Bethany Budde-Cohen – SqWires

On this episode of The Sauce Podcast, host Lauren sits down with Bethany Budde-Cohen — owner of SqWires Restaurant & Market — to celebrate 25 years of one of Lafayette Square’s most beloved dining destinations and the story behind its lasting success.

Bethany shares how she transformed a 130-year-old wire factory into a warm, character-filled restaurant, and the challenges that came with it — from construction setbacks and a major fire to navigating recessions and a global pandemic. Through it all, SqWires has remained rooted in its identity: elevated Midwestern comfort food, local sourcing, and a deep connection to the neighborhood.

They talk about what’s kept SqWires thriving for over two decades, including house-smoked staples, a strong relationship with local farmers, and a commitment to consistency while still evolving with the times. Bethany also dives into the return and reinvention of the market concept during COVID, and how it’s become a curated, community-focused space for fresh, local goods.

Beyond the food, the conversation highlights the importance of family in the business — including Bethany’s daughter stepping into a leadership role — and what it means to grow something that’s truly part of the fabric of St. Louis.

From historic spaces to homemade herbs, from resilience to reinvention — this episode is all about building something that lasts.

In this episode:

•  The story behind SqWires Restaurant & Market 
•  Transforming a historic wire factory into a restaurant 
•  Overcoming a fire, delays, and economic challenges 
•  What defines “elevated Midwestern” cuisine 
•  House-smoked meats, brunch staples, and menu favorites 
•  Sourcing local ingredients and working with farmers 
•  The return and evolution of the SqWires market 
•  Adapting through COVID and changing customer needs 
•  Running a family business with the next generation 
•  Why Lafayette Square is such a special community 

Come for the conversation. Stay for the culture. 🌿

 ✨ Presented by SWADE Dispensary, with 12 locations across Missouri. Learn more at swadecannabis.com. Our other podcast sponsors are 4 Hands Brewing Co. and LHM.

🎧 Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify and all major platforms.
 📅 New episodes drop every Tuesday.

Transcript

Cold Open + Sponsor (Swade Dispensary)

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We are very Midwestern.

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I love it. Don't pretend to be anything other. Suede Dispensary, now with 12 locations across Missouri, is taking convenience to a whole new level. The cannabis brand just opened its first ever 24-hour drive-through storefront in Overland, meaning you can order online and pick up anytime, day or night. Whether you're planning ahead or making a late night run, Suede is ready when you are with quick pickup, expanded delivery, and a seamless experience.

Intro + Meet Bethany Budde-Cohen

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hello, welcome to the Sauce Podcast. I'm your host, Lauren, and I am here with Bethany Buddy Cohen, and she is the owner over at Squire's Restaurant and Market in Lafayette Square. It's such a charming little part of town. Why don't you just tell

25 Years of SqWires + Lafayette Square History

SPEAKER_01 0:49

us about your business? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Thank you for having me first. That's great. Um 25 years. Wow. This year. It's a landmark. Yes. Yes. So we're celebrating all year long. Um it is uh in, as you said, Lafayette Square, absolute wonderful historic neighborhood. Um, first historic district west of the Mississippi.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

I did not realize that. Okay. And we are housed in a Victorian um old wire factory.

Rehabbing the Historic Wire Factory + Fire Setback

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Um, the part of the factory that we're in is about 130 years old. Wow. Yes. I love that. Yes, yeah. So it was very fun um rehabbing, repurposing, reusing. Um, that whole process uh, you know, took well over a year. And um, but it it just it stands for Lafayette Square. I mean, it's just all about that neighborhood. Um, just a really neat opportunity that we had um to find that space and um and utilize it.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, I think I just love that space and that area. Actually, I don't know if you know, but our sauce office used to be in Lafayette. Absolutely. So every chance I got, I would walk right by Squires and sometimes I would even uh proof pages of the magazine with my feet in that fountain right outside your door. So it was I spent a lot of use of it. Yeah, spent a lot of time there. So tell us what that process was like rehabbing that building.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

So, you know, I uh uh just a little bit of a backstory on that. We were um probably in our maybe fourth or fifth month of rehabbing, like you know, we were already, you know, the floor had already been demoed, we'd already started working on um, you know, plumbing and whatnot. So the the the factory buildings themselves, there's five of them. And um in September of 2000, um one evening, one of them caught on fire. Oh no, which pushed the entire um project back a year. We we were gonna be opening, you know, around that January. We didn't open until the following October. Oh no. So yeah, so it was pretty devastating. Um however, no, no one was hurt. Good. Um, the the the layout of the other buildings, of course, changed a little bit. Um they put in a wonderful uh courtyard and pool because of it. So it's fun. It really, it really did change, but it it was it was for the better. Um, I think that design really worked out well. But anyway, um, yeah, so we had this fire and we, you know, had to figure out wow, we've already been working on this for a year. Yeah. How is that gonna work with with what we need to do to make a living? You know, what what's it gonna do to the delay, you know, the delay for the space? And is it, you know, is it still gonna work? Is the bank still gonna be there? So um the support was overwhelming. It was amazing. Um fortunately, the fire didn't have any impact on our space, just you know, kind of smoke damage, some w water damage. Um, but it did stop the whole, the whole project for for quite a few months until all the insurance

Moving Forward + Designing the Space

SPEAKER_00 4:10

was worked out. But anyway, it was great. Um, we we ended up moving along and and uh the developers along with our contractors, along with our bankers, um, were supportive. And just, you know, as soon as things got worked out, um, we just moved forward. Um, so it was it was to talk about the space a little bit more. So exposed brick, um, big open floor plan, um, lots of wood beams. Um it was a historic project, so everything had to go back to its original. Like so all the windows that had been there um were you know bumped back out and and and put back in as if it was when it was built back in the 1800s. Um, but just that rehab was great, you know, pecan shells to sandblast the brick. Really? Yeah, amazing. Okay. Lots of um non-supporting beams had to be taken out because they, you know, they one were either rotting or or had to be repaired. But we are reable to uh repurpose lots of them into furniture for the restaurant. Um, you know, just that whole feel of a an old factory and being able to reuse those parts from from the wire factory was really uh a big part of um what that space looks like and what it stands for. So Squires SQ is for Lafayette Square. Okay. And the wires is for the wire factory that was originally there. Very clever. Yeah, I love

Sponsor Break (4 Hands Brewing Company)

SPEAKER_00 5:42

that.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Our podcast sponsor is Forehand Brewing Company, which is celebrating 10 years of Citywide here in St. Louis. The 10th anniversary celebration will feature collaborations with fellow iconic St. Louis companies, including Sauce on the Side, High Point Drive-in, Sugar Fire Smokehouse, Gus's Pretzel Shop, Fitz's Root Beer, Blue City Deli, STL Toasted, Strange Donuts, Peacemaker, Lobster and Crab Company, Clementine's Ice Cream, Strange Donuts,

The Menu: Midwestern Comfort + House-Smoked Favorites

SPEAKER_01 6:10

and more. Okay. Now, why don't you walk us through the menu? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Um, we are very Midwestern. I love it. Don't pretend to be anything other. Um, got some nice twists, lots of nice elevations, lots of comfort food. Um, you know, thinking about, you know, local um farmers and and butchers and whatnot. We smoke all of our own meats. Um, we've had uh, gosh, we probably have eight or nine items on our menu that we opened with. Oh, really? So like our smoked beef brisket, our smoked salmon. So we bring in salmon every week and and cure it and cold smoke it. So it's it's by by saying cold smoked, you're not smoking anything um over the 250 degree mark. So it's it's a low smoke and it's it's slow and you know, so salmon is only taking about an hour and a half, but it just gives it this this perfect amount of of char and and goldenness. Um, it's beautiful. It's one of our brunch staples, which of course brunch is a huge um uh meal period at Squires on Saturday and Sunday. Um, we have been utilizing local farmers since we opened. So before it was, you know, super popular and and talked about, um, we we have um uh just an amazing um staff that you know is is great at following the recipes, um giving their input if they feel like something needs to be changed, giving us ideas.

Adapting the Menu Over Time (Recession + Pandemic)

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Um so we run those through in specials a lot throughout the week. Um but we're we're we're we haven't tried to change what we've been for 25 years, but we have had to pivot many times for many reasons. You know, if if if you can't get you know this particular ingredient or you're in the middle of a recession and and things are just too expensive, or you have a pandemic and you can't get anything. Yeah, that's a problem. Right. So um, but through and through all of that, um, you know, we pretty much have have stuck to who we are and and that we, you know, we're simplistic, but um we want to just do it right and make things everything, you know, everything tastes great. And um we've got a a great group uh on staff, along with my daughter AJ, who's our GM, um, in working on nice craft cocktails. Oh, fun. Um and changing them, you know, seasonally. Okay. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So that sounds lovely. Yeah. And it seems to be working here at the 25-year mark. Right. Now I know that you are big on seasonal veggies and doing fun things with those. So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

We are. So um not only do we grow things ourselves,

Local Sourcing + Farmers + Seasonal Ingredients

SPEAKER_00 8:57

we also, of course, you know, have sourced um many farmers throughout the years. Um, we have quite a few vegetarian and vegan options on our menu. Um, that was one thing that we pivoted to um shortly after we opened. So maybe, you know, within that first five-year mark, we really um found that that was a really good uh niche for us to make sure that we were attracting, you know, those folks that, you know, want those really great fresh ingredients, but also um don't eat meat or or or are vegan um in their eating habits. So um, yeah, so our noodle is vegetable lasagna, not only uh gluten-free, um, but the vegetables are are great. We try to keep that particular dish um very consistent with the same vegetables all throughout the year. Uh, but when we're talking about any of the other, you know, items that we're putting in salads or we're bringing on as sides, uh, we try to do as as much as we can fresh and local. Okay. Um, even throughout the the winter, we're able to source, you know, fresh tomatoes, uh, which is great. Where do you get those? So um, you know, we've had several growers throughout the years. Um, ours particularly in the summertime, but to supplement what we need in the summertime and throughout the rest of the year, we use uh tomato Tony. Okay. So he's amazing. He does a great job. We also source a lot of our local eggs from him as well. Um, but he's a uh a really good uh independent um grower and producer here in St. Louis.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Nice. Okay. I love fresh tomatoes.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

I know it's great. Off season. Very lucky. Yeah. So tell us about what you grow. What we

Growing Herbs, Flowers + Garden Sourcing

SPEAKER_00 10:47

grow. So we are able to grow all of our fresh flowers that we sell in the market and that we also have on our tables in the season. So spring, summer, and fall. Okay. Um, and then all of our fresh herbs that we use um in every single menu item. So it's, you know, all of our sage for our sausage and sage gravy, um, our basil for, you know, all the different things that our basil goes in. Um uh we do um a lot of the herbs that we need for our drinks. Um, you know, so that could be rosemary. That could be I love an herby cocktail. Yes, exactly. So um, yeah, so pretty much every, you know, parsley, cilantro, um I like I talked about our rosemary, three or four different kinds of basil. Love it. Uh, it's great. Yeah. Lots of peppers. Um, and uh, like I talked about, oh, our cucumbers. So they grow on all of our fencing in our yard. I live in Lafayette Square as well. So we live on three lots that we are able to utilize throughout the season and do some great planting.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Love that. Okay. Now uh tell us about your market.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

So I have a lot to talk about our market. Tell us everything. We when we opened, we opened as Squire's Restaurant and Market. So we had um our retail market and it was twice the size as it is now.

The Original Market + Early Vision

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Um it it we really we really marketed it to be a place that folks could come in and get essentials, you know, folks that live in the neighborhood, um especially in wireworks as well, because you know, that's you know, 80 lofts are in there and there's you know, you know, 150-ish odd um residents. So milk, breads, butter, eggs, bacon, whatnot. Um, and then some other, you know, kind of dry essentials as well. Uh, and then we also had, you know, grab and go, you know, lots of things that we made in our kitchen. Um, we, you know, wines and beers and you know, so it was fairly a fairly substantial urban market. Um lots of gifty items as well. But um it it didn't uh it took off the let maybe the first uh four or five years of Squires, but then it kind of you know didn't really grab on as much as I wanted it to. And it was kind of our front door, you know, on 18th Street. So it was really important to me to to, you know, really do

Recession Changes + Restructuring the Business

SPEAKER_00 13:22

it right and and and keep it uh um you know fresh and and uh talk to the neighbors and see what they needed and and you know just to keep uh that quality and those items in. Um recession. So 2008, 2009, it it really changed the scope of our restaurant. Um, you know, we had a couple things going on. We had the market, um, which, you know, just it just again, I I just didn't feel like it was holding its own. Um we had the bar, you know, which was a bar that you could smoke in. Oh wow. Right. And then we had a restaurant that was in another separate uh place, you know, all the way to the the west of the space. And we had our big huge banquet space, the annex. And um it some things needed to change. Um the market went away, sadly. Oh um, the the restaurant dining room became a smaller banquet space so that we could uh, you know, really um kind of connect with those folks that are looking for smaller um places to have showers and whatnot. The bar became non-smoking uh even before St. Louis City non-smoking, yep. Um so that area became the bar and the restaurant. So the market had gone away. And it just it that was that never sat right with me. Um COVID. Another tough time, right? Um, we needed a market, we needed a grocery store, we needed a place for people, you know, could come in and grab essentials that didn't want to go to the grocery store, um,

Reopening & Reinventing the Market (COVID → Today)

SPEAKER_00 15:10

that, you know, just needed, you know, some bread and milk or some sandwiches or you know, whatever they needed. Uh the market opened again. So this is what 10 years later, essentially 10, 11 years later, and half the size. Um I thought the focus was pretty good. I mean, there was a reason for it. Yeah. Um, you know, so that that happened in late 2020. Um last year, so it would have been 2025, AJ, our general manager, said, We need a better focus for this market. We need it to be perfect. We need people to want to come to the market not just because they're you know, need a gallon of milk. Okay, you know, we we need we need to think about this. She's she wanted to close it for you know several weeks and do this whole revamp. She had all these ideas, um uh kind of laid it out, you know, wrote everything down, talked about what it could be. Um, we enlisted one of our um one of uh a staff member who had worked for us for years, Mara, um, who just has a great vision and look for everything, and she actually works for us full-time now. Um her and AJ completely transformed that market to uh you know a grab and go that you just come in and you see it, you know it was made that day. It's yeah, everything's dated, it's it's fresh, it's a little bit different from the restaurant. So you're not having, you know, you're not getting um menu items, so to speak, that you could just order. You know, it's it's been well thought out, but a hundred percent local. I mean, we've got you know, uh our you know, from our our uh teas and coffees and books, um, different pastas, um, but a very uh large focus on um items made from our kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Okay, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, and it's really done well. We have um again, half the size, right? And um hours completely streamlined um for when people were coming in and extended a little bit, you know, to kind of get that that evening, you know, the folks that are on their way home. Um very gifty, lots of really nice local gifts that you can buy. But um, our sales have just increased. It did what they wanted it to do.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

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Family Business + Working with Her Daughter

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I love that. Yep. And what's that like having your daughter such an integral part of your business? Yeah, it's pretty special. It sounds like it.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yep. So when when we started the project, um uh AJ and um our son Max were uh nine and ten. Okay. So, so pretty young. Yeah. And I'd already been in, you know, the business, you know, restaurants and private clubs and whatnot. So so they knew what it was like. Um, but they really had to spend a lot of time at Squires. Yeah. So watching them grow up, um, Max was also in the business with Squires. He doesn't live in the city any longer. Um, but AJ chose to make it her career.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

And she she's got a great vision, she's very calming. She's a little opposite from me. Um, I I have a tendency to stay in the back. I see. She's very out front and very um, she's great with the staff. Good. Um, she, you know, is she asks all the right questions still. Um, and she's a mom and and a wife, and she's just she does a great job.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

What a nice family business. Yep. Okay. Now let's take it back a little bit. So tell me about how your career led you to opening Squires. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Um, so I was having kids. Um, so this is the very early 90s, and um pretty unsure which direction I wanted to go in for a career. Um, I had been in um the commercial photography industry for a lot of years in before college and through college and food styling.

Bethany’s Career Journey in Hospitality

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Um, really learned a lot from um that industry in regards to a hobby. Okay. So photography was a hobby of mine. Um, and funny enough, another hobby of mine was cooking and gardening. Um, and uh I had the opportunity to work for John Gears, who owned the Webster Girl and Cafe um through the 80s, and then he sold it in the mid-90s. So I was working for him, learning the business. I actually went to work for him as a hostess, and then I started managing for him, and then he also taught me a lot on the admin side and the financial side of it. Uh, he actually was also my mentor when I was opening Squires, which was great. Nice. Um, after he sold uh the business, I went into the private club sector. So I worked for the Missouri Athletic Club and the Junior League as a banquet manager, food and beverage manager, um, and then food and beverage director at the junior league when they had their um their facility in town and country. Both of those opportunities were amazing, completely different from an a la carte independent restaurant, right? Um one of one of the things that it taught me was how to um work events and have events and prep for events and and how the events could fit into um a smaller restaurant as well. Um so so I have this great experience. Um in both cases, I had about 3,000 bosses. So you think about uh members of private clubs there, they're your boss. Yeah, that's tough. Yep, they're your boss, and you know, met a lot of amazing people, a lot. With my bosses there. Sure. But I really thought it was probably 1998, going into 1999, that I would like to be my own boss. That's nice. Yeah.

Deciding to Open SqWires

SPEAKER_00 22:13

And I had the experience of of both, both the events and the restaurant. And I thought, okay, I I can do this. Took me a long time to um find a space. A long time. And uh I lived in Lafayette Square and didn't look in Lafayette Square. Oh, really? No, I did not. I I looked in Clayton. I looked uh on Wash Ave when when it was kind of up and coming. Um there was quite a few buildings for sale uh and quite a few spaces to rent. Um, you know, I I I already had had my business plan of a a restaurant and an event space. So those are great buildings for something like that. Not knowing how foot traffic would work there, it it just didn't materialize. I looked in Clayton. Um uh going back to John Gears, he he was um instrumental in uh helping me find places and and what I should go look at, and you know, just because of all of his experience. Um we have a neighborhood organization called the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee. Um, and they have monthly meetings, and I was a volunteer in the neighborhood, and and uh my kids grew up there, um lived in many dwellings there, and so I was a big I was on the board of the LSRC. I I did a lot of volunteering, used to do their newspaper, but anyway, would of course be going to the monthly meetings, and there was um a group of developers who had come to this one particular meeting and they were presenting um their plan for opening um purchasing Western Wire, which was the business that was in the the five buildings um in Lafayette Square, and uh building 80 open floor plan lofts, um,

Finding the Location in Lafayette Square

SPEAKER_00 24:22

some resid I'm sorry, uh both residential and um commercial, and putting a small deli in for their their residence and um you know everybody thought that was gonna be great, you know. Oh my gosh, that these these five buildings that you know half of them have been vacant for, you know, however many years. This is one big large city block right in the middle of Lafayette Square. And um, so it was the neighborhood was very excited about it. Good. And um, you know, it just they they had these great beautiful, you know, renderings and blueprints that they were showing us, and it just really got me thinking, especially when they mentioned deli. I thought they don't need a deli. Yeah. Maybe they need a restaurant and a banquet space because they have all of this space. And um I had gotten the developers' names and uh some of us knew, you know, them through through other neighborhood um events that we had had. And I contacted them and said, you know, listen, I I have a business plan that you I would like you to look at to see if there's an interest um for me to open my restaurant and banquet facility here. Um and they said, yeah, let's let's talk. And, you know, so I sent them over my my business plan. We had some meetings and they were very interested. Um, and in the meantime, I'm thinking, okay, you guys want a retail component with this deli and you know, people that could come in and you know grab some things. So that's when my market concept was added into the business plan.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Um yeah. So it just, you know, it who would have known? You know, I had lived there for well over 10 years at that point in time. I just really never looked in the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah, well, it all worked out.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

It did. It was great. Do you walk to work? I do.

Life in the Neighborhood + Favorite STL Spots

SPEAKER_00 26:20

That's so nice. Yeah, uh, you can see the restaurant from my house. Oh, good. Yeah. And like check up on everybody. That's fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Okay. Well, when you're not at your own restaurant, where do you like to eat around town?

SPEAKER_00 26:33

So we were um, my husband Tom and I, uh, he's an architect and he has designed many restaurants. Oh, really? Um, the one that I'm going to name, he did not design, but but we frequented it. So Duff's in the West in the West End. Um, we probably three or four times a month, we we will talk and we'll say, you know, we've got a few. We're you want to go to Duffs? Uh-huh. And we're like, yeah, I want to go to Duffs. That's fine. We can't go to Duffs. So uh, but anyway, um, so uh we love um Bowwood. Oh, yes. Great brunch, gorgeous space. Um and and I'm gonna tell you, we do not eat out very often. Oh, okay. We just don't. It's you know, when you're not at the restaurant, a lot of times you just want to be home and and and we both cook, um, which is great, or we'll grab something from the restaurant. Um, but uh so we love Bowwood. We love Peacemaker. Oh, one of our favorite because we love oysters. Squires used to have oysters every Friday. We had an oyster bar. Um uh we shucked them for you. And it just, you know, it it it got expensive. Yeah. And people just, you know, weren't really wanting to pay. And I couldn't do them for 50 cents each anymore. No. And so so that was that was one really neat um program that we had on Fridays. But we we go to Peacemaker and we have oysters. Good. Yep, a couple times a month. Um that's we're pretty regular there. Fun.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah. Okay. Was there anything else you want people to know?

SPEAKER_00 28:09

You know, I think that um knowing the neighborhood that we're in and the fact that since Squires has opened about 25 years ago, uh, there are now five or six very well established restaurants and room

Final Thoughts on Community + Longevity

SPEAKER_00 28:34

for us all. And we're just really lucky to be able to have St. Louis as a home. Um, especially the city. Yeah. You know, there's just there's there's just a lot of things that the city um, you know, has had to work through and is still working through. And I am just really glad that we're a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Yeah, it's my favorite neighborhood in the city for sure. Perfect. I love going back over there. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Yeah, beautiful park.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Love it. Okay, thanks for stopping by. Welcome.