Collina Eatery now open on The Hill (2024)

For four years, Carlos Hernandez and Joe Smugala have been operating a charming, full-service restaurant that has become a favorite among its Hill neighbors. They’ve wowed diners with creative takes on fusion cuisine, provided a cozy spot for a quick drink,and hosted everything from baby showers to rehearsal dinners on their patio. Until two months ago, they did all of this under the name Pit Stop, but as chef and co-owner Hernandez says, it was time for a new name and a refresh.

“We were getting all of this feedback from guests who came in thinking that we were a burger joint or barbecue restaurant because of the name, but once they saw the space and the menu, they realized we were completely different from what they were expecting,” says Hernandez. “We called ourselves Pit Stop because we wanted people to know of the building’s history as a gas station, but we realized that was confusing people. We figured, let’s rebrand and call ourselves something that really ties in with the neighborhood and the food we are serving, which is how we came up with Collina Eatery ['collina' is Italian for 'hill'].”

The Space

When you approach the quaint building at the corner of Macklind and Bischoff avenues, you understand why Hernandez and Smugala’s initial thought was to lean into the gas-station theme. The brick building still has the charm of a vintage service station, complete with a working garage door and antique gas pumps that are displayed on one of its two patios. Red umbrellas, tables and chairs, plants, flowers, and garden tchotchkes invite guests to linger outdoors on a beautiful day. Between the two patios, there is alfresco seating for roughly 50 people.

A small dining area, with a handful of tables, greets guests upon entry. Past that, a bar offers stool seating for roughly eight, and there are a few tables, while a second room has an eight-seater corner booth anda few additional tables. The space seems larger than it is, thanks to the working garage door that, when raised, gives a pleasant indoor-outdoor feel to the space.

Much of Collina’s feel is similar to its prior incarnation, though Hernandez and Smugala brought in sleeker, mid-century-style dining chairs, shortened the bar to allow for better flow between rooms, and built out a wine wall with a shinywhite-tiled backdrop and Collina logo to give the room a brighter feel.

The Menu

The name and décor are not all that’s changed with the Collina rebrand. Hernandez, whose resume includes Modesto and Eleven Eleven Mississippi, added several new dishes and drinks to the menu as a way to complement the more elevated vibe that he and Smugala are trying to create. He describes the menu tweaks as leaning a little more into Italian cuisine, though he notes that blending international flavors is at the heart of all that he does.

“It’s nice to feel like I am not tied to any one kind of cuisine,” says Hernandez. “With Collina, we can do anything; there are French, Italian, and Asian influences. I put them all together because I’m not tied to a style, and the neighbors really like that. I like to innovate, whether it’s with the food or the drink program, and test the waters ona lot of things.”

In addition to the Pit Stop favorites that customers have come to love over the past few years, Hernandez has added a handful of new items, including lobster arancini. The golden fried rice spheres are filled with hunks of lobster meat and served atop a rich saffron aioli.

Hernandez is also excited about another appetizer, the veal dumplings, which reflect his love for fusing genres. The steamed pouches, which look like an unfried crab rangoon, are accented with oyster mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, then finished with a sherry sauce and mint yogurt.

New entrées include a French-Italian riff on chicken cordon bleu, which is stuffed with ham and Provel and served alongside Yukon cheddar gnocchi. A new snapper dish nods to North Africa, thanks to Mediterranean couscous, olives, and saffron.

Hernandez put lot of energy into developing Collina’s co*cktail program, which includes several new co*cktails that further underscore the restaurant’s global inflection. The Waterfall Dreaming features an Aviation gin base, St. Germain, and stunning purple butterfly pea flower tea, while the Vacation is a more complex riff on a mojito, thanks to the addition of St. Germain, pineapple juice, ginger ale, and cucumber.

“We didn’t just want to have an Old Fashioned or a classic margarita; we wanted to innovate and do new things,” says Hernandez.

The Backstory

Hernandez and Smugala began working together at Smugala’s Hill steakhouse, Carnivore. The pair instantly clicked, and when Smugala was looking for someone to help him launch Pit Stop, he made Hernandez a partner. Since then, the pair have gone on to open Gastro Pit in Ellisville (which they eventually sold) and El Milagro Azteca in Southwest Garden, which is adjacent to another Gastro Pit that they still own. (Gastro Pit originated in the Collina space, then moved to the Gaslight on Shaw and eventually to its current Southwest Garden Home,)

Recently, in anticipation of even more growth for their hospitality group, they brought on general manager Karen Caputo, who is overseeing all three of their restaurants.

Hernandez notes that all of this growth is exciting and keeps things interesting,especially because he’s seen how much his guests have been thrilled with their efforts.“People are responding really well, and we’re getting such good feedback,” says Hernandez. “We are building a name for ourselves.”