The Livestock Bar and Grill held a soft opening on Aug. 1 and 2 in Wright City as the restaurant prepares for its full opening this weekend. 

The restaurant is filling the space formerly occupied by St. Louisiana Q on 101 N. Locust Street in downtown Wright City. Owner Dustin English was excited to bring another option for food and drinks to the area, and was clear about what kind of bar and grill he wanted to operate. 

“We’re just looking to be a good, wholesome small town bar,” said English. “Cheaper drinks, cheaper food, to kind of bring people in to get the community together.”

Shelly Running, who will be managing the day-to-day operations of the restaurant, agreed. 

“It’s a place where you could bring your family,” said Running. 

English owns several other restaurants in the area including two Honky Tonk locations in Troy and St. Charles as well as Little Nashville, also in St. Charles. 

He said the location in Wright City was attractive to him as it mirrored the type of storefronts where he built his other businesses. 

“Most of my stuff is on Main Street,” said English. “It’s kind of my trend to get on the street so that I feel like people will be coming down.”

He also said the location’s proximity to the train tracks in Wright City was an added bonus that he thought would contribute to the atmosphere of the bar and grill. 

English was especially excited to bring his business to what he saw as a growing community, and cited the new America’s Heartland Packing plant as a driver for growth in the area. 

The Livestock Bar and Grill will be open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week although English said they may close early some days depending on how many customers they have. 

They will have a food menu which English said will be focused on traditional bar food like hamburgers and sandwiches although he said Chef Mary Miller will also be doing some occasional specials. 

Miller said the specials would focus on “homestyle cooking” which she said had been requested by the community when she reached out to see what options they wanted. 

English said they will also have barbecue and will be bringing in a smoker, which he said was another popular request among the community. 

They have made significant renovations to the interior of the building including connecting the two separate spaces that had previously occupied the building. In the future, he said he also hopes to expand the bar area. 

English also plans to have some form of live music at the venue at least once a week. 

“There’s not a huge amount of places out here. The Railhouse is right next to us, and they do really well, and we wanted to be by someone that does really well so we can hopefully bring more of the community to this part of town,” said English.