On the surface, Ozzy’s Market is the new eye-catching, quick-service market and daytime cafe in Downtown West — but underneath, it’s a love story.
Love of family, love of friends, of city and … bread.
“One of the reasons I love bread so much, is they turn into sandwiches,” Joe Stein said, with great seriousness and, perhaps, a hint of dry humor in his voice.
Stein runs the kitchen and is one of four Ozzy’s owners, who include Kenny Marks and Casey Colgan of celebrated South Grand bar Kenny’s Upstairs and Helen Petty of Grove salon Chop Shop.
They describe Ozzy’s, which opens Monday, as a “Bodega-themed restaurant.” The menu features breakfast and lunch fare that can be prepared and picked up quickly. Think: quiche, egg sandwiches, deli sandwiches, a burger and a veggie burger.
The market side will have grab-and-go fare, such as dips and salads, as well as convenience-store items for guests staying at the nearby hotels. It will also offer drip coffee, brewed from custom-blended Coffeestamp beans, and bottled drinks.
“[It’s] sort of in the same ethos of Upstairs … bringing together that high and low — good quality, but at an affordable price,” said Marks. A sandwich, side and drink will run you about $20.
Eventually, Ozzy’s will serve wine, beer and canned cocktails — a departure from the hand-crafted drinks that Kenny’s Upstairs is known for.
For the moment, though, Ozzy’s is opening without a liquor license. Lamenting that setback, Marks quipped, “We love St. Louis. I love St. Louis. I deeply love St. Louis.”
It’s a joke about the notoriously difficult process of obtaining a liquor license in the city — but it’s also a genuine sentiment at the heart of Ozzy’s.
Last year, when Colgan and Marks were looking at spaces to open their next business, they didn’t exactly know what they wanted to create. That changed last October when they saw the space on Washington Avenue that’s now Ozzy’s.
“I've had a weird crush on this building since I was a kid,” Marks recalled. “Just driving down, I always thought … some weird, random Dutch building in the middle of a French city was very funny to me, and I just loved it.”
They wanted to serve the resurging Downtown West neighborhood, which already has a smattering of bars within walking distance, and landed on the hybrid bodega-cafe concept.
The shop is on the corner of the building and its large windows flood the space with light, which highlights what might be Ozzy’s most distinctive feature — its vibrant, near monochromatic green color scheme.
Colgan and Marks designed the space with help from graphic designer Reid Maynard, drawing inspiration from ’50s supermarkets and an old image of a European store that Colgan found.
“There's something just so, like, jarring about seeing something that's so striking,” Colgan said. “Essentially one or two colors, just in different shades … I’m just a dumb guy, and I see something that's really interesting like this, I'm attracted to it like a moth to a flame. And I hope other people are like that, and they just see how ridiculous this place looks and want to come in and check it out.”
Equally notable is an illustration on the walls and windows of a little girl dressed in a chef’s hat holding a giant sandwich. That’s Colgan’s 4-year-old daughter — Ozzy herself.
“We were playing at this little grocery store for my daughter downstairs, and she had written on a bag ‘Ozzy's Market,’ and I was like, ‘Man, that just has a really good ring to it,’ Colgan said. “So for me personally, I love my kid, and I wanted to open up something for her.”
Putting her name on the business felt like a way to bring his family into his work. Ozzy, as you might imagine, is a big fan.
“She talks about it a lot,” he said. “She’s very excited.”
Perhaps equally stoked, and a bit stressed, are Marks, Colgan and Stein.
“I’m really proud of what we physically built here,” Marks said. “I think the space is really cool and gorgeous and doesn't look like anything we've done before, or that has been done, especially in the city or anywhere I've been. So I'm mostly just excited for people to see it.”
Ozzy’s Market will be open Monday thru Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will serve food until 2 p.m. It’s located at 1933 Washington Ave.
