St. Louis Recommendations

Not sure I can suggest any great restaurants as growing up in St. Louis I simply didn't have money but I can suggest a few cool neighborhoods - the hill, the loop and south city. The Hill is the Italian portion of the city and there are some terrific places to eat and the neighborhoods in general are pretty terrific. Worth driving over, parking and walking around. The loop is on Delmar Ave. and is anchored by the Vintage Vinyl record store and Blueberry Hill, a St. Louis institution. There are a bunch of cool places popping up over there, it's probably the "hippest" neighborhood in the Lou but you may not be interested in that sort of thing. South City is truly cool - a lot of gastropubs are opening, there is some fantastic architecture and of course, the brewery.

Central West End and The Hill are a start.

you can try here: http://events.stltoday.com/st-louis-...ow/54247-niche but be warned that it's gonna be one of 'those' (sous vide everything, foams, gelees, bacon ice cream) places... but it's about all there is, in St. Louis. Imo's Pizza is a St. Louis institution, replete with processed Provel cheese. That's saying a lot, and not much, at the same time...

I went to Niche a few months ago. Some of the dishes worked and some of them I was less impressed with. Was much more of a New York dining experience than most anything else you will find in St. Louis. Nice room, pleasant and well trained staff.

if you are going with kids, hit the city museum - probrably the most fun place to take kids that I ahve been to in the States.

the indian mounds outside of town are cool, too.

ah, forgot - a huge +1 to the Pulitzer museum, go there with or without kids. One of the few American projects Tadao Ando has done, very worth it. The Cahokia mounds are indeed cool, but can take a day to see.

I would recommend McGurk's (spelling?) Irish Bar. Huuuuge place and really fun. For food I would have to say Pappy's is amaaaazing (however, to my displeasure, their sauce is HFCS-based).

OK, gotta step in here for a bit. The Hill always gets near top billing in St. Louis, but honestly, about 80% of the Hill restaurants suck (and I'm being generous). Most of them are shells of what they used to be. The grand children, or great grand children, of the immigrants that originally opened them have learned that they can make more money with frozen pasta and sub par sauce ingredients, while living off of the reputations they are slowly, but surely, wrecking. Dominick's, Tratoria Marcella and LoRusso's are three I will still eat at. The vast majority I won't go into. There are a couple more, but these are off the top of my head. Want a cool place to stay in St. Louis. Check out the Cheshire. Right by Forest Park and a short cab to the Central West End and the great restaurants in Clayton, as well as Harvest on Big Bend. Are you bringing kids? Because the City Museum is great for kids, as mentioned above, as is the Magic House, the zoo is open and free, Grant's farm is fun for kids and adults (you'll understand at the end), and the Butterfly house is pretty cool too. Another vote for Pappy's BBQ, and that's saying a lot coming from me. Although it's not my favorite BBQ place in St. Louis, but no way I send you to my favorite. They eat tourists alive in that part of town. Besides, it's a real shithole, but great BBQ. Shaved Duck is also a great BBQ place. Mention of McGurk's, which is a good time, but it's a little over the top. A little overdone. It's in an area called Soulard, and is the premier place so it is usually packed with college students and tourists. There are a TON of great corner dives in a few square blocks around it. Avoid Clementines, unless you like gay men in assless leather chaps, and Bastilles, unless you like gay men not as flamboyantly gay as the men at Clementines. Otherwise you will have fun in just about any bar in that area. 1860's for great blues. Big Daddy's for plenty of eye candy (and right down from Niche, mentioned above, and Sydney Street Cafe which is one of my faves). Johnny's has some amazing hookers, I mean waitresses. And I just heard that DB's has waitresses that only wear body paint from the waist up, and I'm not sure if this is true, but rumor has it that you can apply the body paint for $10. Did I mention that you don't need a paint brush? It's finger paint. Also check out Joanies, Hammerstones, and many others. Maybe go a little south of Soulard and hit Frazer's Brown Bag for dinner and then go to Venice Street Cafe for drinks. I guarantee it will be one of the more interesting bars you will ever go to. Or go a little farther south and hit Iron Barley. It's been featured on two different food shows. Small place, a little eclectic, but insanely great food and good selection of microbrews and imports. Shopping? Not much help there. I buy just about everything online. What kind of food/bars are you looking for?

Everything at Niche was excellent when I went there. The Pork Duo was amazing, and I am not usually a big fan of pork. Also, I highly recommend Acero for Italian, very good pasta.

I came into this thread to recommend niche, you will definitely not be disappointed.

Acero is also an excellent place.

True story. One year for St. Patty's day I'm supposed to meet a bunch of people at Johnny's in Soulard. Soulard is a big bar area, while not particularly irish, it's always hoppin. It's packed for St. Patty's day as well as on Cinqo d' Mayo. I luck out and get a spot right around the corner from Johnny's, but it's directly in front of Clementines. I drove a pretty non descript vehicle, but in the back of my mind I was hoping nobody would notice that my car was parked in front of a gay leather bar on St. Patty's day. Considering how packed the area was and there were no spots, I thought, "screw it," and walked to Johnny's. Well after much drinking, a bunch of us decide to go to the east side to some strip clubs. My GF at the time agreed to this, which was something I wouldn't have guessed in a million years. No way I was missing out on her stuffing singles into some strippers panties.

So we pile into a couple vehicles and head over, neither of which is my car. In the wee hours, me and the GF get dropped off at my place. She gets up early and asks if I want a ride to my car. I decide to sleep off the booze rather than go get my car. Buddy of mine calls about noon and says he's stopping by to drop something off. A movie he borrowed, I think.

When he gets there I ask if he can give me a ride to my car. It's on his way, so he agrees. We're driving there and I tell the story about where I parked and how I hoped nobody recognized my car parked in front of Clementines all night. He laughs at that and then we get about two blocks from my car and he pulls over. He looks at me and says, "Get out. Ride's over."

I asked, "What the hell are you talking about. My car's two blocks away."

He responded, "If you don't want anyone to see your car parked in front of a gay bar all night, there's no way I'm risking anyone seeing me drop a dude off at his car parked in front of a gay bar all night."

"Seriously. Give me a ride to my car."

"Seriously," he said flat. "Get out and walk to your car."

He was serious. I got out and walked to my car. We still laugh about it today.

You (probably) wont be disappointed with Niche...its been good 9.5 out of 10 times. I would attempt to hit the Shaved Duck if you have an extra night. Its less uppity and more casual, but the food is amazing and the character of the place is cool. As you see, it doesnt take more than 5-6 posts to cover most of the StL highlights...that doesnt mean there arent great little treasures hidden here and there though when you come back. Shopping...on the other hand...is minimal other than a handful of shops in Central West End, and B or C level department stores (our Niemans and Saks are horrible). Skip shopping and drink and eat more. Your hotel at the Drury (assuming downtown) is across the street from the Hyatt, which is a remodeled Adams Mark....pretty nice hotel actually, and has a few bars/restaurants on the ground floor if your killing time. While your down there at night, a few blocks away on Washington Ave there are alot of bars/restaraunts to entertain you....probably about 15 bars in a 3 block radius with some decent restaraunts thrown in too. (btw, if you like Thai, Sen Thai just a block off Washington is awesome). The other direction (towards the river) is the landing. If you are a college frat guy...you will love it, although you will not see me there.