At the newly opened Garden Variety Deli in Tower Grove South, Jack McGinn is serving up more than sandwiches and salads – he’s offering St. Louisans an opportunity to taste his journey through farms and kitchens and a devotion to seasonality all under one roof.
For McGinn, the road to Garden Variety Deli curved and meandered before landing at 3131 Morgan Ford Road. “I kind of started cooking in my late teens or early 20s,” he recalled. “I needed a job, and that was what was around, and I really kind of took to it.” His early kitchen work took him across the country, from a farm-to-table restaurant in New York to a lodge in California. Soon, his passion extended beyond cooking, drawing him to the ground where every flavor first takes shape. While in California, his then-girlfriend ran a small vegetable farm, and McGinn spent his days working in kitchens and evenings in the fields. That overlap in experience as chef and grower ultimately sowed the seeds for what would one day become Garden Variety Deli.
When the pandemic hit, McGinn scaled up his farming efforts, first on borrowed land and later on his own Illinois property, where he now grows much of what ends up on Garden Variety’s menu. “Right now I’d say 90% of the produce on the menu is coming straight from the garden,” he shared. Tomatoes, peppers, fennel, kohlrabi – even ginger – all grow under his watch.
The idea for the deli took shape when his business partner, Travis Howard, purchased the building. “He asked if I wanted to do anything there, and it just kind of felt perfect,” McGinn said. “It wasn’t like I was trying to get a sandwich shop open somewhere, and this place finally opened up. It was like the place kind of steered what we wanted to do.”
What emerged was a deli that honors traditional sandwiches while reimagining them through a farm-driven lens. The turkey sandwich is the crowd favorite – “exactly what I expected,” McGinn said – but it’s the veggie sandwich, piled high with just-picked produce, that best tells the story of the farm. “We’ve had carnivores say it’s one of their favorite sandwiches they’ve ever had,” he added.
Garden Variety Deli’s design bridges eras, combining weathered brick and tin ceilings with classic checkerboard floors that bring a familiar diner warmth. “We wanted to keep those rustic touches but also have a clean, modern feel,” McGinn says.
For the time being, Garden Variety Deli is a midday stop, open Wednesday through Sunday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. But McGinn sees the shop’s future as more than hours and menu boards. “I definitely feel like developing a relationship with the neighborhood is very important,” he shared. “More than anything, I want us to be part of the community.”
This article appears in July 2025.