After one name change and months of research and recipe development, owners Wayne and Kendele Sieve have transformed the menu at Bormio into a lineup of drinks, dishes and desserts that highlight the cuisine of the Alpine Crest. Dishes are built on a foundation of proteins, cheeses, breads, seasonal fruits and fresh herbs, blending Northern Italian, Swiss, Austrian, Slovenian and German influences and emphasizing the hearty fare suited to the region’s climate and terrain.
Spencer Pernikoff
To familiarize himself with Alpine cuisine, Wayne began working his way through cookbooks to pull inspiration. “The terrain [there] is very rugged and mountainous; it’s physically demanding for locals and tourists,” he says. “So the cuisine is just naturally heavier: a lot of potatoes, dairy is plentiful – not just from cows but from sheep and goats as well.” It’s been somewhat challenging to wrap his head around the northern side of Italian cuisine, given his long history with dishes from southern Italy. “It’s what I love about it, actually,” Wayne explains. “I’ve been being myself with Italian cuisine for years, specifically with pizza, and southern Italian cuisine – although heavy in some ways – is overall much lighter. It’s trying to bring these heartier dishes into a restaurant setting to give people something they’ll want all year long.”
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Spencer Pernikoff
He’s managed to do just that with the menu, transforming Alpine ingredients into craveable aperitivo offerings: a spinach dumpling made with spinach, bread crumbs, gruyere, Parmigiano-Reggiano and brown butter; an Alpine dip that blends quark with herbs, spices and briny capers; and Tartiflette, a traditional casserole-style dish from the French Alps comprised of potatoes, bacon, white wine, Taleggio and gherkins and served with ciabatta. Also in the lineup is a porchetta sandwich with gruyere and spiced quark that uses apple, fennel and pickled cabbage to cut the richness, plus caviar served on mini sourdough waffles with chive cultured butter, Champagne jelly and egg yolk.
Salads on the menu also reflect regional ingredients; take the beet salad, which incorporates chilled roasted beets, spruce crème fraîche, mountain cheese, herbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The endive salad pulls together endive, radicchio and mountain gorgonzola with shallot, hazelnut, chive and blueberry vinaigrette.
The name isn’t the only thing changing: The new concept will be a restaurant focusing on cuisine from the Alpine Crest, a blend of Italian German, Austrian, Swiss and Slovenian cuisines.
Mains are a heartier affair, with offerings like Coppa with beer-braised red cabbage and mustard seed; Arctic Char with root vegetables and trout roe; venison with blackberry mustard and fermented plum; and more, all of which balance heavier proteins with lighter elements and acidity to brighten the final dish.
Alpine 75.
Spencer Pernikoff
Spencer Pernikoff
For dessert, regulars will recognize the restaurant’s stunning sfogliatelle with layers of shatteringly crisp Italian pastry, ricotta and citrus. Among the restaurant’s newer dessert offerings are a warmly spiced quark cheesecake with blueberry and a chamomile and elderflower blondie with beet ganache.
The menu at Bormio will rotate slightly through the seasons, and guests will see a few new dishes gracing the menu throughout the year. Wayne and Kendele are planning a trip to the Alpine Crest region in June to experience the cuisine in summer and pull inspiration to bring back to the restaurant. “We’ll be able to dive in a little bit further by trying the cuisine during this time of year,” Wayne says, noting that the cuisine incorporates a lot of fermentation and pickling to preserve fresh ingredients for use year-round.
Kendele has been building the wine menu around the new food, which contains sparkling wines from Italy and France and a wide array of reds and whites representing the region from all corners of Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “It’s definitely fun to see people pairing the wines with the food,” Wayne says. “It’s an education not only for us, but our customers, especially when they just go with it and try out something new.”
Spencer Pernikoff
The couple has been gravitating towards drinks with savory elements recently, Wayne says; that interest shows up in meticulously crafted cocktails and mocktails with Alpine elements like spruce, rosemary, elderflower and berries. Spritzes still line the cocktail menu, set against a lineup of European beer with offerings that range from Italian Alpine lagers and French pilsners to German ales and more. Cocktails, as always, include something for everyone, from riffs on Old Fashioneds to an Alpine 75 and an Averna margarita.
Although a concept change wasn’t something the Sieves expected, the tireless work they’ve put in on the transformation has already paid off. A few teaser dishes and drinks hit the menu early, garnering rave reviews from guests. “It’s been really well received,” Wayne says. “Everyone has been so positive about the changes. We have longtime Bacaro customers still treating it like [a cicchetti bar], and we have this wave of new diners that is coming in and treating it like a multicourse dinner experience, which is so fun to see, because that’s just what we want for the space.”
Spencer Pernikoff
For now, Wayne says they’re focused on the details: fine tuning the menu and making sure the dining rooms at both Bormio and upstairs at Noto give guests the best experience possible when they visit, from lighting to music to service. It’s a lot of work, but the Sieves enjoy creating an environment where guests linger. “We love it,” Wayne says. “We may be biased, but Kendele and I were sitting on the Bormio patio at the end of service last Saturday, just finishing up the night, and we both were like, ‘This is really nice.’ So yeah. It’s been a lot of fun so far.”
Bormio, 5105 Westwood Drive, St. Peters, Missouri, 636-244-0874, bormiostl.com
Dining and Cooking