Station No. 3 (10463 Manchester) in Kirkwood is closing after nearly two years in business. Station No. 3 was one of several concepts owned by husband-and-wife team Natasha Kwan and Rick Roloff, who also operate three venues in University City: Diego’s Cantina, Frida’s, and Bonito Bar, inside Frida’s. Its menu centered on plant-forward comfort food, with some “flexitarian” options including a turkey bacon burger, barramundi sandwich, and salmon fillet burger. The restaurant’s final day of service is May 9.
The Closure
The Kirkwood location’s closure comes after the flagship location in Benton Park shut down in late January, ending a nearly four-year run.
“We had high hopes for Kirkwood,” Kwan says of the restaurant, which serves lunch and dinner, as well as breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. “But after months of trying to renegotiate more favorable lease terms, a number more in keeping with our sales volume, we weren’t able to reach an agreement. The current rent was just not viable for us.”
Future Plans
Kwan says she does not plan to reopen Station No. 3 in another location. “In the current climate, the payoff does not justify the work and the risk,” she says. Instead, she and Roloff will concentrate on Frida’s and Diego’s Cantina. Diego’s will expand to seven days a week, serving both lunch and dinner, allowing all current staff to remain employed.
“Besides, I’m getting old,” Kwan adds with a laugh. “I’ll be 53, and Rick is turning 71. We hope to retire in a few years, so we can travel while we still can.”
A few of the Station’s top food items will appear elsewhere. Frida’s will add the Station Burger and perhaps the burnt ends and the vegan bacon wrap, while Diego’s already features several vegan options, including the same house-made plant-protein crumbles used at the Station.
The 2,500-square-foot space seats 40 inside, with additional patio seating and a drive-thru for online order pickup. Brightly colored walls and a yellow-backed banquette give way to clear-coated oxidized steel tables and sturdy black wooden chairs.
Kwan adds that the restaurant is currently for sale. “We’re basically giving it away,” Kwan says. “It’s like, ‘Here’s everything. Just take over the lease.’” Interested parties can contact Kramer Commercial Realty.
The Backstory
In 2012, Kwan and Roloff opened Frida’s, which offered vegan, vegetarian, and raw cuisine. They opened Diego’s Cantina, a “husband” restaurant to Frida’s, next door in 2020.
The original Station No. 3 debuted in spring 2022 in the former Utah Station space, a former service station. It marked the couple’s third restaurant concept, hence the name, and was envisioned as a “flexitarian gastropub, where vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores can all eat together,” which was important to Kwan and Roloff.
Bonito Bar (“the bar that Frida’s needed but never had,” as Kwan describes it) followed in spring 2023. (Frida’s was named after Kwan’s cat, who was named after Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Diego’s was named after Kahlo’s artist husband, Diego Rivera, and Bonito Bar was named after their pet parrot, Bonito.)
The sophomore location of Station No. 3 opened in Kirkwood in fall 2024 in the former Chicken Out space on Manchester, just west of Woodlawn.
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