J.P. Fields West serves up familiar favorites in Des Peres

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Cajun BLT - Cajun applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo on parmesan encrusted sourdough

Wayne Prichard is wearing a face mask, but I can see his eyes smiling as he speaks. Prichard is describing what a normal night at his restaurant, J.P. Fields West, was like shortly after opening in Des Peres last November, before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This is the type of neighborhood place where a couple comes looking to have, maybe, some great barbecued brisket, but they’ll bump into some friends at the bar and say, ‘Hey, we’ll just eat here at the bar with these guys,’” says Prichard. “At a table, a family of five may be here after the day’s soccer games, and the kids have their own menu to choose from and the family isn’t going to spend a fortune. The game is playing on the TVs, and you may hear me holler across the room, ‘Hey, Bill, you need another beer?’”

Last November, J.P. Fields West opened in a former sandwich shop in a small strip mall in Des Peres, The Shoppes at Tallbrooke. Prichard opened the 40-seat restaurant with Jim Campbell, owner of the original John P. Fields, but not with the intention of simply duplicating the popular Clayton location’s menu and concept. Prichard says he wanted the restaurant to feel inviting and cozy, “more like you’re in a friend’s home, a friend who’s a great cook.”

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

A popular sharable is Lotsa Tots, tater tots topped with queso blanco, bacon, sour cream, and green onions

Portions of the dozen starters are generous. J.P.’s Famous Wings are double-fried before being tossed in buffalo or garlic Parmesan sauce, giving the wings an extra-crispy skin. Both the quesadilla and the Powerplay Nachos are rich with queso, black beans, bacon, and Cholula sour cream. Green Bay–style cheese curds from Marcoot Jersey Creamery, in Greenville, Illinois, are served with marinara or ranch. The highlight of the shareables menu? The hand-cut, hand-breaded Steakhouse Onion Rings: thick, well seasoned, light, and crunchy.

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Steakhouse Onion Rings - house made using sweet Vidalia onions

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

The Anthony - KC style pulled pork on a brioche bun

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Tangy pit brisket beans are a perfect side for any of the house-smoked barbecue meats. A traditional Kansas City pulled pork sandwich on brioche— named The Anthony, after Anthony Bourdain—is available, or there’s the StL Hippie Chick sandwich, an homage to Prichard’s vegetarian wife, loaded with pulled jackfruit tossed in a sweet, smoky barbecue sauce.

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

The Blue Note - parmesan encrusted sourdough with smoked turkey, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, and house honey mustard

Not in the mood for barbecue? Try one of the hefty sandwiches, perhaps The Blue Note or the NOLA Po’Boy (a sort of surf-and-turf creation of crispy fried shrimp and smoked brisket with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and NOLA mayo on a toasted hoagie).

Burgers, wraps, and salads make up the rest of the menu. The burger patty mix is a flavorful combination of chuck, short rib, and brisket. When this restaurant offers a build-your-own option, it’s for real. Options range from a turkey burger and Beyond Meat patty to more than 15 sauces (from house-made mustard to Zombie barbecue sauce) and just about any ingredient on the menu. “We have a woman who always adds cheese curds to her burger,” says Prichard, “and another guy who drenches his in queso.” 

The dining landscape has changed completely because of COVID-19 and efforts to minimize its spread. “I’ve done a lot of things in the restaurant business in the last 27 years, and there have been very few times when I just don’t have an answer,” Prichard says. “After you spend 15 or so years in the restaurant industry, you’ve probably seen just about everything, but nothing has come close to what we are currently in.”

The full menu is offered for carryout, online, and phone orders, and it can be picked up curbside. Third-party delivery is also available. “If there is a silver lining to the pandemic, it’s that our guests have come out and been so supportive. For that, we are so very grateful,” Prichard says. “What we can offer our customers and anyone who dines with us, I think, is a little semblance of normalcy.

“There is a guy who was one of our regulars,” Prichard adds. “He always sits at the bar for our Flamethrower wings. He was just in, and I asked him if the wings were good—were they hot enough?—and he said, ‘They’re great!’ Then he looks at me and says, ‘It feels really great to be here.’ Now, I know he meant it felt good to be out of his house and in a restaurant, but I also think he meant that it felt good to be in this restaurant. I’m not trying to be overly dramatic, but during that time, he was having his wings and a Bud Light. He had that feeling of just a little bit of normalcy. If we can do that, that can mean a lot.”