The second location of The Tavern Kitchen & Bar opens tonight—softly—in the former Cucina Pazzo space in the CWE.
Cucina Pazzo was the casual-Italian restaurant from OG Hospitality Group, the company who introduced two locations of The Corner Pub & Grill, two locations of the Shack, and the flagship Tavern in Valley Park. After nearly a two year run, Cucina Pazzo (at 392 N. Euclid, the former Duff’s space) closed up shop just over a month ago.
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In this SLM article, OG’s managing partner Brant Baldanza cited multiple reasons for the closure. In short, a second, centrally-located location of a familiar and successful restaurant (The Tavern was SLM’s Restaurant of the Year in 2011) made more sense than one less familiar.
The OG group needed only a month to transform the 115-seat space (plus 40 on the patio), as it looked fairly Tavern-esque already. The Tavern logo was painted onto several brick walls, barnwood planks were added to all three dining areas, with lime green accents throughout (a wainscoting here, an old grain bucket there, picture frames everywhere). “I just can’t seem to get away from that color,” Baldanza jokes. “It’s now in three of our restaurants.”
Unchanged are the whitewashed tables, cushioned chairs, oversized black and white photos, and bar mirror that bears several interesting autographs, including Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and John O’Hurley (aka the illustrious J. Peterman from Seinfeld).
The menu is the same as the mothership, but with some notable changes. The so called “quads” (a sampling of four items) has been replaced with “trios” (in four different options); the three handmade pastas are all new additions, as are Jessiegirl’s Wings, chef Jessie Gilroy’s soy and honey glazed iteration, served with cilantro Ranch.
Baldanza, along with Gilroy and co-chef Matt Shafer, felt strongly about holding over a few of Pazzo’s signature items, namely the Meatballs al Forno, the Lobster Risotto Carbonara, and the Chopstick Pig Pasta. “They were all such huge sellers, we saw no reason they shouldn’t be signature items here as well,” Baldanza reasoned.
Megan Meyer, CSW, runs the bar program at Tavern V-2, as she does at several other OG restaurants. The beer list is virtually the same as Pazzo’s, but several “unusual, perhaps unfamiliar varietal” wines have been added for the CWE crowd who are usually more willing to experiment.
After the soft opening, brunch service will commence on Sunday (a repeat of Pazzo’s successful brunch menu) with dinner service beginning officially on Monday, August 3.
(Side note: The reservation-only soft opening is being held tonight through Saturday night, and for many this is a perfect time to visit: the food bill is cut in half in exchange for actionable feedback, an opportunity to weigh in on menu items, policies, and employees that may not be ready for the big game. It is not a call to action for day-one critics and itchy-fingered Yelpers. These folks are gracious enough to lose money for three nights in order to iron out the kinks—they deserve that chance.)
The Tavern Kitchen & Bar
Mon – Sat: 5:00 p.m. – close
Sun brunch: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
314-696-8400
Facebook: The Tavern Kitchen & Bar
Twitter: @TavernSTL_CWE
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