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Here's to the local restaurant, to the chefs, owner operators, the staff, the ones who love being in the weeds night after night when we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind.

From where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food is Love.

St. Louis has been a sports city long before it became a food city.

When the Blues took the Stanley Cup, the streets flowed with the color blue and echoed other great sporting feats of the city's past.

It was another reason to be proud that you are from St. Louis because the Blues is about as St. Louis as it gets, with as many as 18,000 fans at any given home game.

I mean, stop and think about that.

That is 18,000 potential mouths to feed.

Hidden behind every game day is a well orchestrated dance of timing, coordination and preparation.

It makes me wonder who's behind it all and what kind of food are they serving.

As a chef, I need to stay curious in order to evolve.

For me, that means looking beyond a good meal to learn more about who made it, what inspires them to cook.

La comida es amor Every great city has great food.

I'm going on a journey around the world.

Right here in St. Louis.

I'm on a quest to find passionate chefs who cook from the heart to prove that food is love.

And it's going to be delicious.

Food is love.

Love your food.

It's game day.

Fans are lining up and the excitement is building.

I'll preface by saying I haven't attended a sports game in a very long time, but I played hockey when I was young, so catching a Blues game is going to be a little nostalgic for me.

Who knows, I might be inspired to hit the ice sometime, but probably not.

Actually, the real reason I'm here is for the food.

The evolution of food at sport venues, by all accounts, have been a positive one.

To find out what's happening, I'm meeting up with Bruce Kraus, a restaurant and hospitality guy turned Vice President of operation here at the Enterprise Center.

Bruce has invited me to have lunch and has agreed to show me around a little bit before the game to give me an idea what kind of work goes into the hospitality side of a typical game.

What time are you in here when its a day game?

Well, a day game, the culinary team was in here as early as four this morning, so it's about a six hour preparation day of game that has to happen before we get close to the doors opening.

The day before was a full eight hour day of preparation.

We are probably going to have 16,400 people here today as far as attendance.

Number of employees on the food, beverage, and retail side will be about 420.

Entire building combined is close to 1000.

It's still early and the doors haven't opened yet.

It's the calm before the storm, but it gives Bruce and I a chance to talk.

So, Bruce, how did you get started in this industry?

Oh, boy.

That's a deep story, Chef.

Yeah, I found a home in it fairly quickly.

I did a few other minor things that were service industry related, but not food related.

And then I got into a restaurant and I was actually a dishwasher, and I was watching the line cooks and I thought hold on, I'd like to do that.

And, Chef, I was good at it.

It made me feel good.

It's was a team battling together with a great celebration at the end.

But it got into my blood.

And restaurants are a very unique, I think, fraternity and sorority of people that work together like no other.

I went into the steakhouse business.

That was the bulk of my career before this.

I got up to a corporate level of operations, multi unit operations.

It was a great, fun run.

A lot of prime steak, a lot of great red wine.

Very busy restaurants, very lengthy 21 week training program.

They taught you how to make money the correct way.

You know that's by true portion control through quality ingredients, through rotation, and great, great service in a fun atmosphere.

Yeah.

And that carries over to any any concept and every level of cuisine.

Even what you're doing today.

It does.

It certainly does.

Hearing about Bruce's background in hospitality doesn't surprise me at all.

Without question, I'm sure that's what prepared him for the kind of pressure at this job.

I would even argue it gives him a unique advantage.

So you apply a lot of those same things that you've learned over the years, of course, to this.

This is one big party, really.

It is.

We throw a party for 16,000 of our closest friends 41 times a year here, plus all of our non events.

And then that doesn't include playoffs or preseason.

But I think one of the other things is that my background being in hospitality was something that our whole sports and entertainment industry was moving to.

A trend in sporting venues the last several years has been to make local food a part of the equation.

And according to Bruce, it's been less than a trend here and more of a mission.

St. Louis Blues and STL Kitchen reached out to the local operators here to search for people that could come in and bring their concepts into the arena.

People experience things outside of the arena.

They want to experience the same things when they get into the arena.

Before we begin our tour of St. Louis food here at the stadium, we are joined by Blues Executive Chef Daniel Driol.

Most people don't even think about the fact that there is an Executive Chef here.

And being from Canada, Daniel brings his own passion for hockey to the role.

An immigrant, a hockey player, and also a chef, Daniel and I have quite a bit in common, only he has a lot more responsibility than I do.

You still play hockey, right?

I started thinking back, so the last time I played hockey, I was 16, I'm assuming it's like riding a bicycle, isn't it?

Until I just hip check you though (laughing) He's already cracking jokes about facing off on the ice.

Speaking of ice, Bruce has brought us here to try liquid nitrogen ice cream At Ices Plain and fancy.

We've got some really creamy ice cream all made fresh to order every time.

A St. Louis ice cream parlor, located in the Shaw neighborhood and also right here at the game.

There you go.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ices Plain and Fancy, and we made that in what?

In less than a minute?

It's delicious.

Wow, that's cold.

And it's a lot creamier than regular ice cream.

I hear there is a boozy version as well but I'm choosing to practice moderation, as I could be eating a lot today.

Next up on the food train is another popular St. Louis institution, Mission Taco.

There is a couple of items on the menu exclusive to the stadium.

Well, let's try a nacho fry.

Gotta have a jalapeno.

That s the queso that we make.

Got the pico and some of the pickled jalepenos on it with a little bit of crema.

That's delicious.

Chef I would call that cravable.

Yeah, it's very good.

This is good stuff.

It's good for me too, right?

No calories in it?

Good for your soul.

What more could you asked for?

Daniel is also a point of contar the local vendors here.

I'm interested to hear more about how he wound up here In the first place.

I was in the States for five years, working on private yachts and charter yachts in South Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas, Mediterranean.

But then I was on my Canadian passport because I was property of whatever vessel I was on.

So I wasn't legal to work in the United States, but I was based out of the United States on these foreign flag vessels.

When I met my wife, we got married in December in Napa.

And then from December until March, that's how long I had to wait to get my green card.

So I was able to go stage at some really great restaurants in St. Louis.

I started with Gerard Craft at Niche, and then he told me to go check out Chef Josh at Monarch.

And then finally I was with Chef Kevin Nashan and at Sydney Street for, like, six weeks.

That was just awesome.

And then I ended up getting a job at the St. Louis Club with Chef Pierre for like five years.

That was really, really fun.

With an impressive repertoire of experience in the St. Louis food scene, it's clear that Daniel didn't just fall off the truck.

Conveniently that brings us to the next plate of food.

FarmTruk is a farm to table food truck concept.

Owner Sam Mitchell is creating regional farm to table dishes.

So we're a local food truck.

We specialize in locally made, everything scratch made, locally sourced, farm to table comfort food.

So, yeah, we wanted to bring our version of what we do in our food trucks to the stadium, give them a little local flair.

My favorite stop on the sanitation check, let me tell you.

Yeah.

"What do you want to try Chef?"

I don't know...One of each?

You can catch this here at the stadium or on the food truck.

And we use Missouri ground beef, Missouri smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, hydroponic bib lettuce, tomato, housemade pickles, crispy fried onions, and handcut French fries.

Wow, it looks good.

The bun is from Vitalis on the Hill.

They bake those fresh overnight for us.

So basically you're using all St. Louis.

Yeah, that's what we do.

Thats neat.

Like farm to table but it's St. Louis to table at the same time.

Exactly.

I love it.

Our St. Louis scene we're so close.

We all know each other, and we all support each other as well.

Yeah.

It's so interesting how the Blues is also supporting all the local restaurants in the restaurant scene.

It gives a lot of us small businesses that outlet that maybe our city is not ready for our brick and mortar, and we're kind of divided as a city.

We're not a big walking city.

This really gives us that exposure.

Because once you have one of these, you want to find a Farm Truk somewhere.

Exactly.

This makes it feel less like a vending experience and more relevant to the city.

It's inspiring to see so many St. Louis native restaurants represented here.

So this is kind of our signature dish.

This is like everybody's go to so it's our housemade mac and cheese covered in Red Hot Ripplets potato chip crumbles, pulled beef brisket, as opposed to sliced, because it's got to be easy to eat, and then our smoked barbecue and then green onions on the top.

So this is really what lays the foundation for a good day at the game, right?

I think so.

I don't think I've ever had those Riplets.

And you say that's a St. Louis,.. it's a St. Louis thing.

Yeah.

See, I'm learning so much.

That's so good.

Wow.

That was humbling, a meal that I wouldn't have expected to have at a game.

And Sam was really nice, too.

I'm starting to get a little full, but we have more ground to cover, so we keep it moving.

Baked bear.

There's no better time for dessert then right before you have too much to eat.

That would be right now for me.

The baked Bear offers some interesting ice cream sandwhichs Oh, what do we have here?

Welcome to the baked bear.

So we fresh bake all of our cookies, and we make ice cream sandwiches with them.

So for the blues games, we do the winter classic.

It's a classic chocolate chip cookie, old fashioned vanilla ice cream.

We do the bleed blue.

So it's a cookies and cream cookie with white chocolate chips in it.

And then the ice cream is our bear batter ice cream.

It's a cake batter ice cream with pieces of brownie and sprinkles in it.

It's all blue, so it fits in nice.

And then the celly, it's a sea salt peanut butter nutella cookie with toasted s'mores ice cream.

All right, enjoy.

Oh, man, that's good stuff.

And as cookie ice cream sandwiches go these are really good.

Cookies are great.

Thank you.

My dad was a pastry chef.

When I tell you it's a good cookie, it's a good cookie.

I appreciate the compliment.

Oh, man.

Is just a start, really.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Just as I force finished my second desert of the day.

We're greeted by Chris Zimmerman, president of business operations for the Blues.

Chris is responsible for a lot around here.

I run the business.

Okay.

Okay, you run the business side of it, okay.

So we've got somebody else who makes all the trades.

I have to figure out how to get enough money so we can get the best players.

So all of this, I run the building ticket sales, sponsorship, beverage, everything that's not about the players I'm in charge of, basically.

But what he's most excited about right now is the newest restaurant to set up shop, Shake Shack.

It's been an interesting day for me.

I've tried a lot of stuff for the first time.

I've never been to a Shake Shack before.

I think the burgers well, obviously the shakes I think this is their specially designed shake for our building.

Wow.

That's pretty darn good.

I think this is our fifth hockey game with Shake Shack, as you can see.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a great brand.

And Danny Myer is from St. Louis.

I got to meet Danny in New York.

We had breakfast.

I found out that he had grown up coming to games at our old building, and he had a pretty deep passion for the Blues.

And obviously, he's been a great success.

Shake Shack has been a great success.

I said, hey, I really think it would be great to have you be part of what we're doing here.

So you have to try the burger.

I mean, their burgers just have this great taste and it's very consistent and juicy.

Okay.

Wow.

It's so important what brands to choose in a venue like this.

As you've seen as you've gone around.

It's largely local brands because we wanted this to be a uniquely St. Louis experience.

when you come to the building.

Shake Shack is a national brand, but because of Danny's roots being here, his love of the Blues, all of those things makes it feel just completely natural.

Can I ask you a personal question?

Are you thinking about maybe getting some Danish players on the Blues team?

You never know where the next great gem is going to come from.

I'll make sure I take this one with me.

A quick photo op and Chris has a job to get back to, leaving me to continue down the path of complete gluttony and the misery there is sure to follow.

Moving along, barbecue is another St. Louis favorite and Sugar Fire, the award winning St. Louis creation of Chef Mike Johnson, is where we're eating next.

Well, you've had it before, so you know how fork tender it is.

I never had the brisket sandwich before.

Is barbecue a Canadian thing, too?

In Vancouver, when you say barbecue, it's a grill.

We're just going to grill chicken Or grill steak that has nothing to do with barbecue spice or sauce.

Wow, that's tender.

Well, and that's the trick, right?

Getting it so it's tender but not dry.

Yeah, yeah.

Sugar Fire does it right.

And it goes great with beer.

Oh, my.

Now, they also use a potato roll a Martin potato roll as well at their three different concepts, Sugarfire, Chicken Out, and HighPoint.

The brisket is literally perfect, but at this point, it's hard to enjoy anything.

Another bite of food, and I may need medical assistance.

Daniel, however, is somehow keeping his composure, and he doesn't seem to be affected by all the food we've eaten.

Mike Johnson of SugarFire is a serial restauranteu, so it makes sense that all of the other places are represented here, too.

Like Chicken Out.

You can get a serious chicken sandwich here.

There's that Martin bun.

The best part of which is the crunchy pickle.

Are you trying to kill me?

Yeah.

There's something about the pickle.

Like the breading and the frying of the chicken, it's so moist, I mean, it works in every language.

And of course, Mike's iconic burger joint, HighPoint, is also here.

You are trying to make me fat.

Oh, my.

Look at that.

The juice.

Yeah.

That's really a perfect burger.

I remember the very first time I came to the United States, the first meal I had with a fellow chef, it was burgers because he wanted to introduce me to American culture.

And he said an interesting thing about when you eat a burger.

He said that once you have it in your hand, you never set it down again.

Once you lay it down, it's going to fall apart.

So he says, that's my only advice I have for you when you're in America, is learn to eat a burger right.

Never set it down.

Another incredible burger.

My second one today.

That's a little burger wisdom for you.

Burger wisdom.

All respect to Mike Johnson, but I cannot continue.

When we started the day.

I had not expected to find so much St. Louis food here.

Let alone eat it all in such a short time.

I have been eating since before the game started and is nearing the half mark now.

After having made the rounds, I'm ready to watch some of the game.

And a wide angle view from the press box looks pretty good.

Yeah, Nothing better than this right now, for sure.

Hockey is a big part of Daniel's personal life, too, and something he loves to do with his kids.

This is nice.

Just two chefs enjoying some hockey and talking about food.

Despite struggling to take a full breath, the magic of the moment isn't at all lost on me.

It's half time, and Bruce have called for us to meet him downstairs to see another venue here that serves food.

On the way, Daniel shows me a couple of lounges who also have food service.

Daniel is responsible for several food service venues like this, not to mention feeding the players.

Trust me when I say he has a lot going on here.

So this is our players club.

So what do you do with all the food when the day is over?

All the leftovers?

Operation Food Search.

Okay.

Yeah.

So we'll have big disposable lasagna pans.

Well, that's awesome.

And if you ask him how he feels about coming here from Canada, his answer would make any St. Louisan proud.

I don't know how the rest of America is I've never lived anywhere else, but it's easy to call this place, to call St. Louis home for sure, because of the snowboarding, the hockey, and the restaurants.

I love to joke with my Canadian family and friends and say, I had to move to St. Louis to get that Stanley cup ring.

Yeah.

Are they going to give you a ring too?

We got one the first year.

You did?

So everybody in the organization got one?

All of the managers for our company got one.

That does make me a little jealous.

Meanwhile, being the hospitality minded person that he is, Bruce has arranged a little perk for my visit.

Before I know what's happening, I'm in the tunnel, and the whole team is coming off the ice.

It's never been clearer to me than now that I never want to be checked by any of these guys.

What an evening.

Daniel and I are beginning to lose steam, so we decide to watch the last half of the game in one of the lounges.

Lounging sounds good right now since moving around is fairly uncomfortable.

But it's time to get into the spirit of the game There's a lot of energy here tot Oh yeah, just wait until play os It is insaine in here.

The cherry on top was the Blues win and experiencing that with my new friends, but even more so, I can see now that a win here is a win for the St. Louis food scene.

We just clinched the playoff spot, though.

Yeah.

It's been an incredible year.

Incredible.

As the stadium empties out, Bruce takes me down to see the ice up close.

But as we near the rink, I see Daniel is already there waiting for us, with skates.

This might have been an ambush, but it appears as though all the joking around today was, in fact, not a joke at all.

Daniel was serious about getting me on the ice.

Earlier today when I thought it would be fun.

I was overlooking the possibility that it could equally be a giant mistake.

I certainly never imagined the opportunity would come at this moment, the moment that I'm probably the fullest I've ever been in my life.

Well, it was a hard time even lacing up.

But it's now or never, and Daniel swears he'll take it easy on me.

To make matters a little more embarrassing, there are several kids here skating as part of a community outreach program the Blues organization puts on.

Now, I can risk embarrassing myself, not just in front of Bruce and Daniel, but also a bunch of kids.

Oh, my.

I'm a little shaky, but wow, what a burst of endorphins this gives me.

And to have the chance to skate here for the first time after all these years is priceless.

Like most things in life, we suffer more in imagination than reality.

Here comes that big hip check!

(laughing) Daniel is as agile on the ice as somebody half his age.

I can't claim the same thing, so a couple of laps around the rink are plenty for me.

I'm just happy I didn't fall.

There you go.

Well, I should be in the restaurant tonight.

I have about 50 reservations, but I don't feel bad about sitting here on the bench with you guys with the 16,000 people you just fed.

I always try to say food is love, but today I think hockey is love.

Hockey is love.

Hockey is love, I love it.

You're sharing all the good food, and you're sharing culture.

St. Louis culture here It was a very nice experience today Im very impressed with the food service operation here I mean i cant imagine the logis how you guys do this everyday Let's go, blues.

Let's go, blues.

Let's go, blues.

Today did turn out to be nostalgic for me maybe even more than I expected.

I came for the food, but was surprised to find a lot of heart behind the hospitality here and a strong investment in the city's food scene.

The game delivered all the thrills that I remember from my youth and more.

Being in the stands for the winning goal reminds me of something Bruce said when he talked about that feeling of camaraderie and team victory that you get in a restaurant after a long night.

Now I realize it's not really any different than what this team and these fans feel.

But for me, it was the many small points of hospitality and thought that I will remember, meeting Bruce and realizing he's a restaurant guy at heart.

Having a Shake Shack burger with Chris Zimmerman, Even the part when Daniel and I was gorging ourselves nearly to death.

But what impressed me most about today was all the love here for St. Louis food.

The eclair has a vanilla custard in there, seedless grapes.

The whipped cream is made out of crushed Heath bar candy.

Of course, it has a chocolate stick on top.

Seeing the crowd cheering for the game and supporting local restaurants, it drives the point home that this really is a St.Louis experience.

and that this city loves its hockey team as much as it loves its food.

Go Blues!

Food is Love.

Here's to the local restaurants, to the chefs, owner, operators, the staff the ones who love being in the weeds night after night when we go to work each morning.

That's who we have in mind, from where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance, Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food Is Love.

Support for Food is Love comes from Natural Tableware, supplier of sustainable green alternatives to plastic tableware.

Support also comes from Moonrise Hotel, a boutique hotel located on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis.