When Super Smokers BBQ owner Jeff Fitter and chef Bryan Scott (a.k.a. Chef B) of Doggie Mac’s food truck announced Chef B’s Chicken & Burger Bar via Facebook Live last week, the two had literally just come up with the name—hence their light-hearted confusion in the video about what the collaboration would be called.
The restaurant starts its four-week run this Thursday, March 16, in the former Super Smokers location at 9527 Gravois Road, which closed six weeks ago. The pop-up will be open three days a week: 11 a.m.–8 p.m.Thursdays and 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Here’s what to know before you go.
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The Menu
The pop-up will serve the comfort foods that Scott is known for, including his grandmother’s award-winning mac and cheese recipe and his signature burgers, which will use a special meat blend from Kenrick’s Meats and Catering. He’ll also offer a unique spin on banana pudding that features chess cookies in place of vanilla wafers; it also skips the bananas entirely yet manages to keep all the flavor.
Among the new items to watch for is a brined, boneless, skinless, Southern-fried chicken thigh sandwich using a spice blend that Scott has been perfecting for years. “It’s one of the things I’m most excited about,” Fritter says. “It’s freaking amazing.”
Expect the food and beer menu to adapt on the fly, according to what sells, what customers request, and what’s available. “We’ll change on the days we’re closed,” Fitter says. For example, if you want to add booze to the dairy-free shamrock milkshake that’s on special for the opening weekend, the answer is yes, Scott says. “The customers will tell us what they want at Chef B’s.”
This sprint approach reflects the changing nature of the restaurant world, Fitter explains. “The consumer is so much more educated, and they know what they want.” Case in point: Scott’s B[asic].A.F. Burger is stripped down to its essence because “you’d be surprised how many adults love this,” he says. But he’s also created the Sunday Dinner Burger (pictured at right) to appeal to more over-the-top types. “It’s a burger like I’ve never had before but always wanted, like my grandma’s Sunday dinner,” Scott says. It comes with white cheddar, thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, a patty of fried mac and cheese, plus candied sauce similar to what you might have on yams or sweet potatoes, all on a locally sourced brioche bun.
Best of all for customers, indulgences like this won’t break the bank. “We’re trying to keep costs as low as we can for the consumer because going out to eat has become a special treat,” Fitter says.
The Team
Although the pop-up has the goal of testing a new menu in the South County space, Fitter and Scott are determined to have a good time doing it. “We’re a couple of hams,” Scott quips.
The two met a few years ago as vendors at 9 Mile Garden food truck park and hit it off immediately. Last summer, they collaborated on what turned out to be a popular special for both businesses: Super Smokers burnt ends over Doggie Mac’s mac and cheese. “I’m of the opinion that life is short, so have fun,” Fitter says, “and Chef B. feels the same.”
That attitude is just one of the things that Scott enjoys about collaborating with Fitter. “He is one of the most amazing humans I’ve ever met,” Scott says, “and I’m delighted to be part of a brand that I’ve admired for years.”
For the moment, Scott is planning a temporary pause in Doggie Mac’s operations, pending hiring enough staff to operate both the pop-up and the food truck.
The launch is especially serendipitous timing for Scott, who’s coming off a setback with trying to launch a food truck park in Columbia, Illinois. “I’m scraping the asphalt off my knees and going forward,” he says. As he posted on Facebook after announcing Chef B’s Chicken and Burger Bar, “When one door closes, another opens.”
