Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Big Muddy
Sugarfire's signature Big Muddy, with brisket, smoked sausage, lettuce, pickles, horseradish and BBQ sauce
Sugarfire Smoke House is, by most estimations, the hottest, most successful locally owned restaurant concept to arise in recent memory, with six units and a spinoff opening in just over four years.
So when there’s rumor that one might be coming to another neighborhood—anybody's neighborhood—food scribes and social media pounce on it like bloodhounds on a Big Muddy.
And so it was last Sunday, when @GusGusFunBus tweeted news of a planned seventh location in Wentzville—planned being the operative word.
Sugarfire co-owner Charlie Downs describes the project as being in the “preliminary, preliminary” stages. Sugarfire's Winghaven and Valley Park co-franchisee, Jim Cook, who is spearheading the venture along with partner Matt Martin, confirmed Downs’ statement.
Cook tells SLM that the proposed restaurant will be built on a 14-acre parcel on the north side of Interstate 70, just west of Church Street in Wentzville, in the area known as the “Whisk Property,” named for the company that once manufactured soap products on the site.
“I had been looking at that land for months, but so had a commercial developer,” Cook says. “We began comparing notes and decided to pursue the property as a partnership."
The free standing Sugarfire restaurant is part of a larger, mixed use development that includes other retail, luxury residential units, and a hotel being developed by others.
“The ground is under contact, but it’s far from a done deal,” Cook says, noting the acquisition, rezoning process, and requisite list of approvals. The next step is the planning and zoning hearings this spring. If approved, the restaurant could be open by year’s end.
The proposal includes two volleyball courts, a vision of Martin's. The element of participatory entertainment is a value-added bonus for this location.
