After helping shape EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery (550 Chesterfield Ctr) into one of Chesterfield’s most eclectic dining destinations, executive chef Aaron Baggett and general manager Mary Beth Lacy are officially taking the reins. Both have been at the restaurant since its inception. The pair have purchased the sprawling restaurant from founders Andy and Dee Dee Kohn, marking the next chapter for the versatile, 400-seat operation.
“It’s not common that a chef and manager stay with any restaurant for 15 years,” Andy says, “and rarer still that they end up owning the place.
“They earned it,” he says of Baggett and Lacy. “They deserve it. I’m happy to say that EdgeWild is in good hands and will live on.”
The Concept
When the Kohns opened EdgeWild in 2011, they envisioned a restaurant centered around approachable wine, accessible food, and a lively atmosphere. Chesterfield, they believed, made perfect sense as it was the gateway to Missouri wine country.
The sprawling 12,500-square-foot freestanding building, located just north of the former Chesterfield Mall redevelopment site, was designed as three concepts under one roof: a wine bar, bonded winery, and full-service restaurant. Inside, exposed beams, stone accents, towering ceilings, and rows of wine barrels emblazoned with the restaurant’s tree logo give the space the feel of an upscale lodge with winery influences.
Among the restaurant’s standout spaces are the 20-seat Barrel Room, reserved for private events, and the glass-enclosed fire pit room, home to the intimate “Fire Island” dinners, multi-course experiences limited to just 14 guests.
Regarding the name, Baggett once explained that during the Lewis and Clark era, “St. Louis was the edge of the wild, and my job is to make the food edgy and a little wild as well.” The concept, he said, also nods to Dee Dee Kohn’s childhood subdivision in Peoria, Illinois, which happened to share the same name.
The New Owners
The Kohns originally hired Baggett, a Culinary Institute of America graduate with experience at seven restaurants, to wrap a culinary barrel hoop around the massive operation. Lacy joined as front-of-house manager.
According to Lacy, the ownership transition had been quietly developing for years. “Aaron and I have been pretty much running the restaurant since its inception,” she says. “During the pandemic, Andy and Dee Dee laid the groundwork for how to transfer the restaurant to us.”
“We’ve been running EdgeWild as our own for the last six years,” she adds. “The operation, the books, the bills, the admin—everything. Andy and Dee Dee taught us how to ride the bike. They let go of the seat a while ago, and we’re still riding.”
The Food
Baggett says the menu has always been rooted in familiar dishes presented with just enough of a twist to keep diners curious.
“I tried to take a unique perspective on most items,” he says. “My goal was to create dishes that are just different enough to nudge guests into trying something they haven’t tried or seen but are still approachable. So you might see more table-side items…soups, apps, desserts. The name of the game today is what is my hook?”
Current starters include pistachio-herb goat cheese with pear-white wine syrup, a flaming queso fundido finished tableside, and triple dry rubbed, cherry wood smoked chicken wings, which have earned Baggett awards at local wing competitions.
Soups range from smoked crab chowder to mushroom and brie made with shiitake, portobello, and oyster mushrooms.
Housemade pasta remains a cornerstone of the menu and currently includes ziti, campanelle, and rigatoni. A guest favorite is the fresh linguine with diver scallops, shrimp, oven-dried tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, roasted garlic, and white wine cream sauce.
On the entrée menu, a bronzini and shrimp combo (blackened mediterranean seabass and shrimp) join the tenderloin trio, and the $25 pancetta-wrapped and seared bison meatloaf with whipped potatoes and haricot verts is popular.
Then there’s the “Pork Volcano,” a towering 20-ounce red wine-braised pork shank paired with goat cheese mashed sweet potatoes, fried Brussels sprouts, and tomato-shallot chutney.
A don’t miss dessert is the Chocolate Dome, a seven-inch chocolate cylinder that covers cake, ice cream, and whipped cream. When served in a martini glass and hot caramel is poured over it, the dome melts revealing the sweet treats within.
A selection of sandwiches and hearth-fired pizzas made with lager-infused dough keeps much of the menu accessible price-wise, a priority that Baggett says has existed since opening day.
“At the outset,” he says, “we felt the residents around here wanted more locally owned restaurants. Annie Gunn’s is a special occasion restaurant. Well, how about one for no occasion?”
The Wine and Beverage Program
While EdgeWild carries a traditional wine list, its defining feature has long been its in-house label program. The restaurant purchases finished wines from producers in California, Oregon, and Washington, then bottles and labels them under the EdgeWild name. Baggett explains that wineries often sell excess inventory in “shiners,” bottled wine without labels, with the bonding rights transferred to buyers like EdgeWild.
The restaurant also purchases bulk juice that is blended, stored, bottled, and labeled through Noboleis Winery in Augusta, with some barrel aging occurring onsite in Chesterfield.
Today, EdgeWild offers 14 wines under its private label, alongside an extensive wine program, featuring 16 reds and 16 whites by the glass and more than 80 bottle selections from the U.S. and around the world.
“A lot of premium wine gets brokered in various ways,” Baggett says. “The result is that at EdgeWild, you may be getting nearly the same quality wine at half the price of the wine with someone else’s label on it.
“We recognized that the old wine-centric model had run its course,” Baggett adds. “So we broadened the beverage program in a big way—adding an extensive lineup of canned and draft beers, including some brewed exclusively for us and aged in specialty barrels. When whiskey took off, we jumped on that, too—we now have more than 160 labels—and then tequila and mezcal when they took off. At this point, EdgeWild has evolved far beyond a traditional wine-bar restaurant. If a guest can’t find something they want to drink here, then we’ve missed the mark, but I don’t think we have.”
The Changes
Baggett and Lacy say the restaurant’s future is closely tied to the ongoing transformation surrounding it. The former Chesterfield Mall site is being redeveloped into Downtown Chesterfield, a massive mixed-use project expected to reshape the area over the next several years.
“We know we’re in an area that will be so significant and so well done,” Baggett says. “When the residential component kicks in, we’ll see more foot traffic. We feel the dining room will take care of itself at that point.”
Until then, the new owners plan to lean heavily into themed dinners, private events, and one-off experiences.
“The idea is to build something different,” Baggett says, “something more fun than a basic wine dinner.”
Recent events have included a chocolate-and-wine dinner, in which chocolate was used in every course, as well as a whiskey-and-wine event, featuring barrel-aged cocktails before dinner and paired wines served with the food. Guests can expect to see more one varietal “expressions” dinners, similar to when EdgeWild offered five Cabernets from around the world.
Upcoming concepts include dinners focused on underappreciated wines (popular in other parts of the world but not in this country or region), as well as a cocktail dinner featuring “smoky spirits”(from on-site wood-smoked bourbon and peaty Scotch to the wide world of mezcals).
“That will be our approach for the next few years,” Lacy says. “The goal is to host one event dinner per month.”
Upcoming dinners include:
- May 30: Underappreciated Wines, including Grüner Veltliner, Tempranillo, and Sauternes
- June 27: Tropical Staycation Dinner, featuring rum-based cocktails and a tropical menu
- July 25: Expressions Series featuring Chardonnay
- August 22: Mexico after Dark, with tequilas, mezcals, and Mexican food, which the owners hope to host on the patio.
In the meantime, construction surrounding the redevelopment continues to create logistical challenges.
“There are five entrances to the mall,” Lacy says, “only a few of which are closed. We’re open for business, and there’s a big banner facing Highway 40 that says so.”
EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery
📍 550 Chesterfield Center, Chesterfield
📞 636-532-0550
⏰ 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Tue, Wed, Thu; 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fri & Sat
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