Loryn Nalic - Balkan Treat Box & Telva at The Ridge

On this week’s episode of The Sauce podcast, host Lauren Healey sits down with Loryn Nalic, chef and co-owner of Balkan Treat Box and Telva at The Ridge—two of St. Louis’ most celebrated dining spots.

Loryn shares how she turned a passion for Balkan cuisine into a successful food truck and, eventually, a nationally recognized restaurant. She talks about the early challenges, the moment she realized the concept was taking off, and how that growth led to new ventures like Telva, a café rooted in European coffee culture.

The conversation also covers the realities of running a restaurant, building a team, expanding service, and what it means to receive multiple James Beard nominations.

From wood-fired breads to evolving menus and new ideas, this episode highlights the creativity and resilience behind one of St. Louis’ most beloved culinary brands.

In this episode:

 - The origin of Balkan Treat Box and starting as a food truck

 - Bringing Balkan flavors and culture to St. Louis

 - The story behind Telva at The Ridge

 - Growing and scaling a restaurant business

 - Earning James Beard recognition

 - New menu items and expanding service


Come for the food. Stay for the story. 🍽️
✨ Presented by SWADE Dispensary, with 11 locations across Missouri. Learn more at swadecannabis.com. Our other podcast sponsors are 4 Hands Brewing Co. and LHM.

Come for the conversation. Stay for the culture. 🌿
 ✨ Presented by SWADE Dispensary, with 12 locations across Missouri. Learn more at swadecannabis.com. Our other podcast sponsors are 4 Hands Brewing Co. and LHM.

🎧 Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify and all major platforms.
 📅 New episodes drop every Tuesday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And I looked down at the photo and the just the line was endless. And I like texted him. I was like, are they here for for us? And I remember going after that service, looking at them and being like, I think we can start looking for a space.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Our podcast sponsor is Suede Dispensary with 11 locations across Missouri. They are debuting a new passport membership program where you'll be able to collect stamps as you explore new Delhi style strains and unlock monthly travel stipends, exclusive swag, and free flour along the way. Head to your nearest Suede location for more information or visit suedecannabis.com. Hello, welcome to the Sauce Podcast. I'm your host, Lauren, and I am here with Lauren Knowledge, and she is the chef and co-owner over at Balkan Treat Box and Telvet the Ridge in Webster Groves, uh, two super popular and award-winning restaurants. Uh so why don't you just uh tell everybody a little bit about your concepts?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Sure. So we do um food from the Balkan region. So Bosnia, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, um, Romania, Bulgaria, like all over that region. Um, Balkan is more of a like lively, like party, like street food vibe. Uh we cook with all wood fire over there. Um, so it's kind of like loud and fun. And uh Telva is more of a like like coffee culture. So it's a little more um like relaxed and a little more zen. And you know, you can gather with friends and family and have a good coffee and some tasty food and relax a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

And you can't forget that Telva is in that gorgeous nursery setting.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yes, and you can also buy plants at roll at um Rolling Ridge Nursery.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Just a good vibe in there.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yeah, it's a it's it's a really fun um partnership. Uh we have a lot of fun with them, and I think, well, I hope they have fun with us.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I'm sure. How could they not? And how did that uh partnership come to be?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

So um Edo and I are residents of Webster, like we live we live in Webster, and um when we started the food truck, uh we actually parked the truck several times on their parking lot, and then they hosted us on some um like nursery nights that they did where they had a band and then we would serve food and we cultivate a relationship and kind of just always stayed in touch. Like when we opened Balkan, they put um plants, you know, over there and did all the plants for us there. I I couldn't keep them alive. It's tough. But yes, it is very difficult. But they really tried to make us look uh beautiful. Um, and then they were, you know, looking for somebody to do something in that space. And I had brought some friends and colleagues over to look at it. It was right after COVID. Um, so it was kind of a weird time for people to be thinking about, you know, opening a new space, even though a lot of people did and have done great since then. Um, but at one point, uh Edo and Emir and I were like, we technically, when we opened Balkan, we were going to be breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like that was the concept. So we just had this like breakfast lunch menu, kind of just hanging out, um not working. So we thought, like, you know, this is kind of a perfect segue, like the coffee culture and cafe culture in Bosnia and Europe and in that part of the world is very strong. And we realized that we wanted to kind of bring that part of what we do uh to the community.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

I love that. Okay. Now take us back to the beginning, like the genesis of Balkan.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Oh boy. Um, well, it was it was I mean, I knew that I was going to do something, it was gonna work for myself at some point. That kind of idea kind of evolved over the years and changed as I changed, changed as the scene changed, um, changed through like the restaurants that I was working at and that it the the education that I was getting. Um and then it became time. I was working for Pappy Smokehouse at the time. And um my kids were, you know, at the age where I felt comfortable, maybe like knowing how much it was gonna take me away from being at home um and knowing myself and what that looks like. Um, so we started talking about what that looks like, and we also didn't have any money. So this was all like a pipe dream. Um, so we were trying to figure out the best way to go about this for us and where we were in our lives, and food trucks at the time were pretty hot. Um, Dave Choit sold taco, um Brian and Joel with Gorilla, they were just like killing it. Um and we realized that we could do a food truck. Um and so we started coming up with all these ideas, and then I don't really remember exactly the conversation, but at one point the idea of doing, you know, food from the region where Edo's from was on the table, and it was just the thing that made the most sense for me to start working on. It was the thing that I felt the most passionate about. It was the thing that made the most sense for him and I. Like I spent a lot of years like trying to make food for him, failed miserably on a lot of those recipes.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Um obviously you figured it out now.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Something, some things, some things I'm still figuring out. Um, but you know, we didn't know we knew that I would do it. We didn't know how it would, you know, grow and and what it would look like. We knew we wanted to open a restaurant, we didn't know how it was gonna happen. Um, we didn't know if that was gonna be the concept that would go into the restaurant. We were just like, well, if we're gonna try this concept, we should try it on a small scale to see if people like it. And then, yeah. People love people liked it.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Our podcast sponsor is Forehands Brewing Company, which is celebrating 10 years of citywide here in St. Louis. The 10th anniversary celebration will feature collaborations with fellow iconic St. Louis companies, including Sauce on the Side, High Point Drive-In, Sugar Fire Smokehouse, Gus's Pretzel Shop, Fritz's Root Beer, Blue City Deli, STL Toasted, Strange Donuts, Peacemaker, Lobster and Crab Company, Clementine's Ice Cream, Strange Donuts, and more. I know it's always so exciting when you guys are at Food Truck Friday, uh, and the line gets long quick. So I eat dinner at 4 p.m. on Food Truck Fridays when you're there. Smart.

unknown 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

So tell us, okay, so what year was it when you launched the food truck?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

We did our first service at the International Institute around Christmas in 2016. And then the truck went, you know, it hibernated for the winter. And then we resurfaced in the spring of 2017. And that's when we really devoted our time and energy to it. Um, you know, parking down at City Garden and over at um uh my God, what was the name of that company that used to be down there? There were like a few places that you were allowed to park um publicly to vend.

unknown 7:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

And we started parking down there and little by little found our people and their people found their people and it just grew from there.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah. And what year was it when you were ready to open the brick and mortar?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Well, we started looking in 2018 um and finally found a place uh to call home in 2019.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

When was the moment that you knew you were ready for like your own permanent space?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

It was we were doing a an event at Rockwell Brewing before they opened their space. It was like on their gravel parking lot. It was like there wasn't anything there really but a couple of containers, and they were doing like some of their beer, and they asked us to come down and park. And I remember pulling up and like there were already people there waiting. And then Emir showed up and like he sent a picture from the ins, like from the outside of the truck inside, and I looked down at the photo and the just the line was endless. And I like texted him. I was like, are they here for for us? And you know, of course, they're there for a lot of reasons, but standing in that line is a small feat. And the fact that people were standing there waiting for us to, you know, cook food for them is pretty remarkable. And I remember going after that service, like looking at them and being like, I think we can start looking for a space.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

That's so cool. Yeah, I bet that feels really good. Still feels incredible. That's awesome. And now let's talk about something else incredible. Because I know you got some James Beer nominations.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Yeah, yeah. Something that um was not on our radar uh from the jump. Um, not something I ever thought about. Uh, not the reason why we do what we do. Um, but it's definitely a cool thing to be recognized when, you know, we all work so hard. You know, this is like an industry that, you know, it's uh it's gritty.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

And we're scrappy. You have to be. So it's been that's been a really fun um ride uh from the beginning to now. Uh it's a lot of it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to talk about with guests. Like they get really excited. Um, we're obviously really excited. Um we got to go last year. Uh we were a finalist last year, so we got to go to the actual awards. I'd been in 2018, but just for fun with a friend of mine who worked for San Pellegrino. Um, and then last year, like going because you know, our name is up there was pretty surreal.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah. The year before I had cooked for the awards. Oh, really? Karen like cooked for like because they have a big gala afterwards and they invite chefs from all over to cook. And so I was one that got to cook for the event. And that was, I mean, I was just like, this is the most incredible.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

That's almost like winning in itself.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

It felt like winning. Yeah. And it's like you're you're looking around at all these like culinary giants that you just read about, you know, and all of a sudden you're standing toe-to-toe with Daniel Balud and he's like lifting your dress because you're about to get guacamole in it. And amazing. It was, yeah. I mean, it's been I'm super grateful.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

And it's been five years in a row. Is that right? I think so. What was that like the first time? Um, yeah. Did you cry?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Yes. I still I still tearing up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Now you're making me tear up.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Very emotional about it. Um, just because, like I said, it was not um, it was not anything that was on the radar for somebody like me. Um, and even like what we're doing. Um so yeah, the first time was, you know, it's always unexpected, but that was like, whoa. And I remember it was a morning that I did not go in super early, which was hardly ever at that point in time. And my friend Spencer called me and I was like, why is he calling me so early? And I pick up the phone and he like says these words, and like still like and I just like got super emotional. Like, I remember being like overwhelmed, like my knees buckled, like I'm home by myself, like my dogs are looking at me like I'm losing my mind. I probably was. Um, but yeah, like it was it was it was shocking. Yeah. Shocking.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Now that it's been like every year, are you kind of getting used to it or is it a surprise every year?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

It's a surprise every year. And every year you you can, you know, I'm always like, Well, this was like a lot of fun while it lasted, you know, like you just see so much in the people around you, you know, and in your community and what they're doing and what they're fighting for and how much work they're putting in. And it's like you're, you know, you you know that you're doing the same, but there's so much happening that you don't think like, oh, this is this is gonna happen every year, you know, like this is gonna happen again. Like, no, that's not how it feels. Like you don't feel uh you get the nomination and you're like, this was amazing, like thank you. And you don't think that it's ever gonna go further. I just I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And here we are five years later.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah, and it still feels that way.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Cool. Now, what are your favorite dishes at the moment at your restaurants?

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Ooh, we as well. So uh we've been doing a lot of specials. We did like a whole birthday week um of specials, and that's been fun. And we're like the team, we've all been working really hard to try to get um like more regular specials because I think you know the menu stays the same. Like we have like a hit list, and I mean there are people that come for that one thing every single time. They don't try anything else, so we you know tread lightly when we think of changing the menu, but adding to the menu is um a lot of fun. We're working on a steak set for Balkan at night. Um, so that's you know gonna be fun and interesting. Um, started doing a appetizer that we're working on for Telva called Ali Nazik. It's like the smoky eggplant yogurt dip. And then we put like a spiced season like beef mince inside with like bread. It's like just a very like savory but delicious and textural, like nice. There's like a warm and a cool component. The yogurt is like room temperature and the meat is warm and like kind of hits all those. No, my mouth's watering right now.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

I know. I'm like, I need to go over there immediately after this.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Um so, but I mean, if I had to pick a menu item from each place, chivapi and p-day for me at Balkan and the Chilbear at Telva. Yeah, those are probably like yeah. That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, they're I think if I think those are those are top notch. Okay. I still like them.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, totally. Me too. I have to taste them every day and I still love them. Delicious. I mean, you're not winning James Beard nominations for no reason. So okay. Now I know you recently expanded service over at Balkan and the community is going wild for it.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

It's pretty cool. Yeah, we've got a lot of new guests. Um, we've opened ourselves up to way more people. I think that was the most surprising thing about making the decision to go to seven days and seven nights. Um, it's taken us a really long time to extend service anyway. Like uh when we opened, it was just like it was me on the oven and me on what we call finishing station. And it was, you know, you can only make so much food in a day, you can only produce so much. I mean, we were sleeping two hours a night.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

It was like that's not enough.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, it wasn't a great situation. And then, you know, as you learn and grow and you build your team and you teach other people how to do things, and over the years we've done that pretty slowly. Added as we could, finally figured out, you know, oh, we can we definitely can stay open till three o'clock every day. So it went from like 11 to sell out to 11 to 3. Then we added weekend nights, um, figured that out. Then we went to five days a week, figured that out, and now we're at seven lunch and dinner, and seven, uh, Telva. Telva's not open at night yet. But uh we are um it's been a really cool kind of I don't know, transformation. And yeah, it's been it's been excellent meeting new people that are like, well, I could never come before, which I'm that makes a lot of sense. Like we were not accessible for a lot of people being open for lunch only. And then the day that people can come would be a Saturday. And it is the busiest day, and so it's an intimidating time to come. Um, and some people, you know, don't have the time and they don't want to wait. And it's it's kind of an illusion. Like you don't really, you're not spending more time at our restaurant than you would any other restaurant just because there's a line. Like once you get up there, we find you a table, you sit down, you eat, and you know, you either hang out or you go. So it's uh it's just but it is, it's hard to explain to people, especially here. Like I think in bigger cities, people are used to it. Um, but uh yeah, so it's been it's been fun. We've met a lot of uh cool people and made some new friends and uh made some new regulars and it's been it's been joyful.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

You gotta give the people what they want.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah, yeah. We're uh we've been we've been having a good time.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

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SPEAKER_00 18:16

Um, I love the theater. Um we try to see theater often. Um dance, just performance.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

You have a background in that?

SPEAKER_00 18:27

I did. I was a I was a dancer.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Oh, fun. Yeah. I love dancing.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

It's good for your soul.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

It is. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So we we try to do that. Uh I love to see um friends outside of our respective restaurants. Um it's hard for us to get together, but when we do, it like it feels rejuvenating. Um and hang out with my dogs at the outside. Um 25 and 26.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Wow, they grow so fast.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, they do. My daughter's in Chicago, she's in the hospitality industry. Nice. She works for Nobu.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, it's super cool. And my son was in hospitality. Then he got into fitness. He was a personal trainer, and now he is starting a new sales job. So he's in Miami. So they're I love it down there. Oh, it's I I I'd been, but I really have enjoyed uh when we've gone to visit him. Like I've such a great food scene too. They have such good food. Um, so we've had a really good time down there, and they have the Russian Turk, like the Russian Turkish bathhouse in Miami, the same one that's in New York. Oh, really? Yeah, and it's it's like twice the size of the one in New York, and it's incredible. Like that's incredible. Uh yeah, I mean, it's just like a like a kind of a a spa, but in a very like, again, like it's pretty gritty. Like it's like medicinal, where it's like you're in a room that's hot, then you can do a cold plunge. You can do they do a service where they like beat you with like oak leaves, like to get your blood circulation going. Beating is probably not the like a gentle tap. Yeah, well, it's not gentle, is it not? But it's like they believe that it's like good for blood flow, so it like stimulates blood flow. Um, they do massage and all those kinds of things there, but the it's just a really fun experience. Like I highly recommend if you're in New York or Miami to do that. I really wish we had one here. Sounds awesome. It's pretty awesome, but it feels like you're like going down into a cave and it's like dark and there's like all kinds, it's like a cast of characters every time you go. You just like never know who you're gonna see or who you're gonna meet. Ultimately, you always end up talking to people, like having good conversation. It's very social. Um, it's a very social thing to do. Um, I love that part of the culture.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah, that sounds awesome. Yeah. And now what's on the horizon for Vulcan and Telva in the summer? I mean, we're always doing something. Yeah. It's like keeping your head above water with all your business.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, we're we're, you know, we're like I said, we're the dinner service stuff is new. We're really trying to, you know, offer more. Uh, we're putting in a a beverage program at both restaurants, which we didn't have before. Really? Um, yes, Telve for like, you know, the brunch crowd, like people that still want to have a cocktail or an NA cocktail. Okay. Um, and then Balkan, since we're open nights, um, we're gonna have a whole, you know, small cocktail program. Right now we have like wines from the region. Um, we have uh a couple of batch cocktails. We're trying to do keg cocktails just because it's such a small space. So you know, just with our flavor profiles, just things that people can kind of look forward to seeing from us that we haven't done in the past that we're kind of focusing on now. Used to do um, like we're just trying to do new things, just you know, you I think after you've been open some time, like looking at what you're doing and can we do anything better? Can we do things differently? Like when you bring new people onto the team, it's fun because they have ideas. Like we just introduced uh like Falcon's always been like self-serve water, you know. We started doing a version of water service and we've never done that before. And it's actually like been a revelation because now you're not like bottlenecking at the register where it gets so crazy. So um, and I think the guests really like it. And you know, those are things that you know, when you're growing and you get new team members, they bring new perspective and new life into the place, and we really try to listen to that and and and see if things make sense for us to kind of move around. We're always trying to like, I don't know, do something different. When are these cocktails debuting? Um, they're starting, yeah. So probably like uh this week and let's see, what's this is the 10th? Yeah, so next week. Next week.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Amazing. Yeah, okay. We'll have to stop by and check that out.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah, anytime we're in, we're we'll we'll we're we'll be there. You're open now every day. We're open now every day. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Okay, anything else you want to add?

unknown 23:16

No.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I can't think of anything. Okay, well, thanks for stopping by.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Oh, the stadium stuff.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Oh, yeah. Tell tell us about the stadium. Yeah, the stadium.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

That's why I saw it there. Yeah, so we're still this year um at City Park, we have introduced another vegan item. So we've we started out with a uh beef kebab, a cookie, a cocktail, and then a vegan kebab and a loaded fry. Um and last year we added a chicken. So now we do a beef and chicken and vegan kebab. And this year we added a vegan loaded fry. So it's like again, looking at what we're doing and how we're selling and really wanting to be accessible to everyone. You know, I we have a hard time with gluten, you know, because we're like so good. We're just a I mean, essentially we're a bakery, yeah, you know, so it's really hard for us to do that. Like we our love language is so moon. So we're like and wood fired bread. So it's hard to like get around that. But we really do want to be accessible to everyone, whether they, you know, with their dietary restrictions or allergens. Um, so we're always looking to grow in that in that way. And I and we've had great feedback thus far for those. Um, that's been that's been a fun, it's been a fun collaboration with uh City Park.

unknown 24:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

We really love being there.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yeah, that's super cool. And they're a great partner of ours too. It's cool to see uh just everything they're doing and growing every year.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, they're and I think that's too, it's like one of the reasons why we kind of get along so well, too, is because I feel like they're all also always like looking at ways to improve and be better and do different things and kind of staying on top of things. And Gerard does a really good job, you know, communicating those things. And we have just had like we've had a really great, a really great time with that partnership and just hope to continue to see it grow and and be there through the years.