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Frankie Martin's Garden now open in Cottleville

The area's newest food truck garden features a synthetic turf area, a covered outdoor beer pavilion, live music, and a reservations-only whiskey and wine bar.

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Frankie Martin’s Garden, Cottleville’s long-awaited food truck park and entertainment complex, opens today, July 1.

Named in honor of late Cottleville resident Frank J. Martin, it's the metro area's fourth food truck garden, following 9 Mile Garden (9375 Gravois), Soulcial Kitchen (127 N. Belt East, Swansea, Illinois), and The Flock Food Truck Park and Bar (210 Ridge, Alton, Illinois), which opened last month.

Longtime restaurateur Brian Hardesty is the managing partner, the same position he holds at 9 Mile Garden. “Everything good that we learned about building and operating 9 Mile Garden is incorporated into Frankie Martin's Garden,” he previously told SLM. Open seven days a week for lunch, dinner, and eventually late night, “it's definitely going to take the food truck garden to the next level,” Hardesty says.

The 2.74-acre complex includes a food truck staging area, a 2,400-square-foot beer pavilion featuring local craft beers, a stage for live music, and, eventually, will include a 26-foot LED wall. Throughout the property are shaded picnic tables, pergolas, and pavilions, along with a pickleball court and sand volleyball court. There’s even a parking lot for golf carts.

The site can handle a maximum of 10 food trucks at a time, from a roster of approximately 30 food trucks that Hardesty has assembled. The following will be on site on July 1:

Lunch

Dinner

The complex is open from 11 a.m.–midnight. Lunch and dinner will be served seven days a week from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–9 p.m. The daily food truck lineup will be posted every day by 10 a.m.

Frankie Martin’s entertainment calendar includes trivia on Monday and Thursday nights, as well as live music on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, with more events to come.

A 2,400-square-foot covered beer pavilion features up to 40 local and national brews. The most notable characteristic, however, is the reservations-only wine and whiskey house, the renovated 130-year-old brick former home of Frank J. Martin, a longtime Cottleville resident who died in 2020. The 770-square-foot space has indoor seating, a patio outside, and can be reserved for private events. “The House,” as it's being called, includes more than 230 whiskeys and a large selection of premium wine, with the latter available for purchase to consume on premises or to take home.

The Cask Club ($65 per month and available to 18 members only) includes a storage locker for wines and spirits, special pricing on whiskey and wine, a complimentary bottle from one of the signature barrel picks each year, a Cask Club glass, and a free pour on the member’s birthday, when a toast to Frankie Martin might be appropriate.