The St. Louis restaurant community is mourning the loss of one of its greats. Rich LoRusso, chef, restaurateur and owner of the Italian mainstay, LoRusso’s Cucina , passed away on Wednesday, March 9, following a six-month battle with a rare form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS. LoRusso was 63 years-old.
LoRusso made his name in the business as the chef and owner of LoRusso’s Cucina, a Hill neighborhood mainstay he founded with his wife, Terri, in 1986. Known for its menu of Italian specialties based on old family recipes and LoRusso’s own culinary experimentation, the restaurant quickly became one of the city’s most beloved spots for upscale, yet approachable Italian fare.
However, the restaurant was known as much for what LoRusso did out of the kitchen as in it; a consummate host who set the bar for chefs’ interactions with guests in the dining room, LoRusso welcomed people into his restaurant as if he were welcoming them into his own home, always making sure to work the room, donning his chef coat and greeting every guest to make them feel important.
“People would go there as much to see Rich, and have a conversation with him,” says chef Rick Lewis, owner of Grace Meat + Three and a former LoRusso’s employee. “He would just make people feel special, and I think that is a huge part of what kept people coming to LoRusso’s time and again over the last 30-40 years. He was definitely one of those St. Louis icons.”
Lewis, who says he “cut his chops” at LoRusso’s, will never forget his first encounter with the chef. A young kid going in to apply for his second-ever restaurant gig, Lewis strolled into the bar where he found LoRusso sitting in a wingback chair and smoking a cigar. He took that as his cue to say a very informal hello.
“I walked in and was like, ‘What’s up, man?’ ” Lewis recalls.
LoRusso was not having it.
“He said to me, ‘Man? My own son doesn’t call me man. It’s yes chef or yes sir,’ ” Lewis laughs. “I was like, ‘Oh, understood.’ I just remember feeling like that was neat, like I had stepped into his house and just got this sense of how he approached things.”
LoRusso had a profound impact on another talented St. Louis chef. Tommy Andrew, owner of the popular sandwich shop Nomad, credits LoRusso with making him the cook he is today. Growing up on the Hill, Andrew knew LoRusso from around the neighborhood; his mom went to school with the chef and eventually got a job at his restaurant, where she worked for twenty years. It made sense that when Andrew needed his first job, he would find himself at LoRusso’s Cucina.
“It was my freshman year; I don’t think I was even old enough to have a job,” Andrew says. “I started bussing tables, and that’s what got me into the industry. At first, it was quite intimidating going in as a young kid, but he was a good mentor to me. He set me on my path, and I owe a lot to him. A lot of success comes from working for somebody like that, and I’m very lucky I did. He made me who I am today.”
As impressed as he was by LoRusso’s skill as a chef and restaurateur, Andrew was even more struck by who he was as a person.
LoRusso’s funeral arrangements will be made under the direction of Michel Funeral Home on Southwest Avenue. Services are currently pending.
