The following article appears in the June 2022 issue of St. Louis Magazine under the title, “Topping It Off.”
When restaurateurs Natasha Kwan and Rick Roloff heard that the “mostly vegan” Utah Station had closed, their idea was to reexamine, analyze, and reformulate what had been a vibrant, viable restaurant. The garage doors were already operable. A wraparound patio with two giant fire pits had already been fashioned from limestone slabs. The pea-gravel driveway became a 50-seat patio, courtesy of paver bricks reclaimed from a Central West End street. The name Station No. 3 became the obvious choice: The building was originally a 1930s-era, two-bay service station; it’s Kwan and Roloff’s third restaurant (after Frida’s and Diego’s), and it pays homage to Kwan’s grandparents, who owned a Shell station in Manila. Its midcentury timeline is depicted in a series of black-and-white photos.
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Outside, Roloff constructed picnic tables, since pre-builts were unavailable; inside, a half wall was added to separate the dining room from the bar, which is the home base for canned craft beer, fresh juice cocktails, Diego’s-recipe margaritas, and liter bottles of affordable Italian wine. Kwan created a menu that reads carnivore (burger, brisket sandwich, loaded brat, chicken Caesar salad…) but is, in fact, vegan, except for a turkey burger (pictured at right) and smoked turkey sandwich made with brie and blackberry jam. Begin with a soy-based popcorn chicken or hand-cut, skin-on fries cooked in organic, non-GMO, rice bran oil; finish with vegan soft-serve, striped with boozy toppings such as Baileys and Grand Marnier. Kwan plans to tweak the menu and concept to adjust to customers’ wishes—including the order model, which can be via QR code or a server. We welcome a flexitarian restaurant laced with flexibility.
