Chatawa bar will open in Tower Grove South this summer with Grand Pied running the kitchen

A new restaurant and bar is slated to open in early July at 3137 Morgan Ford Road in the Tower Grove South neighborhood of South City. The bar portion of the new business will be called Chatawa, and Grand Pied will run the kitchen.

Business partners Tony Collida and Thomas Crone came together to create this Midwest- and Southern-inspired spot in the former home of Local Harvest Cafe. Collida has over 20 years of restaurant experience, including at Civil Life Brewing Co., where he was kitchen manager. “I wasn’t planning on getting back into the restaurant industry after the pandemic, but it all just kind of came together,” he said. 

Crone wanted to do a bar project and was looking for someone to run the food program independently of his bar – that’s where Collida came in. The setup will be similar to that of Mac’s Local Eats selling out of Bluewood Brewing. “Thomas ate plenty of my sandwiches at Civil Life. ... The place on Morgan Ford just kind of fell into our laps … it was all pretty serendipitous,” Collida said. 

Grand Pied translates to “Bigfoot” in French. Collida said the name Chatawa comes from “a small town in south Mississippi where they talk about the legend of Bigfoot,” giving the restaurant a “welcoming and playful” feel, Collida said.  

Grand Pied will offer a menu with Midwest and Southern influences with items like charcuterie boards featuring meats from Volpi and Salume Beddu, as well as house-made pâtés, pickles and preserves. Other options include small plates like fried softshell crab with coleslaw, beignets with Prairie Breeze cheese dip and Salume Beddu’s ‘nduja and warm olive salad.  

Plans for a robust Sunday brunch with are also underway. Classic items like pancakes or biscuits and gravy will be available as well as creative twists on favorites like the St. Paul Prudhomme sandwich with Andouille, greens, sweet pickles and mayonnaise, along with a bread and butter basket with both house-made and Union Loafers bread. The star of the show will be the St. Louis-style beignets that will be “glazed with simple syrups and topped with canela Mexican sugar” rather than topped powdered sugar as typical beignets are, Collida explained.

The beverage menu is still in development; however, Crone’s ideas include serving spirits, beers and natural wines from St. Louis and the Mississippi River Valley, along with products from areas from Memphis to New Orleans. 

Construction for the space is still ongoing, but covered outdoor seating for 30 to 40 will be prioritized upon opening. “We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, but we will rely on our outdoor seating,” Collida said, adding there will be some indoor seating, also for 30 to 40 people, but the specifics are still up in the air. 

Tentative hours are 3 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and Sunday brunch hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For updates, follow Chatawa on Facebook.