KIRKWOOD, MO – August 20, 2026 (STL.News) Lona’s Lil Eats, the acclaimed St. Louis restaurant known for its oversized rice paper wraps, handmade dumplings, and Asian-inspired cuisine, has expanded into St. Louis County with a second location at 612 W. Woodbine Drive in Kirkwood.
The expansion represents a major milestone for chef and co-owner Lona Luo and business partner Pierce Powers III, whose restaurant business traces its roots to a small operation at Soulard Farmers Market nearly two decades ago.
The Kirkwood restaurant celebrated its grand opening Friday, August 14, with regular service beginning the following day. It joins the original Lona’s Lil Eats at 2199 California Avenue in St. Louis’s Fox Park neighborhood.
St. Louis Restaurant Review has published an expanded restaurant feature on the new Kirkwood location, examining its menu, larger kitchen, dining space, history and the story behind Lona’s distinctive cooking.
Readers can find the complete restaurant feature at St. Louis Restaurant Review. Lona’ss Lil Eats takes its next step in Kirkwood.
The opening gives Kirkwood diners access to an established St. Louis restaurant, not a newly created concept. Lona’ss Lil Eats has spent years building a loyal following with food influenced by Luo’s upbringing in China’s Yunnan province and the culinary traditions across parts of southern China and Southeast Asia.
Luo began selling food at Soulard Farmers Market in 2008. The concept eventually developed intoLona’ss Lil Eats in Fox Park, where the restaurant became particularly well known for its giant rice paper wraps.
The restaurant’s reputation eventually extended well beyond its neighborhood.
Luo was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest three consecutive times, in 2018, 2019, and 2020, bringing national recognition to a restaurant that grew from decidedly modest beginnings. (stlmag.com)
The Kirkwood opening now begins another chapter.
Signature rice paper wraps have arrived in Kirkwood. Lona’s has brought many dishes from its original restaurant to the new location.
The giant rice paper wraps remain a defining menu item. Customers can customize their meals by selecting a wrap, plate or flour tortilla and pairing it with different proteins, vegetables, noodles, rice and house sauces.
Protein choices include grilled chicken, spicy tofu, grilled steak, smoked turkey, smoked brisket, and sautéed shrimp.
Customers can combine those selections with options such as chopped salad, stir-fried rice, jasmine rice and glass noodles before choosing from sauces including spicy sesame, Lona-Q, smoked vinaigrette and lime-ginger-peanut.
The menu extends beyond wraps.
Handmade dumplings, spring rolls, village bamboo stew, stir-fried glass noodles, salads, noodle dishes, and desserts round out a menu that can accommodate customers looking for very different dining experiences.
Plant-based selections are integrated throughout the menu rather than treated as an afterthought, another characteristic that has helpedLona’ss appeal to groups with different dietary preferences.
A larger home givesLona’ss room to grow
One of the most important differences between the two restaurants is size.
Luo and Powers purchased the Kirkwood property in 2025. The building previously housed 612 Kitchen & Cocktails and sits near St. Louis CommunityCollege’ss Meramec campus.
The property provides considerably more room than the original Fox Park restaurant.
The newLona’ss dining area reportedly offers 84 seats across 36 tables, plus a private room suitable for events. (stlmag.com)
More important operationally is the expanded kitchen.
The additional production capacity should helpLona’ss serve the Kirkwood dining room while expanding catering and other parts of the business that were harder to accommodate at the smaller original location.
That makes the new restaurant more than simply a second storefront.
Kirkwood gives the business infrastructure for future growth.
LonaLuo’ss background remains central to the restaurant
Although the Kirkwood restaurant is larger, Lona’s Lil Eats has maintained the personal elements that helped distinguish the original.
Luo grew up in the Xishuangbanna region ofChina’ss Yunnan province, an area bordering Laos and Myanmar and influenced by several culinary traditions.
Those influences appear throughout her cooking.
Rather than describing Lona’s as belonging strictly to one national cuisine, the restaurant draws on southern Chinese and Southeast Asian flavors while incorporating Luo’s own experiences and approach to cooking.
The restaurant’s tea program offers another connection to that background. Lona’s serves loose-leaf teas, with varieties sourced through personal connections in China. Tea has deep cultural and agricultural roots in Yunnan, making the beverage program a natural extension of therestaurant’ss broader identity.
The new Kirkwood restaurant also incorporates family possessions, textiles, artwork, and other personal elements into its interior.
The restaurant also displaysLuo’ss three James Beard semifinalist recognitions.
Kirkwood keepsLona’ss casual service model.
Despite moving into a substantially larger space, Lona’s has retained its accessible counter-service approach.
Customers place their orders at the counter before finding a table, with employees delivering prepared dishes when they are ready.
The system lets the restaurant maintain a casual atmosphere while the kitchen handles dishes that require considerably more preparation than a typical fast-casual operation.
The larger restaurant also creates opportunities for private gatherings and potentially a broader beverage program.
For existing customers, perhaps the biggest question will be consistency.
Independent restaurants often face challenges when moving beyond a single location. Recipes, preparation, staffing, and service all have to translate successfully without losing the characteristics that established the original restaurant’s reputation. Lona’ss has placed an experienced operating team in Kirkwood, with Nick Powers overseeing operations and chef Phil Kurrus leading the kitchen, according to St. Louis Magazine. (stlmag.com)
From Soulard Farmers Market to two restaurants
The Kirkwood opening is particularly notable when viewed against Lona’s Lil Eats ‘ history.
The business did not begin with a large restaurant investment or a multi-location expansion plan.
It started at a farmers market.
From there, Luo’s cooking developed a following strong enough to support the Fox Park restaurant. That restaurant gained local recognition, followed by national attention throughLuo’ss James Beard semifinalist nominations.
Now the concept has reached Kirkwood.
Luo and Powers have also discussed eventually takingLona’ss Lil Eats into markets outside St. Louis. Before that happens, Kirkwood offers an opportunity to show the concept can operate successfully in a larger format while maintaining the food and hospitality associated with the original.
For St. Louis diners, the expansion means there are now two opportunities to experience the restaurant.
For Kirkwood, it brings a locally established restaurant with nearly two decades of history behind it into the community.
And forLona’ss Lil Eats, the opening represents another step in an unusual St. Louis restaurant story — one that began at Soulard Farmers Market and has grown into an increasingly recognizable local brand.
Read the complete restaurant feature.
St. Louis Restaurant Review has published additional coverage of Lona’s Lil Eats in Kirkwood, including more information about the restaurant’s history, menu, dining room, and expansion.
Read the full feature at StLouisRestaurantReview.com.
