While it might seem like a tough time to open a restaurant, that’s not stopping Walnut Grill. The restaurant group recently opened a new location, at 17392 Chesterfield Airport Road in Chesterfield, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Situated in a renovated 6,000-square-foot space with a spacious patio that formerly housed Syberg’s, the location will be open daily from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Available for carryout or delivery, the menu includes such favorites as the signature crab cakes and house burger, as well as appetizers, sandwiches, bowls, street tacos, and grilled flatbreads.
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In a nod to the times, the restaurant will mark the opening of its Chesterfield location by donating 100 box lunches to frontline workers at hospitals near its St. Louis locations, including St. Luke’s Hospital, Progress West Hospital, St. Luke’s Des Peres Hospital, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“It’s part of what we do,” said co-owner Eric Vogel. “One of the founding principles of our company was to enrich the communities which we serve. This felt like the right thing to do. For every good thing that happens to us, we want to share that.”
Walnut Grill has three other St. Louis area locations, in Ellisville, Sunset Hills, and O’Fallon, Missouri. The restaurant group was established in 1999 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where there are currently five locations. St. Louisan Eric Vogel, brother of founder Kirk Vogel, first brought the concept here with the opening of the Ellisville location in 2014.
Asked about the timing of the Chesterfield opening, Eric Vogel said, “We had the location under construction and it was practically done prior to the stay-at-home order issued in March, so we continued forward with whatever construction was left. My partners and I talked back and forth about whether to open or not.
“We’re hospitality people,” he continued. “My brother and myself have been doing this for 30 years. We always want to be part of serving the community in any situation, so we decided to open this restaurant in a curbside scenario. It also let us keep [employed] another general manager, executive chef, and other employees who were currently furloughed.”
