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This time of year, good things come in small packages indeed: it can only be Jared--unless it's the new DeMun Oyster Bar.
Alan Richman's long-awaited teenytiny corner resto/bar finally opened last night, a few doors south of his flagship Sasha's Wine Bar on DeMun. And it's very, very cool....the Verne Troyer of restaurants--small, but unforgettable.
Let's start with the mosaic floor tiles--reclaimed in France and shipped to St. Lou, this floor it's as spectacular as any in town. Next, the operable rectangular windows--the place is practically all windows--custom-fabricated for this space, they lift up and out from the bottom, creating a window awning when fully extended, providing some cover for patio seating. Slick. And, yes, another excuse to look forward to spring...
Ten tables and a congenial, semi-circular bar add up to perhaps 40 seats; oysters are shucked behind the bar, at a conversation-starting, molded-glass shucking station.
Ah, those oysters. Richman spent years nurturing relationships with seafood suppliers, all of whom agreed to ship him in small lots, a virtual guarantee of freshness. The result is half a dozen varieties of west coast provenance, plus shrimp, scallops, mussels and claws, available by the piece or in various combinations. A light, oyster chowder served steaming in a massive oval bowl was spectacular last evening...even the china pattern was drawing raves. (There are non-shellfish options as well, I'm told, but honestly, I never made it that far down the menu.)
The wine list is equally impressive: Eighteen white wines by the glass (and some obscure varietals to boot), a respectable number of reds (considering the preponderance of shellfish), and a string of bubbles (many in tidy 187's) worthy of a Mark Zuckerberg New Year's Eve party. Prefer a cocktail? Manager Chad George, local beverage pro and founder of Proof Academy, assembled his team of mixologists in DeMOB's planning stages, so his claim that it's "the furthest place West that's serving great cocktails" may be no idle boast.
This may be the first example of a reactionary wave of new local restaurants for 2011--small, quality-driven, themed restaurants with a narrow focus and ultra-high standards. We can only hope so. And I predict the DeMun Oyster Bar will rise to stardom this year faster than little Jackie Evancho.
Photos by Kevin A. Roberts
