Creating what appears to be the main building of a California winery in the parking lot of a Missouri mall is a tall order, but Andy and DeeDee Kohn and their staff have built a place that maintains the illusion.

Their effort, which they call EdgeWild, is housed in the former — and long-vacant — Bahama Breeze at Chesterfield Mall. EdgeWild's designers were able to exploit the building's meandering, oddly shaped spaces, breaking them up into several dining areas, an enclosed patio and even a place to barrel-age wine. Wood beams and paneling provide a California feel.

The menu was put together by Chris LaRocca, a partner in the restaurant, and executive chef Aaron Baggett, with help from Milagro's Jason Tilford. LaRocca is best-known to local diners for his Crazy Fish restaurants, although he's worked or consulted on any number of new places in the eight years or so since Crazy Fish's demise. Baggett previously joined LaRocca for, among others, Triumph and Kota Wood Fire Grill.

The resulting collection of food at EdgeWild defies easy characterization. Some dishes are designed to evoke specific wine regions.

Tuscan steak ($17) was one of the standouts, slices of grilled flank steak molded into the "roof" of a rustic country house whose main body consisted of interlocking crisp rectangles of potato. Melted cabernet-enhanced butter oozed off the top, and a large portion of braised and thus not as peppery arugula was served alongside.

Five "Mâcon seared" scallops ($22) had a white-wine sauce to conjure Burgundy, with well-caramelized faces on the quarter-size scallops and haricot-verts-style thin green beans and risotto on the side.

Other dishes could be described as trendified comfort food, such as pancetta-wrapped bison meatloaf ($17). Two pieces were seared on their faces after slicing, resulting in nice, crusty exteriors and pleasingly, surprisingly (for bison) moist interiors.

Some of the appetizers wandered into far-flung geographical fusions, as with Thai tuna tacos ($11), which elevated the overexposed ahi tuna by presenting it seared in three triangular blue-corn tortilla shells vividly ornamented with pickled red pepper and several other vegetables that provided a background spiciness.

"Kahlua" buns ($9) were labeled with an unfortunate transliteration of the Hawaiian word "kalua," which signifies a method of cooking, and I bet there are a lot of questions about whether it tastes like coffee. It doesn't; the pulled roasted pork has an orange overtone, and the steamed buns into which it is stuffed turn the dish into a pan-Asian dim sum.

One "catch of the day" entree was barramundi ($22), a firm, hearty white fish that is generally associated with Australia. The grilled version at EdgeWild had a slight, appropriate browning at the edges and was served with a midsweet mango salsa. Our server, however, incorrectly described the fish as "like tilapia," which greatly understated barramundi's relatively full-bodied texture and flavor.

This demonstrated my main criticism of EdgeWild, which was that the staff was young and enthusiastic but undertrained. One server knelt down tableside and engaged us in a lengthy but not terribly relevant conversation and later brought our check without offering us dessert. And both of our servers apologized for their lack of wine knowledge, which is a problem for a restaurant built around wine.

On the plus side, EdgeWild is the first place in recent memory, including Italian restaurants, where a server has pronounced the word "bruschetta" correctly as brew-sketta instead of brew-shetta.

The gimmick — a good one — at EdgeWild is positioning Andy Kohn as an American version of a negociant, the middleman in Burgundy who buys grapes or juice and produces his own cuvées (blends). Kohn buys from producers in California, Oregon, Washington and Missouri and private-labels the wine, ostensibly allowing him to provide wine similar to some of the better names in America at much lower prices. I tried the Sonoma Coast Reserve Pinot Noir, which was more Burgundian in character than I expected, as opposed to fruit-forward, but was a decent value at $44. Nothing on EdgeWild's wine list is more than $46, and most are under $30. Guests who sign up (at no cost) for the restaurant's wine club get $5 off bottles.

You're going to have to drive through the Chesterfield Mall parking lot to get to EdgeWild, but once inside, you might even forget you're still in Missouri.

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EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery

Two stars (out of four) • Where 550 Chesterfield Center, Chesterfield • More info 636-532-0550, edgewildwinery.com • Menu Eclectic influences based on winemaking regions or wine affinities • Hours Lunch and dinner daily

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