Marshfield prime rib, steakhouse eatery plans late April launch

A more than 150-year-old Marshfield building that has spent most of its existence as a house of worship is about to reopen as a prime rib and steakhouse restaurant.

A planned April 27 soft opening is set for The Jackson Grille LLC, said Jeff White, who co-owns the eatery at 301 S. Clay St. with husband and wife Randy and Jan Clair. White said Randy Clair approached him at the end of 2021 after the Clairs bought the building with the intention of opening a restaurant in roughly 5,000 square feet.

Initially saying no, White said he was concerned about undertaking the endeavor during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But after working through some financials with the potential restaurant, White said he changed his mind.

“If we could do it Thursday, Friday and Saturday and we do some upper-scale stuff that Marshfield’s never had, we can make this a unique place and special place,” he said, adding the three-day-a-week schedule may expand as demand warrants.

White, who also serves as the restaurant’s culinary director, said he designed the menu with upscale in mind, noting the prime rib sizes range from 8 ounces up to a 64-ounce kingdom cut. Other entrees will include filets, ribeyes, pork chops, cashew chicken and Chilean sea bass.

Startup costs will be around $370,000, White said, adding the owners hired local Amish construction workers to complete much of the infill work.

“The building was just a blank slate, basically,” he said, adding the formal dining room is in the former church sanctuary. “We’ve been working on it for about a year and four months. The commercial kitchen, we had to completely build that from scratch.”

The building most recently was used by The Foundation Church of Marshfield, which shuttered in early 2022, according to the church’s Facebook page. The property initially was purchased in 1869 for construction of a Methodist Episcopal church and later rebuilt in 1881 after the structure was heavily damaged by an 1880 tornado, according to the restaurant’s website.

White said around 25 employees will be on staff when the restaurant opens for its regular schedule in the first week of May. Customers initially need to make reservations to dine, he said, adding the facility also will have a full bar, outdoor seating and an upstairs area that can seat small groups of up to 15 people.

It’s not the first restaurant ownership venture for White, who said he formerly owned Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in Springfield and Nixa. His nearly 20 years of food service experience also includes work at pizza chain Old Chicago and Kimberling Inn at Table Rock Resorts.

He currently is a food service broker with St. Louis-based Ratermann and Associates Inc. White, who has worked for the company for six years, said he intends to maintain his job in addition to duties at The Jackson Grille.