St. Louis Restaurants

  • Garden Tour and Dinner at Eleven Eleven Mississippi

    Paul and Wendy Hamilton put in a garden a few years ago to help provide good stuff for their restaurants, Eleven Eleven Mississippi, Vin de Set and PW Pizza. It has flourished, and this year, for three consecutive Fridays, they're offering tours and a prix fixe dinner afterwards.  I had a test run of the

    read more

  • Parigi

    This time of year, the sunlight in Parigi is a wonder. That’s not the only reason to eat there, but it’s the first thing that might strike diners, especially if they enter through the garage parking on the east side of the building. Overlooking Clayton’s Shaw Park, the tall windows make it feel almost like

    read more

  • Peno Italian Soul Food

    Yes, it's a little off the beaten path – but not much. But it's pleasant and casual at Peno, if I may call it by its first name, and it's a tasty stop. My editor at St. Louis Magazine used a phrase that translates as "hidden gem". Take a look at the fig trees outside when you

    read more

  • Flashback: The Jefferson Avenue Boarding House

    What fun it was to ponder this one: The Jefferson Avenue Boarding House

    read more

  • Club Taco

    It’s not that no one has done tacos in Kirkwood, even tacos beyond the chains. But no one has gone to the lengths that Club Taco does, spreading options far and wide. There’s not much room in which to spread – it’s a snug interior, some tables, a bar with stools, a shelf facing the

    read more

  • Dinner and a Show

    Eating at the Muny has evolved considerably. My late husband, Joe Pollack, used to look at the then-newly-installed picnic benches and beam, because he had urged their installation in his column in the Post-Dispatch. This year, they've expanded their casual dining options with Cafe One, for sandwiches, salads and pizzas. I had the open-faced ribeye

    read more

  • Just One Bite: Dominic’s Trattoria

     It was a celebratory dinner at Dominic’s Trattoria in Clayton on a weekend evening. Things were busy, a fair amount of table-hopping, and the sound of people enjoying themselves, although the sound level was pretty reasonable. It’s not a place that usually attracts the drink-and-shriek (or bellow) crowd, which always helps on that. The zuppa

    read more

  • Peacemaker Lobster & Crab

    Has it really been two years since Kevin Nashan opened Peacemaker Lobster & Crab? And how have I managed not to get there? Mea culpa, to be sure. The calm white interior is not stark, merely peaceful, with photos of lobster fishermen by Mark Katz, a simple décor but still clearly a cut above the

    read more

  • Just One Bite: Riverbend

    There seem to be few foods so subject to abuse as the crab cake. It’s certainly not a traditional St. Louis dish, seldom appearing on local menus until perhaps twenty or so years ago. Most of what we see shows crab meat that ends up in shreds (if it didn’t start that way), bready filler

    read more

  • Flashback: Miss Hulling’s

    It's always interesting what restaurants make a lasting impact on our collective memory. One such spot has to be Miss Hulling's downtown cafeteria. There were other locations, but it was the flagship location that held our attention. Here's a little more of a look at it.

    read more