Discussions and rumors regarding the future of Sleek Steakhouse & Ultra Lounge seemed to surface right about the time Jeff Ruby was threatening to pull the plug on his steakhouse here…which he eventually did in November .
According to SleeK’ s owner, master chef Hubert Keller, the last day of service will be January 31, a date corroborated last evening by the P-D’s Evan Benn.
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SleeK was the main restaurant attraction at Lumiere Place and was Keller’s first go at a steakhouse. Keller’s other restaurants are the critically-acclaimed Fleur de Lys (there are now two), and BurgerBar (three and counting).
Incidentally, the BurgerBar here will remain open and may even expand to gain a bit more casino floor frontage, a strategy proven to drive sales. Now that news is good to hear. Keller is a world-class chef and a world-class guy and it would be a shame to lose him. Given the current economic state of affairs, it may in fact be his BurgerBar concept that sees growth in the next few years. Keller’s management group is currently negotiating to build BurgerBar’s in China. A lot of them.
It’s always been a mystery to me how any high-end steakhouse can survive straddling a casino whose patrons are for the most part, well, just not steakhouse customers.Could it be that most St. Louisans don’t go to casinos just to dine? It appears that answer is yes and SleeK is the most recent victim (the prior ones being the 47th Port Street Grill at Ameristar and the aforementioned Jeff Ruby’s at River City Casino, recently reopened by Pinnacle Entertainment as 1904 Steak House— not to be confused with the 1904 Beerhouse, which is under the same roof).
Replacing SleeK will be a concept as basic burgers and pizza. Wait, it is burgers and pizza…a sports bar is rumored to be moving into the SleeK space and although no opening date has been announced, the unofficial word is “before the Cards’ home opener,” aka March 31.
Yes, another sports bar. Not what St. Louis needs, to be sure, but sticking one in a casino sure makes sense.
A press release announcing the closing and changeover is apparently forthcoming, but remember scribes were told the same thing prior to the shuttering of Jeff Ruby’s, which ended up closing quietly and without any official announcement.
(Hubert Keller photo courtesy of Katherine Bish.)
