Cortex District Restauranteurs Michael and Tara Gallina featured in STLMADE Profile

A little over a decade ago, Michael and Tara Gallina came to St. Louis and had lunch. It wasn’t their first time in town from New York — since leaving his Brentwood home at the age of 22 for the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Michael would regularly come to St. Louis to visit family and revisit old dining haunts. 

This time, however, felt different. He and his wife, Tara, were looking to leave their roles at the prestigious Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, New York, so they could open their own venture. Relocating to St. Louis made sense for a number of reasons, but first, they needed to feel out whether or not the city would be the right fit for what they wanted to do. Within minutes of meeting James Beard Foundation award-winning chef and restaurateur Gerard Craft while dining at one of his St. Louis restaurants, they were convinced. 

“St. Louis is such a tight-knit community,” Michael says. “Working in New York and California, where everybody is trying to get over the person in front of them, it felt very different. Before we moved here, people were already reaching out to us and saying, ‘Welcome; we can’t wait for you to be a part of our community,’ There was such an outpouring of support and acceptance, and you understood that everyone here wants to see each other succeed.”

Now, as the couple prepare to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their return to town and the launch of the pop-ups that would eventually lead to their celebrated restaurant group, Take Root Hospitality, the Gallinas cannot imagine being anywhere other than St. Louis.