For the next two weeks, Broadway Oyster Bar (736 South Broadway; 314-621-8811) will be open, but it will have a limited menu due to kitchen renovations.
Gut Check caught up with owner John Johnson to get all the deets on the Oyster Bar's facelift.
"The renovation is because over the years our kitchen has been extremely small," Johnson says. "This place was originally built to just be a barbecue shack. The menu has grown and evolved over the years, but the kitchen is not big enough to handle the number of people coming in on the weekends or around baseball games."
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The renovations will cut down on waiting time for orders and will allow for new items to be added to the menu. Johnson says he's not completely sure yet what he'll be adding to the menu, but hopes to have at least one scallop dish and soft shell crabs prepared a few different ways.
Johnson has already hired one additional chef, and he's hoping to hire another chef in the next few weeks. In order to give the new chefs time to acclimate, the kitchen will continue to operate with a limited menu until the weekend of March 16, when guests will be able to order off the complete former menu again.
Broadway Oyster Bar's annual Mussels and Scallops Festival will take place the last weekend in March, and Johnson hopes to break out the new menu the next following week with a grand reopening celebration.
"Once the kitchen is completed, we want to expand the customer space into the vacant lot next door," Johnson says of the next step, which should be completed by Summer 2013. "That will allow us to seat mre people and have a third venue option for music and more private parties."
Once we get more details about the delicious grand reopening, we'll let you know. Until then, Johnson assures us, there are still plenty of oysters to be enjoyed at Broadway Oyster Bar.
