A new restaurant called 8020 has opened inside downtown St. Louis's historic Louderman Building, taking over the space that once housed the buzzy Rated Test Kitchen. Co-owners Orlando McKinney Jr. and Melissa Taylor opened the doors on July 24, serving lunch Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 313 N. 11th St., with plans to expand into dinner service later this year.
The pair, longtime business partners behind Grandmaster's Catering, chose the name 8020 as a nod to the 80/20 Principle and to chess strategy, according to St. Louis Magazine. The restaurant's branding even carries the slogan “Every meal begins with an opening. Every great experience ends in checkmate,” a concept detailed in a post from the restaurant's Facebook page. Taylor, who serves as business partner and co-owner, described the vibe inside as something warmer than the name might suggest — “it's like a warm hug,” she said, per the same account.
McKinney and Taylor didn't just move into the space — they reshaped it. The duo cut about two-thirds of the former restaurant's large bar and removed a secondary bar entirely, clearing room for roughly 10 dining tables where the previous concept's bar seating once dominated.
A Kitchen With a Storied Past
The address itself carries weight in St. Louis's dining scene. The 12-story Louderman Building, completed in 1925 by financier William M. Louderman and architects La Beaume & Klein, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a LoopNet listing for the property. Before 8020 arrived, the space belonged to Rated Test Kitchen, a rotating tasting-menu concept from chef Juwan Rice that closed for good on May 31, 2025, after two years in business, as Sauce Magazine reported at the time.
Rice, who was named 2025 Chef of the Year by the St. Louis Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association and had appeared on Food Network's Guy's Grocery Games and Chopped, planned to shutter Rated Test Kitchen and pursue opportunities out of town, per St. Louis Magazine's reporting. He later relocated his umbrella company, Umoja Food Group, to 1190 Cole St. to launch Palate on Palette, a youth culinary and agriculture education nonprofit, Sauce Magazine reported separately.
Rice's operation had already tested the idea of daytime dining at the address, launching “Rated Cafe” in June 2024 to capture downtown lunch traffic before the space eventually went dark. That history makes 8020's lunch-first strategy less of a leap and more of a continuation for a storefront that's spent recent years searching for the right daytime formula.
McKinney's Culinary Journey, Painted on the Wall
McKinney, who serves as chef and co-owner, didn't always love the kitchen. He has said he initially hated cooking because he worked in his father's catering business as a child, according to St. Louis Magazine. He went on to work at Mosaic, Commerce Bank's private dining room, The Pasta House, the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, and the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis before helping build Grandmaster's Catering with Taylor, a partnership that has operated for more than two years handling everything from intimate dinners to events of 500-plus guests.
That personal history is now literally on display inside 8020. Artist Marquis Terrell Jackson created a mural depicting four chefs who influenced McKinney — his father, Orlando McKinney Sr., along with Gerald Sombright, Fabrizio Schenardi, and Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, whose influence McKinney has cited directly.
What's on the Lunch Menu
The restaurant serves what St. Louis Magazine describes as globally inspired, internationally inflected seasonal American cuisine. Standout dishes include Caribbean fried chicken made with two boneless chicken breasts and served alongside coconut risotto and a pickled pineapple herb salad, as well as seafood ravioli stuffed with shrimp and scallops in a lobster cream sauce.
Other menu items include a pepita-based fried rice with mushrooms, ginger, edamame, and soy sauce, topped with an over-easy egg — a dish that's vegan without it — plus a brown butter and bourbon butternut squash soup. There's also an open-face smoked salmon, cured in house with beets and spices, served on house-made focaccia with creme fraiche, crispy shallots, and apple compote. Beyond the core menu, McKinney rotates in weekly specials, including his signature shrimp and grits and a seasonal chilled watermelon gazpacho, according to a video posted to the restaurant's Facebook page.
Dinner Service on the Horizon
McKinney and Taylor plan to begin dinner service in late September or early October, opening for evening hours Wednesday through Saturday once the restaurant's liquor license comes through, per St. Louis Magazine. Taylor has said dinner will be on “a whole different level” compared to the lunch menu.
8020's arrival lands amid a turbulent stretch for downtown St. Louis dining. A string of early 2025 closures — including Rated Test Kitchen, Wave Taco, and SAN Cafe and Market — reflected operators reassessing foot traffic and profitability in the urban core, according to KSDK-TV. More than 35 restaurants closed across the St. Louis metro area over the course of 2025, per Sauce Magazine, underscoring the challenge facing any new entrant in the city's food scene. For now, 8020 is betting that a lunch-first approach, chess metaphors and all, can succeed where past tenants at 313 N. 11th St. struggled to find their footing. Diners can reach the restaurant directly at 314-964-6892 for reservations or questions about hours.
