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Signage at 16 N. Meramec in Clayton.
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Stainless steel logo on existing stone veneer. When finished, the logo will read, Tribeca Clayton.
In the last five years, barbeque restaurants have sprung up in and around St. Louis like mesquite trees in the desert. You’ll find one in practically every suburb…except Clayton…until now.
Signs are up at 16 N. Meramec, the former Miso on Meramec, a large, muli-level space that had been vacant since January 2013.
Where Miso was part-sushi restaurant and part-lounge, the new concept will be a hybrid as well. On street level will be Tribeca BBQ, a contemporary, fast-casual barbeque restaurant; on the lower level, Tribeca Underground Lounge, which promises something a bit new for Clayton.
To head off any possible confusion, this Tribeca has no affiliation with the former Tribeca Bistro & Lounge in Chesterfield nor with the former Tribeca in Clayton (the current Bocci Wine Bar), a restaurant that closed in 2001.
The owners are Dennis Sehic, owner of Vivid Cafe on Gravois, and a silent partner, who’s owned a number of local restaurants and bars, "a lot of the big bars in St. Louis," he said, smiling, "...too many of them.”
The partners said they’d always wanted a place in Clayton--specifically a lounge in Clayton. And when they eyed the two-level Miso space and realized there was not a single barbeque place anywhere close—and that barbeque in this town remains smokin’ hot--the conundrum of what to do with the upstairs space was solved.
The gun-metal colored, stamped tin ceiling has been painted a coppery orange, and new booths are being installed, but the stone veneers will remain, to drive home the contemporary theme.
(BBQ aficionados will remember there have not been any BBQ joints in Clayton since 2011, when Lampert’s Plush Pig closed. Clayton had been home to a Bandana’s BBQ prior to that.)
Leading the kitchen will be Matt O’Mell, who tended BBQ pits in his hometown of Kansas City.
The contemporary-styled lounge will have a few hooks, in the form of themed entertainment nights: Friday will be disco night, with DJ RPM of RPM Music (aka Rick Paul, a former pitcher for the New York Mets turned local DJ), at the helm; on Saturday, it’s electronic house music; Sunday will be rhythm, blues, and jazz; Wednesday will be pride night (the night that’s sparked the most positive interest, we're told). There will even be a comedy night, hosted by Al Canal, who founded the local Funny Bone Comedy Club.
The lounge portion is slated to open in late August and the BBQ restaurant several weeks after that.
Ah, but there’s more…a lot more.
A large storage area on the lower level—large, as in several thousand square feet--is being converted into a second lounge, “a sexy, contemporary, sports bar lounge,” with upholstered seating, plenty of TV’s, and carpet, hardwood, and marble floors. Access will be gained from doorways on either side of the existing lounge. Look for this area to debut sometime in October.
There's been quite a bit of early interest in Tribeca—individual as well as corporate. One Clayton firm has expressed interest in doing a karaoke night once a month, and although the doors have yet to open, over a dozen holiday parties have already been booked.
Tribeca is a long time coming, say the partners. “We just want to provide a different option, a different vibe,” one said. “We want Clayton to be more than a place to just ‘eat, drink, and go home.’”
