The wave of restaurant closures across metro St. Louis continued today with the announcement that Session Taco‘s Kirkwood location (105 E. Jefferson) will close January 25. The news comes six weeks after owners Adam and Jason Tilford shuttered the Town & Country outpost and two months after the Central West End location was converted into Lapez Mod Mex, a more upscale Mexican concept.
The Closure
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Adam tells SLM “few places saw the boost that usually comes at the holidays, and January and February are always tough months.” He added, “We weren’t planning on closing the location—especially since we recently moved the arcade and remodeled the event space—but the landlord reached out, we discussed options, and made us a deal to finish out the lease early.”
He was not aware of any future plans for the space. SLM has reached out to the landlord for comment.
The Kirkwood restaurant opened in July 2020 as Mission Taco Joint’s fifth location, occupying a sprawling 12,000-square-foot space. It featured 120 dining room seats, an adjacent event space for another 80 guests, a 40-seat sidewalk patio, and an arcade.
In September 2024, the company rebranded all locations to Session Taco after a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Gruma Corporation, parent company of Mission Foods. At the time, Jason described the change as “an evolution, not a revolution.”
Refocusing the Brand
Looking at the recent closures, Adam says shutting down the Town & Country and Kirkwood restaurants—both newer and larger suburban locations—allows the company to regroup and refocus on its original restaurants. The Loop remains the flagship, followed by Soulard and St. Charles, while the former CWE Session now operates as Lapez Mod Mex.
St. Charles, he notes, may be next in line for a rebrand into a “killer, family-style Mexican restaurant with a broader menu.” Like Kirkwood, the St. Charles location is expansive, and Adam says the limited Session menu makes it challenging to fully utilize the space.
Smaller locations, he adds, are more naturally suited to Session’s streamlined approach. In hindsight, Adam reflects that Mission Taco Joint worked best in entertainment districts before expanding into the suburbs, where appealing to a different clientele proved difficult. The plan for 2026 is to double down on those entertainment-driven areas—The Loop, Soulard, Streets of St. Charles, and the Lapez Mod Mex concept in the CWE—and recapture the original bar-forward energy that defined the brand.
