Should I include pop-ups, dinner series and other transitory events in this column? I’ve struggled with this question for more than a decade. The role these not-exactly-restaurants play in cultivating talent and bypassing typical industry roadblocks is undeniable and welcome. But life is uncertain enough nowadays without me imploring you to track down a chef with no fixed hours or permanent address.

Jon Dittmer, left, and Matt Frentzel, owners of Big Mouth Sandwich Co.Â
Big Mouth Sandwich Co. sidesteps my dilemma. The chefs Matt Frentzel and Jon Dittmer introduced Big Mouth in February at Perennial Artisan Ales in Patch. The duo slings sandwiches in the brewery’s tasting room Wednesday through Sunday. More recently, Big Mouth has added lunch Monday and Tuesday at the Mack Bar & Grill in Southampton.
In other words, you can enjoy Big Mouth daily, which is more often than you can visit many “actual†restaurants. Big Mouth is no fleeting pop-up. Call the operation a residency, I guess. Like Adele in Las Vegas, though considerably less expensive and with very good housemade focaccia to boot.
People are also reading…
Frentzel and Dittmer dreamed up Big Mouth while working together at O+O Pizza in Webster Groves. From this kitchen, the residencies followed. Frentzel has also cooked at Perennial on Lockwood, the collaboration between Perennial Artisan Ales and O+O Pizza’s older sibling Olive + Oak. Meanwhile, O+O Pizza chef Mike Risk owns the Mack.

Sandwich makers Jon Dittmer and Matt Frentzel pose for a portrait at their Big Mouth Sandwich Co. booth at Perennial Artisan Ales.
St. Louis certainly doesn’t lack for sandwich options. “St. Louis is a sandwich town,†Frentzel himself says. But the potential for variety among sandwiches is boundless, and Frentzel and Dittmer have already distinguished Big Mouth by serving most of their creations on their own focaccia.
This was a practical decision. The duo wanted to maximize how much bread the two of them could bake by themselves. They drew inspiration from Dittmer’s pizza dough — a “killer†recipe, Frentzel says. Granted, he’s not impartial, but with its deeply browned, salt-flecked crust, springy chew and gentle tang, the focaccia proves him right. (Great olive oil is the key, Dittmer says.)

A Beef Bene sandwich, served with Ruth Family Farm beef, Italian blend cheese, bomba aioli, mild cherry peppers and caramelized onions at Big Mouth Sandwich Co. Each sandwich is served on a signature sourdough focaccia bread.
The focaccia even holds its form — and retains some of its chew — when you dunk it in the cup of jus accompanying Big Mouth’s Beef Bene. This riff on an Italian beef sandwich with cheese, caramelized onion, cherry peppers and a piquant hot-pepper aioli, is both juicy and flavorful enough that this jus is a luxury rather than a necessity.
Working in borrowed kitchens, Frentzel and Dittmer can’t make everything from scratch, but they deftly balance quality main ingredients with inspired touches. Big Mouth’s Classic features the can’t-miss combo of prosciutto and capicola from Hill institution Volpi with such straightforward garnishes as lettuce, red onion, pepperoncini and Italian dressing. But this sandwich packs more savory wallop than the typical Italian cold-cut sub thanks partly to the focaccia, partly to a swanky Parmesan aioli in place of humdrum mayo.
For the Porchetta sandwich, Big Mouth turns to a cooked and cured product from the Italian producer Leoncini. I skimmed over the name when I first read the menu, and the sliced pork was so tender that I never imagined they were anything other than cooked in-house, let alone imported. (The porchetta is grilled to order so that the meat is hot and its edges crisp here and there.) The key finishing accent is a wild ramp salsa verde, which delivers the fresh spring bite of its signature ingredient and a welcome smidge of anchovy funk.

A Big Mouth Sandwich Co. grilled cheese sandwich, made with mozzarella and basil almond pesto.
For Big Mouth’s grilled cheese sandwich, Frentzel and Dittmer understandably skip their focaccia in favor of more compact slices of sourdough bread. To jolt the melted mozzarella — the ideal stretchy, molten texture, but mild in flavor — they pair the cheese with a bright basil-almond pesto and brush the arrangement with honey.
Frentzel and Dittmer say their long-term goal is a brick-and-mortar location for Big Mouth. Besides having their own space, they also anticipate being able to broaden the menu with what they love to cook — pizza and pasta as well as sandwiches.
In the meantime, if you do like a challenge with your nontraditional restaurant, Big Mouth has added a wrinkle to its menu. At Perennial Artisan Ales on Wednesday and Thursday, Frentzel and Dittmer are offering a limited number of pizzas, with the toppings changing week to week.
This is a challenge with a low degree of difficulty. You don’t need to know a guy, guess the password or suppress any lingering doubts about an operation’s legality.
Then again, I still wasn’t able to get the timing right before my deadline for this column.
Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Ian Froeb reflects on 10 years of doing the STL Top 100 and lists the top 5 restaurants on his 2025 list. Video by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com