Nick Bognar came back to St. Louis on a mission to help his mom breathe new life into her longtime west-county restaurant Nippon Tei. A couple of James Beard Award nods, national acclaim and a celebrated restaurant of his own later, it’s safe to say that Bognar has helped out and then some. However, no matter how far he’s gone in the couple of years he’s been back in town, it all comes back to what he did for the sushi menu at Nippon Tei. Under his watch, the restaurant has come to be seen as the place in town to feast on fish, thanks to his commitment to sourcing the absolute best of the best seafood and preparing it in a way that honors its flavor as opposed to covering it up as is so popular in American-style rolls. Though he’s now focused on his own place, Indo, his legacy remains intact at Nippon Tei as the unquestionable king of sushi in St. Louis, if not the Midwest. — Cheryl Baehr