Ask a dozen St. Louisans about their memories of Bevo Mill, and you’ll get a dozen different stories. Built by August A. Busch, Sr., it marked the halfway point of his trek from the brewery to his home at Grant’s Farm. (His private quarters were in the turret.) It was the anchor of the neighborhood with the same name. For decades, the Bevo Mill Restaurant was known for its German-themed Sunday brunches held in the grand hall. The night before, it may have hosted a lavish wedding reception or a milestone anniversary.
In 2008, after its purchase of Anheuser-Busch, Belgium-based InBev gave the building to the city, which solicited bids last year in hopes of someone stepping in to restore the landmark to its former glory.
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Enter Pat and Carol Schuchard, visionaries, developers, artists, and owners of event venues MAJORette and the Boo Cat Club. One year and $1.5 million later, Bevo Mill is back in business with a new name: Das Bevo (“The Bevo”), a hipper handle that the Schuchards thought would have cross-generational appeal.
“We’re playing with the old theme, but we also like the idea of a new Bevo,” says Pat. “Bevo as an institution is big enough to make a little fun of itself.” The mill celebrates its centennial this year, which Pat hopes the re-opening honors.
During the renovation of the century-old building, the Schuchards uncovered stained glass, Rookwood art pottery tile, and even a fireplace that had been covered over by previous owners. Pat built a row of bierhall-style tables that run the length of the gabled, main dining room (pictured above), as well as the sleek, low-back bar stools. On the perimeter walls are standard tables with vintage Bevo Mill chairs. Those tables can be reserved; the communal table in the middle was designed for more casual eating and drinking.
Anchoring the room is an impressive concrete-and-stone fireplace, its mantle decorated with beer steins. The stone was allegedly gathered at Grant’s Farm and the three-tiered gas mechanism is the largest one in St. Louis, according to the installer.
At the helm in the kitchen is Peter Slay, executive chef of Sugarfire Events, the multi-million dollar division of Sugarfire Smoke House. Slay is a native St. Louisan who returned home a year ago, after five years as sous chef at Boulud Sud, one of Daniel Boulud’s seven New York City restaurants.
Predictably, most of Das Bevo’s 22-item menu is German-themed, led by the pork schnitzel, an open-face, fried pork cutlet sandwich on Companion deli rye, topped with Gruyere, smothered in bratwurst bacon beer gravy, and garnished with sauerkraut coleslaw.
Slay is especially boastful about the brathendl, a free-range chicken half that he stuffs with fresh herbs and lemon before spit-roasting. “Especially with the charred lemon on the side, it’s not a traditional German presentation,” he says. “I have a strong Mediterranean background, so I wanted to bust off a little of my own thing with this one.
“It’s one of my specialties,” he adds. “I feel like I’m the chicken whisperer.”
Each cocktail is named for a member of the Busch family.
The chef says diners should expect “a pub food menu: sandwiches, sausage boards, mains, and sides—hearty foods that are meant to complement a lively bierhall atmosphere.”
Brunch was a longstanding tradition at Bevo Mill, and Slay expects the new iteration of the restaurant to be no different. Headlining the brunch menu is his version of Bevo’s famous cheddar chive biscuits topped with gravy.
The colorful, 40-seat, Mill Room is reservable during the week but will be used for general seating on weekends. Inside the hexagonal room are two large murals made from Austrian tile, each containing one that was installed upside down. The Mill Room’s tile floor was restored to show the detail of the textured tile.
Upstairs in the 60-foot mill, the Schuchards are renovating the former apartment into three B&B-style rooms that can be booked on a nightly basis.
Downstairs is Das Bevo Underground, described as “a private event space with a lighted stage and sound system, a fireplace lounge, and a dimly-lit speakeasy vibe.” A concert series is being planned for that space beginning this fall.
Outside is a dog-friendly patio/waiting area, where table service will eventually be offered. A side parking lot (both pictured above) is currently being converted into a 100-seat beer garden that manager Erinn Stevens said “is being landscaped so heavily, it will feel like a plant nursery.”
The Schuchards hope that Das Bevo will be a hub for other local traditions, such as Bevo Days and Octoberfest. They’re already making plans for the building’s centennial this fall.
The beer menu appears to still be in the planning stages, with the inaugural selection containing a relatively small selection of six draft brews and eight in bottles. Regardless of the size of the craft beer selection, however, Pat reasons that “considering the history of the building, we’ll no doubt be selling a lot of Budweiser.”
