Redel's Lee Redel grew up in Vinita Park and graduated from Normandy High School. He worked his way through an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in communications at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville by waiting tables. Then he taught for a time before realizing that food was his true love.
When Lee Redel left Balaban's, he traveled extensively, wanting to see what types of restaurants existed in the moderately priced category. He saw a restaurant in San Francisco with crayons on the table and drawings on the wall, and watched business people coloring during their lunches. He liked the idea of tables covered in paper; it seemed clean, tidy and European.
* * * * * John Patrick Rice wanted to be an architect.
While at Balaban's, Rice was approached by Kim Tucci of the Pasta House Company.
While Rice was considering the offer, he was
approached by Redel about opening a new restaurant. The two leased
Tucci's building at DeBaliviere and Pershing, and in November of
1985 – with fat crayons and paper covered tables – they opened Redel's restaurant in the former
Pasta House space.
Redel's was busy from the moment it opened its doors; most nights customers had to wait to be seated. It was a fun place, with personality and character. Rice used his training as an architect to design a look that utilized elements of post-modern and art deco for the new restaurant, including lots of chrome and glass. Rice and Redel contacted local galleries and asked them to hang art on the restaurant's walls on a rotating basis. Eventually, the work of eight artists was displayed at any given time. Rice also began collecting antique radios, which filled Redel's every nook. Rest rooms were called "JOHN'S" in foot-high neon letters.
After a fire in 1993, the restaurant was
redecorated. Interior walls were rough-plastered in blues and
greens. Adobe pink niches held decorative glass pieces, lit by
skylights during the day and track lighting at night.
And, of course, there were white paper table
coverings with boxes of crayons at each table for doodling or for
creating masterpieces to hang on "The Great Wall of Redel’s."
The wall at the north end of the L-shaped restaurant was literally layered
with crayon art which had been created by neighborhood professional
artists and other well-fed customers.
Redel and Rice decided to offer both little meals and fine meals. The food was simply prepared, with an unusual seasoning or two that kept customers coming back. The menu was 1980s eclectic, with something for everyone. Appetizers included pâté, ceviche, fresh vegetables, crab Rangoon, carpaccio, mussels, oysters and a soup of the day.
Salads were à la carte, with a choice of
chopped vegetable, Greek, spinach, Caesar or pasta. The chopped
vegetable salad was a signature dish; it was a bit like coleslaw,
with the addition of cheese for flavor and texture.
Entrées ranged from pizza to lobster, with stops at fried chicken and prime rib in between. There were fresh seafood items every day, along with barbecued ribs, shrimp or chicken teriyaki, pasta and sirloin steak, either plain or au poivre. There was even Lee Redel's peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread, with a bit of honey.
Pizza was made with a very thin crust, with a
choice of over two dozen toppings, including pineapple, spinach and
artichoke; all of the ingredients were fresh. The fried chicken was
tender and juicy, with a crisp, medium crust; the addition of crisp French
fried potatoes made for an all-American meal.
Lee Redel priced menu items in increments of 25 cents, 50 cents or dollars.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Joe Pollack reviewed Redel's five times over seven and a half years.
On January 5, 1993, Redel's was damaged by an early morning fire. Redel and Rice lost 75% of their employees while they rebuilt. They pushed themselves to open within three months, but weren't capable of handling all the customers that arrived when they reopened. The crush continued for weeks. There were 35 new employees and it was difficult to handle the onslaught. Lee Redel knew customers weren't being served as they had in the past.
In April of 1994, Rice and Redel opened Colorado, a spinoff restaurant at 3761 Laclede, just off the St Louis University campus. Like Redel's. Colorado emphasized creative recipes and tastes, but there was no overlap in the menus. Rice described the food as trendy modern, leaning toward Southwestern. The emphasis was on health, with less fat, less salt and lots of seafood. Rice and Redel rotated back and forth between their two restaurants. Each did a little cooking at both places on weekends, while supervising the kitchen staffs and managing the businesses on other days. Colorado closed in April of 2001. Ironically, a Pasta House restaurant moved into the space. * * * * * In early 1997, Mike Faille paid $800,000 to Lee Redel and John Rice for their restaurant; Faille would convert Redel's into another Talayna’s. On the two days after Redel's official May closing, Redel and Rice raised money for AIDS organizations and Food Outreach at the restaurant. Some of the famous crayon drawings were sold for $1000. There were more spinoffs – Space on the Hill and Red-L Pizza on Clayton Road in Ladue. But Lee Redel and John Rice had captured magic in a bottle with Redel's, and that magic could not be recaptured. You can hear John Rice tell the story of Redel's in the Lost Tables Podcast Series.
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