Señor Pique to Close After 12 Years in Ballwin

It's been the RFT's choice for Best Mexican Restaurant. It was declared "in a league of its own" by former critic Ian Froeb.

And now, after a twelve-year run, Señor Pique has announced it will close its doors for good on January 15, 2017.

The Ballwin restaurant was known for its authentic Mexican cuisine at a time when many St. Louis eateries were still trying to pass off Tex-Mex as the real deal. It served molcajete, a dish made with a large stone mortar just like they do it south of the border, as well as mole. Naturally, it found a following within the Latino community, as well as among west county Anglos craving good food.

It survived the move to a new location, as well as the opening (and then closing) of a sister restaurant, Señoritas Pique, which lasted just one year in Sunset Hills before closing in 2011.

The news came via a Facebook post by co-founder Angel Jiminez Gutierrez, who wrote,

We have a bunch of mixed feelings but mostly excitement, my family and I made this decision together and we are taking this as a new opportunity. I believe my wife will be starting a new adventure in the makeup and hair industry; my Mom will be taking a much needed break before she decides what’s next; my brother will focus on the car care industry and together we plan to grow The Detailing Pros even more.

Finally, I will continue on my journey of self discovery, after 5 years of inquiring, meditating, reading, traveling and studying I am reaching a mindful understanding of my role at home, business and society. I can see how apart from the everyday restaurant operations I immerse myself in this commitment of providing tools, practices and knowledge to our staff to develop their inner leader, and that seems to be my passion now a days. I have found the gold from the constant feedback that life provides me and how meeting my emotions with understanding has helped me learn profoundly from past experiences and most importantly to be present and aware in every moment.

I look forward to sharing my experiences through Awareness Coaching (www.awarenessinyou.com) with current leaders, teams and individuals with the intention of developing a mindful and loving culture. I know it sounds as exquisite as our Tacos de Bistek, and as fulfilling too.

That being said, we have one more job to do, to cook for you for another month and a half! Here we are ready to go and committed to our product and service. Allow me one more time to stress my gratitude to all of you and to everything that allowed Señor Pique to exist. So many people and so many events needed to happen every day for the last 12 years for Señor Pique to be open and because of them (you included) I feel deeply thankful. THANK YOU!

If you're sad about this news, there is a silver lining here: this is much more warning than we usually get. And so now you have another six weeks to get to Ballwin and tuck in to the real thing.

You know what to do, St. Louis.

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