Nexus: a first look at the upscale restaurant in Midtown St. Louis

This is chef-owner Ceaira Jackson's first brick-and-mortar venue

Nexus has been a long time coming, but it’s here, it’s open and on first impressions it’s looking like a restaurant with huge potential. The restaurant, located at 2704 Locust St. in Midtown, is part of the JCMidtown development, which currently includes four other food and drink venues.

Formerly the chef at Bait (a Sauce Best New Restaurant in 2019) and Fleur de Lilies, chef-owner Ceaira “Chef Jack” Jackson first announced plans for Nexus in August 2021. Three years and a lot of construction later, the restaurant is open for dinner service serving a menu that showcases Jackson’s knack for calling on influences from a variety of American and global cuisines, weaving those flavors into dishes that are beautifully plated.

Nexus impresses immediately with a hip, modern design that has been worth the wait. The restaurant, which seats around 60 diners inside, is divided into three separate dining areas, with a few extra tables outside and additional patio space that is shared with fellow JCMidtown tenants Blue Jay Brewing Co. and Videira Wine Shop & Bar. The entrance on Locust Street takes you into a dining room that features a stylish 10-seat bar, two fireplaces and walls painted in complementary tones: sage on one wall, turquoise behind the bar, and a blue ceiling. There’s a plush leather sofa, and a coffee table by the window. The middle room adds more tables for two, while the back dining room features a hole in the wall that, from the right vantage point, frames Jackson as she works in the kitchen.

Each of the rooms has its own unique touches, but the common threads are the slim tables with good solid wood tops, elegant seats in soft brown leather, wooden floorboards, exposed brick, and – most striking of all – a series of surreal art pieces by artist Frank Moth depicting flowers sprouting from people’s heads and shoulders. It’s a great setting and a place people are going to enjoy settling into.

The menu reflects the restaurant’s name and its invocation of the idea of a place where diverse culinary legacies meet. “We’re going across the globe with the cuisine,” Jackson said. At Nexus, you’ll find a short-rib Bolognese served on top of thick pappardelle, with a dollop of mascarpone topping the dish off. That sits comfortably alongside tandoori chicken – a boneless airline chicken breast rubbed with tandoori spices – served with a roasted garlic cream sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, charred carrots, pickled onions and pea shoots. A lobster po’boy features chunks of lobster, fried tempura-style, alongside housemade pickles and remoulade on crusty bread, while a black-eyed pea hummus with fried okra blends classic Southern ingredients into an iconic Middle Eastern dish.

The cocktail list offers five takes on classic cocktails that address a range of preferred flavor profiles: an espresso martini, a white negroni, a paloma, a French 75 and a Boulevardier. A selection of signature cocktails is still in the works, but Jackson said those will be introduced very soon. 

Nexus is open for dinner from 4 to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The kitchen closes at 10 p.m., but the bar will remain open until 11 p.m. At a later date, a limited menu of small bar bites may be offered in that final hour, Jackson said. Jackson added that she has no plans for brunch service, but she may eventually look at adding a Sunday dinner service that may offer a twist on the regular dinner menu.