End of an era: The remaining Culpepper’s closes in metro St. Louis

The following article was excerpted from the Feb. 16 issue of SLM’s Dining Out newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Earlier this month, we said goodbye to a local institution: Alas, Culpepper’s is no more.

When the remaining location in St. Charles announced its closure via Facebook, the post generated more than 350 comments. What began as a liquor store on the corner of Euclid and Maryland nearly 90 years ago grew into a locally owned mini-chain of five restaurants.

The flagship was credited with introducing St. Louisans to Buffalo-style chicken wings, which, to many locals like myself, were the best in town. On the way to the unisex restrooms (a novelty in the ’80s), patrons’ eyes would smart as they passed by the closet-size kitchen, where cooked-to-order chicken wings were flipped in stainless bowls with orange hot sauce (using the same motion a sautée cook uses) and then deftly piled into shallow, white china dishes. Paired with an always-cold, iceberg house salad (mixed in a smaller bowl with a light ranch dressing, lightly pressed, then inverted onto a plate) and a 32-degrees canned beer, it was one of the most memorable meal combos in town.

Part of the allure was Culpepper’s original short menu, featuring a dozen or so items: a triple-decker club, BLT, cream of artichoke soup—with textbook iterations for all of them. There were no clinkers in the bunch. To this day, when criticizing pages-long menus (or advising restaurateurs on how to write theirs), I often refer to what I dubbed “the Culpepper’s theory,” a super-brief menu where every item was expertly executed. I remember many a night at “Culp’s” observing passersby ogling the food and those of us lucky enough to be partaking.

Culpepper’s had a distinct personality, as did its personnel. The late Ann Lemons Pollack recalled owner Herb Glazer saying he only sold beer in cans “because it got colder that way.” Pollack said he wouldn’t stock swizzle sticks, either, “because they clogged the vacuum cleaner.” When patrons asked for them, Glazer told them to use their spoons.  

The original iteration was largely a haven for adults, and a sign in the door said so: “Culpepper’s prefers not to serve children under 12.” A long-time patron recalled the day notorious bartender Jack Rinaldi greeted a woman with two young children. His alleged quote: “Hey lady, no kids in here. Somebody might say f**k in front of the K-I-D-S.

Last but not least, at the bottom of the menu was a list of promulgations, something to the effect of: No separate checks. No personal checks. No orders to go. We do not split orders. No, we don’t have cups of soup, and we don’t care if it’s your birthday. The Central West End location closed in late 2019.

Boy, did I love Culpepper’s. I miss that place—and what I’d give for one more order of those wings.