A restaurant next to a flour mill is opened by sisters with a vision.
Sisters Sheri Perkins and Renee Textor had never worked in a restaurant a day in their lives before deciding to open one themselves. “We just always wanted to do something together,” Sheri says. “So, we just decided, why not?”
They bought a piece of property in Springfield where a flour mill dating to the 1800s had sat abandoned for 50 years. At first, they wanted to build the restaurant in the silo adjoining the mill, but it proved too challenging. “So, we just did a pivot and built a new building,” Sheri says. The Table, which opened in 2025, was built with height so it wouldn’t be dwarfed by the silo. Its roofline just touches the silo, connecting the old with the new.
When they first opened, “It was insane,” Sheri says, both of them working 96 hours a week. What they didn’t anticipate was the restaurant taking off from the start. “We opened much busier than we imagined, and it kind of blew up.”
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The Table is casual dining. “Basically, our vibe is come as you are, and for any reason you would need a table, we would like to offer you one,” Renee says. The sisters come from a long line of cooks, and their menu is full of family recipes, along with dishes they have created from foods they discovered while traveling.
The Double Smash Burger is a big hit with guests: an Angus brisket and short rib patty with bacon jam and Gouda on a brioche bun, served with chips. The Cajun Chicken Pasta, their mom’s recipe, is also popular. “We offer a really good mix of scratch cooking and then some sourced items,” Renee says, “but also a lot of love.”
What caught my attention when I entered the restaurant was the height of the ceilings, which makes the space feel expansive. Yet the decor made me feel wrapped in comfort; the new build was designed to look old, with dark wooden panels surrounding the windows and doors, dark green walls, chandeliers, wingback chairs by the fireplace, and brass accents. I didn’t care if I ate or not; just being in the space felt good.
“We wanted it to feel like when you walked in, because of the historical nature of the property, like it could have always been here,” Sheri says. They decorated in French and European styles, with a lot of antiques. The sisters convinced their contractor to incorporate a giant antique wooden shelf between the bar and kitchen, making it open yet separated. It looks like it was meant to be there, just like all the other details.
Sheri and Renee say the number one question guests ask them is what color the wall is. (Turns out it is All About Olive from Menards.) They suggested I stop by the restrooms to see the decor. There I found wallpaper depicting a bucolic scene with sheep grazing in a meadow and below that, scalloped bluegreen tile, along with candelabras, flowers, an antique sink with copper pipes, and whimsical brass animal heads mounted on the wall, such as a mouse wearing glasses.
There is a small retail space inside the restaurant that sells home goods and gifts. Sheri is a big thrifter and sells one-of-a kind finds there. “We have a little bit of something for everybody and a little bit of a price point for everybody,” Sheri says.
• 610 North Prospect Avenue, Springfield • TheTable.restaurant
This article was orginally printed in the October 2026 issue of Missouri Life.
