Fantastic news and everyone involved seems cool and the food sounds great. Can't wait to eat here. That whole block of California along the park could be so beautiful too! This could help make that happen.

Great to hear. I cant wait to go. The challenge will be to get people in the area that have a unfavorable perception of the neighborhood.

downtown2007 wrote:Great to hear. I cant wait to go. The challenge will be to get people in the area that have a unfavorable perception of the neighborhood.

Perhaps the new owners should huddle with Ben Poremba for some advice on that front.

Drove by last night and noticed it was open. It's cool looking, and there was already a decent sized crowd inside. Plan on walking down and getting a drink and bite to eat soon.

Some reason the purple martin sounds like a bird none the less im happy to see all this investment in the city

I was there for a few hours Saturday night. It is your typical rehabbed bar place found in the area (the newish bar on mississippi and choutou comes to mind). Some other symphony players live in the area and got us to go after the concert. They weren't serving food at the time (this was 11ish) but allowed us to order some pizza. They hope to do flat bread pizza or bar food for later in the night a few weeks down the road. The drinks are fine, the beer price typical for a "trendy" place like this. It isn't anything that special to get me to make the extra 15 min drive from the hall, when there are other places closer and cooler, but for the neighborhood it is a def. plus. If I lived around there, I would prob go there pretty often (some of my friends are planning on it.) Glad another building was reused (unlike the 14 story building that will be coming down in the next few months...). Bird stencils abound inside... kept thinking of the Portlandia... "Put a Bird on it!"

Purple Martins are birds found in MO.

"Put a bird on it" - hilarious Portlandia sketch.

Well, slightly off topic, but here's an article in the Missouri Conservationist Magazine about a local guy who builds and maintains Purple Martin birdhouses in Forest Park. He says we have one of the largest populations in any urban park in North America:

http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2014/04/home-sweet-home

They've recently changed menus again and now it's caribbean. Surprising after 3 1/2 concept changes in less than 2 years that they're still around.

^ i thought it was a pretty popular place... are they hurting for business?

Recently ate at the Purple Martin. We went here because Lana's had line wrapped around the corner.

Really enjoyed the dish I got, however the portions seemed small for the price. There were about 3 people at the bar and 3 tables, including my party, seated. Seemed somewhat dead for a Thursday night, however the server and bartender were awesome.

Anecdotally, my brother and I ate there a couple of months ago and it was a very similar experience. One table in the front room, two people sitting at the bar, and one other table in the side room with us. So 3 tables and two bar patrons at around 6:30-7:00pm. Not great obviously...

The food and drinks were quite good. I found the prices to be reasonable for the quality and quantity of food, and the dishes and cocktails were creative and interesting but I suppose that's all subjective really. I do hope it makes it.

How many tables are in the place? 3 tables seated / (total number of tables in building). What is the denominator?

Man, that's tough to guess, someone else may have a better estimate, but I would place it between 15-20 tables between both rooms.