Suzy Gorman photo
Bar Les Freres, one of the most beloved French bistros in St. Louis, finally has a new owner. Michael and Tara Gallina, owners of the acclaimed Vicia, Winslow’s Table, and the upcoming Taqueria Morita (co-owned with Take Root Hospitality culinary director Aaron Martinez) have purchased the business from founder Zoë Robinson.
Suzy Gorman photo
After some minor cosmetic changes, Bar Les Freres is slated reopen in June, just in time to salute the summer season with a couple of champagne cocktails on its lovely terraced patio.
The restaurant’s impending reopening has been plagued by stops and starts during the pandemic. Up until March 2020, Robinson operated three bustling restaurants within a half-block of one another along Wydown Boulevard in Clayton—I Fratellini, Bar Les Freres, and Billie-Jean. Due to the restaurants’ diminutive size and cozy table spacing, the pandemic hit all three especially hard. After months of debating how (and even whether) to reopen them, Robinson elected to sell the lot to Susan Barrett, a friend and local gallerist, in a well-reported change of possession that fell through at the eleventh hour. The transfer “was very complicated and just didn’t work out,” Robinson laments.
Meanwhile, Tara Gallina had been talking internally for some time about opening a wine bar and reached out to Robinson. “We’d also commented on the lack of French bistros in St. Louis, and with Bar Les Freres, we got both,” she says. “It’s the kind of place where I personally enjoy eating, so it’s all very exciting.”
Regarding Robinson’s other two restaurants, Robinson says another operator has expressed serious interest in I Fratellini, but the 30-seat Billie-Jean space, named after her parents, is a blank black canvas and is available. “I want to find the perfect person for it,” she says. “That’s important to me.”
Familiar But Fresh
Tara says BLF, as it’s known to its legions of devotees, will remain a French wine bar and that none of the fundamentals will change. “The concept will not be dramatically different,” she says, “just done with our flair, our personality. We’ll hold onto some mementos in the space, but at the same time modernize it a bit.”
The walls will be repainted softer tones of red and green. A banquette will be added to the main room, replacing the white leather couches and chaises, but all of the bistro tables and chairs will remain, as will the existing patio furniture. "One bonus was the treasure trove of glassware, antique china plates, silver platters, and flatware," that were included in the sale, Tara says.
Suzy Gorman photo
Local architectural and design firm SPACE is spearheading the interior refresh. Principal Tom Niemeier says that “with its tall ceilings and arched windows, the building’s bones are good. No walls are being moved. There will be more order to the artwork. The bar will remain where it is, but pendant lights will hang above it and the banquette.” Niemeier describes it simply as “a familiar feel, just updated.”
Some of the seating will be reconfigured, but the number will remain the same (40 inside in two rooms, 24 outside). The second room can accommodate a party as large as 20 guests, seated at one table or several. Reservations will be accepted, “but being a neighborhood place, we’ll leave plenty of room for walk-ins, too,” Tara says.
Tentative hours are Wednesday through Sunday, opening at 4 p.m. for “spritz hour,” which will run until 6 p.m. Patio seating will be first come, first served, as before
Suzy Gorman photo
Gougeres at Bar Les Freres
As to the food offerings, Tara says she’s “open-minded regarding the menu and doesn’t want that part to feel drastically different than before, either.”
The gougeres, caviar, and oyster components will remain, and expect more chilled seafood and a robust charcuterie program. Chef Patrick Fallwell, a chef from Vicia with prior experience in French restaurants, will run the kitchen. Vicia’s Kara Flaherty will be in charge of the wine and beverage program, and discussions are underway to secure an on-site sommelier.
Taking Root
Robinson says Bar Les Freres is in good hands with the Gallinas, calling them “two very efficient and professional people” who have managed to assemble “an army of talent.”
Having worked together at the acclaimed Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the couple opened the vegetable-forward Vicia in the Cortex innovation district in 2017. Even before the doors opened, the restaurant generated an article in Eater, which later proclaimed it one of 12 Best New Restaurants in America. Vicia was also named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2018. Gallina earned a spot on Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in America list and has been nominated twice by the Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Midwest. In 2022, Vicia was nominated for Outstanding Wine Program and Outstanding Bar Program, both national categories. A fifth anniversary party is being held at the restaurant this weekend.
In 2019, the couple also took over Winslow’s Home, redefining the concept and renaming it Winslow’s Table, “so we know what it’s like to take over a popular place,” Tara says.
Last month, they formed Take Root Hospitality, announced a new partner (former Vicia executive chef Aaron Martinez) and new restaurant concept—the aforementioned Taqueria Morita—and hinted at revamping an old concept, which we now know is Bar Les Freres.
