On this episode of The Sauce Podcast, host Lauren sits down with Elliott Brown, chef/owner of Scout's, a new fine dining restaurant in Midtown, and The Biscuit Joint, St. Louis’s beloved scratch-made breakfast sandwich shop, for a conversation about pandemic pop-ups, family, and building two very different restaurants off the same philosophy.

Elliott walks through how it all began with Dinner at the Loft, launched in 2020 after he and his business partner, Brandon Panosh, were furloughed from The Last Hotel. What started as one dinner cooked at his own kitchen table and posted to Instagram grew, by word of mouth, into roughly 175 pop-up dinners in homes across St. Louis, serving close to 1,000 guests before the two ever opened a restaurant of their own. That following became the foundation for The Biscuit Joint, a scratch-made breakfast sandwich shop inspired by a tiny biscuit counter in Nashville, and eventually for Scout's, which opened six months ago as a New American restaurant built on Italian cooking technique.

Elliott takes us room by room through Scout's, from the family-photo-filled living room lounge and intimate dining room to the open kitchen with communal seating and the shared backyard patio recently featured in Sauce Magazine. He breaks down the division of labor with Brandon — bread and pasta are his, vegetables are Brandon’s — why vegetables come first in their approach to Italian cooking, and how bartender Emma built the cocktail program from scratch.

Elliott also opens up about growing up in Wentzville, discovering a love of cooking as a kid, skipping community college for culinary school, and the story behind the name Scout's — his seven-year-old daughter, whose warmth shaped the restaurant’s family-first identity. He shares how he and Brandon are learning to protect their time outside of work, from fishing and football to leaning on faith and their team.

In this episode:

• The origin of Dinner at the Loft and the pandemic furlough that started it
• How 175 pop-up dinners in homes led to nearly 1,000 guests served
• Why The Biscuit Joint was inspired by a tiny biscuit counter in Nashville
• Scratch-made breakfast sandwiches, smash patties & rotating specials
• Opening Scout's: New American cooking built on Italian technique
• A room-by-room tour of Scout's, from the living room to the backyard
• How Covid shaped the restaurant’s communal table concept
• Splitting duties with Brandon: pasta and bread vs. vegetables
• Why vegetables come first in their approach to Italian cooking
• Building the cocktail program with bartender Emma
• Leaning on wine reps, and why Elliott and Brandon don’t drink
• Leadership lessons on empowering a team instead of micromanaging
• The story behind the name Scout's and his daughter’s influence
• Growing up in Wentzville and choosing culinary school over college
• Hiring for character, protecting rest, and finding balance through faith


Come for the pasta. Stay for the biscuits. 🍝🥓

✨ Presented by SWADE Dispensary, with locations across Missouri. Learn more at swadecannabis.com. Our other podcast sponsor is LHM.

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