The food at Tony’s doesn’t shout at you, but it doesn’t need to. Understated elegance and impeccable taste are hallmarks of this cornerstone of Italian cuisine in St. Louis, where pristine ingredients are allowed to shine. Chef Vincent P. Bommarito has been executive chef at Tony’s since 1985, and in that time he has watched tastes evolve. His clientele is demanding lighter fare with a more relaxed atmosphere, but the restaurant’s commitment to delivering the highest-quality experience hasn’t wavered.
How has Tony’s food evolved? It has gotten a lot lighter. Not so much cream, no heavy sauces, lot less butter. Change with the times. There’s a few dishes on the menu I could never take off for fear of being hung … [like] Lobster Albanello, which is lobster in a white sauce. It’s rich, but some people, they just love it. We’ve lightened up pretty much everything. We really don’t have any pastas that have a cream sauce. One that has a mushroom cream, but it’s not like an Alfredo kind of thing.
Is that a general trend in Italian cuisine? It definitely is. When you go to Italy, you don’t see heavy stuff. Maybe in the winter up north it does get heavier with squashes and butters, but it’s not French where it reduces for hours.
It seems as though chefs are going from a mid-century idea of Italian as having heavy sauces and a lot of cheese to things that are more seasonal and fresh. When you go to nice Italian restaurants either here in this country or in Italy, and you read the menu, you might not even realize that you’re in an Italian restaurant. You’re just reading a list of really nice ingredients that are put together. You might see a mozzarella cheese or roasted peppers or some other thing that gives you hints that it might be Italianesque. I think good cooks in general just want to use good, local, fresh ingredients.
St. Louis is known for Italian food; how do you see Tony’s fitting into the scene? I don’t know if we really want to fit in – we just kind of do our thing. We plug away, work hard, make good food, give good service.
You used to be known for extremely formal service. How has that changed? The [wait staff] used to have the tuxedos; that has gone by the wayside. We have ’em in black jackets and gray slacks. We’ve relaxed the dress code; you don’t have to wear a sport coat. We prefer [diners] to wear a sport coat on Saturday night, because that’s when people in St. Louis want to get dressed up and go out.
Dining out in general has become more casual. That’s the whole idea. We don’t want people to think, “We can only go there on our birthday or anniversary.” The prices aren’t crazy. They’re pretty much level with everyone else’s, and I think the quality of food and the standard of service is superior.
What does “modern Italian cuisine” mean to you? I don’t know if this is modern, but it’s “of the day.” … Last month or the month before, we did a deconstructed lasagna. It was just flaps of noodles in between layers of tenderloin with roasted tomatoes … with Reggiano cheese. It was really good.
Is your clientele looking for something that pushes the boundaries or do they want classic cuisine? Some people really get it and say that this is great, … so you try. It’s always an education to the customers. Some people who travel a lot and see a whole lot of things, they want to come back to their hometown and see it too. Some people are just more traditional and I get that.
So how do you keep both groups happy? We have the menu for people who are used to having what they want to have, and then we have the specials so that we can be adventurous. … And sometimes I’ll just cook for people. It’s not a special or it’s not on the menu … just whatever I want to [cook]. And I do that quite a bit. I’ll say, “Are you in the mood for fish or meat?” or “Should we do a fish course and a meat course?” and then just kind of go from there. I’ll just start from the two middle dishes and say, “What do you want to start off with, do you want it to be hot or cold?” Then I go from there.
And Anthony’s has a separate menu? We wanted everything on that menu to be under $20. We have pork, we have fish that doesn’t cost me $17 per pound, pastas, flatbreads, a different risotto every night … I’m making my own ricotta for out there. Lately I’ve been doing it on crostini with shaved Reggiano, roasted tomatoes and pine nuts. It sells like mad. I try to keep some things for Anthony’s only.
How do you see Tony’s and Anthony’s complementing each other? You know, it’s kind of nice. When people come in and they’re really casual, … but they really wanted to eat at Tony’s and are disappointed, we can walk them over to Anthony’s and give them a Tony’s menu.
Tony’s
410 Market St., St. Louis
314.231.7007
This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2009.