Last night, in a dare-we-say unique email sent to most of the local food and dining writers, David Bailey (Baileys’ Chocolate Bar, Rooster, Bridge) announced his plans for 920 Olive St. (formerly City Grocers), the site of his fourth restaurant.
The email contained specific instructions to NOT post any information (or tell anyone who will) until Bailey gave the go-ahead at noon today, affording him the opportunity to first notify “our customers that follow us” via Facebook and Twitter, also eliminating the possibility of any my-clock-runs-fast gun-jumping by the scribes.
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OK, we’ve seen the tweet…here’s what’s been kept under wraps:
The backstory: Months ago, when Relish discovered Bailey had committed to the space, he told us–in another dare-we-say unique move–he would not provide any information “until the soft opening sometime this summer,” telling Sauce pretty much the same thing in late March.
Capitalizing on the nation’s still-growing fascination with hamburgers, the restaurant will be called Bailey’s Range, A Burger and Shake Restaurant. It will be a paean to his childhood, where all meals were prepared from scratch. Bailey promises that the burger buns and all condiments will be house made, as will the ice cream for the shakes. The beef will be 100% Grass-Fed Missouri Range Beef. No other information was provided to Relish, except that Range’s opening would be “hopefully less than six weeks away.”
We’ve long lamented the lack of chef-driven, scratch-kitchen, burger joints in this town. Anthony DeVoti of Five Bistro showed St. Louisans just how much better a burger can be… so much better that SLM crowned his burger “the best” in St. Louis in a cover feature from February of this year.
It appears David Bailey has now boarded that train. He summed up his vision pretty succinctly: “I just love the idea of a burger joint that’s better for the planet, better for the people, better for the animals, and where you actually want to see the kitchen and the bakery.”
Anyone interested in attending the opening of Range can email [email protected] for an invite.
