Last edited 3:39 p.m., Feb. 10, 2012Enoch Morris, director of development and sales for Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, and several family members are planning a March 1 opening of a barbecue restaurant in Chesterfield Village.
Operating under Morris Spices LLC, the group will open Enoch's BBQ & Southern Classics at 2101 W. Chesterfield Boulevard, Ste. B-102.
Morris and his wife, Debbie; daughter, Devon Morris; and daughter and son-in-law, Ryanne and Andrew Farabee, co-own the restaurant, which is under lease for $9.50 a square foot from Dearborn Development Inc. In November, Morris Spices obtained an $80,000 U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan through Liberty Bank, according to SBA records.
"We're very much foodies," Enoch Morris said. "We've always been interested in food and what it can do to pull a family together."
The roughly 1,000-square-foot space will seat about 33, and Morris said the group is targeting a smaller, family-style atmosphere that is "more like a home rather than a chain restaurant."
The eatery is a labor of love for Enoch and Debbie Morris, who have taken their food to festivals and created their own spice rubs. Their daughters, too, have food experience - Farabee has worked at the Tower Club, as the head baker for Sam's Wholesale Club and as kitchen manager for Chipotle, and Devon Morris worked a couple of years for Steve Williams at Crosstown BBQ.
Enoch Morris, who noted he would not be leaving his job at Hammons Hall, said Chesterfield Village represented a good opportunity to set up shop for the eatery.
"It just felt like a good place for us," he said of the location, which formerly housed A Balanced Palate. "They've got pizza, Mexican and good old burgers and Chinese. Barbecue just kind of fit in with the mix there."
When it opens, the restaurant, which also will serve southern-style dishes such as fried chicken and pot roast, will operate 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to its
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