I've always preached that the best and safest way to guarantee success in the restaurant industry is to focus on a small (but expandable) neighborhood joint...a place with lower rent, lower risk and a built-in market. Restaurant skeletons are now everywhere...find one and go. All you need is a focused team and an appropriate hook, be it original or "borrowed." (Give me a few hundy thousand and I'd rip off Shake Shack faster than you can mix a chocolate malt. Think that concept wouldn't be a grand slam here? Where do you think ex-St. Louisan Danny Meyer got the idea to combine flat-grilled burgers and custard anyway?)
So as I was polishing my "smaller is sweeter" theory, along comes McCormick & Schmick's (8000+ sq.ft.) opening February 23 at West County Center, followed by BRAVO! Italian Cucina (7900+ sq. ft.) opening in March, 50 feet from M&S. Both are brand new, big-budget build-outs.
Then there's the new Banana Joe's, a 10,000 sq. ft. bar, grill, and dance venue opening in late-Spring at 1911 Locust. (And I hear that owner is already scouting for a second location.)
I'm all for a 30-item fresh seafood place, and I can't really argue that the parent company of BRIO wants to spread that success into BRAVO! (another solid concept), and yeah, I guess it's time again for a new dance venue downtown, but damn, let's not neglect the smaller places, the Atlas', the Good Pie's, the Bobo's, the Shaved Duck's, the neighborhood haunts brought into our neighborhoods by locals on a budget. They are at least as deserving of our financial embrace. -- George Mahe
