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Here's to the local restaurants, to the chefs, owner, operators, the staff, the ones who love being in the weeds night after night.

When we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind, from where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food is Love.

In the restaurant world, Monday is a day of rest.

Most dining establishments are closed on Monday.

It's a time to gain steam for the coming week and reset the restaurant for the next rush.

A rare break for restaurant people to hopefully treat themselves to a dinner that someone else is cooking.

But there are some who have chosen to forego that Monday off, to subject themselves to the possible scrutiny from hungry chefs all over the city.

With so many culinary personalities and stars in St. Louis, Where do chefs go on their day off?

We are trying to find out who's behind this secret spot.

And what kind of person can bear the pressure of pleasing such a fine clientele.

As a chef, I need to stay curious in order to evolve.

For me, that means looking beyond a good meal to learn more about who made it, what inspires them to cook.

"La comida es amour", every great city has great food.

I'm going on a journey around the world.

Right here in St. Louis.

I'm on a quest to find passionate chefs who cook from the heart, to prove that food is love.

And it's going to be delicious.

Food is love.

Love your food.

Louis on Demun.

Tucked out of the way on a side street with a sign that says, Drive like your kids were playing here.

It's actually no secret for St. Louis restaurant professionals that Monday night at Louis is a given.

People talk to me about it a lot.

When you're not cooking, where do you go to eat?

A lot of us go to Louis on Monday, and that place is like the standard of hospitality, and it's just like the epitome of good wine, good food, and they're so consistent.

It is insane, and it's very simple.

And that's one of the reasons why I like that too, because it's comforting to me, the impeccable hospitality and warm aesthetic of Louie, coupled with simple and delicious dishes makes it a magnet for industry people all over the city.

The creative behind Louie is Matt McGuire.

But when you hear people talk about the experience at Louie, it's always about the food and the atmosphere.

Somewhere in the crowded dining room, amid the flurry of wait staff and conversations, the orchestrator of this madness is blended into the background.

It's almost as if he likes it that way.

But who is Matt McGuire?

Interestingly enough, a friend of Matt's is a fellow Southern Illinois.

Jordan has been with Louie from the start.

Perhaps he can spill some tea on Matt.

You're the face that everybody says hello to when they come in here, right?

Yeah.

I'm your typical greeter at the door.

Yes.

We have something in common.

I'm from Southern Illinois.

You're from Southern Illinois.

Born and raised Southern Illinois.

I know.

The industry professionals that I know.

They're all saying this is the place to come on Mondays.

Yeah.

And we're sitting here now.

It's Monday, so it'd be a busy day today?

It's going to be a very busy night tonight.

Basically.

There's so many places in St. Louis that are closed on Mondays.

Mondays can actually be one of the busiest days out of the week for us sup.

What I find interesting about Matt is he's not self promoting.

So it's not like Louie is all about Matt McGuire.

He likes to stay kind of back in the hidden part of it.

You can find him on any given night reading tickets and slicing parma ham on this cool and very expensive slicer.

But the first time I was in here for dinner, before I actually met you, you were up here slicing.

Yeah.

So you do a lot of that slicing?

Oh, yeah, six days a week.

The talk is that motorized slicers move really quickly and you don't get the cut of the fat as nicely.

Okay.

I don't know if that's true.

I just think it's more it's aesthetically pleasing Yeah, for sure.

An electric slicer goes very quickly right, and the wheel You can go as slow or as fast as you want and it's not going to change what the cut is.

Like the curator of a lost art, slicing transparently thin pieces of salty goodness to be enjoyed by the grateful group of followers that regularly comes here to eat well.

So the first time I was here I remember I had fresh peaches and prosciutto It doesn't get any better than that.

We try to make a big deal out of it and let people know because like anything that's wonderfully seasonal, you get this huge load of it and then it's gone.

Wow, that is beautiful.

Oh, yeah.

You just like Italian food?

I just like the food because of the straightforwardness of not standing in the way of the ingredients and the purity of ingredients and all about tradition of execution, like how it's made, what you use.

It's not really about a complicated recipe.

It's about learning a technique and using very good stuff.

And that's where my interest lies.

So starting with garlic, we poach it in olive oil, a bunch of basil fresh picked.

These are cherry tomatoes that we just cut in half and then roast in the oven with just salt and olive oil.

And if you want.

They just kind of taste like candy.

Really sweet.

Then we do burrata, the basil, the burrata, rest of the liquid from the tomatoes.

That's what brings everything together.

We just let the food speak for itself.

Yeah.

This is all good ingredients, right?

Exactly.

Simple, but very good ingredients.

This is known as an industry get together.

Does that put any pressure on you that you know, that you have all these people laying an eye on everything you do?

I mean, I want them to like it of course, you know, because they know what it, how much work goes into doing what we do.

If they have an appreciation for what you're doing, you know, you're hopefully on to something.

I'm certainly an enormous fan of all of theirs, and I would kill to have any of them come in and eat here.

Is that the pizza we just made?

Yes.

That went fast.

The pomodoro.

Yeah.

It's really fast, like two minutes tops.

So this is the pomodoro fresco.

And then if you wanted to top it with prosciutto, which is never a terrible idea.

Yeah, I want to, please!

A little bit of saltiness and unctiousness and nuttiness.

Wow.

To make the most of my evening, I'm having dinner with a foodie who's a big part of the St.Louis food scene.

Ashley from @STLFoodies.

Thank you very much for meeting me here, Ashley.

As the curator for STL Foodies on social media platforms and the brainchild behind the STL Foodies website, ashley has become an ambassador of great food experiences.

Her opinion of a place means a lot, so it all sort of checks out that Louie is her favorite place on the list When they first opened, I just started coming here a lot to eat, and it quickly became my favorite restaurant.

Delicious food, great atmosphere, and the best service I've ever had.

I actually met Jordy first, and he always made everything so fun.

And then I met Matt, and we got to talking about food, and we basically just had the same taste in all the food and all the restaurants in St. Louis.

But I think I come here at least once a week, and I've had literally everything on the menu.

It's just impeccable.

I would say it's simple food that's executed perfectly.

The service is the best that you could get in St. Louis and it's like a family atmosphere here.

Yeah.

You feel like at home when you come in here and sit down, I think.

There, cheers.

Yeah.

So, I mean, aren't you supposed to put it up together like this so it doesn't go out right?

Would you call this neapolitan or wood fire pizza?

I think it's a pomodoro or right?

Yeah.

But what style of pizza.

Neapolitan?

Yeah, neapolitan, for sure.

I don't know if Matt would I think he goes in between.

Yeah.

Wow, that's good.

The prosciutto was a good choice to add.

Matt asked me, what kind of pizza do you want to try?

I said one with prosciutto on it.

He made his own.

He has.

Getting to know Matt, not only did I become friends with Matt just through talking about food, but also I got close with the people who work with him and his kids.

So it's been, like, amazing building a friendship with him.

And he's so knowledgeable about the food world that with foodies, he gives me so much advice that's, like, very sage advice.

So what is your favorite thing to eat here?

I think it changes often, but I have to say that I always go for the roast chicken and the hummus and a pizza when I come here.

It's never just one dish.

Yeah.

Oh!

We've got the cavatelli Italian calabria sausage, brocollini, toasted garlic.

So the fun fact about this pasta is this is the dish that Matts daughter Grace has been prepping and making all week.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

You get so much power when people follow you and I know you have a lot of followers but I like the fact that if you see something you don't like you don't really talk about it.

Because everyone can also have .

For sure.

So it doesnt mean if you have one bad meal in a restaurant Even in my restaurant sometimes things go terribly wrong Definitely and look at what the restaurants have been through recently Yeah.

I think cooking and sharing your passion and your food is intimate.

So I would never want to tear that down And aslo right now you can't get enough labor.

I know.

So you walk into a restaurant and you sit an extra 15 minutes I mean its not the restaurants fault In all honesty, I don't even want to be seen as an influencer.

I think that's the other unique thing about foodies.

I never tell anyone that I'm coming to their restaurant.

I've never sent a message asking for anything.

I still run foodies the exact same way that I did at the beginning, where I just go to the places that I truly love and promote them on Instagram.

We have so many restaurants.

Yeah, I know.

But the number one spot is taken.

The number one spot is spoken for.

Okay.

Matt's got that one definitely.

And it's not biased, because he's a friend.

As a friend of Matt and his kids, hopefully she can shed some light on who the wizard behind the curtain really is.

Something else that I've heard a lot about Matt is that anybody he believes in that works for him he will help them grow into the best chef, best server, best bartender, mixologist, whatever.

He will help them get to where they need to go.

And I think that's amazing.

He has a lot of leadership in him.

Food is love.

Food is love.

I agree.

We should cheers that.

Yeah.

Great company and excellent food made more enchanting by the atmosphere of this place.

To make up for the fact that there wasn't much time to talk, Matt has invited me to spend some time with him at his farm.

He loves to cook out there and his kids come out and it's just a really peaceful place to hang out.

This could be the break I need to get to know him better.

A long drive out of the city takes me to the outskirts of Hermann, Missouri, on my way to a place that is special, sacred, even.

This is Matt's family farm.

It's where he retreats to make memories with his family and good food with friends.

The industry gatherings that has taken place here, are of legendary status.

To speak of the specialness of this place doesn't convey all that it is.

But to illustrate it a little, I'm casually greeted by a culinary legend of sorts.

Carey McDowell, books can be written about his experiences in the food world.

But just take my word for it, Carey is the real deal and he came from the same kind of old school kitchens as I did.

So what's your connection with Matt?

Matt is one of my best friends in the world.

Ive know Matt as long as I've been in St. Louis.

In fact, I married his bartender from years ago.

Well, I've heard so much about Louie, but I've never really known Matt because he's not coming at me like some chefs, they have awards and all that stuff, and I hear them all the time and he's kind of like completely just under the radar.

Yeah, I think he prefers it that way.

Yeah.

Which is, I admire that about him.

Yeah.

And it also says something about he wants the food to speak.

It's more about the project as a whole than it is him and his ego.

So this is his little sanctuary out here?

It is.

This is his family property.

And this is where all the pig roasts that were supposedly back in the day.

And we already got a bonfire going.

Yeah, that's what we're going to cook on, which is what I love to do and what he loves to do.

His intention is just to roast some beef on some coals on that fire, and it doesn't get more elemental than that.

I don't think a lot of people talk about it as much as they should, and he'd probably be anxious to hear me say this, but he's an artist, literally.

And his art, it just happens to be the restaurant industry.

You can't aim any higher than your peers want to come to your restaurant.

I go there just like when we talk about pizza, simple things.

What I love about that and what I think his intention is, there's nowhere to hide.

The aesthetic of the farmhouse is somewhere between a hunting club and a curiosity museum, but it feels comfortable here.

Scattered around are little clues of who is Matt McGuire, how they fit together to tell a story I'll probably never know.

But the rustic nature of this place lends it a safe feeling, the kind of feeling that tells you that you are somewhere with a lot of stories.

Looking around, it doesn't take long to gather that family has to do with that.

Speaking of family, Grace and Luca Matt's kids just arrived.

And this is what mise en place looks like at the farm.

A couple of saw horses and a sheet of plywood makes a nice table for it all.

Carey is building a bed of coals to cook over.

Ashley and her dog Piper has just shown up too.

Prep for dinner has begun and everybody's pitching in.

The kids are leading the charge.

We're going to roast potato, tomatoes, peppers.

So we're going to smash up that'll kind of develop the base of it and then, meat.

Do you want me to do anything?

No, no.

Lord no.

Clearly, Matt has taught them a thing or two about food prep.

Grace is a field hockey star for Iowa State and moonlights at Louis when she's at home.

She asked me, what's the need, in a legit way, do you need salt?

You need fat?

Do you need, whatever?

I get the sense that she doesn't see it in herself but she's a natural in the kitchen.

All the stuff we're going to eat on today Grace made every bit of the pottery.

Luca, Matt's son, also works at Louis, and both of them knows the ropes pretty well.

Oh, I love Sarah Vaughan.

It's great.

The weather is perfect, the food is cooking and wine is being poured.

It seldom gets as good as this.

Best of all, I'm finally getting a chance to talk to Matt myself.

Where did it all start?

I mean, you didn't just fall into the restaurant business?

Yeah, I guess, like anybody, I definitely fell into it.

I mean, I liked restaurants since I was a little kid.

I went to art school.

I thought I was going to be a painter and, you know, teach college.

I think that was what I thought I was going to do, and it's not what happened.

And I found myself working in restaurants and I found myself sort of drawn to the restaurant.

Like, I had a restaurant job and I was trying to make paintings and have a gallery and try to sell art, and I just liked going to the restaurant better.

I liked going to the hotels.

If I was working in the Ritz Carlton or I was working in a restaurant, I just wanted to go.

I wanted to know how they worked, how they functioned, and not just the cooking part, that's part of it, but the whole thing.

I wanted to know how the whole thing functioned.

I throw parties for a living, but you have to have the right kind of people.

And constantly, I think, the thing that I discovered that I was good at, I've always been sort of coalition builder.

Like, I love cooking.

My children love to cook.

Everyone that we're surrounded by loves to cook.

It's just part of our life.

But we also love the hospitality business.

And what I try to tell people is, honestly, what we're in search of all the time is people that have the emotional capacity to care for people every night and then also have the physical stamina to be able to do it pretty much every day of the week for years on end.

But unlike a lot of chefs that I meet, you don't really seek the spotlight.

When I was in the business, initially, nobody knew who the chef of a restaurant was.

I mean, there were certainly famous chefs in the country, but to think that Andre Saltner, that Lutece I guarantee you 80% of the diners at Lutece in New York City didn't know that Andre Saltner was the head chef.

It's the prosciutto slicer you have that really, it's like looking at another person's Mercedes.

Yeah, I'm looking at that.

I don't have a Mercedes, but I do have that.

I think it's better than having a Mercedes.

Yeah.

So I really believe that restaurants that or food places are most successful that reveal the work.

Meaning, like, I think historically, we used to bury all the work in the back, and that's just because dining has changed so much.

I had plenty of people telling me, don't put your pizza oven down there.

Use that for seating.

I was like, no, I need to have activity.

I need people to see stuff.

It's essential to have the work be revealed.

When I was a kid, my parents, they were going out to eat prior to going to the theater or whatever or show, or they would eat after going to the symphony or the theater late.

Eating out now is the thing.

It's the whole night.

I really think the the kinesthetic, the sort of activity part is essential to the place, meaning you have to have activity.

You know, like, you're a chef, Carey is a chef.

I'm a restaurant guy.

I'm not a chef.

I'm not interested in that.

I'm way far more interested in providing consistent, straightforward things that are known.

And the thing that I kind of really, I think, got into is the psychology of what it is to take care of people and then have the ability to do it for a sustained period of time.

You have to be the right kind of person.

Cheese, wine, more food on the way.

I can do this every weekend.

I mean, I really like it here.

And Matt is such an accommodating host.

You get the sense that he likes to take care of people.

After disappearing a little bit, Matt reappears with some clay targets and all the swagger of a skeet shooting pro.

Usually this is the part of the episode my producer shows me getting hurt, or making a fool of myself.

However, today I am determined to show off my skills instead.

So, chef, you're loading one.

I'm going to throw a target out there.

After you call for it, you get it on your shoulder, get your head down.

Okay.

And I'm going to try to just throw it out as straight as possible.

But when you call for it, I'm going to throw it.

So what do you want to say?

Pull?

Pull.

Okay.

Pull.

Good.

That might have been a Lucky shot.

No.

Don't get your hopes up.

No, you adjusted.

Not too bad, if I can say so.

And everyone is giving it a try.

The food is ready, and we are hungry In the same eclectic way the rest of the house is furnished with curiosities, The dinner is served on an antique wallpaper table surrounded by pictures of Matt's mother and displays of his kids artwork.

It's the perfect setting for this meal.

I like this cup alot.

What is it?

It just gives a whole back story on the back of it.

La Chateau Frontneck.

Yeah.

French and English.

Yeah.

Your grandfather made a lot of money working for the Quebec tourism board.

My dad would go, right.

He was the king of the fluff piece about the place and his favorite place, And he had lots of favorite places, as long as they had beer He loved Quebec.

He loved Reykjiavic Iceland, too and he loved Vancouver, and he loved Copenhagen.

He thought it's the best city.

He thought it was the greatest city in the world.

Copenhagen.

Yeah.

And I've never been there.

Just lifestyle, history.

They have it figured out.

They have it figured out.

Well, I mean, you know, what Danes can teach Americans is about hygge.

Is what we call it.

Have you heard that term used yet?

Hygge.

Hygge?

Yeah.

Hygge is, you know how people are talking about Danes are the happiest people in the world?

Yeah.

And it's because we treasure hygge, or we think it's more important than making money.

And what hygge is,.. What does it mean?

Well, it means just like what we're doing right now, this here, what we're doing right now is hygge.

So hygge is when you're with friends, loved ones, you're going to sit down, you're going to relax.

The food is just a part of us talking.

As human beings, we connect, We get to know each other, because there's much more value in that than making money.

And if that's what you focus on, you'll be happier.

Right?

I can stay here all night and trade kitchen stories with these guys.

I had these shoes on.

There was fancy shoes.

He had an extra chef jacket.. Then he goes, do you have an offset breadknife?

And Wendell goes, "Okay, he can stay."

(laughing) Because he knew when he asked for the bread knife!

But I love this conversation, because we all connect with that, because we live that, understand that, it's our battle scars as chefs.

Right.

And I sense they feel the same way.

Today was special.

The kind of day, you know, you'll always remember.

To be invited to this intimate place to share a meal with everyone here Gave me a chance to see Matt outside of the restaurant, to see him in the kitchen here, to see how he patiently worked with everyone today.

To me, that's an indicator as to why he has such great kids.

If you find a replica of this, give me a call, will you?

Look at crescent moon.

The river is right there.

If we're real quiet, you'll see turkey and deer cross that little shoulder in front of that group of trees all day.

I mean, they won't now because we've been shooting like, 7000 shells, but prior to that,..

I'm only on the gun side of things in terms of shooting birds.

And now I don't hunt anything unless I'm going to eat it immediately.

I used to hunt deer when I was young, and then I don't know, it's kind of exhausting finding nobody wants any of it.

You turn it into sausage.

I want to thank you, though, for inviting us out here.

It's been incredible.

No, it's been wildly enjoyable.

Sitting, talking to you and Carey, honestly, is the best thing I've done in a very long time.

So who is Matt Maguire?

From my experience, he's a creator, a teacher, an artist.

He's patient, unpretentious, and passionate about whatever he's doing, whether it's cooking, hospitality, or being a dad.

Pours all of his strength into taking care of others..

I think Carey nailed it, Matt is a creative whose medium is the restaurant business.

Matt is someone who cares about the way his restaurant makes the diner feel, that is reflected back in the way that people love to eat there.

It's an exchange of love.

Yes, the food is unbelievable.

Yes, it hums with excitement.

Yes, it's very consistent.

I'm so enamored with the prosciutto cutter.

This is really an ode to that, roasted pear and prosciutto.

The ingredients really speaks for themselves.

You have the roasted pears, Danish blue cheese, and then, of course, great Italian prosciutto.

And it's simple love.

You feel taken care of when you're here, simply because you are.

That's what makes it an authentic experience.

Matt works tirelessly to make the thing be as real as it can be.

And I think that says more about Matt McGuire than I ever could.

Food is love.

Here's to the local restaurants, to the chefs, owner, operators, the staff, the ones who love being in the weeds night after night when we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind From where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food Is Love.

Support for food is Love comes from Natural Tableware, supplier of sustainable green alternatives to plastic tableware.

Support also comes from Moonrise Hotel, a boutique hotel located on the Del Mar Loop in St. Louis.