Originally published February 18, 2003 in the St. Charles County Post

Restaurant's menu lives on at River City Catering

by Lacey Burnette
Of The Post-Dispatch

St. Charles County lost one of its finer restaurants in April when Tornatore's Ristorante shut its doors in St. Peters after a five-year run. But while the restaurant is gone, its menu lives on.

Kurt and Barbara Enger of St. Charles have started a catering firm that features dishes from Tornatore's. The Engers own River City Foods, which owns and operates the five Cecil Whittaker's restaurants in St. Charles County and one in Creve Coeur.

Kurt Enger and Steve Tornatore have been friends since childhood.

When the restaurant closed, Tornatore briefly ran a catering company, said Kevin Enger, Kurt's brother and the general manager of River City Foods.

"We started doing work for Tornatore's last summer," Kevin Enger said. "We thought there would be some kind of partnership at first, but it just kind of evolved into a situation that we could better do it on our own.

"This was a good opportunity for us. We didn't buy the company; all we're trying to do is utilize their menu with their blessing. They had a good reputation for quality and good service, and we're trying to do that with our company."

While the Engers didn't buy the company, they came away with some key employees. George Duvenick, the former sales and operations manager of Tornatore's, has joined River City Catering in the same capacity. On his staff is Stephen Brewer, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, who had been a chef at Tornatore's.

Kevin Enger said hiring Duvenick was a key move. Before joining Tornatore's in St. Peters, he had managed the Tornatore's in Bridgeton for three years. That restaurant also has closed. Altogether, he worked for Tornatore's for six years.

"We had a pretty good catering business. It was quite successful," Duvenick said. "We have maintained our customer base here. The people who we were doing business with have not had any interruption. I feel that this is even better because now we have people that are now able to pay more attention to detail. They're focusing on preparing, cooking and delivering the food. Before, we had to contend with getting lunch out and dealing with parties in the restaurant and individual diners. Now we can focus on catering. We've improved our procedures considerably."

Duvenick works mostly out of an office in the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County, on Mid Rivers Mall Drive. He said the food is generally prepared at the Cecil Whittaker's on Wolfrum Road. Duvenick said most of those served by the catering firm are repeat customers.

River City Catering provides services ranging from office luncheons to wedding receptions.

"It doesn't have to be delivered, and it doesn't have to be a large party," Duvenick. "We can provide food for any group ranging from 10 people to 700. We can create a customized menu; a lot of our menus are that. People often ask if we can do something for them. Basically we can provide catering services for all occasions."

Kevin Enger noted that the combination of the pizza restaurants and the Tornatore's offerings created a unique situation for a caterer.

"We're trying to distinguish between the two," he said. "With Cecil Whittaker's, we can do Super Bowl parties and things like that, while with River City we can do fine wedding receptions. This has kind of given us a full range of pricing opportunities for people. If they want, they can spend five or six dollars a person or they can spend 17 or 18 dollars if they want something elaborate or distinctive. We're set up to do both."

Kevin Enger said that eventually, River City may consider opening a banquet center.

"We're just trying to explore out options now. We think this is going to be very successful."