Part II, Dee Dee and Andy Kohn Talk About Their Passion for Wines, Fine Dining, etc.

This is the second of the two part interview with Andy and Dee Dee Kohn, new owners of Edge Wild restaurant coming to Ladue soon. 

Patch: How will Edge Wild be different than the others.

Andy Kohn: Edge Wild, we believe finds an affordable solution to foods and wine. We were frustrated to see a bottle of wine you could buy at Costco for $17 and would be sold for $45. We found that we would drink a glass of wine or two at home before going out to a restaurant and pursue a bottle or glass there.

A $45 bottle of wine occurs because of the layers of markups between the wholesalers and the retailers before it ever gets to a restaurant.

We just felt there’s a better way to deliver affordable fine wine to a customer and that led to the founding of Edge Wild. We have our own local and state permits that allows us to make our own wines on premises and elsewhere.

We have custom winemakers in Oregon and California making wines specifically for us. We bypass all the layers of markup and marketing that way.

DK: That was our original thoughts. We wanted to offer affordable fine wines in Chesterfield. 

Patch: How will things be different. 

AK: The new facility is going to be different than Edge Wild (Chesterfield). They have a lot of large selections of foods. We are going to pare those selections down and have a higher emphasis on bar foods.

The bar is frankly almost twice as big as Edge Wild’s and we are going to convert the front (of the building) to the bar, and take the existing bar area (the paneled area with refrigeration) and that’s going to be our dining area.

We will have a lot smaller plates with American cuisine, sandwiches, appetizers, salads and some entrees of course to satisfy our customers.

In our opinion, there aren’t a lot of bars that execute great food. 

Patch: How will the place look.

AK: We are kind of dealing with a clean palate. Everything was pretty much wiped away with a grocery store. 

We will have 24 beers on draft and we will be able to highlight lots of local products. We will have up to 35 beers by the bottle. Again, we are looking to be cutting edge, again that’s why the name is Edge Wild. We may offer some bourbons, ryes and whiskeys made locally.

I am born and bred St. Louisan and love the collection of products made here. We have so many wonderful partners, Serendipity Ice Cream, Bissingers, O’Fallon Brewery and a  bunch of micro brews.

Patch: Your business was printing.

AK: I sold my printing business in 2006. I sold on a Thursday; said goodbye to the boys on Friday and never returned to the business again. I really am an entrepreneurial type person. I am not a Fortune 500 type guy. I am the type of guy who grows businesses and gets to know the employees. I embody and develop people internally and grow and expand those businesses

I empower people to do their jobs and to grow within the business. I do not micro mange folks. We grew the printing company from 13 people to 350 in 20 years.

Patch: You are very active in the Jewish community.

AK: Yes, I served many years on the Jewish Federation Board and the JCC Board and I am currently president of Westwood Country Club.

Patch: When do you expect to be open for business.

AK: I would hope it is May or June. It just depends how fast we can move through the (permitting) process with the City of Ladue.

Busch's Grove encompasses more than 9,000 square feet. Edge Wild will take up one-third of the space, and Louis Cella and his partners are looking for businesses to occupy the rest of the space.