restaurant roller coaster for the past 40 years, Pepe Kehm had no intention of jumping on another ride, but when the pall of the pandemic lifted, a new concept materialized. Originally conceived as Peno in Lafayette Square was first laid out on a storyboard. The footprint allows for 35 seats inside, a scatter of sidewalk tables, and a 25-seat elevated side garden with a south-facing brick wall covered in plants. Rather than serving the “Sicilian soul food” that he popularized at Peno, Kehm is planning a “coastal French and Italian” endeavor, which straddles a culinary fence that leans more toward Marseilles than Messina. (The connection is legit; Kehm’s father is French, and his mother is Italian.) Because Marseilles happens to be home to thousands of pizza-loving ex-pats from Naples, Marseilles-style pizza became de in the French town and is the star player here. Calorie-counting traditionalists will be tempted by Kehm’s lighter, pastry-crusted pizzas, with both savory and sweet toppings. The fusion menu also includes fresh pasta, myriad sea bounty, fish stews, and a French-inspired sandwich or two—such as a croque-monsieur stuffed with a grass-fed burger. An atypical brunch includes Eggs in Purgatory (skillet eggs poached in special red sauce), a “foie gras-fle” (waffle with whipped foie gras butter), and cooked-to-order mini-doughnuts, dishes created to “hit on flavor profiles that St. Louisans don’t see anywhere else,” Kehm says. The space features pop-culture prints from local artist Kevin Glazer, a 24-bottle wine cooler dispensing boutique-style French wines (eight of them rosés), and colorful wallpaper depicting mute swans—a nod to the bevy that used to grace Lafayette Park’s lake. Kehm, whose unorthodox marketing skills include unlimited meals at Peno for a yearly fixed price, offers guests at Rosé by Peno a complimentary amuse-bouche (think: a pistachio-topped mini-doughnut at lunch and a demitasse of tomato bisque at dinner). It not only kick-starts the meal but also sparks conversation.
