Lunches at Chesterfield Montessori go gourmet
Chesterfield Montessori School has a new hot lunch provider. Bryan Carr, the chef and owner of Pomme Restaurant & Pomme Cafe in Clayton, will be catering the private independent elementary’s hot lunches.
The 160-student Chesterfield Montessori is not new to gourmet.
Carr replaces Chef D’Aun Carrell, known for her healthy-school-meal activism and simple lunches. I once ate broccoli, chicken and potatoes there that could have been served at some of the area’s nicer restaurants.
School staff said Carr’s program will emphasize fresh ingredients, food from scratch and good nutrition, as it did prior. Lunches will likely feature such dishes as toasted turkey and cheese sandwich with watermelon, chicken and dumplings with green beans, and baked ham, mashed potatoes and broccoli.
The meals will be prepared at the Mockingbird Market kitchens, in Olivette, which Carr also owns.
Want to land your own fancy lunch program?
It helps to have ties. Carr’s daughter attends Chesterfield Montessori.
Why does healthy have to translate to “fancy”? It has been proven many times that it is just as cost effective to produce fresh, healthy food for school lunches as it is to produce the fatty, frozen stuff. All schools deserve the chance to choose, every school can do this. Maybe St. Louis can be the innovator in this arena?
Healthy school lunches are nothing new in St. Louis. As far back as the 1930s Normandy High School was operating one of the premiere school lunch programs in the nation. Everything homemade on campus basically using home recipes from the cooks themselves. Every day was served: Two soups (among them Senate Bean, fresh vegetable, chicken noodle, all make from scratch), chili, two main course choices, fresh vegetables, salads (kept in a specially-built crisper), gelatin salads, specialty side dishes such as egg noodles and gravy, tuna salad, pies, cakes, fresh fruits, white milk, chocolate milk, orange drink. In the 1950s main dishes (such as roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans) were 13 cents, the rest 8 cents (!). Most popular: Hamburgers and fries, served on Tuesday, made from scratch and the hamburgers were heated in bun warmers! Students polled in 1951 said the cafeteria was the thing they were most looking forward to in coming back to school. Normandy still offers a large food choice, still does its own food program, and now everyone enjoys breakfast too.
g, you are so right. It is a shame that a simple, fresh, healthy lunch (this is fancy??) is not always available in schools. The kids at Chesterfield Montessori love the lunches - just simple entrees with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. They don’t need neon colors, added salt & sugars, or fatty frozen foods to make the lunch “kid-friendly”. Yes, maybe St. Louis can set the trend in this area. I hope so!