Rosé by Peno opens in Lafayette Square

Peno’s Pepe Kehm combines coastal French with Italian cuisine in a 38-seat bistro.

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After much anticipation, Rosé by Peno (1463 S. 18th) opens March 9 in Lafayette Square. The 38-seat bistro, from chef-owner Pepe Kehm, combines coastal French with Italian cuisine. Here’s what to know before you go.

The Menu

Kehm sums up the menu's focus as “light, coastal, Calabria, Marseilles.” Rather than serve the “Sicilian soul food” popularized at Peno, Kehm strikes “coastal French and Italian” notes, straddling a culinary fence that leans more toward Marseilles than Messina (which is appropriate, since Kehm’s father is French and his mother Italian).

Since Marseilles happens to be home to thousands of pizza-loving ex-pats from Naples, Marseilles-style pizza (pissaladière) became de rigueur there and is an intriguing option here. The puff-pastry crust is judiciously topped with fresh vegetables or ratatouille. Traditional, hand tossed, brick oven-baked pizzas (a.k.a. Pizza by Peno) are available as well. All of the pizzas will be available via third-party delivery, just like at Peno, “which is a welcome revenue source when you have so few seats,” Kehm says. “My goal with these small spots is having what I call ‘once a week in, once a week for pizza.”’

The melting-pot menu also includes fresh pasta, a mixed seafood appetizer, fish stew, and braised chicken with tomato, olives, and dried plums. The salad selection ranges from the familiar (frisee, escarole wedge, nicoise) to the personal (the house salad is the one that his mentor, Kim Tucci, “just loved.”) Another item rarely seen on local menus is raclette (which Kehm refers to as “the garlic cheese bread of France”). Here, it’s served traditionally, heated and scraped onto crispy house made bread, and served with potatoes, salumi, and pickles.

An atypical brunch (set to kick off in April) is led by Eggs in Purgatory (skillet eggs poached in special red sauce), a “foie gras-fle” (waffle with whipped foie gras butter), a French-inspired sandwich or two (such as a croque-monsieur stuffed with a grass fed burger), and cooked-to-order savory and sweet mini-donuts, dishes created to “hit on flavor profiles that St. Louisans don’t see anywhere else,” Kehm says.

Long known for his unorthodox marketing skills (which include offering unlimited meals at Peno for a yearly fixed price), Kehm offers every guest a complimentary amuse-bouche, like maybe cheese puff at brunch (cut from the ends of puff pastry) and a bone broth consommé or tomato bisque at dinner, inexpensive lagniappes that kick start a meal and spark a conversation. “I’d like to say I thought that up, but that was an old family tradition started by my uncle Frank [Grandinetti] at Pagliacci’s in Denver,” he says.

Desserts include two classics that align with the culinary theme: Pave au Chocolat and Zabaglione.

The Atmosphere

Similar to an Old World bistro, Rosé by Peno is a tiny boîte that you only seem to find when you veer onto a side street (not unlike South 18th Street, which can only be accessed from one direction). Yet we’d be more inclined to call it a modern European café. 

First laid out on a storyboard (as are all Kehm’s projects), the footprint of the former Stray Rescue office allows for less than 40 seats inside and a few more out front. The small dining room includes a six-seat bar with a 24-bottle wine cooler, which will dispense boutique-style French wines (eight being rosés) in several portion sizes. The drink menu also includes the requisite fresh juice mixers and region-appropriate cocktails and beers. Adjacent is a kitchen station equipped with yet another of Kehm's “something you don’t see every day” touches: a mini fryer for making the aforementioned donuts, cronuts, and cheese puffs. 

The main wall, painted pastel pink, is further dramatized by glossy black enameled shutters with fleur-de-lis cutouts, the perfect vehicle for showcasing several large pop culture–themed, pressed metal prints from renowned local artist Kevin Glazer. Rosé by Peno could serve as his mini-gallery: Above the bar is a series of prints; several monochromatic pieces are placed high on another wall; random works line a hallway. Down that hallway are the restrooms, where colorful wallpaper depicts mute swans, a nod to the bevy that used to grace the lake in Lafayette Park.

To the south of the building is a 25-seat elevated side garden, with a brick wall that Kehm plans to cover with heat-loving plants. And though he’s looking forward to the patio opening in May, Kehm is just as excited about the sidewalk “dog bar” that will open along with the restaurant. It will feature a menu of treats—dog eats, dog sweets, and a doggie snow cone in a cup—along with plenty of bowls of water, “maybe even favored waters, we’ll see,” says Kehm. “They don’t really complain, you know. They’re your best customers. They’re always happy, and they don’t send anything back.

“Hey, I come from Dogtown,” he adds, “doing that part was easy.”

Chef Team, Hours, and Reservations

After riding the restaurant rollercoaster for the past 40 years—in such places as Rigazzi’s TP Neill’s, Blue Water Grill, Giarrosto, Spaghetteria Mama Mia, Corky’s, and, most recently, Peno in Clayton—Kehm had no intention of jumping on yet another restaurant ride, but when the pall of the pandemic lifted, the new concept materialized, originally conceived as a pizza and wine bar called Hello Rosé.

Kehm says the restaurant's two veteran chefs, John Komotos (who previously worked abroad and at Cardwell’s) and Tony Haake (Racquet Club), “get the concept and know the cuisines.”

Rosé by Peno will serve dinner Thu-Mon from 5 to 9 p.m. (until 10 p.m. Fri-Sat.) plus a late night menu and entertainment from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. A Sunday Brunch is slated to launch in April. Kehm has put a new spin on Monday night, which often caters to people in the restaurant industry. "We're calling it 'TV Dinners'", Kehm says. "The menu each week will be chef's choice and be displayed on the TV. We'll do a pop-up art show that night as well, different each week."  

At present, reservations are being accepted by phone (314-405-8500) or email (eat@rosestl.com). Look for the Tock platform to launch soon, likely by opening day, March 9. 

Rosé by Peno

1463 S. 18th, St Louis, Missouri 63104

314-405-8500

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Sun, Mon, Thu: 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Fri - Sat: 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.

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