Popular University City restaurant Momos Ouzaria Taverna has closed following the unexpected death of the restaurant’s owner, Charles (Chuck) Pener III.
Pener died June 13. Signs on the restaurant door indicate that the closing is temporary, and a post to the restaurant’s Facebook page says the family will be taking time “to process the loss and determine how to move forward with the amazing restaurant legacy he left behind.”
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Pener graduated from Hazelwood Central High School and earned his degree from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). He learned the ins and outs of the restaurant business as a manager at the former Ozzie’s Restaurant, where he worked before opening Momos and later Joyia’s Tapas, which closed in 2015.
Friends remember Pener as charming and charismatic, a consummate host and entertainer. He is survived by his parents, children, sisters, and a grandson.
