Jack Nolen’s opened in the former Good Luck Bar & Grill space in Soulard on December 11. First reported by Matt Sorrell at Sauce magazine, the restaurant and bar offers smash burgers, fries lavished with toppings, and affordable cocktails.
The restaurant and bar is owned by the Grindstaff family, including brothers Jim and Ryan Grindstaff and mother Patti. Jim and Ryan also operate two Illinois franchises of wing restaurant Jefferson’s in Belleville and Mascoutah. After 13 years as franchisees, they decided to add their first independent restaurant.
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Former Good Luck regulars will recognize the interior, but the new occupants have freshened up the décor, adding new furniture and black-and-white prints of Cardinals legends hanging on the wall facing the bar. In addition to seating around 10 customers at the bar, Jack Nolen’s has five low and high tables for a total capacity of about 30 inside.
They’ve also inherited a large patio with space to seat around 50, which could be expanded. Among the patio improvements are new lights, a firepit, and an assortment of retro signs. There are also two heated TV screens for broadcasting Cardinals and Blues games, among other entertainment.
The idea behind Jack Nolen’s is to focus on quality and simplicity. “We wanted a small dining room, small kitchen—something that was manageable for us,” Ryan says. “Jim and I came up through the kitchen. We’re line cooks; we were born on the line. We know what prep is like and what it takes to run a kitchen. It’s a nightmare when you have 50 things on the menu that you have to prep. You become mediocre at 45 of them. We wanted to be really good at 10 instead.”
Patrons place their food orders at the bar. If grabbing a drink, consider one of the five house cocktails, a bargain at $6 each, especially considering that the bar doesn’t use typical well liquors; instead, the base liquors will be vodkas such as Tito’s and Wheatley, bourbons like Buffalo Trace, and tequilas like El Mayor. Choose from a whiskey sour (pictured at right), Manhattan, Moscow Mule, margarita, or Bloody Mary. If that list doesn’t include your favorite, just ask the bartender, who will make any other cocktail for $7. If you prefer beer, there are eight taps, including local craft brews and four Anheuser-Busch brands.
The menu’s core is its “Handheld” selection of burgers and sandwiches. The smashburgers can be ordered as singles, doubles, or triples (ranging from $6 to $12). Choose from standard toppings (cheese, onion, pickle, lettuce, tomato) and sauces (a house “Style” sauce, ketchup, mayo, mustard, or hot sauce).
The owners arrived at a focus on smash burgers partly because of Jim’s burger-blogging habit. “He started a burger blog four or five years ago called Cheeseburger Central,” explains Ryan. “He would go around and grade burgers, from Wendy’s to McDonald’s and Hardee’s. He drove all the way to Texas just to get an In-N-Out burger.”
Inspired by a burger he had while visiting relatives in Canada this summer, Ryan bought a meat grinder, and the brothers got down to developing and testing their own patty recipes. “We’d have these burger-grilling parties,” Ryan says. “We wanted a decent blend of meat on a Martin’s potato roll.” They settled on a blend composed of 25 percent brisket, 25 percent short rib, and 50 percent chuck. Getting those potato rolls from Pennsylvania-based Martin’s—made famous by Shake Shack—was a challenge, though they believe it was worth the effort.
The Grindstaffs also had fun creating topping combinations for the thin-cut fries. A tray of plain fries is available for $2, though instead try the poutine-inspired Bluetine (pictured above). Jim wanted to pay tribute to the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues, and Ryan got the idea of creating a poutine with blue cheese crumbles atop the standard gravy and fries. Named after the iconic 1970s New York club, the CBGB fries are topped with beer cheese (“CB” stands for “cheesey beer”) and grilled bacon (the “GB”). The kitchen is making its own beer cheese, and the Grindstaffs plan to use a different beer in the process each month, starting with Budweiser.
Other sandwiches include a grilled hummus, a tasty Reuben featuring thin-sliced corned beef from local supplier Middendorf, and a pesto grilled cheese created by Patti.
Among the sides, deviled eggs are smoked and topped with chopped bacon and pickles, then a dash of paprika. Other options include potato salad, a hummus bowl, and cucumber salad, all ranging from $3 to $6. The Grindstaffs source produce from hydroponic farmer Amanzi Farms in Sikeston. Other local suppliers featured include Tower Grove South restaurant Crispy Edge, whose potstickers are available as a side.
The Grindstaffs plan to introduce a couple of weekend-only menu items in the next few weeks. Ryan says the first of those will be a breakfast sandwich and a cheeseburger containing a fried egg, bacon, and sausage gravy.
On Cardinals and Blues game days, Jack Nolen’s will offer $10 buckets of mix and match beer. “Once MLS gets here, we’ll do it for soccer games, too,” Ryan said. “Maybe XFL, too. We’ll see.”
