St. Louis Standards: A Robust Bistro and Wine Bar Is the Toast of St. Louis | Food and Beverage News | Saint Louis

Arlene Browne will never forget her reaction when her husband, Stanley Browne, suggested they look at a window display in Webster Groves for the wine bar they were about to launch.

“Finding a location was such a difficult thing; we had the Midwest in our heads and were looking very carefully there, but things fell through,” says Arlene. “Stanley told me he wanted me to look at this place in Webster Groves, and I told him I didn’t even know where it was. I didn’t know Highway 44 and I really didn’t know. nothing, and then he took me there, and there was almost nothing on the street. I told him I didn’t know how it was going to work.

Fifteen years later, the Brownes saw their decision to open Robust Bistro and Wine Bar (227 West Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves; 314-963-0033) at the heart of Old Webster as the best decision they ever made. Not only have they been at the forefront of the explosive growth of the area’s restaurant scene, but they’ve become as much a vital part of the community as it is a part of it. From the financial crisis of 2008 to the pandemic and the ups and downs, Stanley and Arlene credit their neighbors in Webster Groves with the key to their success.

It’s been that way from the start, something that ceased to surprise the Brownes as they got to know the area. As Stanley explains, he felt that Webster Groves was as hungry for restaurants as the St. Louis area, as a whole, was hungry for a wine bar. Having spent a decade as one of Bommarito Wines & Spirits’ top sales representatives, Stanley saw firsthand the desire for a place where people could come not just to enjoy wine but to expand their horizons in a comfortable. While helping restaurant managers and employees navigate Bommarito’s wine lists, he began sketching with Arlene an idea to bring this experience to the area’s food scene.

It was something he was well placed to do. As a child growing up in England and Ireland, Stanley Browne came to wine at an early age.

“My father was a great collector of Burgundy and Bordeaux, so I grew up drinking good things,” he laughs. “I didn’t start with Boone’s Farm or anything like that.”

His father, however, was no mere amateur. The family owned a bed and breakfast in Ireland and Browne began helping them run the business when she was 16. He turned this knowledge into professional studies, going to school in Galway, Ireland, for hotel and restaurant management, then working in Basel, Switzerland, before coming to St. Louis. Once here he worked for Marriott Hotels and the Seven Gables Inn and eventually left restaurants for Bommarito Wines & Spirits.

Wine education has always been important to Browne, so in Bommarito he founded the St. Louis Wine Clinic with colleague Chris Hoel. The course served as a study guide for budding sommeliers, but it also made Browne realize how much he wanted to share his in-depth knowledge of wine with people both in and out of the industry. He decided he was ready for a new challenge; Arlene, who had a background in marketing and public relations, was also ready, so together they left behind their day jobs, signed a lease at Webster Groves and opened Robust in September 2007.

Back then, Robust looked like a gamble. Not only was Webster Groves’ dining scene untested, there were only a few wine bars in town, and none offered the kind of experience that Stanley and Arlene were. The Brownes model was (and remains) focused on expanding the wine knowledge of their guests. Flights were central to the Robust experience, and Stanley made sure to inspire people to try new things by pairing recognizable wine with lesser-known varietals. The couple have also curated an impressive retail wine selection, so guests can take bottles with them and experiment at home.

“We felt that at the time most restaurants in St. Louis had these regular listings and there wasn’t a lot of guidance for customers,” Stanley says. “We wanted to offer that. When you learn about wine, you learn so many other things – the history, the geography, the soil. We wanted people to be able to learn in a restaurant setting in an accessible way, not snobby or with the old feelings that people had about wine.”

This central philosophy has not changed, although much of Robust has evolved over the years. Stanley and Arlene are proud that they were able to find ways to stay fresh and relevant as the metro area restaurant scene exploded around them. They exited their wine-adjacent retail business, expanded their food menu, added a Clean & Juicy line of healthy beverages such as alkaline waters, bone broths and cold-pressed juices, and expanded their beer and of cocktails to reflect changing tastes. of their guests. They also overcame professional difficulties, expanding into downtown St. Louis and Edwardsville, Illinois, then closing those outposts to refocus on their original location in Webster Groves.

“We’re always trying to do new things,” says Arlene.

Even 15 years later, the Brownes are still doing new things. To celebrate this milestone anniversary, the duo decided to rebrand themselves from Robust Wine Bar to Robust Bistro and Wine Bar.

“Food is 50% of our sales, but a lot of people think we only sell cheese and crackers,” Stanley says.

Another change is the launch of a new ghost kitchen concept called R BBQ, which will offer smoked meats and sides that customers can order online and take away. The kitchen, a partnership with their longtime friend Vito Racanelli, will begin as a monthly offering, although the idea is to make it a weekly event to fill the area’s barbecue void.

Stanley and Arlene know their guests will appreciate these changes, just as they have followed them as they have grown and evolved over the years. They know that much of their success is due to providing a unique wine-focused experience, great food and a relaxing environment. But when they really reflect, it’s clear that their guests have a deeper connection with what they’ve created.

“Webster and the community have been wonderful to us and have been so supportive,” Stanley says. “It’s been a great relationship over the past 15 years, and I think the reason people have such feelings for us is because they’ve made a lot of memories here over the years. people remember that night or that night and how it felt when they were here. It’s beyond just having a drink, it’s creating memories.