#stl Foodies Look Forward to Another Niche
Sep 28, 2009 St. Louis, chefs, missouri, restaurants
No longer a rumor, Chef Gerard Craft announced via Twitter last night that he has officially secured the Chez Leon space in the Central West End. Having spoken to him two weeks ago, he’d confirmed his interest in the space, but an agreement had not then been reached. The hopeful plan was a quick turn around to get the restaurant open quickly, and some additional weekend tweaking to get things just the way he’d like them.
Now official, he confirmed last night that they’d be “shooting to open Nov 1” and that the restaurant “will be called BRASSERIE by niche just as BOUCHON defines the style of the restaurant.”
He also commented that because of the use of Brasserie, the French word for brewery, “a much stronger beer list” would also be in the works.
Tags: BRASSERIE by Niche, Gerard Craft, Niche
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October 8th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
[...] #stl Foodies Look Forward to Another Niche [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Any recent word on an opening date?
November 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
To answer my own question, it looks like the soft opening is this week (11/13) per the SLM-Feast blog.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Has anyone looked at the menu at Brasserie by niche? When I looked at the menu for the first time I thought it looked great but then it started to bother me. I did not know why so I did some research on the menu. Most of the menu matches Bouchon Bistro by Thomas Keller almost word for word. It does not seem original. The chef must have relied too heavily on the French Laundry and Bouchon cook books. I hope to see some more originality out of Craft.
November 29th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
The similarities between Brasserie and Bouch does not surprise me. Both Bouchon and Brasserie are restaurants that focus on traditional French cooking. As a result, the level of creativity available will always be restricted and one should expect similarities in the dishes offered as each place will included popular traditional French preparations. Hopefully, Gerard and Perry Hendrix’s personal style will be demonstrated in the cooking in some ways, but I’m not ever going to be going to Brasserie looking for creativity; that’s exactly what Niche is for. As long as Brasserie has good execution of traditional French cooking, I’ll have no complaints.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:16 am
I have been to both Bouchon and Brasserie and they both are great. Bouchon was tiny compared to what I expected and more of a bistro than a “brasserie”. Brasserie by niche is what I would expect to find in the French countryside.