One of the city’s most popular, critically acclaimed Asian eateries is opening a second location in St. Louis County.
Lona’s Lil Eats owners Lona Luo Powers and Pierce Powers III recently closed on the building at 612 W. Woodbine in Kirkwood, the former home of 612 Kitchen & Cocktails and Graham’s Grill.
The forthcoming restaurant is located in a block from St. Louis Community College–Meramec in Kirkwood. Lona says that “we were ready for a different area to experience our healthy style of cuisine and we felt like Kirkwood is the right place for that.” Pierce adds that, “in all the years we’ve been looking, this is the first building—for rent or for sale—that really felt right for us.”
The duo plans for the restaurant to be open for lunch and dinner, six days a week.
Here’s what else is known so far.
The New Location
Pierce says the 8,000-square-foot space is larger than the 3,500 feet that was needed, “but we know there’s value in having a complementary concept next door, food-focused or otherwise, so we’re in the process of looking for one or two suitable tenants to take up the remaining space, businesses that can create some buzz. I can see a salon, an ice cream or coffee place, or even some sort wellness center.”
Pierce hopes to open the Kirkwood location within six months, hopefully in conjunction with his new neighbors. “We just got started,” he says. “I’ll know more soon.”
The Backstory
Lona grew up in a 60-person village in the Xishuangbanna region of China, a melting pot where China, Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia came together, as did their cooking techniques, ingredients, and flavors. She describes her cuisine as the “soul food of the area.”
After Lona met Pierce in her native China, where he was an English tutor, they got married and moved back to St. Louis, Pierce’s hometown. Not long after, in 2008, Lona’s Lil Eats opened at a humble stall inside Soulard Farmers Market. The cuisine quickly found its mark in St. Louis. Among the standouts were the perfectly seared steak or mushroom potsticker-style dumplings, which were as succulent as any in town.
In 2014, the couple opened a brick-and-mortar in Fox Park. The “best-in-town” dumplings became a signature item, along with supersize rice rolls stuffed with meats, vegetables, or tofu. “If a traditional spring roll were to hook up with a pan-Asian smorgasbord, its offspring would be our favorite item at one of our favorite new restaurants,” SLM wrote in 2015.
The restaurant became one of the city’s must-try spots, earning national attention and three consecutive James Beard semifinalist nods for Lona as Best Chef: Midwest, from 2018 to 2020.
Around that time, “life became a bit more complicated,” Pierce recalls. “Before [the pandemic], we moved our family to the West Coast, intending to open a restaurant while still running the one in St. Louis. After [the pandemic], the kids were acclimated and wanted to stay, so Lona and I began traveling back and forth—and still do—running the St. Louis restaurant and doing flex work in LA. One of us is always in town.”
Although now divorced, the two remain close. “We’re still best friends and great business partners,” he says. “We go to family events together and even plan to return to China, though travel there has become more difficult since the pandemic.” Lona adds that “although our life has gotten a little crazy, life is little crazy. We felt like now is the time to challenge ourselves again.”
Looking ahead, Pierce says the longterm goal is to expand Lona’s Lil Eats with more locations, keeping St. Louis as the home base. “Opening in LA would make the most sense,” he says, “but we have national aspirations as well. I’ve traveled quite a bit and have never seen anything quite like the wraps we created in Soulard, nor the flavor profile.”
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