When brothers Matt and Mike Ratz opened UKRAFT Café & Catering in a 50-seat space across the street from Citygarden in 2021, they figured that it would be ample space to accommodate downtown diners in search of a healthy-leaning lunch. Fortunately, they were wrong: They quickly outgrew the space and decided to move to a larger footprint with floor-to-ceiling windows at Peabody Plaza (701 Market), rebranding the concept UKRAFT Brunch Cafe on Kiener Plaza.
The first day of service at the new space was Monday, July 22. The restaurant is now open seven days a week: The hours are from 7 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. In the evening, the main room, patio, and private room once it opens) can be rented for a private event. Here’s what to know before you go.
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The Atmosphere
Located on the ground floor of Peabody Plaza, the shotgun footprint includes a bar, a long row of high- and low-top tables, as well as window-side tables and booths. Kiener Plaza is visible from most of the tables through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
The restaurant’s relocation effectively tripled UKRAFT’s dining space (from 2,000 square feet to 6,200 square feet) and the number of seats (from 50 to 150). There’s also a 2,000-square-foot private room that will seat 80 to 100. Outside is an uncluttered 50-seat patio, arguably one of the best in town.
Several of the tables face east and line up perfectly with three local landmarks: Kiener Plaza, the Old Courthouse, and the Gateway Arch. In addition, Busch Stadium is two blocks to the south. When the Cardinals are playing, customers can hear the crowd and fireworks; when the baseball team’s on the road, customers can hear real birds. At any time of year, the patio should hum like a Ryan Helsley fastball.
The space in the Peabody building previously housed J. Hunter’s (owned by former KMOV news anchor Julius Hunter), Premio (owned by Dominic Galati of Dominic’s), Dierdorf & Hart’s (owned by former St. Louis Cardinals football players Dan Dierdorf and Jim Hart), Gio’s Ristorante & Bar (also owned by Galati), and finally Windows on Kiener Plaza, an auxiliary event space to Windows on Washington.
The Menu
The original concept included healthy-leaning wraps, soups, salads, sandwiches, and smoothies, as well as customizable breakfast sandwiches, bowls, and avocado toasts. At UKRAFT’s Chesterfield location, the hours were expanded to seven days per week. The menu also eventually expanded to include pancakes, waffles, French toast, eggs Benedict, omelettes, and scrambles.
The bestsellers at brunch are mostly Mexican-themed, Ratz says: “Think huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, breakfast tacos, the ultimate breakfast burrito, and a Tijuana omelette that I really like. One of our chefs is Latino. He’s the guy who makes that magic happen.”
The same menu is now available at the new location, where the liquor license is pending. “The scenery is spectacular and speaks to the city,” Ratz says of the space, which he sees as a pre-game lunch-and-brunch spot during Cardinals home games. “We already know that the menu is a winner.”
The Background
Originally conceived as a food truck and then at a kiosk inside a Clayton office building in 2019, Matt and Mike Ratz’s healthy food concept expanded to its first brick-and-mortar, near Citygarden, in 2020. Despite the pandemic, UKRAFT Cafe & Catering survived and thrived.
In spring 2022, the brothers opened a second brick-and-mortar at the former Russell’s Café & Bakery space at 14888 Clayton, a space twice the size of the downtown restaurant. Then, as first reported by the St. Louis Business Journal this April, the brothers decided to relocate the downtown location to the larger space at Peabody Plaza.
In addition to the restaurant’s health-focused fare, the menu increased substantially, which ended up being a blessing and a curse. “When we opened in Chesterfield,” Ratz says, “we effectively put our concept on steroids by adding a more robust breakfast and lunch menu, plus a lot of brunch items. We served everything all day long, and it became wildly successful. But when our patrons went downtown expecting all that—which we didn’t do and couldn’t do—that’s when we knew we had to move.”
