Pairings Restaurant Closes

Pairings restaurant closed October 30, says the Nixa restaurant's owner, Rebecca Flynn. What happened? "Well, not my dream, that's for damn sure," Flynn laughs. The dream-bringing fine wines and their corresponding "pairings" in the realm of exquisitely presented hybrid American/French food to savvy local diners-was embodied in chef Scott Myers, the sort of person who agonized over placing three strands of fresh chives atop a portion of delicate fish. (That's love.) "There was not enough support here for our concept," Flynn concedes. Some loved it, she says. Others weren't returning to Pairings frequently enough to continue her investment in the business. Yet Flynn says she doesn't regret a single decision she made. Unwilling to water down Pairings' cuisine, she's keeping her day job as a sales manager for a California home-textile firm and exploring other projects.

As for the 15 staff members, Flynn says they've found new jobs. Scott Myers, the chef, told us he expected to be working in his native New England by mid-November. His wife, manager Kernan Myers, is finishing college and, like many Pairings alums, will be at the new Rodizio, a Brazilian grill owned by the Kim family at Argentina Steakhouse, soon to open at press time. "If I leave in a couple of weeks, we'll be apart for six months or so due to the fact that Kernan needs to finish her BA at MSU," Scott wrote in an e-mail. "That will suck, but what can you do." -Gregory Holman

The commentary: Pairings was daring: Hard-to-pronounce cuisine that stretched conservative SoMO taste buds... all presented with utmost care. (Scott Myers would agonize over placing three strands of fresh chives atop a portion of delicate fish. That's love.) Plus the menu was  designed around fine wines, not the other way around, as is usually the case.

While Pairings wasn't in the same class as hyper-innovators like Alinea in Chicago or Per Se in New York, you could fairly compare it to places such as Monarch restaurant, in suburban St. Louis, which is 1) by all accounts a wondrous restaurant and 2) home to a native 417-lander, ex-Bodega Bar manager Ted Kilgore-which just goes to show that this region is not exclusively yokel country.

Idealism was Pairings' downfall. Despite a cautiously positive review by writer Erin Pottberg that ran in 417 Magazine ("Best New Restaurants," August 2005), complainers didn't like Pairings' approach: Portions were too small, ingredients not familiar enough, prices too high ($65 per person for five courses plus five wines).

Pairings was several years ahead of its time, one restaurant among many other local fine-dining joints, all brutally competing with each other. Recently James Clary, after selling his eponymous gourmet heaven, opined to GO Magazine that we would soon see fine-dining places begin to close. It's happening, and it's too bad. "People have got to support these local places," Flynn told me. Well-said.