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Kemoll’s, one of the oldest family-owned restaurants in St. Louis, is leaving downtown St. Louis in February and moving to the former Dierdorf & Hart’s at 323 Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights. For the past 30 years, the 92-year-old restaurant has been a tenant at the Metropolitan Square Building at Olive and Broadway downtown. Originally located on the ground floor, the Kemoll family opened the Top of the Met banquet facility in 2003 and moved the restaurant to the 40th floor in 2009.

The former Dierdorf & Hart's at Westport Plaza, St. Louis, circa 2010.

Owner Mark Cusumano tells SLM the downtown lease was expiring February 1, and though the business level was still good, “it was moving in the wrong direction.”

“There wasn’t any Kemoll’s-level fine dining at Westport,” he explains, “and with all the O’Loughlins have done, there’s a tremendous opportunity,” he says, referring to the 97 percent occupancy rate in 500,000 square feet of office space, not including the new World Wide Technology headquarters building. “Downtown, we did a lot of personal parties and private events. At Westport, there are more business people, and they have different needs.

“The first Kemoll’s at Grand and Penrose was there for 63 years. We’ve been downtown for 30. We saw an opportunity in Westport now just like we did downtown.”

Cusumano plans to close the Metropolitan Square location in late January. The new 8,000-square-foot space includes a private room that seats 60, the wheelhouse for 75 percent of the party and event business, according to Cusumano, who has been told World Wide Technology “will keep the room busy.”

When the new restaurant opens in Westport, it will be renamed Kemoll’s Chop House. Cusumano explains that switching concepts to a chop house theme was a logical choice, not a knee-jerk reaction. “Of the top-selling eight dishes, only two are Italian,” Cusumano says, “the lasagna and the cannelloni. The other six are grilled steaks and grilled fresh fish. The number-one seller for a long time now is the filet. That item alone outsells some Italian dishes 10 to one.”

With that in mind, Cusumano plans to incorporate the top 10 Italian dishes and supplement with chop house entrées. The appetizer menu will be expanded as well, to accommodate the public’s shift in eating habits. Cusumano sells “a ton” of mussels, tenderloin brochettes, and Peruvian peppers stuffed with feta mousse. The signature fried-artichoke appetizer still appears “pretty much on every table.”

Cusumano says the décor will lean toward contemporary chop house (“no heavy treatments and no oil paintings”), and the uniforms will be modernized as well. Yet there’s a temptation to resuscitate some of the tableside preparation Kemoll’s abandoned 10 years ago. “It would be easier in a chop house setting,” Cusumano theorizes. “I’ve still got the guys to do it. And people like to have a dining experience more than they ever have.”

Dierdorf & Hart’s at 323 Westport Plaza closed May 2013 after a 30-year run. Camp Site, a camping and summer-camp-themed restaurant concept similar to Phoenix’s Camp Social, was slated to move into the space late last year, but plans fell through. Paul Mineo’s Trattoria opened in Westport in 2007. Namesake Paul "Pauli" Mineo died in 2009, but the restaurant is still in operation.

This news comes exactly one day after the announcement of another major restaurant closure, Cardwell’s at the Plaza. Especially with the holiday season just around the corner, diners planning on making a nostalgic parting visit to either are encouraged to book those reservations now.

Editor's Note: The above copy has been changed to reflect a different timeline at the downtown location.