Cork n' Slice Wood Fire Bistro—among the hippest, most upscale pizzerias in town—closed unexpectedly in mid-December, after a nine-month run.
We say "unexpectedly," because owner Cornell Thirdkill provided one of the restaurant's signature pizzas (made with poached lobster and roasted shrimp) for a TV segment on Great Day St. Louis on December 11.
The next day, a Yelper posted that the restaurant was closed at lunchtime. The Yelp page now reads “Cork n' Slice is temporarily closed. Scheduled to reopen on January 14, 2019.”
On December 29, however, a "For Rent" sign appeared in the window. Reached later that day, landlord Mark Jaffe confirmed that the restaurant has indeed been closed since mid-month. On the same day, Thirdkill indicated that he hoped to reopen if lease terms could be renegotiated.
Cork n’ Slice was eminently enjoyable, though it had its share of delays from the beginning. First-time restaurant owner Thirdkill, a restaurant newbie but a hospitality veteran, acquired the former Pizzeria Mia space in December 2016 and spent the next several months analyzing what aspects of a pizza restaurant were most desirable in the Central West End. Construction was completed in fall 2017, but the restaurant didn’t open until March 2018, and the liquor license wasn’t secured until August. So for five months, despite attractive trompe l’oeil graphics to the contrary, there was no "cork," only "slice."
Executive chef Kyle Parks, a restaurant veteran and instructor at L’École Culinaire for the past three years, created a focused menu rooted in “elegant simplicity.”
Thirdkill hoped to add a dog-friendly sidewalk patio delineated by wrought-iron fencing, planters, and umbrellas.
The fate of the trendy pizza bistro remains to be seen. More as we learn it.
