One of the most-anticipated restaurants of the year, 4 Hands and Peacemaker at Kirkwood (150 W. Argonne), quietly opened over the weekend in an idyllic spot in downtown Kirkwood. After three years in conception, development, and delays, the partnership project between 4 Hands Brewing Co. and Peacemaker Lobster & Crab has transformed the multi-bay space previously occupied by Down by The Station, a boutique gift shop just west of the Kirkwood train station. Owners Kevin Lemp and Kevin Nashan, respectively, plan for the new establishment to continue with limited hours this week, opening at 4 p.m until Friday, when they will crank open the throttle and open at 11 a.m. seven days a week. The restaurant is first-come, first-served. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Atmosphere
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Although Lemp and Nashan partnered on a smaller scale at 4 Hands’ flagship in the LaSalle neighborhood, the Kirkwood location has far more bells and whistles, boasting active train tracks in its back yard and a mothballed red caboose in front. When they first surveyed the property, Lemp saw the potential to create a restaurant/bar experience that’s “transportive.” He and Nashan envisioned a restaurant space in the existing 2,500-square-foot footprint, a covered patio (that extends the dining area), a secondary uncovered patio, and a green space that they now refer to as the “back yard,” a throwback to their youth, where Lemp says, “kids can throw a ball, run around, have some fun.”
The transportive experience begins when guests are escorted to a covered patio with 9-foot tall accordion glass doors on three sides. The knotty pine ceiling and support beams (made from stacked and compressed 2-by-4-foot wood planks) is a handsome look by itself, but it’s what lies beyond that firmly checks Lemp’s transportive box. The view from the covered patio leads to more outside seating (at standard and picnic tables, all bedecked with matching black umbrellas) that spills onto the aforementioned back yard, a sloping grassy area accented with native plants, landscape boulders, and trees that direct the focus inwards.
“There’s room for kids to run in the yard,” Lemp says, “just like you remember when you were a kid. They can play while the adults keep an eye on them seated at their tables.” The accordion doors make for an airy, breezy vibe in the summer, and see-through comfort in the winter, where Nashan paints the picture: “Imagine watching a football game and it starts to snow, and you’re inside all cozy, eating a bowl of chowder or gumbo along with a cold beer. We’ll have bonfires going outside, a train goes by… Oh, baby!”
“It’s gonna be a postcard, really,” Lemp adds.
The partners are understandably enamored with the outside space, one they designed with separate, ADA-compliant restrooms. “If you’re seated outside, you can stay outside,” Lemp says. There’s even a third patio area, adjacent to the red caboose, that’s soon to be festooned with string lights and possibly sail shades.
Lemp says early guests were amazed at the amount of space in the heavily landscaped, park-like setting. “Hearing birds and crickets and frogs—but thankfully no cicadas, they’re gone—people feel miles away from the hustle bustle.”
To keep an orderly traffic flow, there are two entrances: off street on the building’s east side (for dine-in) and on the street-facing west side (for pickup and to-go orders). Inside, a host directs guests to one of two dining rooms or to an outside table. “You see there’s dining in the front but have no idea there’s a party in the back,” Nashan says.
In one window is a fire jacket in a box frame, courtesy of the Kirkwood Fire Department (whose station is across the street). As part of its contribution to Kirkwood, 4 Hands is producing Kirkwood Kolsch, a philanthropic beer, with a portion of proceeds being donated to the fire department’s nonprofit, which funnels it back to the community.
On the walls, there’s a recognizable version of 4 Hand’s famed space octopus that has invaded several brewery locations, a statement piece that set the stage for several more commissioned works from muralist/artist Jason Spencer of Killer Napkins. One has transformed a sketch of a silo and a train into a can of City Wide flanked by a space octopus riding the iron horse like a mad jockey. Another shows the Kirkwood train station being overtaken, again by Spencer’s whimsy. “We wanted to lean on the train aspect but make it us,” Lemp says. “We’ve got four more pieces coming. We can’t wait to see what Jason will do next.”
The interior was designed so guests familiar with both businesses would feel at home: The wood-backed banquettes are the same as the ones used at both Peacemaker locations; the green tile used on the bar face is the same as 4 Hands’ nearly year-old Chesterfield location. Black wooden chairs strike a familiar chord. Woodcrafter David Stine built the indoor tables and bartop from white oak, following Lemp’s love of “wood and black, especially light-colored wood and black.”
The matching green stenciled wallpaper is a Peat Wollaeger interpretation of 4 Hands’ abstract logo, that to some looks like beer hops, an artichoke, or four adjoining hands. Lemp calls it “punk-rock elegance,” which looks different depending on the lighting and time of day.
Food and drink can be ordered at the inside tables using paper menus and a QR code, at the inside or outside bar (even the stools have QR codes), from the outside order window, or at the to-go counter. Lemp says he’d prefer that customers get their beer and cocktails directly from the bar, which they have been doing so far. “That’s our opportunity to engage, to answer questions, to build relationships and rapport,” he says, which is lost when using QR codes. “We still have touch points at the tables, but the more customer engagement, the better.” Customers can either dine in, pick up, or order to-go. At present, the restaurant has no plans to deliver. “Our goal is to have minimal ticket times on property,” Nashan explains. “Considering the number of seats we have, doing delivery would run counter to that.”
Although the restaurant will bring considerably more people to an already busy Argonne Avenue, Lemp mentions the parking lot to the east of the facility (behind Clementine’s), the lot to the east of Kaldi’s (a block away), and the church parking lot (catty-corner to the building), which can be used during non-church hours.
The Menu
The food menu is slightly abridged from the one at Peacemaker, with the main difference being the omission of the seafood boils. (The boils will occur six to eight times per year, with each revolving around an event.) There’s also fewer po’ boys and side dishes than at the Benton Park location, but two melts have been added (a Frisco Melt and a veggie melt), as well as a kids’ menu (with chicken strips, grilled cheese, and mac and cheese).
Peacemaker fans will recognize the lobster roll, cocktail shrimp (shipped fresh from the Gulf coast), steamed seafood (snow crab, mussels, and clams), steamed buns, hushpuppies, and the po’boys.
4 Hands beer appears in several food items: beer-braised onions on the Frisco Melt, beer cheese sauce with Companion-baked pretzels, and seasonal uses, such as sunflower seeds on this summer’s kale salad, seasoned with dehydrated City Wide beer.
Two desserts are both unique to the location: beignets and Ronnie’s Rocky Mountain (the fist-sized, drumstick-esque ice cream novelty from Ronnie’s Ice Cream, which supplies product to Cyrano’s, Hi-Pointe Drive In, Mac’s Local Eats, and Sugarfire Pie, among others). Being located next door to Clementine’s is a plus as well. “People can eat and drink here,” Nashan says, “and hit up Clementine’s when they leave. I might do the same thing.”
4 Hands’ beers are available on 12 beer taps at both the inside and outside bars. Because the draft lines are not shared, different beers can be offered at both bars. The starting rotation includes 4 Hands’ favorites (City Wide, Single Speed, Incarnation), a Belgian-style saison (Saison), a sour (Lemon Drop Prussia), and a signature Belgian white ale (Peacemaker), among others. Ten canned offerings are available as well, including beers and 4 Hands’ branded seltzers. The 10-item cocktail menu features 1220 Spirits and Withered Oak, two spirits brands developed by 4 Hands.
Lemp says the wine list will logically focus on “summer patio sippers”—roses and whites—rather than reds and heavy cabs, which are a harder sell in the warmer months. “We may get more into reds in the wintertime,” he says.
The Backstory
Years ago, when Lemp was looking to add a food component at 4 Hands’ flagship location, he asked Nashan if he was interested, thus forming a partnership between “the two Kevins.” Nashan reflects, “We both liked each other a lot,” which ultimately led to an ongoing affiliation.
Last summer, Lemp opened a second brewpub in Chesterfield, 4 Hands at The District, in partnership with Hi-Pointe Drive-In, where “shows at The Factory bring in a lot of people, but we’re doing a ton of business without it. It’s working.”
Nashan, one of the most respected chefs in town, says his flagship restaurant, Sidney Street Café, is as solid as a rock, “and that’s after 36 years, 20 of that under our watch.” Peacemaker’s six-year-old location in Tulsa, “a big boy, similar to Kirkwood, is doing great. And LT [Nashan’s 3-year-old Southwest-themed La Tertulia, also in Tulsa] is killing it and with only 86 seats.”
A 4 Hands/Peacemaker collaboration is also slated to open at St. Louis Lambert International Airport’s Terminal 2. Asked about the timeframe, Nashan says with a smile, “Not today—look for us there in the fall.”
Meanwhile, in Kirkwood, the Kevins report that the soft-opening phase has been smooth. “His team is in the kitchen, mine is at the bar, and after that, everything else is a joint collaboration,” Lemp says. “This is a legit restaurant and a beast compared to what we’re doing together downtown, but the teams are working well together, and the flow of service has been seamless.” Nashan concurs: “I’ve opened 12 restaurants, seven under my personal watch. This one has been the easiest and the best.”
Another amenity, freight and passenger trains, pass by four or five times a day, and the partners plan to capitalize on that as well. “When trains go by, something will happen for the kids, and it will be fun, I promise,” Lemp says. “But that’s all we know right now.”
As it turns out, it’s not only kids who love trains. “A group of six men were at a table drinking beer the other night when a train went by, and they all began hooting and hollering,” Lemp says. “A woman walked by me, smiled, and said, ‘Boys and their trains…’”
