KIRKWOOD, MO - August 20, 2026 (StLouisRestaurantReview.com) Lona’s Lil Eats has expanded beyond its longtime St. Louis home with the opening of a second restaurant at 612 W. Woodbine Drive in Kirkwood, marking a major step forward for a locally grown concept that began at Soulard Farmers Market nearly two decades ago.


Chef-owner Lona Luo and business partner Pierce Powers III celebrated the Kirkwood restaurant's grand opening on Friday, August 14th. Regular service began Saturday, bringing the restaurant's signature giant rice paper wraps, handmade dumplings, noodles and other Asian-inspired dishes to St. Louis County.


The expansion is significant not only because it gives customers another place to experience Lona's cooking. The much larger Kirkwood restaurant provides a substantially expanded kitchen, more dining capacity, private-event space and infrastructure intended to help the business grow its catering operations.


For a restaurant that traces its beginnings to a farmers market stall in 2008, the Kirkwood opening represents a considerable milestone.

Lona's Lil Eats grows from Soulard to Kirkwood


The story behind Lona's Lil Eats began modestly.


Luo started selling food at Soulard Farmers Market in 2008, and the concept eventually grew into its well-known restaurant at 2199 California Ave. in the Fox Park neighborhood.


Over the years, Lona's Lil Eats built a following around food that does not fit neatly into one conventional restaurant category.


Luo's cooking draws on influences from southern China and northern Thailand, as well as Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Her background in China's Yunnan province, particularly the Xishuangbanna region, remains central to the restaurant's culinary identity.


The restaurant also gained recognition well beyond its neighborhood.


Luo was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest in 2018, 2019, and 2020, honors now among the personal and professional mementos displayed inside the Kirkwood restaurant.


That history makes the second location more than another restaurant opening. It represents the expansion of a concept that developed organically in St. Louis and built its reputation over many years.

Giant rice paper wraps remain a signature


Customers familiar with the original Lona's Lil Eats should find plenty they recognize in Kirkwood.


The restaurant has brought its established menu to the new location, including its best-known giant rice paper wraps, handmade dumplings, stir-fried glass noodles, village bamboo stew, and pineapple-coconut cookies.


The create-your-own format remains an important part of the experience.


Customers can select a giant rice paper wrap, plate or flour tortilla before choosing among proteins such as grilled chicken, spicy tofu, grilled steak, smoked turkey, smoked brisket or sautéed shrimp.


Those proteins can be paired with options including chopped salad, stir-fried rice, stir-fried glass noodles, jasmine rice or cold glass noodles.


Then come the sauces.


Choices include spicy sesame, Lona-Q, smoked vinaigrette and lime-ginger-peanut, helping customers build considerably different meals from the same basic ordering system.


The restaurant's current online menu also includes spring rolls, steak and mushroom dumplings, salads, seasonal noodle bowls, children's plates, desserts and loose-leaf tea.


That degree of customization has long been one of the strengths of the Lona's concept.

Dietary flexibility remains important


Another defining characteristic of Lona's Lil Eats is its attention to different dietary needs.


Many dishes are vegan, and much of the menu can be modified to accommodate various food sensitivities and dietary restrictions.


That flexibility is especially useful for groups with different preferences.


Instead of creating a separate vegetarian menu disconnected from the restaurant's core dishes, the restaurant incorporates plant-based choices directly into the ordering system. Spicy tofu and mushroom dumplings, for example, sit alongside steak, chicken, shrimp and smoked meats.


Luo has also emphasized traditional ingredients and cooking methods, with some herbs and spices sourced through connections to her home region in China.


The restaurant's tea program follows a similar philosophy.


Yunnan has a long association with tea production and culture, and Lona's offers loose-leaf black, green, white and flower teas. According to St. Louis Magazine, the restaurant sources teas through personal connections in China, including suppliers in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.


Those details help explain why Lona's Lil Eats has developed an identity that is difficult to reduce to a simple description such as Chinese, Thai or Asian fusion.

Kirkwood gives Lona's considerably more room


The new restaurant represents a significant physical expansion.


Luo and Powers purchased the building in mid-2025. The property previously housed 612 Kitchen & Cocktails and, before that, Graham's Grill. It sits near the St. Louis Community College–Meramec campus.


The building is reported at approximately 8,000 square feet overall, while Lona's occupies roughly 4,500 square feet of the property.


City architectural documents prepared for the project identify Lona's Lil Eats as the tenant at 612 W. Woodbine and show the planned restaurant improvements and kitchen areas.


The restaurant itself has 84 seats across 36 tables, according to St. Louis Magazine, along with a private room that can accommodate special events.


The larger kitchen may be even more consequential.


It was designed to provide greater production capacity and consistency, particularly as Lona's develops its catering business. That gives the Kirkwood restaurant a role extending beyond simply serving customers who walk through its doors.

New restaurant retains the character of Fox Park


A bigger building can challenge a restaurant whose personality developed in a much smaller setting.


Luo and Powers appear to have been conscious of that risk.


Rather than turning the Kirkwood location into a generic, polished reproduction of the original restaurant, they sought to retain the colorful and personal character associated with Lona's Lil Eats.


Their daughter, Jane Powers, a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, assisted with the restaurant's décor. The dining areas combine different colors and textures, while family possessions and artwork help connect the new restaurant with Luo's heritage and the family's history.


Displayed among the pieces are hand-embroidered textiles and decorated baby carriers once used by the family.


Luo's three James Beard semifinalist recognitions are also displayed.


A community table is another deliberate element of the dining room, intended to encourage connection rather than make the restaurant feel purely transactional.


That atmosphere matters because Lona's has historically combined casual counter service with food requiring substantial preparation behind the scenes.

Familiar counter-service model continues


Despite the larger surroundings, the basic service model remains straightforward.


Customers order at the counter, collect drinks and utensils, and find a seat. Restaurant employees then deliver the prepared food to the table.


That approach keeps Lona's in the fast-casual category from a service standpoint while allowing the kitchen to concentrate on dishes that require more work than the term “fast casual” might suggest.


The Kirkwood location also plans to offer wine, craft beer and batch cocktails, subject to the restaurant receiving the necessary liquor approval.


The result should be a restaurant that can accommodate several types of visits, from a quick lunch to a more leisurely dinner or private gathering.

Experienced team leads Kirkwood operations


Expansion can create one of the most difficult tests for an independent restaurant: maintaining the food and service standards that made the original successful.


Lona's has assembled a dedicated Kirkwood team to address that challenge.


Nick Powers, a relative with restaurant experience, serves as head of operations at the Kirkwood location, while professionally trained chef Phil Kurrus leads the kitchen.


Maintaining consistency between Kirkwood and Fox Park will be particularly important because customers already have established expectations for Lona's food.


The new kitchen provides better equipment and greater capacity, but the restaurant's success will ultimately depend on whether its signature sauces, handmade dumplings, rice paper wraps, and other dishes deliver the same experience at both locations.

Kirkwood could become a model for further expansion


The second restaurant may also serve as a test for something considerably larger.


Luo and Powers have indicated that they would eventually like to take Lona's Lil Eats into other markets around the United States. The Kirkwood restaurant provides an opportunity to determine whether the concept can successfully reproduce its quality, affordability, and consistency in a larger location.


That makes Kirkwood an important proving ground.


The Fox Park restaurant demonstrated that the concept could build a loyal following. Kirkwood will help determine whether that success can be replicated while maintaining the characteristics that made Lona's distinctive in the first place.


It is a notable progression for a business that started at Soulard Farmers Market in 2008.


A farmers market stall became a restaurant. The restaurant became an acclaimed local destination. Now, the operation has grown into a two-location business with a substantially larger kitchen and ambitions extending beyond the St. Louis region.


Yet the foundation remains recognizable.


Lona's Lil Eats continues to build on Luo's cooking, giant rice paper wraps, handmade dumplings, distinctive sauces, loose-leaf teas, and a philosophy that emphasizes fresh ingredients and accommodates a wide variety of diners.


For Kirkwood, the opening brings an established St. Louis restaurant to the community, not an entirely untested concept.


For Lona's Lil Eats, it begins the next stage of a story nearly two decades in the making.


Lona's Lil Eats – Kirkwood


612 W. Woodbine Drive


Kirkwood, Missouri 63122


Phone: 314-925-8938


Hours: 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday.

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