Carnivores, take note, The Block is taking up shop in the Central West End. Co-owners Marc Del Pietro and Brian Doherty, who opened the restaurant and butcher shop in Webster Groves in June 2011, are adding a second location at 33 N. Sarah St., as reported by Feast. The space was previously occupied by now-defunct Terrene.
“We like the West End a lot because of the diverse, urban feel,” said Del Pietro. “I think our shtick lends itself to the West End.” Del Pietro hopes to open in early 2013, noting that the date is really “a matter of when I can get the space flipped over and ready to go.” Among the décor changes that diners will notice are the addition of reclaimed barn wood and lighting that should make the space feel more open and airy. “We don’t want people to come in and go, ‘Oh, this is the old Terrene space.’ [Terrene was] kind of pricy, formal and an intimate setting. We want to do The Block: loud and noisy and to be congested … We want our feeling to it.” The tin ceiling and terrazzo floor will remain, however, as those reclaimed, recycled elements align with The Block’s concept, Del Pietro explained.
The menu at the Central West End location will be roughly 50- to 60-percent the same as the meat-centric one at the Webster Groves restaurant. Del Pietro added that with “meat-forward” The Scottish Arms just down the block, we might see more of an Italian influence than we do at the Webster Groves location. “We don’t want to go head to head, rather to complement them,” he explained. “We might introduce a bit of Italian into the feel of it with pork as our main staple.”
— Photo by Jonathan Gayman
Pictured: Milk chocolate ice cream flecked with chewy bits of local bacon, a dessert at The Block in Webster Groves
This article appears in November 2012.