Editor’s Note: Riverbend has closed.
Riverbend Restaurant & Bar is taking it New Orleans fare to Richmond Heights. Owner Sam Kogos has signed the lease for 1059 Big Bend Blvd., the former location of Harvest Restaurant. He hopes to make the move in early October.
Kogos has kept his eyes open for another location for about a year, citing logistical issues with a tiny kitchen in his 95-year-old building at 701 Utah St., in Soulard. “My building has a lot of issues,” Kogos explained. “My kitchen is so small that I’m really having trouble getting out the food that we have right now.”
The new location has a full industrial kitchen including a range, hood, fryer and walk-in cooler that will allow Riverbend’s executive chef Steve Daney and Kogos to expand the menu. “I’m going to be able to do so much more stuff I can’t do now,” said Kogos, who hopes to add a fresh fish option, charbroiled oysters, fried fish and more to his menu.
Kogos said the Richmond Heights location, which will add about 20 extra seats to his current capacity, will also have more exposure than the Soulard location, currently dwarfed behind the massive expanse of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. With increased traffic, Kogos said he will be able to accept reservations and open on Sundays with the possibility of a jazz brunch. He also wants to accept Bear Bucks from Washington University students and add a late-night menu to lure the hungry college crowd.
Riverbend, which opened in 2010, is the second restaurant for Kogos; he ran another spot in New Orleans for years before Hurricane Katrina. He hopes his Soulard-based patrons will head to Big Bend for a bite to eat, but he added that 60 to 70 percent of his business currently comes from St. Louis County. “There’s a lot of people in the Soulard area already serving my type of food,” he said. “Where I’m going, nobody is serving my type of food.”
-photo by Wesley Law
This article appears in August 2014.