Frank Imo, owner of quasi-eponymous Smokee Mo’s BBQ, has big plans for his second store, to be located at 110 Old Meramec Station in Manchester (near the corner of 141 and Manchester), an expansion first reported by the St. Louis Business Journal.
Frank is the eldest son of Marge and Ed Imo, founders of Imo’s Pizza, the locally owned pizza chain (currently with 99 locations) that over the years has become synonymous with St. Louis–style pizza. In addition to Smokee Mo’s, Frank and his wife, Eva, own and operate several Imo’s Pizza stores.
Almost exactly three years ago, after Frank worked in Georgia with four-time barbecue World Champion Myron Mixon, the couple opened the flagship barbecue joint in “LA,” Frank's moniker for "lower Arnold." The restaurant was an immediate critical and popular hit, rising quickly to the top of the local TripAdvisor list (#1 of 81 restaurants in Arnold). Piggybacking on the pizza company’s famous tagline, SLM freelancer and barbecue aficionado Johnny Fugitt called Smokee Mo’s “The Barbecue Beyond Compare,” giving special props to its signature sandwich, the Mangia Bene, a half-pound of sliced brisket on garlic cheese bread with horseradish-spiked white barbecue sauce (dubbed Mo’s White Sauce).
Had it been available at the time, another half-pound monster, the Mostrami Sandwich (pictured above), would likely have garnered Fugitt’s attention as well. (Check out videos on how both sandwiches are made here.) The Smokee Brisket Chili is the perfect winter weather warmer and the scratch-made side dishes (several of them rotating) are exemplary (again, see the Many Sides of Smokee Mo’s video).
The Imos have the dessert bases covered as well. In addition to items from the renowned Blue Owl Restaurant & Bakery (just down Highway 55 from the flagship), homemade cookies are available, as well as three flavors of frozen custard: vanilla, chocolate, and smoked maple bacon, containing bits of candied bacon. “Hell, people come here just for that,” Frank says.
An affable, go-big-or-go-home guy, Frank says that he and his wife thought long and hard about exactly how to expand the barbecue brand. On a trip to South Dakota, a large barn (pre-fabricated in Nebraska, it turns out), caught their eye, so they investigated. Since they had decorated the flagship restaurant with antiques and bric-a-brac from farmhouses and barns, the couple thought expanding into a real barn only made sense.
Courtesy Legacy Post & Beam
Here comes the “go big” part: The barn they purchased (similar to the one pictured above), from Legacy Post & Beam, measures 5,000 square feet, enough for 150 seats, plus additional seating outside. They also bought the adjacent lot, which will be converted into 100 additional parking spaces above and beyond those required by zoning regulations. The top of the cupolas are at the 35-foot mark, Frank says, so the imposing structure will be easily visible from Manchester Road.
Courtesy Legacy Post & Beam
The barn's post-and-beam construction eliminates the need for supporting walls, thereby allowing for a completely open floor plan (i.e., more seats), which mitigates the cost of a prefab building. Two communal tables will run down the center, flanked by standard tables and booth seating to either side.
The barn’s exposed timbers and neutral palette can be dressed up or down, a perfect match for the couple’s so-called “Mayberry trademark” décor, which includes episodes of Green Acres, The Three Stooges, and Batman played on the TVs.
Frank says the building components will be loaded onto six tractor-trailers and should arrive in Manchester before year’s end. After a barn raising of sorts and outfitting the interior, expect the doors to swing open at what baby boomer Frank says will be “the bitchest BBQ joint in metro St. Louis,” as well as a template for further expansion.
