
Artwork and photo by Phil Jarvis
Nadine’s Hash House, a new breakfast and lunch spot, is slated to open in mid-April in the space formerly occupied by Billie’s Fine Foods (1802 S. Broadway). The location, a block east of Soulard Market on South Broadway, was at one time a popular breakfast spot on Saturdays. Now, with owner Nadine Soaib at the helm, breakfast will be served from 7 a.m.–2 p.m. every day.
The Background
When Soaib closed Nadine’s Gin Joint (1931 S. 12th) in nearby Soulard last August, after operating the tavern for 21 years, she had planned to retire. She soon realized that she wasn’t ready for a rocking chair, though. “I missed serving the coffee, bussing tables—I missed the people,” Soaib says. “I’m 64, and it was more than I wanted to deal with. Getting cooks during the pandemic was tough, and I had two shifts to fill. Even after I went to one shift, opening at 4, and I still had to be there cooking, which I didn’t want. I think it was God’s way of telling me to move on.”
She revived an old idea for Nadine's Hash House. “At Nadine’s Gin Joint there was an old mortuary next to our patio," she says. "I always said I wanted to open a little breakfast place there. Years ago, one of my servers said, ‘Yeah, Nadine’s Hash House,’ and it stuck in my mind.” She began searching a place to open a restaurant. “People said, ‘You should buy Billie’s, but I hadn’t considered it. I’ve eaten at Billie’s for over 30 years, throughout all its phases."
She had been cruising around looking at restaurants, but on a perfunctory trip to visit her accountant, fate intervened. “My accountant is next door to Billie’s,” she says. "Faith is a major mover in my life—it’s huge... When I looked in the window at Billie’s, I knew that I was meant to be there.”
The Menu
Expect a straight-forward breakfast menu, created with input from former Joanie’s Pizza founder Joanie Spurgeon, Soaib's cousin. “My breakfast menu is just basic home-cooked food with everything made from scratch,” she says. “I throw a little vanilla in my French toast—that’s as fancy as I get. Our corned beef hash is just plain good. We may run specials like the burritos that were on my menu at the Gin Joint—breakfast burritos, steak burritos, but we won’t serve those every day.”
Soaib plans to handle the coffee. "We serve really good coffee," she says. "It’s the same coffee I’ve used for 20 years.” Nadine’s will also have a full-service bar. “We’ll have our mimosa bucket: You get a bottle of champagne and a bottle of orange juice—we don’t sell mimosas by the glass," she says. "We have a great Bloody Mary, too.”
Like breakfast, lunch will be straightforward. One notable item will be the chili. “I owned one of the last of the three OT Hodges chili parlors here, which was then known as Chili Macs... That’s the recipe I’ll use for our chili."
Soaib's daughter, Yvonne Harris, will run the front-of-house operations. “She runs all of the errands, picks up all of our produce, and shops for things we need," she says. “I wouldn’t even want to do this without her."
The Vibe
The former diner's no-frills design hadn't changed much since the 1980s. There was a venerable counter, stools, booths, formica tables, and a pass-through service window. Now, the 1950s-era swivel stools are fixed, stabilized, and reupholstered, with a slick coat of chrome paint. The counter’s front panel gleams in industrial-chic silver cladding. The booths are gone. The once-white walls are a warm medium gray.
Saib commissioned artist Phil Jarvis to paint the logo and slogans, which glow like the classic orange-red neon of old. “I spray-painted the background glow first, then hand-lettered the signs,” Jarvis says. “The red lights overhead and the gray walls help the illusion of glow, too.” (Jarvis added his signature profile, beard curved upwards, in the restaurant’s logo.)
Then there's the approach to customer service. “When you walk in, you might not know anybody,” Soaib says, "but by the time you leave, you’ll have made a few friends."
Longtime Nadine's Gin Joint customer Rich Brooks, for instance, is looking forward to Soaib returning to the restaurant business. “Nadine’s food has always been good. She makes good, old-fashioned breakfasts—nothing skimpy,” Brooks says. "She always tried to do something special for everybody. We're excited to have her back."