A handmade “Coming Soon” sign is on the window at the former Starbucks at 9820 Clayton Rd. The only other telltale tease was a graphic of a coffee cup, logoed with a “W,” the same W used in the logo of the neighboring Williams Ladue Pharmacy.
Connecting the dots and strolling next door, I ran into Rick Williams, the pharmacy’s co-owner and the sole owner of Deer Creek Coffee, who kindly filled in some blanks…
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‘The focus will be more on quality than on speed,” he said. “Each coffee will be crafted to be the best it can be.” Bolstering that statement is the hiring of Frank Grund as consultant. Coffee geeks and former customers at that Starbucks will remember Grund as the guy who opened and managed the store before leaving in 2004 to found and operate the original Kayak’s Coffee and Provisions on Skinker (now owned by Kaldi’s, new website under construction) as well as the shorter-lived Kayak’s at the Boulevard.
Williams says they hope to implement a “single-serve drip system,” something unique in this market, where every cup of coffee will effectively be made to order. Similarly, Deer Creek will be the only local shop to use Alterra coffee (the specialty coffee roaster based in Milwaukee), which was the coffee used at Kayak’s before the switch to Kaldi’s.
And in keeping with the tradition of many Ladue merchants (including Williams’ Ladue Pharmacy), Deer Creek will provide house charge accounts, allowing customers to scribble and scram.
Feast will provide additional details as Deer Creek approaches its projected opening date of early August. — George Mahe
