BlackFinn American Grille at the St. Louis Galleria occupied a huge space of the upscale shopping mall before it closed without fanfare early in 2014.
The nearly 10,000 square-foot restaurant (right), the third location of a small chain based in North Carolina, had been in operation less than two years. The 400-seat dining and bar area didn’t even include BlackFinn’s lower level — the restaurant opened at a time when expansive eateries were popping up faster than critics could review them. EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery had opened a few months earlier in Chesterfield and clocked in at a whopping 13,000 square feet.
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The reviews were mediocre at best, though, and BlackFinn caught early criticism for soliciting local food bloggers to give them positive mentions on social media. The closure came without notice on February 24, 2014, and the very next day, workers were stripping BlackFinn’s walls, removing outdoor televisions, and wait staff was picking up the last of their tips.
BlackFinn’s parent company, Bar Management Group, also operated Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina next door, which closed just seven months after its November 2012 opening. The company still runs BlackFinn locations in Houston, Jacksonville and Mount Prospect, Illinois.
After remaining empty for more than a year, another chain is hoping to fill the expansive space: Weber Grill Restaurant, which uses—you guessed it—Weber kettle grills. They’re customized for commercial use and made of stainless steel instead of porcelain enamel like the model you may have in your own backyard. Weber chefs grill over charcoal and use Weber chimney starters. The restaurant uses open kitchens so you can see the cooking process for yourself.
The menu is full of grilled meat, of course, but Weber utilizes those eponymous grills for wood-fired crab cakes, grill-fired pizzas, burgers, steaks, barbecue and “fire-inspired entrees” like beer can chicken and a bone-in smoked pork chop. Luckily, the salads don’t seem to be wood-fired, though they are described on the menu as “enlightened.” There’s also a “Founder’s Menu” with a few items “dedicated to our restaurant’s founder and inventor of the Weber Grill, George Stephen” (read: more expensive). You can get a $60 New York strip or a $40 plank-grilled Chilean sea bass.
Weber Grill Restaurant, LLC operates four other locations in Chicago and Indianapolis, plus Lombard and Schaumburg, Illinois. The company is still owned by the Weber-Stephen family, though Weber-Stephen was sold to BDT Capital Partners in 2010.
Weber Grill will open at the Galleria in Fall 2015, with 200 seats and an additional 130 on the patio, which will have an overhead roll-down cover so it can be used in both cold and warm weather. The St. Louis location will also be the only to feature Grill Academy, a program that will offer “hands-on grilling classes, interactive dining, private events” and more, according to a press release.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing Weber Grill Restaurant to St. Louis,” Weber Grill Restaurants president R. Bryan Gerrish said in the release. “We considered a number of Midwestern cities and St. Louis became our top choice based on the culinary traditions, casual dining lifestyle, affinity for patio dining and love for great barbeque and grilling. We love the central location of the St. Louis Galleria as well as the strong mall traffic, ease of parking and variety of shopping, dining and entertainment that it offers.”
