Bar Moro opens in the former Billie-Jean space in Clayton

Restaurateur Ben Poremba presents a wealth of tastes and textures that no one in St. Louis has put under one roof to date.

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It was one of those perfect dining experiences that come along all too infrequently. I wandered into Bar Moro, a day before the restaurant's scheduled opening on October 21, simply to ask a few questions. To my surprise, the restaurant had opened within the hour, on a whim, one day early.

“The staff was ready and eager, so we thought, ‘let’s do this,’” said owner Ben Poremba. "Why don't you have a seat at the bar."

What started as a quick bite and cocktail turned into a two and a half hour revelatory feast, rife with tastes, textures, products, and preparations I’d never experienced (and my business is food!), a serendipitous evening that I will not soon forget.

Here’s what to know before you visit what will surely be one of the most talked-about restaurants this year.

The Space

Poremba refers to Bar Moro as "a Spanish restaurant, a celebration of Iberian and Mediterranean food cultures," noting that "North African influence is all over the Mediterranean—you just don’t see it. In Spain, for instance, the names, the architecture, the dishes...if you scrape any of them, you’ll uncover some connection.”

Outside, under a subtle Bar Moro sign, is a luring 16-seat waiting area that doubles as a place for a quick drink, tapas, and maybe some cheese and charcuterie, not a full-on dinner due to the low-profile tables and loungy chairs.

Inside, the seating is similar to the prior layout at Billie-Jean, an erstwhile restaurant tribute to owner Zoe Robinson’s parents. There’s an eight-seat bar, a row of deuces and 4-tops than can be reconfigured for more, and the illustrious table 10, the prime corner perch that seats six—34 seats in all.

At Bar Moro, Poremba elected to keep the black color theme. "I don't want to disrupt Zoe’s vision and legacy but rather continue it, adding touches to make it mine," he says. To wit, warm wood has been introduced throughout, walnut tabletops and walnut chairs so perfectly smoothed and contoured, you'll want to stay awhile. Even though guests can quickly grab a tortilla espanola and a glass of Palo Cortado sherry and be on their way, that sells the vibe short. There’s plenty to see and a number of experiences to be had.

At Billie-Jean, the shotgun space boasted a wall of black-and-white Robert Mapplethorpe prints. At Bar Moro, guests are greeted by an arresting black-and-white diptych from local visual artist Edo Rosenblith, showing a bacchanal supper that alone will take several visits to visually unpack. (Look! There’s Ben Poremba!) 

On one wall, low-profile walnut shelves store colorful containers of conservas (tinned fish and seafood). Around the corner, longer shelves are the home of pots, pans, wines, olives, cheeses, breads, and spreads, an expertly designed bit of décor that doubles as an efficient server’s buffet station, “active theater” as Poremba calls it.

Above the shelves, a crystal sculpture (called Fisherman’s Tears) hangs from the ceiling, its subtle reflections cast upon the opposite wall. (Guests may remember the piece from another Poremba restaurant, the former Parigi in Clayton, where it was the prominent feature in an ancillary room.)

The Food

In a city that considers itself culinarily sophisticated, what's unique about Bar Moro is how many unfamiliar novelties the 44-year-old restaurateur was able to introduce in a tiny space saddled with a shoebox kitchen, new food and spirit niches that, until now, have been unexplored in St. Louis.

Poremba’s celebration of Iberian and Mediterranean food cultures begins with chefs slicing the emblematic Jamon Iberico on a bartop that has been intentionally (and endearingly) cluttered. Tapas include fried peppers paired with two kinds of anchovies from Don Bocarte (arguably the premium producer of anchovies in Spain, and maybe all the world), one brined in salt, the other pickled in a vinegar made from vermouth. “This is a far different world of anchovies that what St. Louisans are used to,” he says.

The tradition of eating tinned fish and seafood (conservas) in Spain is “religious, almost ceremonial,” Poremba says. Bar Moro boasts a 15-item conserva menu, featuring tins of salmon, codfish, eels, mussels, clams, and calamari, the perfect sharable that carries an average price of $30. (The conserva menu can change frequently since AO&Co., Poremba's specialty food market, has a whopping 60 varieties on hand.)

One half of a Barcelona-style ham and swiss cheese sandwich with added mushroom duxelles is served as is, while the other is covered in fonduta with the option of shaved truffles—“a $24 sandwich that can become a $75 sandwich,” Poremba says.

The traditional Spanish omelet (tortilla espanola) includes potato chips, caramelized onion, and morcilla sausage. "In Spain, the dish is premade and sits on the counter. Our version is cooked to order," says Poremba.

Even standard items, such as gazpacho and wedge salad, are taken down a side street. Here, gazpacho is a drink served with a dram of gin for sipping, and the salad is four mini-wedges that are to be picked up, not cut up. "If I'm going to do a standard item, I'm going to do it differently," Poremba says. 

Other dishes include tomato carpaccio, a stellar calamari salad over potato cream (pictured at right), and Tuna Mechouia, a salad made from fire-roasted vegetables and the best canned tuna that Poremba could source. Four entrées are priced in the $40s but serve two to four. (Do the math.)

The most amazing coup at Bar Moro, however, is the fresh, sweet, incredibly tender Pacific white shrimp, served two ways: cocktail-style and cooked in garlic and sherry. Triple J Farms in Foristell raises limited numbers of the species in saltwater tanks and delivers live shrimp daily to Bar Moro. It's the only restaurant in town to make such an arrangement.

“I told Triple J I’d take as many as they can send me,” Poremba said of the shrimp (featured in this article). Incidentally, farm-raised shrimp tend to have thin, almost transparent shells, so even the heads are edible—and, dare we say, delectable.

The Desserts

There are four options, all tempting, all worthy of a trip on their own, and all can be paired with a fortified spirit which is highly recommended. The signature dessert (if we can even make such a claim) is a collaborative riff on Basque cheesecake like no one’s ever seen or tasted.

“We steamed it—instead of baking it—and it puffed up like a soufflé,” Poremba says. “After chilling it, one of our chefs suggested finishing it in the oven, which could have deflated it. But it held its shape it became crispy, so it’s like eating a cloud.” Pair it with the recommended Henriques & Henriques 10-year-old Madeira. It's as memorable as any dessert from here to San Sebastian.

A selection of post-prandial artisan cheeses are also available, including Finca Pascualete "La Retoria," 2015 and 2017 winner of World's Best Cheese and Best Cheese in Spain, World Cheese Awards. 

Do not overlook Bar Moro's dessert experience. Trust us, it's a worthy finale.    

The Beverages

Flanking the one-page food menu is a selection of 10 dry and sweet sherries from Portugal, the same number of vermouths from Spain, a scatter of unique cocktails, and a five-item gin and tonic menu. (“The Spanish are crazy about their gin and tonics. We are, too,” Poremba says).

The 50-bottle wine list hails exclusively from Spain and Portugal (and how zhush that glass wines are poured at the table, in front of the customer). At the very end of the beverage menu is a box that reads, “Sure, we have sangria. $12,” a breezy admission that Bar Moro has its arms wide open.

Of note is Luciano Racca, wine and service director for Poremba's Bengelina Hospitality Group. Racca recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Portugal and Spain and is armed with knowledge about sherry, madeira, vermouth—and indigenous wines—that most of us know little about. (Racca also owns a vineyard in Italy and produces Bengelina's branded wines.) Seek him out and ask for recommendations, as he has them for every dish. Listen, learn, indulge. Racca won't steer you wrong.

How To Get a Table

With so few seats and the likely ensuing buzz, even though several tables are saved for walk-ins, reservations are pretty much mandatory, even for the bar seats (except from 4–5:30 p.m., when they're first come, first served). Prospective patrons should know that Bar Moro accepts reservations 60 days in advance, which is currently through December 15. Information on reservations after that date is forthcoming.

And those wondering about the genesis of the name should know that moro (meaning “moor”) is an homage to the cultures of Spain, Portugal, Sicily, and Northwest Africa, as well as Poremba's Moroccan heritage. Bar Moro (coincidentally or not) also happens to be located in a neighborhood known as the Moorlands, which for years has been a magnet for great local restaurants. 

Bar Moro

7610 Wydown, St Louis, Missouri 63105

Visit Website

Tue-Sat: 4 p.m. - close

Expensive

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