City Cousin Lynn Smith, an only child, was born in Detroit on June 26, 1942. She was a gifted bicycle racer and speed skater in high school, which she said she did to be "different."
Smith learned the restaurant business from her
mother, Nan, who for 35 years was maître d' for Detroit's famed
London Chop House. Smith earned her way through Highland Park Junior
College by working for the telephone company, and delighted in
impressing her classmates by taking them to the Chop House for
lunch.
In 1963, Smith moved to New York City, where she worked as a hostess for Stouffer's at The Top of the Sixes. She seated people, checked to see that tables were properly set and that customers were promptly served.
Smith was ambitious and managed to impress her
bosses, quickly climbing the chain of command. As part of a
Stouffer's opening team, she moved 10 times in 10 years. She became
assistant director at Detroit's Top of the Flame and, in 1966, was
promoted to take over Stouffer’s Top of the Rockies in Denver.
Smith moved to St. Louis in 1969 and, as executive assistant to the manager, helped open Stouffer's Riverfront Inn, working with executive chef Bob Brickley. In 1972, Smith became the food and beverage manager of Stouffer's Atlanta Inn, the first woman to hold that position for Stouffer's. A year later, she left Stouffer's and opened a restaurant of her own in Atlanta – the Peasant Peasant – named after a St. Louis restaurant on Euclid. Because of personal differences with her partners, she sold her share not long after the restaurant opened, and returned to St. Louis, hoping to find a spot in the Central West End. "I always had liked St. Louis," Smith explained, "and when I sold out to my partners in Atlanta, I decided to come back. We were looking for a location in the Central West End, and then found this one."
The location she found
was a two-story building at 4111 Lindell Boulevard, just west of
Sarah. It was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Grant Glover in 1916, a
rooming house in 1926 and the Albert H. Hoppe Funeral Home in 1936.
The building was first used as a restaurant in 1958, as the 41
Supper Club, and then the Honey Bear Club in 1962. On New Year's Eve
of 1963, Sam LaRocca took over the space, moving his restaurant from
321 Olive Street. LaRocca's served Italian cuisine at 4111 Lindell
until early 1974. That's when Lynn Smith bought the building.
Smith reunited with Stouffer's Riverfront Inn executive chef Bob Brickley, and the two opened their new restaurant in February of 1974, christening it the City Cousin. "I was having trouble coming up with something," Smith explained, "and a friend suggested City Cousin. I wasn't that crazy about it, but, hey, what else was I gonna call it? Smith's?" The attitude at the City Cousin was one of relaxed informality. The front window was filled with greenery and the walls were covered with yards of loosely folded draped fabric.
The restaurant did
not take reservations when it opened; the first floor dining room
seated only 56 people and the second floor offered another 50 seats.
Smith described her restaurant as "Country French, like Balaban's, and I stole most of their business. It was innovative cooking at the time, with heavy sauces." The menu was displayed on a small chalkboard, the dishes described by a youthful waitstaff. Appetizers were limited to a soup, stuffed mushrooms and a fresh vegetable platter with a sauce for dipping. The menu listed eight entrees, including beef tournedos ($7.25), pepper steak (7.25), strip sirloin ($6.95), scallops Parisienne ($5.95), pork chops ($5.95), shrimp Trafalgar ($5.25), coq au vin ($4.75) and beef stroganoff ($5.40). There was also a daily special. Salad accompanied all entrees, which were also served with a fresh vegetable or a house specialty – Poncho Potatoes. Idaho potatoes were sliced lengthwise, very thinly, and then both deep fried and sautéed. They were crisp and flavorful, much like potato chips, but better. Lynn Smith's City Cousin earned a warm spot in the hearts of many St. Louis diners; it was a popular spot for the LGBT community. But tragedy struck on the evening of March 3, 1979, when Smith was out of town. There was a shooting and robbery at the restaurant.
"My best friend, who was the bartender and
waiter, was killed," Smith recalled. "I kept the place open for one
more year but lost 60 percent of my business."
The City Cousin was shuttered in early 1980.
But after two years as hostess at Culpeppers, Smith was ready to try
again. She resurrected her restaurant at 4646 Lindell, four blocks
west of its original location, calling it the Second Cousin.
The Second Cousin opened in the columned building at the corner of Lindell and Euclid on January 17, 1982. The new Cousin looked like the old, with draped, fabric-covered walls, a similar menu and the same relaxed informality of service. The new building had two levels; the small dining rooms had three or four tables in each. On weekends, the Second Cousin did a good business, serving almost 300 diners. But during the week, business was almost non-existent. "It was during the recession of the '80s, when money was tight," said Smith. She closed the doors in the spring of 1983.
In 1984, Smith again teamed up with Bob Brickley,
returning to the revolving restaurant they had opened in 1969 at the
top of Stouffer's Riverfront Inn. Now the Clarion Hotel, Smith was
its manager and Brickley its executive chef.
Smith's entrepreneurial spirit resurfaced in
the spring of 1986. She reopened her City Cousin restaurant at 101
North Euclid, in the basement of the Parkedge Apartments. Just north
of West Pine, the space had housed The Red Brick restaurant for ten
years.
The small dimly lit restaurant, which seated
only 40 people, again had a familiar decor, with tightly folded
material hanging from the walls. Still on a chalkboard, the menu
hadn't changed significantly from the first City Cousin in 1974,
aside from the addition of more fresh seafood and pasta specials.
Lynn Smith closed the doors of her City Cousins restaurant for the last time in August of 1991, after her five-year lease had expired. Smith had one last hurrah – she opened Blanche's at 33 North Sarah in the spring of 1992. It was a far cry from the City Cousin; the menu was more eclectic, featuring inexpensive pizzas in addition to pricier gourmet dishes. Banche's closed in April of 1999. * * * * * In 1995, Smith was asked if she'd still be in the restaurant business in five years. "I hope not," she responded. "I enjoy what I do, but you've got to be on every night and you've got to be up for it. Five years from now I'd like to be near an ocean or mountains, running a hot dog stand." Five years later, Lynn Smith was battling cancer. She lost that battle on January 4, 2003 at the age of 60 in Tarrytown, New York.
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