Sam Kogos has decided to close Riverbend Restaurant & Bar, his 7-year-old Cajun-themed restaurant in Richmond Heights. The last day of service is Sunday, March 26.
Kogos, a New Orleans native who owned the Rendon Inn and whose family has been in the seafood business since the 1930s, moved to St. Louis (his wife’s hometown) after Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, he opened the original Riverbend at 701 Utah in South City. His cousin, chef Steve Daney (who was once a cook for the mayor of New Orleans), also moved to St. Louis to help open the restaurant.
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During those early years, Riverbend’s popularity steadily grew, with diners from the county willing to drive miles to indulge in the combination étouffée (noted in SLM‘s “50 Best Dishes in St. Louis” feature), seafood gumbo, and Crawfish Margaret Pasta (a riff on Crawfish Monica, a New Orleans Jazz Fest staple). For dining critic Dave Lowry, Riverbend’s turtle soup conjured a flood of thoughts about local history, memories, and minutiae.
In 2014, Kogos had the opportunity to move into a bigger space with a better-equipped kitchen, the former Harvest location at 1059 S. Big Bend. Relocating to an area that lacked a Cajun restaurant and was closer to the restaurant’s clientele seemed a wise business decision. “We were doing OK,” Kogos says, “but I found myself spending more and more time here just to do OK.”
Daney’s schedule also changed over time. “In the past, Steve would work nine months at the restaurant and take three months off to cook Cajun food in Europe,” says Kogos. “Over the years, those numbers slowly reversed, and Steve is leaving again soon, which means I’d be spending more time in the kitchen. I can cook, but I’m not a chef—that’s not my lifelong dream.”
In retrospect, Kogos laments not broadening the concept to more inclusive “Southern comfort food [because] most people think that all Cajun food is spicy, which it’s not.” And he believes that he could have pushed harder to establish outdoor seating, which might have been a beacon to “a building that never looked much like a restaurant,” he says.
Kogos informed his staff of the closure on Tuesday, but elected not to publicize the news. “It would have been uncomfortable to have a week of hugs and tears, with people saying how much they loved the place or the food or whatever,” he says. “Making the decision to close was emotional enough as it was.”
With Riverbend’s lease coming up for renewal, Kogos thought it was the right time to shift gears. He reasoned that if he stayed another 10 to 15 years, “not much would likely change,” but if he worked another job for that same amount of time, his quality of life would.
Next week, Kogos will return to the Crescent City to check out the prospects.
