Mezcaleria Las Chupacabras opens in Richmond Heights

From STL Magazine | By George Mahe, June 28, 2021

Last month, SLM proclaimed that Mezcaleria las Chupacabras has the boldest, brightest exterior of any restaurant in town. And while the eye-catching exterior at 25 The Boulevard in Richmond Heights that previously housed P.F. Chang’s might be hard to miss (perhaps even from outer space, some speculate), passersby could only guess what might be inside. 

Beginning today, they can find out.

Mezcaleria Las Chupacabras, the region's first mezcaleria, is meant to serve as an introduction to the Mexican state of Oaxaca, evidenced by examples of its culture, colors, culinary creations, and its most famous liquid commodity. The interior is every bit as vibrant as the exterior. Depictions of Oaxacan folk art animals peer down from above, as an homage to a culture that dates back to the Aztecs. The colorful rings seen inside and outside the restaurant symbolize the goal of an Aztec ball court, a ritualistic game that became an important symbol of the Aztec Empire.

If the outlandish and extensive use of color looks familiar, it might be because one of the owners is Antonio Mendieta, a partner in the El Burro Loco restaurants. (The other is Victor Mendieta, who worked there.) One of Mendieta's brothers who lives in central Mexico sourced and shipped the artifacts; a friend who lives in Oaxaca came to St. Louis to paint the interior (which took months to complete) and to create an enormous, papier-mâché skeleton that hangs from the ceiling.

Nearly every square inch of interior space has been painted in bold, eye-popping expressions. Every color of a Mexican sunset has likely been accounted for, as have the muted and lush greens of Oaxaca, where most of the world’s mezcals are made.

Spirits experts say the demand for mezcal increases every year, as does the supply. Flights and tastings are available, as are three signature mezcal cocktails, served in different vessels, which can be rimmed with salts made from Mexican gusanos and chupalines. Frozen mezcal margaritas (another first in St. Louis) are made with fresh fruits, such as guava, mango, and pomegranate.

Named after a mythical creature in Hispanic folklore, the restaurant will eventually feature about 400 mezcals, including up-and-comer cousins, such as Sotol, Raicilla, and Bacanora.

The menu is massive, an assemblage of Mexican standards, as well as such regional specialties as mixiote (baked chicken, nopales, and mezcal-flavored chili sauce, wrapped in maguey leaves) and queso flameado (cheese cooked in a molcajete and ignited using a high-proof mezcal).

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily. For the time being, seating is limited to 150 seats inside; eventually, the covered patio will open, as well as tables in the common courtyard and perhaps even the street running through The Boulevard development, which can be closed to vehicular traffic.

While enjoying a cocktail or a flavored mezcal snow cone, consider the famous Oaxacan saying attributed to the up-and-coming spirit: Para todo mal, mezcal, y para todo bien, también. "For everything bad, mezcal—and for everything good as well."