There are two restaurants opening in the next few days...both are operated by seasoned local restaurateurs and both have the potential for fantastic outdoor dining. Other than that, both are completely different:
Chouteau's at 39th (formerly Revival): The large booths in the bar area (for my money, the coolest seats in the place, but also real estate hogs) have been removed, effectively de-cluttering the space, opening the room to the patio outside. The former main dining room is now the secondary dining room.
Chouteau's menu is a veritable "Best of Mike Johnson"...spicy Thai calamari dating back to the days of Cafe Mira, Cyrano's roast beef sandwiches, the seared tuna from Boogaloo, Revival's meatloaf and Mayfair-dressed salad, plus other straightforward pub grub. Johnson wrote the menu, Pete Slay (last of Fu Manchu) will execute it. I noticed but one double-take item: The Fatty Melt, a half-pound burger sandwiched between TWO grilled cheese sandwiches (What, no chili? Ya wimps). Also of note is the "fried potato salad," a replication of the version at Backwater Jack's in Osage Beach.
The complete menu should be available later today when the website (www.chouteausat39th.com) goes live. Until then, call 771-3939 for hours and detes. Chouteau's opens today for lunch and dinner. The weather forecast? Patio perfect.
The Terrace View: The opening of the long-kept-under-wraps, all-glass, showcase restaurant is, well, day to day. Jim Fiala's original intent was to open up as soon as possible after the garden's official July 1 opening. Today he tells me that the city employee in charge of the lease "retired yesterday" but all systems are still "go." So it may be next week, it may be later. It may be beer, wine, and cheese plates until the planned "small plates" menu can be practiced and perfected.
The RFT also reports here that, according to Fiala, the "best case scenario" is a mid-July opening, thus missing all the All Star Game hype, hoopla, and histrionics. If you've ever opened a restaurant--at any time, in any economy, or in the middle of any big event--you'd understand the wisdom. And my guess is that this one would have been ugly...an All Star version of table-haggling and table-hogging. -- George Mahe
