What does it mean to become a restaurant regular? It could be your order, sent to the kitchen as soon as you walk in; it could be your favorite cocktail, waiting for you at 6 on Thursday evenings; maybe it’s just a friendly ‘hello’ and the occasional free pastry when you enter the neighborhood coffee shop.
For some, though, it means much more: standing reservations at the choicest tables, exclusive samples of upcoming dishes, and close relationships with the city’s most talented chefs. Such is the life of elevated cuisine enjoyed by Jeff Lehman, a St. Louis businessman and ‘patron saint’ of the St. Louis dining scene, profiled in Sauce magazine this month.
Lehman joined “Cityscape” with Sauce magazine’s executive editor, Ligaya Figueras, to deliver the rules of becoming a restaurant regular: respect the food and the chef; show interest; make conversation; and of course, go often.
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and sponsored in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.