Tour de Toast: The Preston

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One of The Preston's weekend specials, the blackberry cobbler waffle

It’s hard not to approach dining at The Chase—now officially The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis—without a sense of occasion, especially for those who remember the days when we thought its life as a hotel was gone forever.

There’s something about the walk toward the main lobby, whether entering from Maryland Plaza or the eastern side off Lindell, that feels like a procession toward the throne, which would be the heart of the action at the corner of the L-shaped property.

The Preston occupies the space in the bend of the “L.” It most recently was Eau but began its life as the Hunt Room, said to have been the site of St. Louis’ first brunch. Now there’s breakfast and dinner, the room calmer-feeling with a new, subdued décor, gray paint with quite an eclectic collection of art. Gunter Weber leads the team that’s turning out morning food, as well as their tapas-adjacent dinner menu.

Interestingly, there’s both a buffet and a la carte offerings for breakfast. The buffet is standard, kicking off with biscuits and gravy and continuing on the eggs-bacon-sausage-potatoes axis. There are custom-made omelets, breakfast pastries; and on this visit, a bread pudding sported pistachios and dried cranberries. But it’s the a la carte menu that sings seductively.

Huevos rancheros (pictured above) present themselves in a crisp flour taco bowl. A fresh salsa is strewn over the eggs, which in turn rest on a pork-based green chili, some potatoes and another salsa, this one with black beans and corn. It’s all pulled together with a creamy cilantro-lime sauce that leads the mariachi band of flavors right into the mouth. It’s close to addictive.

Freshly sauteed spinach is the star of the vegetarian benedict (pictured below), along with a slice of riper-than-expected tomato. The English muffin is fresh and tender, always a bonus in the benedict family, and the eggs properly poached. Only the hollandaise falls short, not because it’s has some wee lumps but because it tastes only of butter and egg in a dish where lemon could lift things to delightfulness.

Order was restored quickly by one of the four weekend specials: a blackberry cobbler waffle, the brainchild of sous chef Matt Voss, late of Duff’s. There probably aren’t many blackberries in Belgium to be deployed on waffles, but it’s good that these do. Fresh berries, plus a berry syrup and a buttery whipped cream tasting of serious vanilla and chunks of streusel, add texture, a fine way to approach mornings. Thick-sliced bacon was smoky and crisp, and fat links of chicken apple sausage made their way around the table to murmurs of appreciation.

Warm, even charming service, epitomized by the carafe of coffee left on the table. Our server kept a close eye and refilled before we could even think about it. Overall, The Preston’s a very worthwhile way to spend part of a morning.