New Belleville restaurant Cured and Cultured features oak wood-fired grill
Scott Muir is back in a restaurant kitchen where he likes to have fun with food.
Muir, who previously ran the Righteous Pig barbecue place in downtown Belleville, is the chef for a new Belleville restaurant called Cured and Cultured, which also features a deli offering meats prepared in-house and a spirit shop with beer, bourbon and wine.
In the kitchen at Cured and Cultured, Muir has a new toy for his culinary creations: It’s a fire pit fueled with hardwood lump charcoal and oak wood. Steaks, hamburgers, lamb burgers and pizzas are some of the items cooked over the live fire.
Adam Hill, co-owner of Cured and Cultured, admits that he wasn’t sure the fire pit was worth including in the complete renovation of the former Shenanigan’s restaurant and bar at 6401 W. Main St. on Belleville’s west side. Hill said it cost about $600,000 to renovate the space.
But Hill is now glad he went along with Muir’s idea for the fire pit.
“I questioned it all along but it might have been the best decision we’ve made because the product that comes off of it is spectacular,” Hill said. “The pizzas that we prepare on it are unbelievable.”
Smoke billows over the pizza “just a little bit but it’s not too smoky,” he said. “And you get a flatbread pizza that is actually crispy.”
Cured and Cultured opened its restaurant on Wednesday night while the deli and market opened in May.
The restaurant’s “opening week” menu featured entrees ranging from $11 to $35.
Hill said the menu will be modified based on customer recommendations but he expects it will always include an American cuisine of New York strip steak, ribeye steak, cheeseburger, lamb burger, pizza, chicken and ribs. One crossover flavor on the menu included Korean barbecue ribs as an appetizer.
The St. Louis-style ribs have a “cherry-lime glaze” while the New York strip has a whiskey cream sauce.
Deli sandwiches range in price from $10.25 to $12.95 and come with a side order. Smoked turkey, pulled pork and a Reuben are some of the options. You can also get deli meat, cheese, Angus beef and baby back ribs by the pound.
Chef’s experience
Muir owned the Righteous Pig barbecue restaurant for more than three years at 124 E. Main St., which is now the home of Bennie’s Pizza Pub. Muir also was a chef at the Hofbräuhaus German restaurant and brewery off Illinois 15.
Before those jobs, he said he’s worked in all kinds of places from mom-and-pop diners to fine-dining restaurants.
“I grew up in a family where on weekends we all ate together and we all cooked together,” Muir said. The “cooking was very simple, but very good. And that’s what we do here: simple but good food. I don’t believe in putting 30 things in a dish. There’s really four main ingredients: salt, pepper, love and butter. And lots of love.”
Muir had a following of barbecue fans at the Righteous Pig so he said there will be barbecue items on the Cured and Cultured menu.
“People like barbecue so we try to give everybody something to come in for,” he said.
Muir said the Cured and Cultured crew is a “tight-knit family” working together together to serve customers.
“It’s fun with food,” he said.
Cured and Cultured development
Hill said one of inspirations behind the Cured and Cultured concept was a restaurant and market combination called Butcher and the Brewer in Cleveland.
Hill said he has visited the Ohio business several times and was intrigued by a place that brewed its own beer and offered a meat shop as well.
“We really view ourselves more as a lifestyle company and a market and a restaurant,” Hill said. “Our goal is to create an experience for people whether it’s within the four walls or for them to have that similar experience in the comfort of their own home.”
For example, Hill says customers can enjoy a steak dinner at Cured and Cultured and then order the same cut of meat to their specifications and grill it at home for another occasion.
Delays in opening
Muir first posted on Facebook that he hoped to have Cured and Cultured open by October 2018. On another Facebook post, the expected opening date was set for the summer of 2019.
This spring, Cured and Cultured and all restaurants in Illinois had to deal with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order issued to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The order banned indoor dining from mid-March until June 26. Outdoor dining at restaurants wasn’t permitted until May 29.
“You wake up every day and what news is going to happen? What new regulation is going to happen?” Hill said of the coronavirus pandemic.
Muir said tearing apart the Shenanigan’s space and recreating a new one was like “peeling an onion” because every time something was pulled out, there was another layer to clear.
One of the delays, Hill said, involved a dispute with the city last year over the size of a water supply line going into the restaurant and the inspection conducted by part-time city plumbing inspector Mike Ehret, whose company, Ehret Inc. in Belleville, had done the work.
Mayor Mark Eckert said the matter has been referred to the city attorney. Ehret declined to comment and Hill declined to elaborate on the dispute.
Eckert said the city has changed its policy so that a plumbing inspector cannot review work conducted by a company in which the inspector has a financial interest.
Before the dispute over the water line, the city and Hill had signed two development agreements that included TIF grants worth $510,000 awarded to Hill for improvements along West Main Street in the previous four years.
The first agreement called for Hill to get a $275,000 TIF grant to improve the Market Place Shopping Center, where Cured and Cultured is located. Family Dollar and Subway are two of Hill’s tenants in the shopping center.
The 4204 Main Street Brewing Co. brewery and banquet center also is located in the shopping center but the brewer owns its building.
Hill’s second development agreement called for him to get a $235,000 grant. He tore down two apartment buildings — the Rob Nora complex at 7009 W. Main St. and the Forest Hills complex at 8512 W. Main St. — and planned to build new homes on the two sites but the homes have not been built.
Contact Cured and Cultured
For more information about Cured and Cultured, call 618-213-7545. Check out the restaurant’s page on Facebook or its website at www.thecuredandcultured.com. It is located at 6401 W. Main St. in Belleville.
Beginning Monday, the deli and market will be open seven days a week while the restaurant will be open every day except Tuesday.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
