Photo by Sid Hastings
Sidney Street Cafe
Kevin Nashan enjoyed quite the year in 2014. In January, a group of locally and nationally renowned chefs gathered at Sidney Street Cafe to celebrate Nashan’s 10th anniversary as the chef and owner of the Benton Park institution. In March, he was named one of six finalists for Best Chef: Midwest at the James Beard Awards. (He didn’t win, but through 2014, no St. Louis chef had.) Then, in August, he opened his second restaurant, the Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co., a casual seafood spot that was an immediate hit. At Sidney Street, meanwhile, it’s been business as usual, with Nashan balancing tradition — yes, the filet béarnaise and wasabi-encrusted steak are still on the menu — with a much more modern aesthetic. My favorite dish from my most recent visit found a happy medium between the two: a painterly composition of roasted lamb loin “Wellington” and lamb sweetbreads over creamed kale paired with a rustic, strongly flavored Merguez-meatball ragout in a cast-iron dish.