Bottoms Up!

La Crazy Margarita, open on South Grand, promises “real, real” Mexican food on the weekends and margaritas every day

Written by RYAN KRULL

South Grand patrons rejoice. La Crazy Margarita is now open at the corner of Hartford Street and Grand, enlivening a piece of restaurant real estate that had sat worryingly empty for months.

Now, the atmosphere in the restaurant is bright and lively. Its seating includes a bar to slide up to, booths to get cozy in and a spacious back room for big groups.

The menu includes Mexican restaurant mainstays such as chimichangas, tacos and enchiladas. The burritos come smothered with cheese and topped with avocado slices.

In addition to the old reliables, on Saturdays and Sundays coowners Benito Rodriguez and Romel Mayahua will serve up what they call “real, real Mexican food.”

A recent “real, real” menu included adobo chicken and seafood soups.

Mayahua and Rodriguez have created an atmosphere where diners will want to hang out after their meal, enjoying a dessert of fried ice cream or — more likely — a margarita. As the restaurant’s name suggests, the margs will be a key part of its appeal.

“I want to do margaritas differently,” Rodriguez says.

‘Culinary Playground’ Coming

Food wunderkind Juwan Rice’s Rated Test Kitchen will be a downtown cafe and dinner club

Written by RYAN KRULL

St. Louis culinary wunderkind Juwan Rice started his own catering company when he was in high school. In 2021, he founded JRice Spice, a spice and sauce company. More recently, he’s hosted a series of pop-up dining experiences.

Last week, Rice, 21, announced his most ambitious endeavor yet: opening Rated Test Kitchen, a combination cafe and dinner club in downtown St. Louis.

During the day, Monday through Friday, Rated Test Kitchen will operate as a cafe. Thursday through Sunday nights, the space will transform into a dinner club where patrons will be encouraged to channel their inner food critic.

is currently waiting on its liquor license. Once they get that, Rodriguez says, “We’ll do the grand that corner of Grand. Kenny’s Up stairs is set to open above La Crazy Margarita later this spring. n served over two seatings. Each dinner will be seven courses, with each course followed by rating cards, which will allow diners to rate the previous dish.

Menus will change month to month, and Rice will be partnering with area farmers to bring in local produce and meat. But the food on offer any given night will take its inspiration from all over the world.

“We’re going to focus on a bunch of different cuisines,” Rice says. “You might have a [meal] that’s inspired by Italian food the first course, and then the second course will be something inspired by Japanese cuisine. We want to keep it really diverse, which keeps us on our toes.”

Rice says he imagines the space as “huge culinary playground.”

Rice’s new endeavor will occupy the space where Dave Bailey once ran Shift, Test Kitchen & Take Out at 313 North 11th Street.

Rice saw the space was available and, he says, “Literally as soon as I walked into the space, I knew exactly the concept I wanted to do.”

Dinners will be intimate affairs, Rice says, with roughly 20 to 35 people being

Right now, the plan is for Rated Test Kitchen to be open by the end of April. In the coming weeks, Rice says he’ll be posting plenty of behind-the-scenes photos and updates to his social media. n

[REVIEW]