Matt McGuire envisioned his new restaurant, Louie (706 DeMun Avenue; Clayton), as a neighborhood trattoria offering simple, approachable dishes. “Simple food becomes more about ingredients and execution rather than complex recipes,” he explains. “You have to know how to cook to prepare simple food well and let the ingredients shine.”

Many fondly remember McGuire’s previous restaurant, King Louie, which had a thirteen-year run, and had been eagerly anticipating this new venture. That includes McGuire himself, who has taken what he’s learned from more than two decades of opening restaurants in St. Louis and Chicago and opened Louie as a study in restaurant design and operation.