The coincidence was unsettling but it happens this way sometimes: almost on the same day that Winfield’s Gathering Place (the newest endeavor from Mark Winfield and former St. Louis Cardinal Jim Edmonds) opened its doors last month in Kirkwood, the Eleven Mile House—located in the same center--decided to close theirs.
It’s inevitable that the arrival of a max-buzz joint such as Winfield’s would adversely affect a much older watering hole located practically next door. In this instance it’s moot point, since Eleven Mile’s co-owner Greg Caldwell elected to pull the plug two days before any downturn in business could occur.
Less than a month later, however, the space has a new tenant. Dan Marten, a former medical supplies rep, plans to open The Wood Cask in late spring, a restaurant taking its theme from several places he discovered in the Louisville area and its name from the wooden casks used to age both whiskey and wine.
“I didn’t want to call it a whiskey bar or whiskey house,” he said. “I wanted something less harsh, something with a softer name.”
Marten is working with a designer to lighten and brighten up the interior. “The main complaint I heard about Eleven Mile was how dark it was,” he said. The dining room will be perked up with linens and butcher paper and have a distinctively different feel than the bar. But throughout the space, Marten said, the dark-stained floors will be lightened and light-toned reclaimed wood will replace the dated wall paneling.
Marten describes the cuisine as “Southern-leaning comfort food…upscale but casual.” To this end, he’s enlisted the talents of St. Louis native Ben Welch, who’s punched the chef’s clock at Emeril Lagasse’s Nola, as well as local faves Home Wine Kitchen, Basso, The Restaurant at The Cheshire, and Katie's Pizza and Pasta. Expect to see items like thin-sliced sirloin steak with whiskey-glazed onions, smoked Gouda, and horseradish cream. Or a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with roasted vegetables.
Coincidentally, chef Welch also worked at The Precinct (Winfield and Edmonds’ downtown restaurant) and no one is rooting more for Marten and The Cask than Winfield. “If they’re successful, the synergy will help us be successful,” he said, a point not lost on Marten. “Winfield’s is heavily into smoked meat,” he said, “which is one reason we will not have a smoker. I want us to complement each other rather than compete.”
Should the two end up as drinking buddies, The Wood Cask plans on a robust selection of wine, plus “70 whiskeys to start,” according to Marten, who said he's already secured half a dozen Jack Daniels barrels to drive home the theme.
