Owners comment on Iron Barley’s closure and relocation to High Ridge

Iron Barley: Fourteen years and counting . . .

The chalked sign in the shape of a big iron skillet reads, “‘The Season Finale’ Saturday, August 12. Stay tuned for the exciting, all ‘New Season’ beginning this fall: Iron Barley High Hog Ridge–’the sequel.’”

When owners Tom and Gen Coghill announced on Facebook that they were closing their restaurant on Virginia Avenue, after 14 years, and reopening in High Ridge this fall, fans and friends posted more than 200 comments within hours.

“We were taken aback by the response,” Gen says. “Then the magazines and papers started calling. We were on KSDK and the radio.”

The quirky restaurant—known for its fine smoked meats, craft beers, and inventive specials—elevated barley to near-mythic status with its hearty barley soup, barley pilaf, and apple-barley dessert. “Barley’s in beer. Nobody was doing barley when we opened. I wanted something different,” Tom says. “Iron—we cook with cast-iron over high heat.”

Big smokers and grills way too big for their small kitchen took up residence on the parking pad-turned-patio in back during the early days.

“We’ve had a good run here with very few problems,” Tom says. “Other than a few broken windows, a few thefts, this neighborhood’s been good to us.”

So why move? And why High Ridge?

“We couldn’t expand here,” Tom says. “We couldn’t find the right building at the right price, so we looked in a wide area and settled on High Ridge.”

“We track our customer base, and they’re moving to South County, Affton, Arnold, and Jefferson County,” Gen adds. “People think High Ridge is so far. We live near Iron Barley. On a good day when it’s not rush hour, I can be in High Ridge in 20 minutes.”

The current kitchen would challenge any cook: Space is so tight, the cooking dance is choreographed, and it’s not air-conditioned. “I’ve rearranged the kitchen 10 times in the past 14 years,” Tom says. “We grew like that Johnny Cash song ‘One Piece at a Time.’ In the new space, I won’t have a wall running right down the center of the kitchen.”

Nonetheless, Iron Barley has received numerous accolades over the years. Last August, it received a Missouri Restaurant Association Restaurant Neighbor Award, an honor for restaurants that give back to their communities. It’s also garnered the national spotlight, with the likes of Guy Fieri and Adam Richman paying visits. Tom’s appearances on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Man vs. Food still bring customers to Iron Barley, with map in hand.

Iron Barley has always made an impression, though. After opening, in May 2003, the restaurant hosted Octoberfest that fall, with Tom’s home brewers club moving its annual celebration to Iron Barley. “We filled up an old aluminum Bud canoe with ice, and the home brewers put their bottles in. Tom cooked a buffet like he always did,” Gen says. It became a yearly event with craft beers, a buffet, and music—all to benefit local charities.

The following year, the restaurant hosted what would become another annual tradition, Mayfest, celebrating the restaurant’s anniversary and benefiting the CCBF Food Pantry or Nurses for Newborns. “The second year, I surprised Tom with music by the Bottle Rockets, one of his favorite groups,” Gen recalls.

In 2005, Iron Barley hosted its inaugural Tomato Fest, which would become an annual street party and festival celebrating the tomato, with proceeds benefiting Lift for Life Academy. (There will be no Tomato Fest this year because the Coghills plan to open their new eatery in High Ridge in September. “There’s just no time,” Tom says.)

Two years later, after getting to know customers Toad and Joy Liss from the local V.F.W. hall, the Coghills hosted Rib-Off, what would become an annual fundraiser for veterans. Proceeds have gone to the Fisher House Foundation and the U.S.O., as well as to modify homes for accessibility for two veterans with quadriplegia.

In 2007, the Tom Hall Resonator and Guitar Extravaganzas started as a benefit to replace guitarist Tom Hall’s stolen 1932 Resonator Guitar. The guitar was eventually replaced, but the festival was so much fun that it continued. Proceeds have benefited Six String Heroes, St. Francis Cabrini Church music program, and Lift for Life Gym.

The Coghills have raised three sons in their years at the restaurant. “We couldn’t have done this without the help of my mom and dad, Pat and Charlie [Randazzo],” Gen says. “The boys started working here early: Thomas, our oldest, started when he was about 10 years old; Charlie and Patrick were about 7 when they came in.” (Today, Thomas, now 25, works as an auto mechanic. Charlie, 22, is a firefighter and paramedic for the city of Clayton, and Patrick, 21, enlisted in the Marine Corps and has served in Okinawa and in Australia.)

The Coghills have developed a restaurant family, too. “We’ve had so many loyal customers,” Tom says. The couple befriended Reggie and Joan, who came in every Wednesday and Thursday. Another customer, Terry, would come in every Saturday for lunch. “After he lost his wife,” Gen says, “I make a point to take my lunch at the same time, to sit down and eat with him.”

Several workers will join them in High Ridge, too. “The whole kitchen staff is coming with us,” Gen says. “Our server, Rachel, will be training staff at High Ridge. Darren, our bartender, will set up and stock the bar.”

The Coghills are encouraged by the reception in High Ridge so far. “Last weekend, people stopped in while we were working just to say hi and thank us for moving there,” Gen says.

Asked if the menu would remain the same, Tom replies, “I’m not saying—but let’s just say I’ve been cooking barley for a long time.”