Credit: Kim Brendel
MIDWEST
St. Louis Gets a New Feather in Its Cap with Robin From Chef Alec Schingel
By Eric Barton | Nov. 11, 2025
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
There’s something audacious about opening a fine-dining restaurant in a cozy, 36-seat space. But for chef Alec Schingel—who has trained at some of the world’s most obsessive, detail-anchored kitchens—this feels like exactly the point.
Robin Restaurant opened in February on Manchester Road in Maplewood, and not long after appeared on The New York Times list of America’s best restaurants. It’s Schingel’s first solo venture, though anyone who’s been following “The Robin Project” pop-ups already knows the premise. He calls the concept fine comfort—a prix fixe that reads indulgent, yet walks and talks like a Midwestern dinner party hosted by someone with a fermentation chamber and a wine glossary.
Credit: Kim Brendel
The four-course menu, priced at $75, will rotate constantly, each option built around the kind of local sourcing you’d expect from someone who did time at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Schingel also worked for Gerard Craft at Niche and helped open Vicia, so this isn’t his first go at a restaurant with a mission. But Robin is the first to carry the full weight of his name. He’ll serve as both executive chef and beverage director, a setup that makes sense when you understand how little he’s willing to leave to chance—not the wine glass, not the bread temperature, not even the water refills.
“I’ve been dreaming of this for 18 years,” he says. “It’s deeply personal.”
Credit: Kim Brendel
Born in Urbana, trained in Charleston, Belgium, and New York, Schingel has worked under chefs who treat plating like a spiritual ritual. But he’s also a Midwesterner at heart, fascinated with the anthropology of regional dishes. The “snack menu,” a small plate of rotating bites, is his love letter to St. Louis traditions—filtered through the brain of someone who once worked at In de Wulf.
Credit: Derek Davis
The space itself is intimate and understated, with nine tables and a six-seat bar wrapped around a small open kitchen. The refresh favors natural light and minimal distraction.
Credit: Derek Davis
Robin is open Tuesday through Saturday nights (reservations can be had here). This isn’t a place for passing whims. It’s the kind of restaurant where you sit, stay a while, and maybe even ask how the chef makes his vinegar. He’ll probably tell you.
