Tom's Bar & Grill Evangelos Dimitriades was born in Greece in 1891 and emigrated to the United States in 1912. By 1922, after working in a clay mine in New Jersey and a factory in Granite City, Dimitriades owned a shoe shine and hat cleaning shop at Grand and Olive in St. Louis.
Katherine Dimitriades was born in Greece in
1903. In 1923, she joined Evangelos Dimitriades
in St. Louis and the two were married.
Evangelos and Katherine Dimitriades had four sons. James was born in 1925, Christ in 1928, Peter in 1930 and Tom in 1935. In April of 1946, Dimitriades purchased property at the northeast corner of Euclid and Forest Park. The rectangular lot, which fronted 177 feet on Euclid and 45 feet on Forest Park, included a one-story brick building with five storefronts, numbered 20 to 30 South Euclid, and a three-story residence on the corner, at 4583 Forest Park. In 1949, Dimitriades moved his family into the Forest Park residence. * * * * *
Tom Dimitriades graduated from Southwest High
School in 1954. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia
and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1958.
Dimitriades started out in the hotel business. In 1966, he was promoted from assistant sales manager to assistant director of sales for the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel. Later that year, he was appointed national sales manager for the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel. And the following year, he returned to the Sheraton-Jefferson as sales manager. Dimitriades worked in the hotel and restaurant business in Chicago in the early 1970s. He became enthralled with the Michigan Avenue bar & grills and decided to return to St. Louis and open one of his own. * * * * *
In 1965, Evangelos and Katherine Dimitriades moved out of their 4583 Forest Park
home. The 3-story building at the corner of Euclid
and Forest Park was torn down to make way for a Standard Oil station
and car wash, owned and operated by the Dimitriades family. Tom Dimitriades returned to St. Louis and pitched the idea of a bar & grill to his father. He wanted to use his father's property at the corner of Euclid and Forest Park. His father liked the idea, but had reservations about using the entire property for the restaurant. He decided to let Tom open his restaurant in the one-story building on Euclid, and leave the service station and car wash in place. Tom Dimitriades converted the cluster of storefronts into a spacious restaurant and bar, complete with a trio of archways, a fireplace and an atrium. Dimitriades used furnishings and woodwork from historic homes and businesses in the area. The center bar was an antique breakfront from a family estate on West Pine. The front swinging doors originated from an old South St Louis church.
Dimitriades tentatively named his new
restaurant the Old Carriage House. But when he opened on June 22,
1976, with his three brothers as partners, he had named it Tom's Bar &
Grill.
The newly renovated restaurant featured a
22-foot vaulted ceiling with a large skylight in the atrium area.
Along with the fireplace, this gave the space a
ski-lodge feeling. While Dimitriades was given credit for this
embellishment, in later years he sheepishly confessed, "Well, that's
the way it was when we got it."
Tom’s Bar & Grill started with only 4 parking
spaces. However, the restaurant was so successful its first year, Evangelos Dimitriades tore down the gas station and car wash on the
corner to make way for a parking lot for his son's customers.
The crowd at Tom's Bar & Grill was diverse, ranging from
white-collar businessmen, hospital workers and construction workers
during the day, to college students, retirees and university alumni
at night and on the weekends. It quickly became the go to place for
the medical community at the nearby Barnes and Jewish hospital
complexes.
When Tom's opened, the menu was basic, with hamburgers and chicken wings, hot dogs and chili mac,
and a few extras like Italian sausage, toasted ravioli and a
broiled chicken sandwich. Salads were also available. Tom's became
known for its thick juicy burgers and hot spicy wings.
Tom Dimitriades was a fixture behind the bar at
his restaurant, often smoking a cigar. But after almost two decades,
he decided to retire and get married. He sold Tom's Bar & Grill to
Dave Wessel, a longtime friend, in March of 1995, and was married to
Peggy Nafe, a social worker at Jewish Hospital, in September of
1996.
Tom's continued to flourish under Wessel's ownership. But on September 15, 2020, Wessel sold the 20 South Euclid space to Holistic Missouri. The building would be transformed into a medical marijuana dispensary. Wessel said he had been approached many times over the years to sell the property, but the timing of Covid-19 and Holistic Missouri's offer compelled him to finally sell. The previous June, after Wessel had decided to sell the property, he and Tom Dimitriades met for one last Bud Light at the bar. "We had one final beer together at Tom's and just talked memories," said Wessel. "He's happy for me but sad to see it close."
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