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For a St. Louisan who also loves food, what could be better than coming back to one's hometown and starting a great (and popular) restaurant? How about re-igniting a well-loved old favorite that had fallen unfortunately dark? That is exactly what Aaron Teitelbaum, executive chef and co-owner of Herbie’s Vintage 72 has done. The restaurant is a re-imagining of long-beloved Balaban’s in the Central West End. It’s housed in the same spot and the menu even features several of that restaurant’s classic dishes. As they come upon their one year anniversary, Teitelbaum sits with us to share his inspiration and hopes for the future.
You had owned Monarch for about four-and-a-half to five years when you bought this place. Why the decision to jump in and start a new restaurant?
Well, we had been looking for a new restaurant for about a year. Our friend did own this beforehand as the Balaban’s we knew, and was trying to get out. The funny thing about this location is, when I first moved back to St. Louis to open up Monarch, this was the first location we looked at. The price tag was too high on it, and so we decided against it and found where Monarch is today in Maplewood. Looking back at it, I’m ecstatic that I didn’t put Monarch in here, ‘cause it would’ve failed miserably!
Why?
Because I think this building is built for a Balaban’s-style restaurant. We’re just bringing it back to life. It’s not us doing anything new and creative; it’s us just opening the doors again.
You could have bought the space and called the new place Teitelbaum’s. Why the decision to reopen a beloved restaurant?
We hadn’t planned on doing it this way. This opportunity fell into our laps that this place was available at that time. We were looking at doing a completely different concept. The only thing that we felt would work in this space was a Balaban’s. And I grew up going here; I love it. There’s so much history in this building that to change it would have been going against the grain.
The food here has been described as French-American bistro fare. For people who don’t know, what does that mean?
It leaves the window open for pretty much anything, but I get most of my influences from French cooking and then regional American [cooking]. So, you’ll find in a lot of our cuisine French-style sauces. And then you’ll find a lot of our cooking techniques to be with wood burning grills and sautées, so that gives us the French and American style. We also focus on very clean and represented flavors; we’re very true to what we’re cooking.
What makes this place special?
The people that come here. The clientele and the fact that it’s such a melting pot of guests that come through this door. And then my kitchen puts out consistently great food all the time. When you walk in here this place is a big hug. You know what you’re going to get when you walk in the door. It’s kind of the Cheers, in our eyes, of St. Louis.
You said the menu is about half and half new items and things that were on the menu at Balaban’s. Can you take me through the process of creating the menu?
We put together a team that worked at Balaban’s. We contacted the owner’s wife, Adalaide, and got recipes from her, and then we contacted former chefs from here and got recipes. Then we just took them to the drawing board, and things we didn’t have recipes for we created. The only recipe that’s here and true to the original is the cucumber bisque. Everything else has got our twist on it in some way and been reworked.
What do you want people to think when they think of Herbie’s?
That you’re welcome. This is truly our bistro, brasserie style restaurant. Come as you are, come in and just have fun.
How do you run the kitchen and a whole restaurant?
I’m a front and back-of-the-house person; at both my restaurants the relationship between the kitchen and the dining room is very important. Everybody shows each other the same respect and is treated on the same level. That’s huge for us, the respect level.
Check out what it's like inside the kitchen at Herbie's Vintage 72...
