ST. LOUIS – A new St. Louis restaurant is getting all the buzz around town.
It’s in the former location of Red Oak Biscuits at 1330 Washington Avenue.
‘Fried,’ just opened on Washington Avenue and it’s set up as a marijuana dispensary, like one you’d find in Colorado or Amsterdam, but you pick a different kind of ‘nug.’
Owner Derek Schulze said they’re not getting people high, they’re just presenting the culture.
"It can be a chicken nugget, cauliflower nugget, catfish nuggets which are incredibly popular," Schulze said. "You can load it or you can roll it up just like you do with nuggets - in a burrito!"
The restaurant plans to infuse meals with CBD.
Schulze is a Missouri farm boy turned Hindu Monk, turned restauranteur. "That's how we break our parents down to accepting us for anything, right? Just do something really crazy," Schulze said.
"It is on the nose, it is right in peoples face and given the climate around getting fried in the US this food celebrates the years old prohibition coming to an end. Just as speakeasies days were over, and drinking became a celebrated part of American culture, Fried aims to celebrate a new culture. This culture is invented by our generation and plays off the foundation laid by the previous counterculture. Now counterculture becomes culture."
A marketer at heart, this menu has been by far the most fun for Schulze to help develop. "This is, by all means, a passion project," Schulze said. "It's designed for me and my friends. That’s why I get the demographic so well."
‘Fried’ invites anyone to expand their horizons.
Schulze has high hopes for his business. “I didn't want to sit in my apartment and eat chicken nuggets by myself, I wanted people to line up and eat them with me,” he said.
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