And Now Puck Paints, Two!

By JULIETTE ROSSANT In the writing of Super Chef, I was careful to cover Wolfgang Puck's moves into museum restauranting (pp. 40-42) at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) and the Contemporary Art Museum (St. Louis). While I was writing, the Chicago museum unit was still unnamed, but "Tempt" had already been chosen for CAM/SL. I also noted deals with the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis Art Museum. A single sentence by the St. Louis River Front Times' reporter Rose Martelli jumped off the page at me: "Puck has quietly infiltrated St. Louis' restaurant scene in the unlikeliest of locales: museums." Thus, for much of the country, which does not look often at St. Louis for food trends (rightly or wrongly), we find our hero Wolfgang Puck has now opened at least two digs there in the museum restaurant sub-sector. Significantly, one of them bears a new brand name, because, as it turns out, Wolfgang Puck Catering & Events (WPCE) has decided on a brand name for its museum outlets, "Puck's," which makes the new St. Louis outlet "Puck's Two," after "Puck's" in Chicago. OK, I admit I do not understand why there are to "Puck's" logos, but I must say, for those interested in "chef branding," Wolfgang Puck's empire remains the trend leader. This is the stuff of super chefs.