The naysayers who claim that the city doesn’t need another barbecue joint might just have to eat their words.
Beginning Friday, March 1, Ben Welch (who closed the popular Big Baby Q in December to move to a bigger, more visible location) will be doling out some serious ‘cue in the former Flying Saucer Draught Emporium space at 900 Spruce Street.
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His partners in The Midwestern Meat & Drink are Stephen Savage, Nick Del Gaiso, and Jared Ater, owners of The Wheelhouse and Start Bar, both located one block to the west. (The name originated when Savage discovered that “meat & drink” was an Old English saying for “that’s my bread and butter” or “that’s my wheelhouse,” an obvious tie-in. “Our goal is to have the restaurant showcase Midwestern values and hospitality,” he says, “as well as its bounty.”)
All three businesses are located in the former Cupples Station complex (a group of Romanesque-style warehouses designed by Eames and Young), and all have a similar feel: wide-open spaces with brick walls, lots of wood, and high ceilings. Impossible to miss are the 18-inch-wide, 20-foot-tall structural posts made of longleaf heart pine, which after decades shows deep cracks and checks yet somehow retains its moisture. “We drilled into one in another building,” recalls Savage, “and water seeped out. After over 100 years, the wood was still wet inside.” Quipped a construction supervisor about the distinctive detail, “Even if you could find them, you couldn’t afford them.”
A signature of the Flying Saucer brand was the hundreds of plates on the walls, placed high and low. If the old space felt cluttered, the reconfigured space is anything but. Sight lines are long and clean. The number of TV sets is adequate, not cumbersome.
On the building-length patio that faces Busch Stadium—no doubt a popular perch on future game days—a glass-paneled awning will allow views of the stadium even from inside the restaurant, which wasn’t possible before. A series of garage door–style windows opens onto the patio to better hear the buzz on game days.
Above the bar, white subway tiles replaced dark, wooden panels and the chalkboards listing myriad beers. The former Guinness-colored bar face was scrapped in favor of an expanse of wrong way-faced brick, a conversation-starting design element that’s both indestructible and inexpensive. The daunting 100-tap beer wall has shrunk to a dozen (all of them local and regional brews), and the bar itself was lengthened (to 85 feet), allowing for spacious placement of The Midwestern’s 250 bottles of liquor.
Corporate beverage director and esteemed mixologist Tony Saputo has arranged the bottles logically, all clearly visible on racks of open steel shelving from Alton, Illinois-based fabricator Henley Forge. The emphasis is on a curated list of spirits and whiskies, including the pricey Pappy Van Winkle (10-, 12-, 15-, 20-, 23-year expressions) and the pricier Heaven Hill 27-Year-Old Barrel Proof Small-Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at $200 per shot. At the other end of the price spectrum is the secret menu, a.k.a. Tony’s Cabinet, an impressive-sounding collection that in reality lists only excellent but affordable, won’t-break-the-bank whiskies. “Things like JW Dant, Old Charter, 10 High, Old Crow Reserve,” Saputo says, “stuff that’s cheap that I know is good.”
Saputo’s roster of alcohol is a 21-page tome, beginning with the Manhattan of the Month, Whiskey Classics cocktails, and Tastes of the Midwest. There are back stories behind most every cocktail, including how Saputo infuses his Italian cherries and his years-long quest to perfect the so-green mint syrup used for juleps. (Don’t ask… He’s not divulging the process or the recipe.)
Then come the beers, listed by flavor profile. There’s a Strange Brews section that includes WellBeing Brewing Company’s non-alcoholic beers, then a smattering of wines, and hard liquors arranged by type, distillery/location, and price. Saputo has made it easy to locate a favorite genre, a particular distiller, or price point.
When Del Gaiso attended L’Ecole Culinaire, chef Ben Welch was his instructor, advisor, and mentor. Then Del Gaiso moved near Big Baby Q and became a regular. When The Midwestern was being conceived, he already knew the ideal chef. “Ben needed a bigger footprint, bigger stage, a chance to serve more people,” he says. “He felt he needed the exposure, but from my standpoint he deserved the exposure.”
The kitchen is an extension of what Welch had neither the time nor space to pull off at Big Baby Q. Welch may be best known for his dark-barked brisket, but there are now new and unexpected players in the game: St. Louis-style spare ribs (not baby backs); Flintstone-sized beef ribs (not short ribs); a brined, smoked, and sous-vide cooked turkey leg; chicken wings (pictured above); and the item that will likely generate massive Insta-chatter: crispy pig head. A 5-pound cabeza is split, smoked, confited for 16 hours, chilled, then crisped just before service. Served with tortillas and garnished with candied jalapeños, pickled red onion, jerk chimichurri, cilantro, and Korean BBQ sauce, “it’s the king of finger food, the ultimate sharable,” Savage says. “Cheek, ear, snout… Just go after it.” Unfortunately, the $45 signature dish can’t be purchased on a whim: due to limited availability and the long prep and cook time, it’s a Sat/Sun-only item that requires a 48-hour advance notice.
“We didn’t want to do straightforward BBQ,” explains Del Gaiso. “St. Louis has plenty of those places already, good ones. We wanted to create a different experience, so we needed to showcase some different products and processes.” The fried chicken sandwich, for example, features a boneless thigh that’s been brined, cooked sous vide, fried, then served on a buttermilk biscuit with country gravy and a sunny egg. The burger mix is a decadent combination of 70/30 ground beef, ground brisket point, plus a secret ingredient. “You’ll want to come back and get it again,” Del Gaiso says, “you just won’t quite know why.”
Part of the experience involves music on the back patio. Now outfitted with a roof, stage, bar, and separate entrance, the space will host live acts, for which there’s a nominal cover charge. (On March 2, beginning at 5 p.m., The Midwestern presents A Midwestern Mardi Gras, featuring Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players and the Funky Butt Brass Band.)
savage says The Midwestern’s food and atmosphere was designed to appeal to “a more mature crowd,” so as not to compete with The Wheelhouse and Start Bar, which are geared toward younger patrons. He jokes that “Friends and customers who have outgrown the other places are thanking me for building another venue. I tell them that I have two young daughters, so a wedding venue may be next. Then I guess it’s on to cafeterias and retirement centers.”
