There’s a New Bun in Town

Marty Byrde is back! No, not the sometimes hapless, frequently manipulative, but always seemingly logical Marty Byrde of the now concluded television series Ozark. But the eponymous bar is back in the Ozarks with GastroPub food and a creative menu.

Marty Byrde’s is a bar at the Lake of the Ozarks, right on the strip just up the hill from the dam. It’s been a pub since it opened in 2021, but it has just been remodeled and opened as a new gastropub, thanks to the efforts of good friends and good chefs Cody Hill and Edgar Flotron.

The two friends have between them just the right experience to pull this off. Cody ran his own bar and restaurant in Fayette, Mo., and then became a sous chef in two different restaurants in the Hamptons before returning as Executive Chef to the Country Club in Columbia, Mo. Edgar worked at a fine dining restaurant in St. Louis. They join Craig Wood, the owner of Marty Byrdes, as partners in the kitchen.

The friends have talked about opening their own food truck or restaurant since right before the pandemic. Cody had spent the last six months deejaying at the lake, and all the while getting to know people there. The opportunity found them, and they jumped on it. The creative menu offers shareable such as Edgar’s Smoked Wings (10 wings, smoked, sauced, grilled, sauced again, available with a dip that ranges from the bayou, Thai curry, chipotle BBQ, or Asian chili) to crostini shrimp or crab and shrimp dip, a combination of spinach, parmesan, applewood blue cheese, and basil pesto.

Our party of eight was mainly in the mood for burgers, which ranged from the “You’re My Boy Blue” burger with thick-cut, house-cured bacon, applewood blue cheese, and bayou sauce, to the Marty Burger, with grilled onions, bacon, chipotle BBQ, and cheddar, or the Cartel Burger, with chipotle aioli, jalapeno slaw, and ghost pepper cheese, and the bacon as well. We were pleased with the homemade buns, hand-rolled and baked fresh, maybe the best buns at the Lake! (At least, we amused ourselves with that tagline and suggested it to Cody.)

Marty Byrde’s is surprisingly one of the few places you can get catfish at the lake, according to one local Lake resident, and it was very good, he said. In addition, every sauce is made from scratch, and they grill the fruits that go in some of the sauces.

Roasted cauliflower as a shareable and roasted tomato penne as an entree looked interesting and should satisfy vegetarians, but you can also order the penne with chicken or shrimp. Other entrees include Cody’s cut 10-ounce bistro steak with steak butter and Cody’s potatoes, lemon pepper catfish, a 10-ounce sugar-brined pork chop with apple butter, and more.

Our group stuck with wine or beer, but fine cocktails are important in a gastropub. The cocktails and Marty Mules list include such items as Darlene’s Killer Lemonade, blueberry rum with juiced lemon and lemonade, or The Snell, Jameson Orange, juiced orange, ginger beer, and bitters. In particular, we think we should try for lunch or a substantial snack, a Bloody Mary, called Bloody Marty of course, which comes in a glass rimmed in tajin, house-made tomato juice, and a garnish of bacon, pork belly, and a smoked chicken wing.

We didn’t save room for dessert but will next time because we want to try the chocolate chip trilogy, chocolate chip cookie sandwiches, stuffed with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

Friends Cody and Edgar intend to offer deejay dance music after dinner hours, and a simple late-night menu of three or four items starting Memorial Day.

Check out the walls for Marty Byrde quotes from the television series.