Some restaurants are all show. Fistfuls of dollars are thrust into developing a gorgeous façade, with quality and creativity in the kitchen an afterthought. Other restaurants are only about good eats. Atmosphere be damned, fresh, flavorful food is the only thing that matters. David Bailey’s gift is that he knows how to create restaurants that offer diners both style and substance, and this has made him a significant player in St. Louis’ culinary scene. Chocolate Bar launched five years ago, with Rooster following closely after. Now Bailey has debuted Bridge Tap House and Wine Bar, which, if his other ventures are any indication, should have people lining up to experience his artful balance of good design and great food.
This is your third venture, and each one has a totally different concept – how did this one develop?
The main drive here is that it’s a wine bar and taphouse. We’re going to focus on craft beers, lots of them. We have 36 taps, and we’ll have well over 100 different bottles. And then as far as the wine, we’ll have 18 by the glass and everything else by the bottle.
How did you decide on what to carry?
My decisions on which ones to have are based on building a really well-rounded list. We’ll have German eisbocks and really big, dark, rich, heavy beers. We’ll have two fruit lambics on tap. One of our focuses will be on Missouri beers as well.
What about wine?
We’ll have Missouri wines, [but] we’re going to be global with the wine. I want it to be comprehensive and set up in a way that it’s not overwhelming, but anybody who comes in here will be able to find what they want. You’ll search by country and then varietal after that.
What do you think has given rise to this intense passion for craft beers?
I think people forgot about the artisanal aspects [of] beer. For a long time it was, beer is a pilsner and it’s light and that’s it. It’s the majority of what people had. The same way people are moving back to smaller, local products, smaller venues and all of that, the same thing is happening with beer. You can have such a variety of products when you deal with people on a smaller scale … your reach extends further across the globe.
There are a lot of wine- and beer-focused restaurants out there. What makes Bridge unique?
The majority of [Bridge’s taps] will be craft beers. They’ll all be quite unique and … we’re not going to have the same 36 beers on tap all the time; it will rotate quite a bit. [And] we won’t have pitchers of beer; we’ll have growlers. … So any of the 36 on tap, you can get in a 4-ounce, 12-ounce, 20-ounce or in a 64-ounce growler. You can build your own beer flight if you want.
What about on the food front?
The menu is built for the wine and beer. We’re going to do lunch and dinner. We’ll have snacks like popcorn, different bar nuts, we’re pickling all kinds of stuff to use with the cheese plates. We’ll have an extensive cheese and … it’s kind of a charcuterie list, we’re really just calling it meat and cheese because not everything will be cured. We bought a smoker. We’re going to be doing a lot of that ourselves and then buying cured meats from local producers.
What about the entrée list? What can people expect?
We’ve got entrée salads; the sandwiches, which will be nice-size portions as well; and then we have these things we’re calling “pots.” They’re little individual pots. They’re going to be, at least starting off in the winter, more hearty, like comfort pasta dishes, essentially a miniature baked casserole. We’ve got coffee-braised beef, a mac and cheese with chiles and tomatoes. Robin Murphy is my executive chef for all three places.
How did you and Robin collaborate on the menu?
We wanted to be more sophisticated bar dining. Nothing too pretentious, of course, but there’s no grill, there’s no fryer, so we’re not doing any typical bar food. We wanted it to be approachable but superunique.
Are you going to suggest wine and beer pairings?
Yeah, but that will all be done more by hand, actually at the table in contact with the server rather than building that into the menu format. I feel like that pigeonholes somebody. There’s always three or four things you can pair with something else. So, if we had a suggestion for the coffee-braised beef as a coffee porter, that would be great, but it might not be what you’re into at all. It’s going to be part of the server’s responsibility to be versed enough with the menu to be able to guide someone not just with regard to what’s on the menu, but what that [person’s] palate would like.
Bridge Tap House And Wine Bar
1004 Locust St., St. Louis,
314.241.8141
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2010.