Ballwin Pastry Shop Gets St. Louis Exposure

received special attention Tuesday as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch featured the Ballwin business in a special write-up dedicated to owner Chris Leuther and his craft.

Leuther told the St. Louis newspaper that his 30-plus year career has revolved around a careful balance of tradition and innovation, starting with recipes he was exposed to as a teenager while friends with Frank Fresenberg of Fresenberg's Bakery in south St. Louis.

In that time, Luether told the Post-Dispatch, he's seen many different takes on similar pastries, but noted that oftentimes nostalgia is the key ingredient:

"... [T]hey'd tweak it just a little bit, but a lot of times different places made exactly the same cake. It seemed special because it made a special memory — but that's all it is, a memory."

Leuther also told the Post-Dispatch that his business serves as a sort of "bakery museum" thanks to hardware acquired from Clayton's Lake Forest Bakery, which closed in 2003 — a move that was preceded by the business's fifth change of ownership when it was purchased by Damian Gerard in 2002, St. Louis Business Journal reported.

To read the complete St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, click here.