Hwy 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves under new ownership (2024)

A familiar face is back at Highway 61 Roadhouse. Founder Bill Kunz rejoins the 17-year-old Webster Groves restaurant and music venue part-time under new owners Paul and Nitu Brar. Kunz’s first attempt at retirement, in 2022, lasted about three months. Now,thanks to an invitation from the restaurant’s new owners, he’s ramping up his workdays even more at the Cajun eatery that he founded in 2006.

The Team

After Kunz sold Highway 61 Roadhouse in May 2022, he intended to slow down and regroup following a four-decade career in the hospitality industry. By August, however, he was working again, tending bar and serving with catering company Butler’s Pantry. “It’s amazing when you’re working because you want to and not because you have to,” Kunz says.

Meanwhile, the restaurant was changing hands again, transitioning from Michael Skordos and Crystal O’Brien to another couple, Paul and Nitu Brar, who own The Tattooed Dog in Wentzville. The Brars invited Kunz to return part-time to work in the front-of-the-house, handle marketing, assist with music bookings, and reconceptualize some of the menu items.

Kunz relishes the opportunity. “It’s nice not to have the total pressure,” he says. “I’m working on a concept rather than in it.” He knows many of his fellow employees from his tenure as owner, and he estimates that he knows about 70 percent of the customers on any given weekday. Weekends are a different story, as that’s when people often try Highway 61 Roadhouse for the first time.They comefor the music and the Cajun and Southern classics.

The Menu

It doesn’t get any more Southern than Highway 61’s trademark dishes: green beans with bacon and onions, red beans in spicy gravy over brown rice, and mac and cheese bowl that’s baked until the breadcrumbs on top are nice and crunchy.

The red beans and rice were featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,along with BBQ spaghetti topped with pulled pork and the CajAsian potstickers (pan-seared then steamed homemade dumplings filled with Andouille sausage, vegetables, and chili sauce).The trio is so popular, you can order a serving of all three as the D.D.D. Sampler (see lead image).

Other Louisiana classics include the barbecue shrimp in Worcestershire herb butter, chicken and sausage gumbo, shrimp and crawfish etouffée, cornmeal-breaded catfish with waffle fries, and fried shrimp po’ boy.

Because its namesake highway runs through St. Louis and Memphis, the restaurant also gives a nod to those cities on its menuin the form of St. Louis–style ribs, pork steaks, and Memphis-style pulled pork. Highway 61’s chicken, slow-smoked over hickory and charcoal, is available glazed or fried after smoking, either on the bone or as chicken tenders ready to be dipped into honey-bourbon, barbecue, or voodoo sauce.

At the bar, the hurricane—made with orange rum, orange juice, and passion fruit juice—gets its kick from two more rums, Plantation O.F.T.D and silver. The trademark pink color comes from a splash of grenadine. It leads a co*cktail menu full of Southern favorites (such as the Sazerac and Rum Runner) and Cajun spins on familiar favorites (such asthe Cajun Bloody Mary).

Kunz is planning a lineup of limited-time offers where the kitchen experiments with appetizers, salads, entrées, and desserts for four to six weeks at a time. He’s already had requests for specific items such as Cajun pizza rolls, which the restaurant featured previously—and he says his mind never stopped working on new culinary ideas during retirement.

“I’m inspired by weird things,” Kunz says with a laugh. “I tell people my first step in research is looking at the roller grills in QT.” But he’s also a huge believer in sticking with traditions, which is why the D.D.D. Sampler isn’t going anywhere. “It’s amazing that 12 years later, people still see that show and come into the restaurant for these," he says.

The new owners plan to gradually expand hours to include lunch service and eventually perhaps weekend brunch, which Kunz says was a good testing ground for new menu items such as the smoked fried chicken, which is now one of the most popular dishes.

The Atmosphere

The road for which Highway 61 is nicknamed "The Blues Highway," and it would be impossible to imagine this joint without live bands playing every weekend. Kunz says the new owners also plan to continue hosting popular annual festivals, such asMardi Gras, a crawfish boil, and the Cigar Box Guitar Festival, which celebrated its 10^th anniversary this past June.

During the past 18 months, the restaurant’s previous owners added new seating and tables, more TVs, and a refurbished stage—improvements that contributed to the entertainment vibe. Kunz plans to boost the menu in tandem with those changes.

“Webster Groves is a hot area for restaurants,” Kunz says. “There’s a lot going on here, and we want to make people feel welcome.”