1977: A Dining Critic in the Square

Doug McDaniel was a longtime resident of Lafayette Square and an attorney who represented the neighborhood in some of its crucial moments during the 70s and 80s. In 1972, he and his wife bought 2007 Park Avenue, a former funeral home along with an adjacent vacant lot. 

Ever enthusiastic about bringing others into the turnaround of the Square, he was profiled by Post-Dispatch feature writer Elaine Viets in 1985. She was intrigued by a $1,500 grant that the LSRC secured from (at the time) Citicorp. The neighborhood organization used it in giving away 500 house tour tickets, to “help the geographically disadvantaged” folks of West County. Doug admitted it was a lure for those in the county to discover Lafayette Square. 

Many county people have not been east of Skinker in a long time. This mission will bring these poor souls into the city… Lafayette Square will work its old charm. We’ll convert any new people. We welcome everyone. We want them to be saved. 

McDaniel was humorously opinionated. He took this talent to the Lafayette Square Meter (now Marquis) in June of 1977, where he initiated a restaurant review page. 

Lafayette Square has seen a long procession of restaurants and bars over the decades. 1977 represents only a moment in a continuous process of openings and closings that follow from personal fortunes and dining trends. Here is a partial listing of his observations from that time.

Brendon’s On The Square; 1931 Park Avenue.

Although misnamed, being neither on the Square nor on the ball, Brendon’s has got to be the most convivial and relaxing atmosphere around. As a regular, I am used to playing menu roulette and dealing with the constantly new help. I’ll enjoy roasting and complimenting Brendon’s. 

Brendon’s was an “almost authentic” Irish pub, noted for its St. Patrick’s Day blowouts. They covered the floors with green sawdust for the occasion. Where else might you find ‘bagpipes night’ on the last Friday of each month? Catering to a classic Irish thirst, it offered fifty imported beers with four on draft, and a basement game room. Entertainment including poetry readings, Irish movies, and even a performance of Synge’s ‘Playboy Of The Western World by the Wild Geese Company.  

In late July, 1977, Square resident and SLU literature professor Al Montesi led a three night W.B. Yeats festival, which was hot, crowded, smoky, but never thirsty. Readings interspersed with bagpipes, fiddle and lyre, jigs and reels and an Irish balladeer. The results were encouraging enough that by the end, Montesi was already planning similar fetes for James Joyce and William Faulkner.

Doug wrote his initial review shortly after Brendon’s grand opening. Demonstrating the formative times in the neighborhood, many of the residents worked at their jobs and on their homes and with their kids, just to salvage a part of the Square for themselves, It didn’t leave much time for providing Brendon’s with a reliable crowd. The bar was listed for sale a year later. Today, it’s home to a more refined, if more sedate Polite Society.

The Other Mother; 2000 Sidney Street

Out in the hinterlands from the perspective of Lafayette Square folk. I finally made it over there one night when Brendon’s was busy turning away customers (due to lack of inventory) and found the place a little disappointing. 

Chuck Connors first ran a pizza place at 6703 Scanlan Avenue. What set him apart was his willingness, even an eagerness to hire troubled teens. He rarely had problems, due to a tough honest charm and genuine concern for them. He brought this tendency to Sidney Street when he opened The Other Mother. A bit of a pun, he kind of became an ‘other mother’ by lifting up some of these kids.

The Other Mother was another pizza-centric eatery. It was featured in a long Sunday piece in the Post-Dispatch a month after Doug’s visit. It ran until the 1980s, when it was permanently closed due to fire. The building eventually came back as the Sidney Street Cafe, under Tom McKinley for sixteen years, beginning in 2003. Kevin Nashan then bought it, and turned the place into its award winning self, a genuine fixture in the Benton Park neighborhood.  

Carl’s Grill; 1645 South Jefferson Avenue

Can’t really knock it until I’ve tried it, and besides, Carl is apparently successful enough to have two locations – store number four is listed at 711 9th Street. (wonder what happened to stores two and three?)

The above photo is undated, but represents the area between where the MDC gas station at Jefferson and Lafayette and Subway sandwich shop are in 2026. At the time, it was nestled between Hanser’s Rexall Drug and the Lafayette Theater. In this picture, likely from the 1970s, the theater had rebranded as the Faith Tabernacle Temple. Amazing how changed it all is today. 

Park Place; 1727 Park Avenue

You know it as Square One; since it first opened in 1883, it’s been a bar and a bastion in the neighborhood. It’s currently a microbrewery, distillery and dependable restaurant. Here’s how Doug saw it in 1977:

Leave it to the Cassillys to coin a catchy name and put together a fancy looking place. I’ll be looking forward to checking out the establishment in great depth, especially if I can get the music turned down. 

Joe Pollack reviewed Park Place the same year that Doug wrote those lines. Pollack was impressed by the New Orleans-like courtyard that still holds visitors in thrall today. They had what he called “one of the most pleasant luncheon experiences in recent memory.” It was a fancier place then, offering red snapper, trout Savoy, filet mignon and escargot in mushroom caps. The critic then went on to do what critics do, nit-picking many of the dishes, although he  gets credit for apparently trying almost everything. He managed to summarize both restaurant and neighborhood when he wrote, “Spottiness in food and service detract from the dining effect at Park Place, despite the high marks for decor and ambition. There’s obviously hope for the Lafayette Square area in many ways.”

This was Bob and CeCe Cassilly’s first and only foray into running a restaurant. The distinctive back bar was salvaged from the old Hotel Claridge. Park Place opened in 1976 and sold two years later, as Bob seldom let grass grow under his feet. He went on to rehabilitate a series of Lafayette Square residences, and develop the City Museum, in addition to placing his whimsical sculptures all over the city. 

I took a tour when the new Gateway Arch museum first opened. My tag read “Lafayette Square,” and the docent noticed. He said that when the museum recreated the front facade of the historic Old Rock House, it tried to incorporate all the original pieces. The main supporting beam, a long sturdy length of oak, was gone. The museum traced it to Square One, where Bob somehow incorporated it into the deck overlooking the courtyard. And so it remains. Or so I was told.  

The Edge; 2300 LaSalle Street

From Doug McDaniel: 

Give credit to the folks for having vision – there was a market there and they tapped it. My limited experience indicates a pretty decent lunch. As of my last visit, a definitely male atmosphere, pervaded by “heal thy” barkeeps and waitresses whose fame has spread far and wide. 

Something to unpack in all that. The Edge was first opened at LaSalle and Mississippi Avenue (overlooking a scenic Mack Truck facility) in 1974. It would have been fairly new when Doug wrote about it. The Edge was a hit, with operations under restaurant veteran Frank Bommarito and owner Lester Golubovich.  

I was only in there once, for a delightful rack of ribs in the restaurant’s casual side. The other half of the restaurant was fancier and pricier. When Golubovich died in 1983, the Bommarito family ran the restaurant for the next two decades. 

Lunch there was extremely popular, low-priced and steam table efficient. The more formal side featured architectural and lighting details from old mansions in Lafayette Square. As Doug noted, the waitresses and female bartenders were always an eyeful, ensuring a steady male lunchtime clientele. It met the wrecking ball in 2011. 

In the photo above, note the faded sign for Whistle, an orange soda made by Vess of St. Louis. There was a similar sign for years on another wall in the Square, at South 18th and Carroll Streets. 

Hamburger Heaven; 1805 Lafayette Avenue

It’s open seven days a week and it’s got a neo-Victorian sign which represents the extent of this author’s knowledge of the establishment. More to follow.

Here’s a photo of the place from 1973:  

And for comparison, from 2025:

There was another, unrelated Hamburger Heaven in University City. I can’t find any specifics beyond the mere mention Doug made for this eatery. The building still exists, as a private residence. It’s remarkable to compare images from the mid-70s with those of today. The presence of so many trees in Lafayette Square makes architectural photography more challenging, but improves almost every aesthetic quality.

The Commons; 2001 Park Avenue

Here, Doug McDaniel opines on a spot next door to his own house. The Commons location had, like Square One, been a bar or restaurant for almost its entire 150 year history. This is a shared fate among many busy city corners. Doug writes:

John ‘Torque’ O’Neal and associates hope to provide a welcome competition to the Jefferson Avenue Boarding House, where the charm has not kept pace with the prices. Best wishes, guys, and as long as your crowd doesn’t get too noisy, I’ve got to believe that you’re better than just another addition to my side yard. 

From 1977 through 1980, the Commons held the corner as an uncommon restaurant. It had only two entrees on the menu – a 16 oz sirloin steak, and another item that changed each month. Representative of these offerings were beef Wellington, roast duck and a three pound Maine lobster. Dinner was by reservation only with no children under twelve years of age admitted. This is a long stretch from the ice cream store and bookie bar roots of the place. Within a couple years, the Commons was forced by waning business to welcome the kids to join in. It eventually hosted everything from blues jams to short plays, following the lead of both Park Place and Brendon’s. Lafayette Square may have had a brief opportunity to become another Gaslight Square.

Finally, Doug’s investigations strayed south to Gravois Avenue, where he encountered two similar and popular destinations for fried chicken. Those would be Medich’s and Hodaks. Here’s the author’s take:

Hodak’s; 2100 Gravois Avenue.  

I like to characterize it as a blue-collar Medich’s, which unfortunately isn’t meaningful to those who haven’t made it to the place down the street. Noted for fried chicken and harried waitresses. I need to explain Hodak’s in greater detail.

Doug McDaniel went easy on himself, in terms of actual dining and dining critique, but might have warmed to the task if he had kept with it. Alas, it doesn’t appear that he did. May be just as well – that’s not much to hang your hat on, regarding Medich’s.  

Medich’s; 1838 Gravois Avenue

A great spot for lunch for those who are part of the ‘business trade,’ and maybe they’ll get it together for dinner too. All it would take is a little effort in marketing savvy by the folks running the show at lunch. Good barbecued ribs and great (!!) cole slaw. 

Medich’s sat three blocks east of Hodak’s, across from St. Michael’s Orthodox Church, It featured much the same fried chicken appeal as well. Gone today, it began at 18th and Geyer in 1952, and moved to Gravois in 1970. Medich’s finally threw in the dish towel in 1998. 

A recreation of the front exterior of Medich’s is in, of all places, Cincinnati’s National Sign Museum. Here’s what you’ll see there:  

So there’s your moment in time, dining around Lafayette Square in June of 1977. A number of other great spots deserve writing up; places that wouldn’t come into their own until later, but helped popularize the neighborhood and feed the locals. Worthy of mention are Cafe Zoe, Patty Long’s, Ronaynes, the Empire Cafe, the Jefferson Avenue Boarding House and, of course, Sqwires. It’ll have to wait – this was just July of 1977; strolling through a number of semi-known places by a local character who loved the cole slaw at Medich’s. 

Resources

Elaine Viets profile of Doug McDaniel and the grant to entice West County residents is from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of May 30, 1985.

Recount of Yeats festival at Brendon’s from Pamela Schaeffer of the Post-Dispatch; July 28, 1977

We recommend Pizza a Go Go, still at 6703 Scanlan Street. It has a roundabout story that begins in 1967, and now continues at this location. Good reading at https://pizzaagogostl.wixsite.com/pizzaagogostl/history

A special section by Joan Lipkin for the Post-Dispatch of July 24, 1977 depicted life at the Other Mother in Benton Park. Remember how the Sunday paper could land with a real thud on your sidewalk? The newspaper containing this story ran a hefty 318 pages! 

A good profile of the Sidney Street Cafe was written by Shannon Weber and appeared in Feast Magazine of May 8, 2024. https://www.feastmagazine.com/restaurants/classics/sidney-street-cafe-keviin-nashan-stl-dining-scene/article_168780b8-fccd-11ee-abed-bb8ea8f10da5.html

Post-Dispatch veteran restaurant critic Joe Pollack’s thorough review of the new Park Place was for the October 19, 1977 edition. 

A good overview of Bob Cassilly appears in the St. Louis Magazine of January 25, 2012. Jeanette Cooperman did a great job of capturing the memories of a number of Lafayette Square residents in her piece.

Square One is a go-to for Lafayette Square denizens. Their website is at https://squareonebrewery.com/, and that landing page will make you want to sidle up and sip some suds with a pal.

The best reference for The Edge is Dr. Harley Hammerman’s phenomenal website called Lost Tables. Here is his write-up on the place: https://losttables.com/edge/edge.htm

An earlier essay of mine dealt with the long history of 2001 Park Avenue. Read it here – https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1951-an-anchor-on-the-corner-in-lafayette-square/

For more on the National Sign Museum, please visit https://www.americansignmuseum.org/.