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West County diners who like to enjoy a cigarette with their Bistro Steak Sliders or "Rubinettes" will now have to look elsewhere: Morgan Le Fay’s Tapas Bar & Lounge (14314 S. Outer Road in Town & Country) closed its doors after service on New Year’s Eve. Owner Lisa Keller announced the news December 31 on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
We must admit we looked at this restaurant through two sets of eyes. On one hand, we appreciated the family-room-type atmosphere, replete with soft seating, table games, and an above-average array of hot and cold small plates; on the other, MLF’s was (what we thought was) one of the few remaining restaurant/bars in the county that still allowed smoking. (As it turned, out, we were wrong, but that’s another story.) Despite the preponderance of smoke eaters (enough to handle five times the air volume, we’d been told), non-smokers like us could never rally behind the combination of upholstery, decent food, and ambient cigarette smoke.
Keller, the omnipresent face of the business (her Q&A with SLM is here), says she closed for two reasons: one, sales were hit-and-miss and she didn’t see that improving; and two, due to health issues within her family, she was no longer able to put in the hours necessary to turn a profit.
Meanwhile, Chef Dave Rook has landed in familiar surroundings at 16125 Chesterfield Parkway West, currently the second location of Oceano Bistro (below), open since August 2012. (SLM weighed in on the new place here.) The building was formerly the home of Aqua Vin (where Rook was chef and co-owner) and prior to that, Crazy Fish (where he was chef).
Local restaurant followers will recall that in March 2013, Rook and his brother Mike opened Empire Deli & Pizza at 1131 Washington, and planned to almost concurrently open a glorified diner--King Louie’s—next door, an homage to their father’s one-time restaurant, King Louie’s Drive-In in Wood River, Ill. However, once Empire was renamed King Louie’s Empire Deli & Pizza, scribes like us thought the diner idea was dead, but Mike Rook recently assured us otherwise. Despite delays, city-promised assistance that didn’t materialize, and a shift in partners, Rook says the diner will indeed open in the coming months, and that his father’s signature “griddle” burgers and potato “planks” will live on.
Dave Rook had grown tired of the delays, the long hours (the deli is open until 4 am on weekends), "working more for less," and thought it time to move on, so when the opportunity at Oceano was presented, he accepted.
Chef Rook officially clocks in at Oceano tomorrow, but has already affected changes to the menu. His signature gumbo was served (to great raves, we’re told) over the weekend, ditto his flash-fried calamari, and the steak specials sold out. Although he did not elaborate, Chef Rook indicated a lot of changes are in the works, and considering he has prior experience in the neighborhood--and in the very same building--he knows exactly what needs to be done. Stay. Tuned.
