Chance and chicken made Bougie Bites STL’s brick-and-mortar location.
Latoya Thompson, owner of the popular plant-based food truck, had made several attempts to expand. She wanted to build a restaurant inside a shipping container, but the price tag — over $300,000 — made her pivot. Then she worked out of a ghost kitchen, but the lease didn’t work for her.
Then Thompson walked out of a Popeyes in Overland, saw a for-lease sign just down the road on Page Avenue, and “the rest is history,” she said.
“My hope is to have Bougie Bites be that destination place when people come in town,” she said, noting that you don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to enjoy the food. “I want people to talk about, like, ‘All right, Bougie Bites, it's this place in St. Louis. They have, like, these vegan burgers. They have these strange, crazy names. When you walk in, they say, 'Welcome to Bougie Bites. Stay bougie or bougie AF.’ I want that whole experience that people remember.”
Bougie Bites, which serves fast-casual vegan fare such as burgers, tacos and nachos, is one of several new restaurants in the region that opened in June. Another food truck Fufu n’ Sauce opened its doors in Vinita Park. Owned by Adjo Honsou, the restaurant serves traditional West African dishes.
In Creve Coeur, Lefty’s Bagels opened within the Jewish Community Center. It’s a second location for Lefty's, not a move. The opening is part of a wave of East Coast-style bagel shops sweeping St. Louis, which includes Bagel Union in Webster Groves and Baked & Boiled in Soulard.
Grace Meat + Three opened Grace Chicken + Fish last month in Crestwood, and the Sweet Creamery opened in Midtown. Of note is the sweet shop’s Dubai chocolate creations. The internet-famous treat is a chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and kadayif, a shredded and crunch phyllo pastry.
In other internet sensations, Alexandra Kay opened the Coffee Girl Cafe in Waterloo. A self-described “force in country music,” she touts having more than 8 million followers across her social media platforms.
Downtown got a new bar, the Moniker, which serves upscale drinks and small plates. It also lost Jovick Bros Cafe after less than a year in existence. Owner Casey Jovick closed his deli in Westport Plaza last November but still has Jovick Brothers burgers in Princeton Heights.
Openings
- Atomic Wings, Fairview Heights
- Five Iron Golf, Clayton
- Bougie Bites STL, Overland
- Duke's Slice House, Wentzville
- Garden Variety Deli, Tower Grove South
- Grace Chicken + Fish, Crestwood
- Lefty's Bagels & Café, Creve Coeur
- Fufu n' Sauce, Vinita Park
- Just Pastas, Florissant
- Rosemary Coffee Co., Twin Oaks
- Sando Shack, Maplewood
- Session Taco, Central West End
- Tasty Bowl, Fairview Heights
- The Coffee Girl Cafe, Waterloo
- The Moniker, downtown
- The Sweet Creamery, Midtown
- Yapi Scoops, Central West End
Closings
- Happy Joe’s Pizza, St. Peters
- The Passport Craft Cocktail & Wine Bar, downtown (relocating to somewhere along Delmar Boulevard)
- Jovick Bros Cafe, downtown
- Wellspent Brewing, Midtown
See one we missed? Let me know at jrogen@stlpr.org
