Springfield’s Commercial Street has always been about journeys. The railroad was what prompted the area’s growth in the late 1800s when the train rolled through the now historic district, back when it was part of a separate town from Springfield proper.
In more recent years, as economic changes brought blows to the historic district, it has traveled to make a comeback. It has evolved from mostly empty storefronts to a vibrant, culturally diverse district with restaurants representing many cultures, shops, and will soon have a restored notable footbridge.
La Roux Bistro is a new French-inspired restaurant on Springfield’s Commercial Street.
Another reason to celebrate: La Roux Bistro, a new restaurant where patrons dine on fare inspired by France, New Orleans (and Louisiana in general) but with intentional ties back to the Ozarks. Its first official opening day is July 21.
Joseph Gidman’s La Roux Bistro opens in July 2025. It’s one of four food-based businesses he owns on Springfield’s Commercial Street.
Blending and fusion are keys to the new restaurant, says Joseph Gidman, the eatery's owner, noting those efforts even come through its name. The "La" is for Louisiana and "Roux" refers to a base creation of flour and fat used in cooking to thicken sauces and other dishes.
“That fusion is also kind of what we want the restaurant to represent and how that same fusion is actually here in the Ozarks,” Gidman says. One example he shares is Ste. Genevieve, said to be the first permanent European settlement in Missouri. It’s located along the state’s eastern boundary and was founded by 1750. “We have such a strong culture here, but that culture is a mix of that French influence.”
Fusion extends to La Roux’s sense of place, too, which merges more than a century of history with having a place in the present.
Its home was built in 1885, notes the painted numbers at the three-story edifice's top. The stately structure at Commercial Street and Robberson Avenue found various uses over its history, eventually hiding a secret only rediscovered in recent years: A stone-built, cold-storage cellar. It was discovered when the building was being rehabbed – offering unique potential and challenges as work was done to transform the space.
Now the reveal has arrived.
Today, it’s one of three dining areas where patrons sample lunch and dinner dishes developed by Steven Snyder, who spent time in New Orleans conducting research, and Peter Tinson, a classically trained French chef.
"I said, 'Go make reservations at every single restaurant and eat, eat, eat," Gidman says of Snyder’s time down south, noting the experience including booking “reservations months in advance” so that all the best places could be sampled.
Those experiences lead to a La Roux menu that includes smothered redfish, shrimp and grits, and eggplant Napoleon. A lunch menu is a bit lighter, offering sandwiches (on house-baked baguettes) including de bris (deep-braised beef, fontina cheese, horseradish cream sauce, dressed with pickle, lettuce and tomato) and a shrimp po boy (fried gulf shrimp, citrus pepper aioli, dressed with pickle, lettuce and tomato).
Desserts include gateau fromage (cheesecake with a warm Banana Foster rum finish) and coconut cream mousseline (a vegan coconut cream pudding of passionfruit and blood orange, candied mint and almond brittle). And, of course, there’s a variety of drinks that fit the restaurant’s vibe.
Those flavors will evolve dependent on ingredients and even hyper-local opportunities — like creating file, a seasoning pronounced fe-lay from sassafras leaves and sourced from Gidman’s own rural Ozarks property.
“Right now, we're actually gathering sassafras leaves, and we're going to try them out to create our own file for our file gumbo,” Gidman says of the flavorful stew. “You don't see the gumbo on the menu right now, because once we have enough sassafras leaves and we make our spice, we'll only sell the gumbo until we're out, until next year comes along, and I can get more sassafras leaves from my property on the Niangua (River).”
La Roux, too, represents a journey for Gidman, who moved to the Ozarks as a teenager from the East Coast and has now opened four food-based businesses on Commercial Street. Others include Cafe Cusco, a Peruvian restaurant; Van Gogh's Eeterie, with Dutch pancakes and other fare from the Netherlands; and Chabom Tea + Spices, a market of bulk goods and more.
While those operations are businesses, Gidman says they represent more than entrepreneurial spirit in his own life.
The street-level dining area of the La Roux Bistro features lots of light and a mural inspired by Ozarks native and music star Chappell Roan.
“My degree was in art and I remember when my art teacher said, ‘Make your art with something you know. Something you’ve experienced,’" he says. "Everybody says, ‘You’re an entrepreneur; you’re a restauranter,’ and I say, ‘No, I’m an artist.’ This is my art form. This is what I stress about and want to make and want to build — and once it’s done, I want to do another one.”
And even as Gidman sits at the opening of his latest restaurant, he says those future thoughts are already bubbling – but with inspiration that is fundamentally rooted in the Ozarks, not necessarily growing “there” “here.”
The facade proclaims La Roux’s new home was constructed in 1885.
“I started this journey bringing other cultures here, but I think what you're going to see as we continue this journey is we're going to build the culture here,” he says. “The other concepts that we have are going to be actually very Ozarkian and very Midwestern and very Americana but not in a ‘sugar cookie’ kind of way. I hate Wonder Bread.
“It's going to be that sourdough starter that you've had in your family for five generations.”
Click here to connect with La Roux Bistro.
More Resources
