Honey Bee's Biscuits + Good Eats will open its first brick-and-mortar in Kirkwood this spring

Honey Bee’s Biscuits + Good Eats will broaden from a Kirkwood Farmers’ Market stall and two food trucks to full-service restaurant operations in the former home of Club Taco at 200 N. Kirkwood Road in Kirkwood this spring, as reported by the Riverfront Times.

The neighborhood favorite wastes little time. Earlier this month, Mike Shadwick, who co-owns the business with his wife Meredith Shadwick, oversaw kitchen renovations and spoke excitedly of an expanded breakfast and brunch menu, which will be offered via counter service. “Our priority right now is to continue succeeding at what we’re good at,” he said, referring to the honey-glazed biscuits and classic breakfast sandwiches that draw long lines week after week. 

New offerings will include made-to-order eggs (soft-scrambled is Mike’s specialty), brunch burgers, smash patty melts, pastries and, eventually, fried chicken. Drinks will include brunch cocktails like bloody marys or mimosas, along with local canned or bottled beer, though specific vendors have yet to be determined. Local bourbon, whiskey and vodka will also be available from local makers like Switchgrass Spirits.

The 1,500-square-foot, open-concept space will have a slightly rustic vibe with seating from between 45 and 60 inside. The 1,500-square-foot patio will likely have room for about 75 more. 

For Mike Shadwick, securing the former Club Taco spot has been nothing short of serendipitous. He remembers sitting in the food truck on that corner, waiting at a red light, and watching a little girl on the patio recognize the logo: “‘Mom, Dad, look! It’s Honey Bee’s!’ If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.” 

Kirkwood “was always the bottom line” for the duo. Mike recalls his father-in-law jokingly giving him a condition that he and Meredith put down roots in Kirkwood when Mike was asking if he could propose to Meredith. He also praises Meredith, who had little experience working in a kitchen prior to Honey Bee’s, as a quick study in the kitchen, and credits their ability to “champion each other” for all the fun they have together on the job. 

“If I had never worked at Winslow’s Table, I wouldn’t know anything about [being a] garde manger, the relationship between the back-end and the plating that happens on the frontline, prep skills, knife skills, any of that,” Mike said of his culinary background in St. Louis. His stint at Imo’s Pizza exposed him to all things catering – especially how to keep ticket times down. 

Mike intends to provide those same learning opportunities for local rising talent. He hopes the new space can eventually host other food trucks in the kitchen for pop-up dinners, with Honey Bee’s contributing drink service. To begin, the restaurant will be open for breakfast and lunch, but a dinner concept of their own isn’t off the table. 

“We still have some people who haven’t missed a weekend,” Mike said of the Kirkwood clientele sure to follow from market booth to brick-and-mortar. Both the dedicated and the uninitiated can look forward to a morning on the Honey Bee’s patio – Mike hints at a soft launch – before a full opening, potentially in mid-March.