St. Louis Recommendations

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by Redline9k

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.

Listen to Redline. Redline knows things.

Sen Thai is awesome and pretty cheap. If you want great sushi, Wasabi on Washington is fantastic. The place has all the ambiance of a prepackaged sushi restaurant but the sushi is the best in the city.

The Dubliner is a nice Irish joint. Downstairs is a little cliche and touristy, but head to the stairs in the back and hit the up stairs. Love the upstairs there. Mango is right around the corner. Haven't been yet, but heard great things.

Don't travel north of Washington avenue for any reason. This is St. Louis after all. You are pefectly safe to walk Wash Ave and not have to deal with anything more than an occassional pan handler that the cops haven't rousted. The police presence on Wash is heavy and thus safe, but anything north of there is fair game for stupid tourists to get robbed.

You will be within walking distance from Mike Shannon's. Everyone will recommend it and you will be disappointed, particularly at the price point. The food is good, but not good enough for what they charge, the waitstaff is a step above what you get at Denny's. Just avoid it altogether.

And avoid the Landing entirely. Tourists and College students only down there. Go the extra couple miles to Soulard or extra mile to Washington if you want to hit a bar or two...

 

[impolyt_one]

Don't eat sushi in St. Louis. Indian and Vietnamese, on the other hand, can be better. There are bigger populations of those people there, so it goes to figure. You can come across some real (and pretty good) Mexican food in St. Louis as well.

 

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by impolyt_one

Don't eat sushi in St. Louis. Indian and Vietnamese, on the other hand, can be better. There are bigger populations of those people there, so it goes to figure. You can come across some real (and pretty good) Mexican food in St. Louis as well.


Why? I used to travel for a living and ate sushi all the time on the company dime, all over the country. St. Louis, very surprising to even me, has outstanding sushi. Wasabi, Nobu, Miso, Mizu, Fuji Sushi all have great sushi. St. Louis doesn't seem like the best place for sushi. Seems more like a beer drinking burger and fries type of city. And the location doesn't lend itself well to good sushi, but I love the sushi here...

For Vietnamese, check Pho Grand or Lemon Grass on Grand Avenue south of 44. They are almost across the street from each other. For Indian, there's a place just outside U-City, that I'm blanking on the name.

 

[TintinATL]

Just a word of thanks to all for the suggestions. St. Louis was very pleasant for a weekend. Niche was superb - one of the most inventive meals I can remember, along with a relaxed atmosphere, excellent service and interesting wine list. Definitely a keeper, although we learned they are changing the formula come January - going to become an "upscale Italian." If I lived in St. Louis, I'd visit a few more times before then while I still could.

Didn't make it to the Shaved Duck unfortunately.

One other discovery was cocktails at sunset on the rooftop bar of the Four Seasons... the hotel itself is a bit "Vegas" but the view of the Arch with the sun on it was spectacular, and the drinks were generous (as they should have been, given the bar tab!)

The St. Louis Art Museum was a treat, both the architecture and the collection... and a nice size to get around. It was also nice to see so many families in there.

The big let down of the trip was the Drury Plaza Hotel. I chose it because it ranked #1 on Tripadvisor.com, which I naively assumed meant it was good. I should have done better homework. It is the crappiest, cheesiest hotel I can remember staying in. One of the hotel restaurants is Max and Erma's, which is apparently a chain. We got to the hotel late and tired and opted to eat in the other restaurant, Carmine's, which turned out to be a pretentious, overpriced steakhouse with decor straight out of 1983. (When the waiter feels it necessary to describe Brie and "Brie cheese," you know you're in trouble.) However, the steaks were not bad. We bailed on the Drury for the second night and moved across the street to the Hyatt - a far better experience.

One good thing about the hotel was its proximity to the Arch, which is pretty spectacular.

Anyway, thanks again to you all for the recommendations.