When four women moved their families back to the St. Louis region last year, they had no idea they would open a restaurant in the City Foundry a few months later.
“If you have drive, if you have passion, if you have vision, go after what you want because if you don’t, life will pass you by.” — Brandi Artis
Brandi Artis, 4 Hens Creole Kitchen’s executive chef, and her wife Brittany Artis moved from Chicago in April 2021, a decision they made for their children as crime rates increased in the Windy City.
Shortly thereafter, Brittani Gardner-Evans and her wife Ebony Evans chose to relocate to St. Louis from California with their children.
Evans, Gardner-Evans and Brandi Artis are originally from Missouri, while Brittany Artis is from Chicago.
Neither couple moved back with the intention of opening a restaurant, but after some conversations, the four women decided to go for it.
“We ended up coming here and became a part of the City Foundry, which is absolutely amazing,” Brandi Artis said. “But none of this was planned with our move coming back to St. Louis—none of this. The restaurant was not a plan, none of this was a plan. So, it is just kind of funny to see this coming to fruition and to have such a beautiful thing here now.”
With a culinary background that includes catering experience and a popup taco shop business in Chicago, Brandi Artis became the executive chef of 4 Hens Creole Kitchen, named after the four women who embody the mother hen persona.
Brandi Artis developed the menu, which will feature rotating weekly specials, and describes the food as Creole with a modern twist. The restaurant opened Monday.
“None of my dishes are going to be things that you’ve necessarily seen on Creole menus before,” she said.
The women plan to add cocktails to their menu in the future, but it currently includes appetizers like Slapp’n Shrimp, shrimp sauteed in Creole spices and drizzled with 4 Hens’ remoulade sauce, and entrees such as shrimp ‘n grits and Swamp Thang, a succotash soup with crawfish tails and sauteed shrimp.
Susie Bonwich, director of operations for the City Foundry, said in a prepared statement with their kid’s menu, 4 Hens has created dishes that allow children to explore new foods and cuisines at a young age.
Brandi Artis and her wife, Brittany Artis, are in charge of the restaurant side of things while their friends Evans and Gardner-Evans manage the business side. But to ensure the restaurant is truly a family affair, the couples’ four “little chicks” were tasked with creating a lemonade recipe, later branded “Little Chicks Lemonade,” which is sold at the restaurant. Their children range in age from 14 months to 4 years old.
“Our kids always play in the kitchen with us, and they always want to drink lemonade or make drinks,” Brandi Artis said. “So, we were like, ‘let’s make a lemonade company for the kids.’ And so, we were in the kitchen, and we created a recipe for lemonade while we were sitting there and just playing back and forth and taking sips and seeing if we like this blend versus this blend. And the kids had the final say on the flavor that they liked the best.”
The money made from the lemonade will be put into the bank for the children’s college fund, so they have a financial foundation all their own.
“We are a minority-owned, queer women-driven restaurant, and we have two [masculine] women that are part of this business and two feminine women, and we are showing that everybody has a place in everything that they want to do—there is no place that isn’t for you,” Brandi Artis said.
4 Hens Creole Kitchen joins about 13 other restaurants that call the food hall of City Foundry home.
“If you have drive, if you have passion, if you have vision, go after what you want because if you don’t, life will pass you by,” she said. “… Just do it. Do it. Stop thinking about it. Do it. Because the fruition that comes after that thought is an amazing thing.”
4 Hens Creole Kitchen is open for lunch and dinner on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Monday and Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information about The Food Hall at City Foundry STL, visitwww.cityfoundrystl.com. City Foundry STL is located at 3730 Foundry Way.
