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Il Palato now open in Clayton

Mike Del Pietro’s latest restaurant showcases light Southern Italian and Mediterranean fare.

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When Mike Del Pietro first conceived of Il Palato, which opened yesterday in the former Remy’s Kitchen & Wine Bar space in Clayton, his first priority was to make sure the aesthetics and food were different than his five other restaurant concepts.

He succeeded on both counts.

Buff leather and tweed chairs lend a sleekness to the 90-seat dining room. A cove-lit, coffered ceiling drops down into both the dining area and bar, effectively bookending the two spaces. A warm L-shaped banquette lines the perimeter of a gray carpeted dining area. A ring of tweed upholstered chairs warms cooler, buff-colored mates at the center of the room. Similarly, warm wood tabletops balance others made of austere marble from Vermont's Danby quarry, the largest underground marble quarry in the world. (Danby marble is used in restaurants and homes because of its density and stain resistance.)

Still in development is a crucial design detail: a partially covered front sidewalk patio ("an underutilized space dying to be embraced," says Del Pietro), accessed via a trio of French doors.

A team from Edwin Pepper & Associates designed the interior and selected the art and sculpture, much of it from local artisans. A colorful painting by Ernest Trova brightens an otherwise obscure wall. There’s a beguiling tree from Sharon M. Hayes, another St. Louisan. But it’s the commanding triptych from local photographer Larry Emerson that effectively resets the stress meter back to zero.

The overall effect is restorative, palliative, as it should be. And that’s before an aperitif, a classic cocktail, or a single glass of wine from Il Palato’s list of 28. (Ace mixologist Sasha Alms is also the general manager.)

Then there’s the food, from a kitchen led by Tim Adams, who’s manned the burners at a handful of Italian eateries, from Pastaria and Spiaggia to a restaurant in Alba. The most significant aspect of Adams’ influence is how light and bright the menu items are. “That’s what we were shooting for, and that’s where we landed,” says Del Pietro. “Northern Italian dishes—the kinds of items you see in my other restaurants—are heartier and more substantial. At Il Palato, there's no Del Pietro salad, no lasagna, and no meatballs, which should get the point across. We instead concentrated on Southern Italy and the Mediterranean, where the dishes are generally lighter and the sauces less heavy."

Adams has assembled two menus: one for the dining room, another for the bar. (A lunch menu and weekday lunch service will soon follow. Until then, Il Palato is open for dinner Monday through Saturday.) Scroll down for a sampling of Il Palato’s menu offerings.

Il Palato

222 S Bemiston Ave, St Louis, Missouri 63105

314-224-5331

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Dinner hours Mon - Thursday 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 5 p.m. - 10 p.m

Moderate