Mary Andino
The story of Hal McKinney’s culinary career reads like a classic, work-your-way-up kind of tale. McKinney, a Springfield, Missouri, native, started by working at acclaimed restaurant Progress prior to stints at Vicia and Little Fox. She started at Bistro La Floraison as a sous chef, and now, three years later, she’s the executive chef at the popular French restaurant.
Inside Bistro La Floraison.
Mabel Suen
McKinney has brought her own philosophy to BLF’s menu. “I’m really trying to take a more casual approach to French dining … I love incorporating a little bit more modern American flair with my French cooking,” she says. The French-fried escargot epitomizes that approach, where an iconic French ingredient is prepared in a nontraditional way.
Now that she finds herself in a leadership position, McKinney focuses on breeding an environment of patience and understanding that preserves even in the hectic, frantic atmosphere of a restaurant kitchen. “As a chef, it’s hard to be soft, but I always try to. And I use the motto ‘PMA’ – positive mental attitude,” she says.
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Here we talk with McKinney about growing up as the child of Y2K preppers, her love of butter and her endorsement of a St. Louis classic.
Photo courtesy Bistro La Floraison
What is the best thing you’ve ordered at a local restaurant recently? I think about them all the time: the Buffalo-fried oysters at Olive + Oak. I could just sit there and eat so many of them.
What’s your favorite food memory? I think about gardening with my dad, who was a Y2K prepper. My earliest food memories are of canning vegetables and making jams with my dad. He was sponsored to fish in Missouri professionally, and he always hunted. I grew up truly eating the food of the Ozarks. That’s what definitely made me want to cook: being around someone who would feed us things that he went out and caught or grew.
What’s your favorite place to grab a drink, and what do you order? I’m going to Platypus, the vibe is so fun there. I’m getting a shot of Fernet and probably a Busch. I love the taste of licorice, I love the anise flavor [of Fernet].
What ingredients do you think everyone should keep at home and why? Everyone should have some kind of butter. I cook French food, and you just gotta have butter – unsalted, because I like to gauge how much salt I’m adding to a dish.
What’s your most controversial food opinion? I think Malört is disgusting, it’s gross. It’s having a moment right now, which I don’t understand. As someone who isn’t from St. Louis, I think Provel gets a pass. I don’t care how many cheeses are in Provel, it’s so good. I love Imo’s Pizza, so sue me.
Bistro La Floraison, 7637 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, Missouri, bistrolafloraison.com