Expat BBQ is closing its doors at City Foundry STL (3730 Foundry Way), but a new barbecue concept will soon take its place. Niche Good Group is transitioning the space to Brickline Brew House, a sports-centric bar and event space featuring food from BEAST Craft BBQ.
The new concept will feature BEAST’s award-winning barbecue alongside a bar program and entertainment, such as live music, trivia, and more, managed by Niche Food Group.
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Expat BBQ’s kitchen and dining room will close after March 11 for renovations. Brickline Brew House is slated to open this spring, with a date to be announced soon. Here’s what to expect.
The Team
Brickline Brew House is a collaboration between Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group and BEAST Craft BBQ. Craft has longstanding ties to City Foundry STL, having helped to curate the initial lineup of Food Hall tenants before opening None of the Above, the speakeasy-style bar located below City Foundry STL, as well as Fordo’s Killer Pizza and Kitchen Bar inside the main Food Hall.
BEAST Craft BBQ, meanwhile, has earned a reputation for serving some of the best barbecue in the metro St. Louis area. Pitmaster David Sandusky and his wife, Meggan, opened the flagship brick-and-mortar restaurant in Belleville, Illinois, in 2014, serving classics like pulled pork, brisket, turkey breast, and a legendary pork steak.
While BEAST also operates a stand inside Energizer Park, as well as a small location on the campus of Washington University, the new location at City Foundry STL marks the brand’s biggest return to St. Louis since the closing of BEAST Butcher & Block in The Grove in 2023.
“We’re so happy to have a big footprint in the city, the city that we feel like we represent really well, and we’re stoked to be there,” David says. “I think it’s a big step for BEAST, and we’re excited to be back in the area in a big way.”
The Menu
While Expat BBQ focuses on globally inspired barbecue, the barbecue served at Brickline Brew House will be more similar in style to that of BEAST Craft BBQ. The menu is still being finalized, but David says it will likely be a scaled-down version of what you’d find at BEAST’s main location in Belleville, along with a few items specific to the City Foundry STL location.
“Expat is very different from our type of barbecue,” David says. “The menu was more international, whereas we’re more of a St. Louis-style, very specific type of local barbecue.
BEAST and Niche Food are no strangers to collaboration, as David helped advise Craft in the development of Expat’s menu. David says he jumped at the chance to work with Niche Food Group again. “Every chance that I get to collaborate with Niche and Gerard Craft, I will take,” he says. “I love that group. I think they’re the best in the business, and we take care of each other.”
The Space
When Expat BBQ first opened its doors in September 2024, it featured three distinct dining areas: a full-service, first-floor dining room; a second-floor mezzanine; and a third-floor terrace, where food and beverages were ordered via kiosks or at the bar.
While Expat was the first restaurant to offer a sit-down, full-service experience at City Foundry, Brickline Brew House will operate exclusively in a fast-casual setting. Similar to the other Food Hall tenants, BEAST Craft BBQ will operate a new walk-up window where guests can place their orders. With the larger footprint, Meggan says she’s especially excited to be able to service large groups that the Belleville restaurant can’t always accommodate.
As a cornerstone of City Foundry, the space itself is also evolving to better serve customers who visit the Food Hall. Seating at Brickline Brew House will now be open to all customers who purchase food from other Food Hall kitchens, such as Chicken Scratch, Kalbi Taco Shack, Sureste, and more.
The concept will also transition to more of a sports bar feel, with expanded live sports programming on the main dining floor designed to make Brickline a go-to spot for game days and watch parties.
The transition will also fill the need for one of the biggest requests that City Foundry STL has received from guests: a smaller, flexible event space that offers food from multiple restaurants in the Food Hall. According to City Foundry STL, it has received nearly 400 inquiries for small-to-mid-size events that it hasn’t previously been able to accommodate. The new event space will not only deliver on that goal but also provide opportunities for various Food Hall kitchens to offer catering.
“We have always set out to be innovative and adaptive to respond to the requests of our consumers at City Foundry STL,” Matt Sorth, property manager of City Foundry’s Food Hall, said in a press release. “We’ve heard the request for smaller event venues that can incorporate food from all the diverse kitchens of our Food Hall, as well as requests for a more sports-centric bar concept for a while now. Now, with this evolution of the Expat BBQ space, we’re able to tap into a dream team of industry leaders of David Sandusky of BEAST Craft BBQ Co., as well as Chef Craft of Niche Food Group to bring these ideas to life and offer our City Foundry STL community more flexibility for how they want to gather and celebrate.”
