St. Louis restaurateur Jordan Goodman is set to trade fuel pumps for salsa at a long-vacant Russell Boulevard filling station, turning it into a family-friendly taqueria in the Shaw neighborhood. The project will reuse two small buildings at the corner of Russell and Thurman and promises a tight menu of tacos like al pastor, carnitas and barbacoa, plus a walk-up window and a separate bar area. Plans call for about 44 seats inside and roughly 24 more on the patio, with dinner service on weeknights and both lunch and dinner on weekends.
According to a St. Louis Business Journal report by Kate Marijolovic, the team will convert the long-vacant service station at 4065 Russell Blvd. into two small buildings totaling about 2,000 square feet. One structure is slated to hold the kitchen and a covered four-seasons patio, while the other will function as the bar area. That coverage also highlights the walk-up window and the classic taco lineup that are meant to anchor the neighborhood spot.
Property and commercial listings back up the site details for 4065 Russell, providing public parcel data that documents the corner Goodman’s team plans to reuse, according to LoopNet. The listing includes the parcel ID and tax information and confirms the property’s compact commercial footprint. That relatively tight parcel helps explain why the project is being organized across two connected structures instead of a single large dining room.
Goodman told the St. Louis Business Journal that the taqueria will be “family-friendly and truly a neighborhood restaurant,” with an approachable menu rather than a fine-dining setup. The Business Journal coverage, which has also been summarized by KSDK, notes that the team aims to finish the buildout before locking in an opening date. For now, the project is in the design and permitting phase while crews prepare the site for renovation.
Goodman’s Expanding Footprint Around Town
This is not Goodman’s first neighborhood pivot. He recently announced a split taco-and-tasting concept in The Grove, showing a habit of pairing casual and more elevated experiences under his restaurant umbrella. turn The Grove into taco town coverage and a piece in St. Louis Magazine have detailed that Grove project, which Goodman has described as a pair of concepts under one roof. By contrast, the Shaw taqueria is a smaller, more street-level expression of the taco focus he has been rolling out across the city.
The team has not announced an opening date, and initial reports do not list one, per KSDK. As buildout progresses, permit filings and an official opening announcement should offer the next clues. Once construction wraps and the taqueria starts serving, the quiet corner at Russell and Thurman is expected to look and feel very different from its long run as an empty service station.
