Support for food is love is provided by Wild Alaska salmon and Seafood.

100% fisherman family owned independent Seafood sourcing catching processing and delivering Seafood directly to the consumers front door.

from caught to bot wild salmon direct from the fisherman information at Wild Alaska salmon and seafood.com in the tradition of classical chefs before me my education was steeped in the rules that governed the French culinary world.

To be classically trained, It's kind of like being part of a guilt.

I've been fortunate enough to hone my craft with some of the literal Giants of the food world, people like Paul Bocuse Fretty Giradet, My mentor Jan Pederson and of course my father.

It almost feels like a bygone era, the focus that was placed on the details the pomp and circumstance.

Neatly pressed jackets and polished shoes was as important as what went into the dish.

For me the old school way still holds a lot of charm.

Sometimes it feels like there's been a changing of the guards, but all it takes to restore my faith is a good meal.

Saude!

As a chef, I need to stay curious in order to evolve for me, That means looking beyond a great meal to learn more about who made it and what inspires them to cook.

Every great city has great food.

I'm going on a journey around the world right here in St. Louis to find good food and experience other cultures.

I'm on a quest to find passionate chefs who cooks from the heart, because food is love.

Food is love love your food.

I wanted to do more than open a restaurant.

I wanted to create a neighborhood.

This is Ben Poremba, visionary Chef, serial restaurateur and all-around renaissance man.

On this corner alone He has his hand in a half a dozen different businesses, including his restaurants.

Elia Olio and Nixta, each offering a unique dining experience to attract new blood to the neighborhood.. and it's working An immigrant originally from Israel.

Ben has a strong tendency towards the old ways, tempered with a progressive ambition.

That he has used to almost single-handedly bring a forgotten slice of St. Louis back to life.

We opened three restaurants in three months.

At the center of it all you guessed it food.

My egg salad.

After showing me around his.

retail store AO & Co we grab a cup of coffee and a quick bite of breakfast before we start the day.

For this place I want a nice little old lady like my mother or like my grandmother to be able to sit and have a coffee and eat a sandwich.

It's not going to be abrasive to them.

But good ingredients good bread, of course simple sauce.

I like on Saturdays to go to the farmers market is down the street from me.

Okay.

So Tower Groves Farmers Market to me is one of the most important things that happened in St. Louis that place has directly to do with the kind of quality of restaurant that we see in St. Louis all the relationships that I have with Farmers with artisans.

Go back date back to that place going to a good farmers market and meeting that is just for me It's like going to church.

You can buy a product that someone grew with love and it's all here and you can tell somebody I bought this tomato from so-and-so this morning from the, and this is something very very special about that.

I mean it sounds querky, it sounds querky, but there's something very very special about that.

Well, I think so.

Let's go to church.

Let's do.

We are driving on Tower Grove to our right is the Botanical Gardens.

That's why that's why I'm here.

That's why I'm in this corner.

And that's one of the things that kept me here in this city this park and is botanical gardens in this market that that makes St. Louis a community.

If I get to see something I like and I bring it to the restaurant, I want to use it tonight, My cooks are all going to be we've already had a plan throwing a little wrench in their plan.

Hi, how are you?

Good good.

I want this all of them.

All right, I'll take all of them.

Are these paw paws?

Yes!

Those are the last of the year, you know, I've never developed the palate for Paw paws'.

The variety here is impressive the term a kid in the candy store isn't enough for how I feel right now.

For chefs all over St. Louis the Farmers Market is an amazing resource be able to hand pick special ingredients like paw paws, exotic vegetables You can buy rabbit.

Rabbit Did you say?

Yes, they have that here too.

Rabbit liver and rabbit liver.

I love using humble ingredients and elevate them.

Oh, this little bitty or okra, I love little bitty okra.

I like the small ones though.

I associate okra with really homey Kinda Yeah, but kind of dishes, but that's the interesting thing.

Take something very very expensive and put together with something humble.

Oh, I love that this that's the idea.

That's the idea.

Yeah.

I love it.

The farmers market is no doubt a part of what lends a fresh edge to restaurants like Bens.

It's basically Farm to Table with lots of fresh ingredients to work with we're headed back to a Elia to formulate a plan for tonight's menu.

Chef join us.

So he's writing down a million of the things that we have on hand and we're coming up with a coming up with a menu and sometimes things don't end up on the menu, right?

We always have more than we need.

So we have the cured trout.

We have whole sea bream.

We have fillets of Branzino.

We have braised, not braised, sous-vide short ribs.

We have octopus we have to chorizo we have our chicken thighs with chicken liver mousse.

We have lamb neck.. cook the chorizo Like a almost like a ragu.

Take it off the casing, you know do the skewer the octopus.

I want to say I want the scallop is the second course grilled not raw.

Where are we sticking that Sauerkraut?

We originally were planning on doing a braised lamb and sauerkraut dish.

We had it with pork belly last week.

But our we're done with pork belly.

Now the sauerkraut's got to go maybe is its own thing.

Maybe it's part of the maybe as part of the chicken or the beef.

I love the sauerkraut grilled, grilled Sauerkraut is probably one of the best things it combines all the my favorite.. See I, I would put that with the scallops.

You know, that's that was when I when I heard that we don't have a scallop dish butternut squash puree.

Sauerkraut grilled sauerkraut and smoked scallops.

I'm telling you that's gonna be good that's going to be incredible over the last month and a half.

I've been buying whole derides because I wanted to grill them.

Yeah, and nobody's buying them.

We put a whole fish.

We had we didn't even put it on the menu.

For that matter we didn't last week, but it's here.

And then what I do at the end of the night, I grill one I go sit outside and I eat it almost everything.

I would say almost all of our proteins undergo some kind of a process before they're actually we never get just a piece of meat and put it on the grill.

It's either cured or aged or sous-vide or smoke or something is happening including fish By the way, we age fish and we'll brine fish and we'll cure fish it's about concentrating flavor.

There's nothing as cool as getting to help.

Imagine a menu in someone else's restaurant.

I think we got it.

We're gonna go visit Chef Nene at Nixta real quick.

When you spend a day with Ben Poremba There's very little time to catch your breath.

We're heading across the street to check out the kitchen at Ben's Mexican restaurant Nixta.

Tell me the concept here.

It's this is a Mexican restaurant.

I'm called Nixta.

Nixta is kind of a shortened version of the word nixtamal nixtamal is the process of turning corn into Masa.

This is the Dakota Dakotais our chef at Nixta is also one of the cleanest most organized young Chefs Dakota are you 25?

Yes Chef.

25 years old.

You haven't seen maturity like that in any, Ive never.

I've never seen it I mean everything.

Is neat and his food is like that too.

We got the spit.

We do, you know El Pastor or you have some El pastor down below and you know that this was Lebanese immigrants to Mexico City brought with them the spit cooking.

So here again, the Middle East is in the heart of Mexico in addition to what I said about Dakota being talented and hardworking and eager and a good student.

I mean he really studies it does homework reads, immerse himself in the cuisine.

Every restaurant in America had an octopus dish everybody was doing octopus, food writers from Food and Wine and for them to say that this was the best in America was a huge honor.

We're going to come back for it tonight.

Okay, because it's really is the best octopus I've ever had.

He's he's improved on a tremendously it was already the best and now it's better than best.

That's what it's all about, right?

My father said, you know what Champions do?

They start at their best and get better.

That's the definition of a champion.

This kiddo is getting married to Tuesday.

He seems calm.

The most rewarding aspect of this job.

And this is going to be controversial.

is not the customer.

I love my customers.

I need my customers.

Yeah, but there is nothing more rewarding.

This job is watching these guys.

work when I watch Dakota making this food over here.

There's nothing more rewarding than that.

Now I'm partial but I think that's the bestEl Pastor you can have in the country in the country.

You heard me?

Yeah.

Oppa all right, a lot of flavor a lot of depth.. but still street food.

Dinner service will begin soon and I'm eager to see how the plates come together here.

Methodical, calculated, disciplined.

The energy in the kitchen here is palatable and Ben runs his line like a general going into battle.

I see Im missing the basil oil on it guys I don't like when I have to repeat myself.

Mistakes are not an option, the focus on the entire kitchen is on delivering an experience and each part of crew plays a vital role.

I don't know if you noticed that we are working tonight without a dishwasher.

You don't see anybody complaining, they all, front of the house back of the house They're all jumping on it helping each other doing it together.

Yeah, that's a team.

It's a well-oiled machine to say the least.. Ben's respect for the ingredients and avant-garde style brings a level of sophistication to his dishes.

I worked in kitchens all over the world.

This is Just the kind of chaos that I like.

I feel that I fit in here like I can walk in on the line.

And because yeah, it's very European to me.

Yeah.

Yeah and I like that.

You know, I'm like my hands are like I want to do that get in there.

I want to get in there get in there.

Yeah.

It's very Zen.

It's very I like that.

Um, we're not a big restaurant obviously we're tiny restaurant, but there's a lot of plates.

I haven't had the opportunity for this for a while.

So this is a great feeling it brings back memories.

Yeah, you know.

Throughout the day.

I couldn't help taking note about connections, philosophies and similarities that Ben and I share but perhaps the most interesting connection is his taste in movies.

I watched Babette's Feast at the age of eight or nine.

I watch it every year since.

Bens favorite movie is a 1987 Academy Award winning movie called Babette's Feast.

In The Culinary World the movie became a cult classic for the intricate dinner it's centered around.

I am very proud to be a part of the food behind the film.

The movie itself was a catalyst for my move to the United States.

But today I don't meet a lot of people that remembers the movie as intimate as Ben.

I want my hair stood.

I just I couldn't believe it.

That's the reason I fell in love with food to begin with.

My mom was a chef, but that's the reason I fell in love with food.

I love it so much and my opening menu at Elia had Kai Un Sarcophage.

Kai Un Sarcophage and I almost named my daughter Babette I love that movie so much.

Really?

Yeah.

Wow, you know the movie is old enough now that a lot of people, you know are not familiar with it.

But that's the reason why I'm in America.

I have a VHS copy of it and to learn it's always been his favorite.

The and what inspired him to cook well that makes our friendship seemed like it was inevitable.

Sometimes the stars align.

The story will go on forever.

You know, that is the essence of food is love that movie is the essence of food is love it is and what it does to the community.

Just as I'm starting to understand the flow here, then switches gears again and we head back across the street to Nixta to try the octopus dish that Food & Wine magazine called the best in the country.

We are steaming the octopus.

It's very very tender and then we deep fry it and toss it in this incredible aromatized salt.

Maybe it's the process of steaming the octopus that creates the flavor and texture but whatever.

Secret is it's remarkable Ah, that's good.

That's so good.

Yeah, the one thing I liked about the octopus is that you get his big meaty tentacle.

But over here you get the crispy bits of the end of the octopus.

So you get several different textures as you eat it down.

I try to now tell my cooks I said know you're in control, manipulatE IT take it farther, have reverence to it.

Don't do it injustice, but don't be afraid to pretty it up.

Don't be afraid to go aggressive because when you go to a restaurant, you don't want something bland just you know, you want something that just stops you.

Let's do it!

Back at Elia and still swallowing My last bite of octopus, Ben has started to make us his favorite fish, scored, grilled and simple seasoned served whole, it's the little details that makes all the difference the way I clean the grill grate, but also add flavor is very common in my country it take half an onion you dip it in oil and you prick it with a carving fork and you rub it on the on the on the grate of the grill.

This is right up my alley.

Anytime Ben makes this meal he invites one of his waiters, Joe to eat with him.

Well, you see show us what it is.

This is carretera professional you your student ID.

Basically yes from 1975.

Originally from Portugal, Joe represents the old-school European waiters.

who are skilled not only in tableside service, but in the kitchen as well basically training to become a chef first before becoming a waiter this kind of skill set is not common anymore professional passport.

Yeah.

So so so what happens is you finish your education and you get this and it allows you to work crossing borders.

How foreign Is that concept that you go to school to be a server?

There was no difference between being a server a pastry chef or Chef.

It's equally important.

The education is the same.

A server used to do so much more, you know, they used to finish sauces.

They used to carve table side.

Yeah.

It was a demanding job.

They were an extension of the kitchen.

There was no like Backhouse front of the house, it was It was part of the same team.

I'm a young restaurateur.

I'm 40 years old, for me It's a very very special endeavor and I don't want to lose a sense of tradition and history and Foundation, right?

And that's why I love so much and I'm so honored that Joe is part of my team because it brings that old world knowledge that is so lost.

And he's teaching it!

The food is not enough.

It needs to be the wine knowledge the education.

Theatres around the service.

You know how to make a pressed duck?

you know, like all of that it is so impressive.

I mean you should see my New Year's Eve the way he pours champagne he ties his thing it does this thing.

It's incredible the meal shared by the three of us was simple, but powerful.

It feels like old times in a way.

It was like eating with family that I've never met before tonight.

A beautiful moment the center of it food.

You're coming to my house tomorrow.

Yes.

It's a new house.

We're going to christen it together.

We're going to make a mess and like I couldn't think of a better guest to have in my kitchen the first night, you know, the guy who cooked at Babette's Feast!

I had a great night.

It was a such a pleasure being in the kitchen with you.

Oh my God, until tomorrow, cheers.. A fitting close to a long and satisfying day.

I'm going to have a good night's sleep tonight after this sancerre.

Herring is my favorite.

I know it's why I brought it.

I've been invited to partake in the first family dinner at Ben's new home.

I arrived at the mid-century modern a little early to help out if I can and there's plenty of prep to do.. Pizza is a big thing for the kids.

I never do fancy food with home, you know, it's usually one pot meals.. when you peel these off the wine you supposed to whistle.

Why is that?

So you don't eat them.

Oh, yeah believe me half of them are gone by the time I get home, I I can tell you just looking at the food.

I'll fit right into this family.

A little bit of Israel, a little bit of Italy, A little bit of homage to you, you know I couldn't resist but bringing the egg salad yet again.

Okay, Whitefish salad.

Mom made a cheese dip, what's in it Mama?

sun-dried tomatoes.. throughout his childhood Ben's mother worked as a chef and hearing her talk.

It's obvious.

She has had a great influence on his cooking style.

So much.

so in fact that Bens other restaurant The Benevolent King has a menu comprised completely of her recipes.

I told you yesterday.

I am fulfilling my mom's dreams for me, but for also for herself.

She never got to own her own restaurant like that, and we talked about a little bit yesterday.

La Fete De Babette., the fact that it's a female chef and when my mother cooked at a height of their career in the 80s and early 90s women were not respected as much as men and that really hurt my mom's career.

Yeah, and I think that a lot of my ambition a lot of work a lot of what I do I do because of my mom..I wanted to prove to the world that she's the best and I'm doing I'm fulfilling her dream.

You know, she never got to do what I do.

She never got to own restaurants and several restaurants and get James Beard nominations and all that stuff.

She's never had the opportunity to do it.

Nobody gave her time a day.

Yeah, you know, they didn't call her Chef they called her cook.

I loved it that movie that it's a female chef and she gets to cook.

She gets to be the star and it really made an imprint on me.

Did you teach him how to cook?

My mom was a culinary educator for an organization that women or women organization maybe for 40 years.

This place.

It was many people from all the world.

You know, it's a Jewish people.

He had Yemeni, Russia and I taught him cooking on what we have in Israel, but they taught me cooking, the Jewish Cooking from all of their countries like Paris , Iran, like Morocco, France This is the nice I had because all the Jewish people have the same tradition, but everywhere had another things cooking so, you know because of geographic distance, you know, Distance Jews lived in different countries and so they adopted a little bit of the cultures that they lived in obviously.

So if you're in Iraq, you would do something that resembles the Iraqi cuisine if you're in Tunisia, you do something that resembles Tunisian cuisine if you're in Poland you do something that resembles Poland but the concept is the same and so there's all these really really unique things, you know.

Yeah cool things you have a lot of similarities between but done completely differently right.

Is that tray of fish ever going to make it over here to me you think?

oh my god, is it going to make it there?

you got to make it You just need to get in there.

Isn't it Interesting.

We're sitting here sharing something like this.

That is Jewish or Israeli..or Danish?

or Danish Yeah, I mean German.

Yeah, I mean all these flavors is to me that's home.

That was the idea to make you feel at home.

There is no meal as nourishing as one that comes with good conversation and laughter.

The warm welcome from Ben and his family leaves me feeling full.

It's more evidence to support my belief, share a good meal with an open mind will find that we are more alike than we are different.

Elevating humble food at his restaurants Elia Olio and Nixta, Ben has attracted other people and businesses into the fold.

I do a lot of that humble against very very luxurious.

Like a fractal view of the neighborhood itself.

My time with Ben has been an experience that brought new life to what I thought was old and forgotten ways.

The polished shoes, pressed jackets, the simple things.. the style and discipline and a frame of mind that was the standard I grew up with as a young Chef.

To be called avant-guard is to say as an artist you embrace new ideas or new approach,.. but to be avant guard as a chef, is to know that as an artist you can create your life experience through your art and you can change the community around you.

What Ben has done here is exactly that.

I really wanted to uplift the community and I thought that food and restaurants do that.

I think that this part is corner and again, I'm not ashamed to say this anymore, is the most exciting culinary corner in the city of St. Louis because we have so many choices and you have so many incredible choices.

He's created a new experience for a once forgotten corner of the Lou and he did it with his art form, food.

Always remember to use your mother of pearl spoon.

Egg salad, caviar and a little Love.

This goes really well together.

In the words of Babette herself.

An artist is never poor.

Angela, thank you for your hospitality!

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Support for food is love is provided by Wild Alaska salmon and Seafood.

100% fisherman family owned independent Seafood sourcing catching processing and delivering Seafood directly to the consumers front door.

from caught to bot wild salmon direct from the fisherman information at Wild Alaska salmon and Seafood.com