme's recipe.

"Paul Prudhomme's cookbook was my dad's bible, and he cooked through the whole thing; we call him Uncle Paul now," Skiersch says. "It has a charred scallion dressing, lots of hard-boiled egg, onion, celery and bell peppers. It's kind of spicy, but it keeps you going back for more because it has that something that makes you want to have another bite."


Grand Sammies & Sides will operate separately but in conjunction with Grand Spirits, similar to a walk-up food window inside a brewery. Guests can order through the Grand Spirits bar, pick up their food from the Grand Sammies counter to the right and enjoy it inside the bar area on on the front patio, which Fricker is expanding. Fricker and Skiersch plan on offering picnic baskets, including sandwiches, sides and bottles of wine, for those who'd like to enjoy their sandwiches and wine at the nearby Tower Grove Park. Those who prefer to enjoy their sandwiches without leaving the house can order through third-party delivery apps such as Uber Eats, Grubhub and Doordash.

Skiersch and Fricker are also happy to be adding to St. Louis' small but growing late-night eats scene. Grand Sammies & Sides will be open Thursdays from noon until 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from noon until 12:30 a.m. and Sundays from noon until 4 p.m.

"We're just looking at ways to make this approachable for everyone while using my background as a fine-dining chef to wrap a bow around it so it has these finishing touches," Skiersch says.

Scroll down for more photos of Grand Sammies & Sandwiches.



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