NICHE VOTED #1 IN ZAGAT SURVEY
KPLR 11 News : 10/09
The results of Zagat's 2010 America's Top Restaurants survey have been released. The #1 restaurant in St. Louis is Niche in Benton Park scoring 28 out of 30 for Food...
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TED KILGORE CLAIMS BOMBAY SAPPHIRE AWARD - will compete in Vegas next month!
Riverfront Times : 7/09
Bombay Sapphire has tapped mixologist Ted Kilgore of Niche Taste Bar as the "Most Inspired St. Louis Bartender" in its contest to determine
-- quoting from the press release here -- the "most exciting, creative libations using Bombay Sapphire" gin.
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FARMERS & CHEFS ON WHY RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
Sauce Magazine : 5/09
The flavor of our food starts at the farm. Nobody realizes this more than chefs... "Gerard is savvy enough to come regularly snooping at the farmers' markets.
Usually, he'll be first in line," Duley said. Then she looked at Craft and added, "You probably don't want all the other chefs to know your secret." ...
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A STATE-OF-THE-GRAPE LUNCH AT BERINGER
Food & Wine Magazine : 4/09
At a roundtable cohosted by Beringer winemaker Laurie Hook, seven top Napa talents discuss the valley's vaunted Cabernet and have a phenomenal
lunch prepared by chef Gerard Craft of St. Louis's Niche.
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BREAKING NEWS: ST. LOUIS CHEF GERARD CRAFT NOMINATED FOR JAMES BEARD AWARD : Post Dispatch : 3/09
The accolades just keep pouring in for Gerard Craft of Niche restaurant: A few moments ago at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill in Chicago, finalists were announced for this year's
James Beard Awards, and Craft is nominated for Best Chef Midwest. His competition is Isaac Becker, 112 Eatery, Minneapolis;
Colby Garrelts, Bluestem, Kansas City; Tim McKee, La Belle Vie, Minneapolis; and Alexander Roberts, Restaurant Alma, Minneapolis. Winners will be announced in New York in May.
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link to James Beard Foundation
COOL, DETERMINED & UNDER 30 : Inc. Magazine : 10/08
Why He's One to Watch: Craft's penchant for experimentation can be seen in the menu, which features fried pig's head and lamb with white chocolate hummus.
"He's a pioneer in terms of both food and location," says Dana Cowin, editor of Food & Wine magazine...
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SAUCE AWARDS 2008 : Sauce Magazine
Favorite overall restaurant : 1st- Niche Restaurant
Chef of the year : 1st- Gerard Craft at Niche Restaurant
Favorite tasting menu :
1st- Niche Restaurant
Most artfully presented plates : 1st- Niche Restaurant
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A REBEL BEHIND THE STOVE : Post Dispatch : 4/08
Gerard Craft, owner and chef at Niche, 1831 Sidney Street, says "I like change. I like to keep it fresh.
I don't want to have a ´signature´ dish"
link to full St. Louis Post Dispatch article
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LOCAL CHEF NAMED AMONG AMERICA'S BEST : Post Dispatch : 4/08
Tom Colicchio of "Top Chef" is a past winner. So is "Mexico: One Plate at a Time" host Rick Bayless, as well as Rocco DiSpirito of "The Restaurant."
... And now, for the first time in the 20-year history of the award, there's a St. Louis chef among the winners...
link to full St. Louis Post Dispatch article
link to full Food & Wine article
GERARD CRAFT: A LOCAL CHEF FINDS
HIS NICHE AMONG THE BEST IN AMERICA : Post Dispatch : 4/08
Gerard Craft, chef and owner of Niche restaurant in the Benton Park neighborhood, is one of 10 chefs on the list of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs in America. -
"What we look for is a chef who is pushing the boundaries in some way - who will change the focus of food in the future,"
said Food & Wine editor-in-chief Dana Cowin in a telephone interview. "At the same time, the food still has to taste really good." ...
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BEST LOCAL CHEF (2007) : Riverfront Times
Gerard Craft isn't St. Louis' best chef because he might serve you bacon ice cream. That just makes him a badass.
No, Craft is St. Louis' best because he's likely to pair that bacon ice cream with that hippest of hip meat cuts, pork belly,
to a create a dish that isn't simply a clever joke or a lovely presentation - though of course it's both those things - but almost indescribably awesome...
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CHEF OF THE YEAR 2007 : Sauce Magazine
Of his contemporary take on American food, chef Gerard Craft said, "I don't try to say I have to be French, I have to be American, I have to be Spanish.
I just really want to be inspired and I want to cook for people what I'm feeling right then."
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Niche : Food & Wine : 2/08
At this hip spot in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Benton Park, I loved the thick, handmade pappardelle tossed with a sensational ragù of smoked pork shank.
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Fat City, Baby! Is a meal at Niche better than sex? : Riverfront Times : 12/07
A chilly September night. My girlfriend and I are standing outside Niche, waiting for a cab that won't arrive. We're tipsy from the wine pairings that
accompanied executive chef Gerard Craft's seven-course tasting menu. The meal itself has left us in a reverie. My girlfriend wanders down the block and takes a
camera-phone picture of a For Sale sign in a window. I call a different cab company and crave a cigarette. I don't smoke. Never have...
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Food Across America: St. Louis, MO : Food & Wine : 11/07
I found a free barstool at Niche, which 28-year-old chef Gerard Craft opened in 2005 after moving from Utah to St. Louis on a whim and convincing his restaurant
family-pastry chef Mathew Rice and manager Christian Schnurr-to come along. Seated to my left were some Niche staffers dining on their night off. They recommended a few favorites...
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30 Under 30 : St. Louis Business Journal : 7/07
Craft describes Niche's menu as "simple American cuisine with a contemporary twist." He said he chose St. Louis for his first restaurant because of the emerging local dining scene,
led by talented young chefs. "I wanted to be part of a group of restaurateurs trying to make changes, not just keeping up with the pack in New York City," he said...
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Taste Of The Region : STL Commerce Magazine : 8/06
Niche is an impeccably designed restaurant full of spirit, unique preparations, and an interesting perspective on St. Louis. The name's function is two-fold:
it not only describes the long, narrow restaurant's quaint position between two buildings, but also, as Executive Chef/ Owner Gerard Craft describes, "somebody's calling in life." ...
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Niche : STLtoday : 11/05
Credit one of the best new restaurants in St. Louis to, of all things, the Internet. The news that the chef, his wife, the pastry chef and the manager of Niche had moved here
from Salt Lake City begged the question: Why St. Louis?" ...
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