St. Louis Trip Next Month
So next month I will be traveling to St. Louis, for my first time ever, on business for a conference. I will be there from Monday until Friday mid-day/evening.
Basically I am open to any place that is somewhat local. I will be staying at the Drury Inn that is close to the Arch, so places within a close proximity to that would be nice.
No place is out of question and I am willing to pretty much try anything. My favorite foods tend to be diner and bar food but I also want to be willing to branch out and try local things.
If anybody has any recommendations for local joints that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks ahead!
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19 Comments:
I'm not a native St. Louisan (well, I'm not even American), but
Slinger at Eat Rite is, I believe, a local food. It's near the Arch.
hmw0029 at 4:15PM on 02/18/09
You will be very near Tony's, St. Louis' traditional prestige leader, and its younger sibling, the more casual Anthony's, which does lunch, unlike Tony's. Tony's is nominally Italian, but what newbies usually don't know is that they'll cook whatever you want if they have it in the kitchen. Always at least one member of the family Bommarito on hand, usually 2 or more. Anthony's is more casual, with modern American food. Rooster, also downtown, does a great breakfast and a good lunch, in an old building that used to be a numbers shop. My favorite diner is Goody Goody, but it's waaay away from downtown. There's more, but I'm running like mad, and we have other St. Louisans around to talk, too. More later, probably, from me.
If I can shill for our blog, we talk about a lot of St. Louis food at
www.stlouiseats.typepad.com
lemons at 4:20PM on 02/18/09
I just moved from St. Louis to NYC, so I have a couple of ideas for you. Unfortunately, downtown STL (by the arch) isn't really the best part of town to find culinary delights. They just opened a Four Seasons hotel by the river that has a casino attached, and there are a couple good places in there. Cielo, in the Four Seasons, has a super-cool rooftop bar with a nice restaurant. You'll also be near Washington Avenue -- a very hip, trendy part of town with tons of restaurants. Try the Dubliner for Irish pub food and Wasabi for sushi. For a sweet treat, Ted Drewes is a St. Louis frozen custard institution, but I don't think there are any locations in downtown. http://www.teddrewes.com/Drewes.asp for locations.
If you can make it to the Central West End area, there is a great diner called Majestic. "Bill's Special" will change your life (and maybe your bowels) forever :) There are lots of other restaurants in that area too. It's only about 10 minutes from downtown.
Let me think of some others and I'll do another post for you! Too bad you aren't going during baseball season-- that's the real STL!!
Goldilox at 4:42PM on 02/18/09
OK, this is not a St. Louis eats, but you HAVE to go to the CityMuseum if you like doing active, fun, quirky things. It's this place that is essentially a giant jungle gym built out of found materials. It is insane. They have a late night on Saturday where you can buy alcohol (food-related bit) but honestly, it is enough of a high with anything else.
Also, Blueberry Hill has the big name, but also has a pretty darn good burger.
Here is a list my friend sent me:
Tony's
410 Market St
St Louis, MO 63102
(314) 231-7007
Tony's is the only restaurant ever to receive the coveted AAA five-diamond award in the state of Missouri. There are only 34 restaurants in North America to receive this recognition.
Eleven Eleven Mississippi
1111 Mississippi
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-241-9999
Delightful food & Service. Let them recommend your wine. Readers' Choice Favorite: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Arcelia's Mexicana Restaurant
2001 Park Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-231-9200
Abolutely Great Mexican food!
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Tap Room, Schlafly Brewing
2100 Locust St.
St. Louis, MO 63103
314-241-2337
Brewpub
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Sidney Street Cafe
2000 Sidney St.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-771-5777
Great food - try their Pork Tenderloin
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Hodak's Restaurant & Bar
2100 Gravois Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-776-7292
Best fried chicken - anywhere! For West Point folks, their catfish is the best since Menke's closed.
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2007
O'Connell's Pub
4652 Shaw
St. Louis, MO 63110
314-773-6600
Best Hamburger - but if you're feeling carnivorous, try their roast beef sandwich rare!
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007
City Diner
3139 South Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
314-772-6100
Great American style diner food. Open all night. Great eclectic South Grand atmosphere.
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Black Thorn
3735 Wyoming St.
St. Louis, MO 63116
314-776-0534
Great Deep Dish Pizza
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Racanelli's
12 S. Euclid
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-367-7866
Best New York style Pizza in Saint Louis
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
India's Rasoi
25 N. Euclid
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-361-6911
Best of several locations
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
India Palace
4534 North Lindbergh Blvd.
Bridgeton, MO 63044
314-731-3333
[my] favorite
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Priyaa
1910 McKelvey Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63043
314-542-6148
Very Good South Indian - providing lunch on Saturday
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2005, 2006
Dominic's Restaurant
5101 Wilson Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110
314-771-1632
Tony's, Dominics and Givanni's are the best Italian cuisine you can get!
Giovanni's On The Hill
5201 Shaw Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110
314-772-5958
Oprah loves it! Had them feed her whole show a few years back.
Zia's Restaurant & Catering Co
5256 Wilson Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110
314-776-0020
Nice family Italian.
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2006, 2007
Biggie's Restaurant
3332 Watson Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63139
314-781-0060
Try the Steak Mudega! Great food - good prices. We eat there often.
Blueberry Hill
6504 Delmar Blvd.
University City, MO 63130
314-727-4444
You might see Chuck Berry while eating at this great family bar/restaurant.
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Fitz's American Grill & Bottling Works
6605 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63130
314-726-9555
Fresh brewed root beer - bottomless mugs.
Readers' Choice Favorite: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
6726 Chippewa St.
St. Louis, MO 63109
314-481-2652
There is no other Frozen Custard!
Don't get a large, even Ted says its too much!
Concretes - M&M, Heath Bar, Pistachio
Try the Hawaiian Delight sundae!
inothernews at 4:47PM on 02/18/09
I've been gone from St. Louis for nearly 35 years, but when I go back to visit, my first stop is White Castle!
1stmakearoux at 9:06AM on 02/19/09
Any restaurant "on the hill" is a good bet. Also, while you're there, check out one of the local for markets/shops...best Italian food items anywhere!!
Karencooks at 9:37AM on 02/19/09
Wow, thank you everyone for your recommendations. I had seen a few of these already and I had started a list of places that I would like to go to based on what I have seen on Yelp and another website.
Places I would like to go:
Dubliner
Wasabi
Broadway Oyster Bar
Roosters
Tap Room
Hoping to make it to, but is based upon availability and ability to get their:
City Diner
Ted Drewe's
Will have to look at the great list that inothernews posted. Thanks for that great list. Some of those would definitely be hard to get to considering I won't have a car but still.
Wish I was going to be there on Sunday morning as I have been reading and it looks like there are a bunch of great places for Brunch. If anybody has any additional good breakfast joints that would be great.
Thanks again!
FrostyGhost at 1:59PM on 02/19/09
@FrostyGhost,
I'm not sure if you like sweets, but Tap Room's sticky toffee pudding is sooo good (if you have room).
Also, you can actually get to Central West End from downtown pretty easily by Metrolink.
hmw0029 at 2:11PM on 02/19/09
If you won't be kissing anyone later in the day, try the Lebanese at Saleem's Where Garlic is King. You'll stink, and the decor is...well, Early Oasis Tackiness, but the food is good.
6501 Delmar in The Loop
Phone: (314) 721-7947
FoodieSearching at 2:36PM on 02/19/09
Saleems is closed in the Loop, I'm afraid. And not absolutely every restaurant on The Hill is wonderful. But the STP (sticky toffee pudding) is one of the three best desserts in St. Louis. (Another is th echocolate cake and homemade banana ice cream at Tony's/Anthony's.)
lemons at 2:42PM on 02/19/09
Zia's on the Hill is excellent. Blueberry Hill is worth the experience, if nothing else, and there needs to be at least one Imo's Pizza experience. You'll probably hate the pizza, but you've gotta try it.
honeybee413 at 3:01PM on 02/19/09
I agree with lemons that not every restaurant on the Hill is great.
I'm sorry honeybee, but in my experience with Zia's was not that good (their iceberg lettuce salad with Provel made me sad)... :-(
hmw0029 at 3:41PM on 02/19/09
I am sorry to hear about Saleem's. I ate a delicious mezze plate there withe the BEST buttery pide triangles ever.
FoodieSearching at 4:37PM on 02/19/09
Back again...I commented about 8 posts up, and shouldn't have said ALL restaurants on The Hill were great. But the one's I've been to sure are! Zia's is one of my favorites, and with Ragozzi's (sp?). Sorry for the confusion.
Karencooks at 7:07PM on 02/19/09
Mmm...sticky toffee pudding sounds like it would be really good. And yes I am a big sweets person. Between sweets and breakfast I could eat all day.
FrostyGhost at 1:48PM on 02/20/09
I have to recommend Joanie's pizza in Soulard - just a couple of minutes from downtown. My husband lived there before we got married and we both desperately miss Joanie's.
TaraTot at 3:14PM on 02/20/09
hmw0029: Provel is definitely an acquired taste, to be sure. I grew up on Imo's, and a salad wasn't a salad in my house if it didn't come covered with a layer of Provel. I live in Chicago now, and the lack of Provel in my life is a sad, sad thing - whenever I come back to STL, the first thing on the menu is sausage and mushroom pizza :)
Sorry you weren't wild about Zia's... I've never had a bad experience there, dining, service or otherwise.
honeybee413 at 4:18AM on 02/22/09
If you're a bar/diner type of person, you'll love Hodak's. It's oh so down-homey, and they serve their catfish fried whole. It's alot of fun, sitting there with a beer (Schlafly's or O'Fallon Gold are good local brews), picking white flaky catfish off the bone, listening to all the regulars at the bar tell their stories to anyone who'll listen.
erancili at 1:43PM on 03/02/09
The City Grocer's on 10th and Olive serves turtle soup on Fridays. Mmmm if you're into soups, stop and get some. The chef who makes it is there in the afternoon and was more than happy to chat about how he makes it.
There is also a Thai bistro on 13th (I think) and Olive that serves delicious food (possibly not all Thai...but good food at a good price).
Both places are close to the Drury Inn and the Arch. If you watch, the street numbers will go up the further you are from the river. I was just there a week ago and it's true, food is hard to find in that area, but once we found a local place the food was always good. Have fun!
erysheep at 2:03PM on 03/03/09