We were fans from the day it opened, nested—no, almost hidden—inside Bowood Farms nursery in the Central West End. Alas, the doors at Café Osage will close after brunch service today. Carryout dining is available until 2 p.m.
The news arrived via yesterday’s Facebook announcement, which read, in part, “We are sad to share that this weekend will be the last weekend of service at Café Osage. We have made the difficult decision to close after 12 years. So soak up the sun today and enjoy a last takeout meal in our courtyard.”
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No other reasons were given for the closing.
Restaurants have been in limbo since March, when the pandemic caused a mandatory shutdown, but we somehow felt that Café Osage would be one that would surely rebound, despite the misfortune. When it reopened in late May, service was carryout only, which could still be enjoyed in the courtyard patio within the nursery.
It was Café Osage that reignited our love of corned beef hash and the first spot that we encountered whimsically named dishes such as the signature BRIE LT and Greens, Eggs, and Ham (pictured at right), a dish that was equally beloved by this author and his octogenarian, gardening whiz of a mother.
Two esteemed chefs ran the kitchen, David Guempel and David Kirkland. Many will remember the former from his restaurant, Zinnia (which closed in 2008), and the latter from his current restaurant, Turn, or perhaps from his stint at the now-defunct Jerk Shack at Venice Café.
With a large garden located a stone’s throw away and an herb garden on its roof, Café Osage was a locavore restaurant in the truest sense, as Kirkland recalled in this 2017 article: “We had our own quarter-acre garden across the street, plus a hoop house with several beds, both of which were a new thing for a local restaurant in 2008. Over the years, we knew which vegetables and heirlooms we needed and which grew best. Tomatoes did well there, except in the years when they didn’t, which the non-gardening customers could never understand.”
Ah, those tomatoes. We recall the day a kitchen staffer bounded across the boulevard, returning a few moments later with an apronful of ripe red tomatoes. Carefully offering a peek at the bounty, he said, “You’ll see one of these babies on top of your burger in a few minutes.” (In the early days, one of the house specialties was a bison burger, made from bison raised at Bowood Farms in Clarksville, which still supplies the nursery with many of its plant specimens.)
Kirkland also recalled the challenges he faced at Café Osage. “Having an onsite garden forces a chef to be creative all the time,” he said. “Sometimes there’s a glut of something; sometimes none. My favorite dish there was the Garden Benedict, an English muffin with an herbed goat cheese spread, heirloom tomato, poached eggs, and a creamed Missouri corn sauce on top. No hollandaise.” Yes, indeed, and hollandaise lovers never missed it.
Not long after Kirkland left to open Turn, the restaurant remained in skilled hands as Scott Davis (formerly of Elia, Three Flags Tavern, and Brasserie) took over as head chef, never missing a beat.
The shuttering of Café Osage was a heartfelt loss. We’ll miss all there was to love about it.
Reached by phone on Monday, co-owner Lizzy Rickard agreed that Bowood/Cafe Osage was indeed a special place, and that people would often spend all day there…taking a class, having a bite to eat, and maybe leaving with something for their garden. “And that was part of the problem,” she says. “The cafe was a destination. Take-out was never really our thing. People really enjoyed eating here.”
So she and her family will spend the next few months keeping the nursery/retail aspect of Bowood strong, but doesn’t want to set any expectations beyond that. Rickard says that employee safety has been and will continue to be the number one priority. “The cafe space will evolve,” she says. “It will be different. That’s all we know at this point.”
This article has been updated with comments from the owner.
