Mosito’s plans to open a second location in the former Friend’s Bar & Grill space (1317 Washington) in downtown St. Louis during the first week of January 2025. Owner/pitmaster Chivas Johnson plans to offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the 4,000 square-foot barbecue restaurant, which will seat approximately 80 guests. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Menu
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Mosito’s new downtown restaurant will offer many of the same dishes as the Soulard location: barbecue plates, sandwiches, and “big boy” nachos topped with barbecued meats. Expect barbecue essentials, such as pulled pork and brisket, as well as pulled turkey, beef ribs, tiger shrimp served on skewers, and a plant-based brat for vegan or vegetarian customers.
“I don’t want to do too much,” says Johnson. “I just want to do a few things very well.”
One of Mosito’s signatures is the turkey leg, served in its drippings. “The meat doesn’t just fall off the bone; the meat falls off the meat,” Johnson quips. The turkey leg is brined for about a day, then smoked until it reaches 190 degrees, achieving a lovely golden color and leaving the meat tender and delicious. In addition to the turkey leg, Mosito’s offers turkey chops (similar to pork chops) and turkey ribs.
Another noteworthy dish is the pork rib tips, sticky, fatty, and packed with flavor. Johnson notes they’re easy for customers with dentures to eat—he remembers the lengths that his grandma would go to enjoy meat with her dentures. “Remember the people with dentures,” he says.
Sides include coleslaw, black-eyed peas, potato salad, and collard greens, which feature a variety of green-leafed vegetables including mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale. The flavor is rich with a little spice. (“It’s crushed red pepper, black pepper, and salt—that’s pretty much it,” Johnson says.)
Johnson also plans to serve smoked wings at the new restaurant. For breakfast, he’ll be cooking egg sandwiches with bacon and barbecued meat. He also plans to revamp the Soulard stall’s offerings, including a range of ice creams with flavored fillings. “That’s definitely going to be a good treat for us this spring,” he says.
At the downtown restaurant, Johnson also plans to secure a liquor license to serve a range of alcoholic beverages.
The Backstory
Johnson’s love for barbecue stretches back to memories of family gatherings, where food was central. “It’s grandmas and mom and my uncles, just learning family things, how to cook,” he says. “Forgive my tears when they start coming… History, man.”
His path to the restaurant business didn’t involve culinary school or any formal training but instead discovering that he had a knack for cooking food that people liked. He worked in construction and would bring food to share with his co-workers. “The guys at work were just tasting the food I’m smoking, and everybody just had really good responses,” he recalls. “It was my test kitchen.”
With encouragement from co-workers and friends, Johnson decided to buy a barbecue trailer in 2019. His main gig with the trailer was serving fans at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Eventually, in early 2022, he set up shop at Soulard Farmers’ Market, where he took over stall 25 in the north wing, a space vacated by a pet store. (His background in construction proved handy when it came to tearing down and rebuilding the space.)
With a walkup window and snug indoor dining space with three tables, the Soulard location allowed Johnson to expand his menu, with a fuller range of barbecued meat platters, sandwiches, and loaded nachos, along with sides such as potato salad and collard greens. Over time, he grew a solid following; on a busy weekend, the stall can go through 300 pounds of turkey legs.
“I’ve been nurturing this baby for a while now,” he said. “I’m just overwhelmed with the reaction I’m getting from the public.”
