St. Louis Restaurants

  • Haveli

    If Chinese food is almost as much about texture as taste, we believe that Indian food is almost as much about aroma as taste. That struck us as we were enjoying a meal at Haveli, a new Indian restaurant that’s an offshoot of Bombay Grill in O’Fallon, MO. Owner Hema Patel has brought her chef,

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  • Brasserie by Niche

    Gerard Craft put himself and our city in the national spotlight with Niche, a terrific restaurant for Modern American cuisine. Now, with Brasserie by Niche, he has invaded the Central West End and challenged diners with a return to classic gastronomic roots, if France can be considered that fertile ground. Brasserie by Niche is his

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  • Mango

    Mango is not what we think of when someone says Peru. Mountains, llamas, Machu Pichu, even interesting textiles come to mind. Nevertheless, in St. Louis, Mango has come to stand for (among other things) Peruvian food. After their Shrewsbury location was firmly grounded, Jorge Calvo and his family have added a second, showier location downtown

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  • Amigos Cantina

      Kirkwood, with its nice old houses and a bustling downtown populated largely by locally owned businesses, is especially appealing at this time of year, when it feels like one of those New England suburbs that decorate the front of a Christmas card. One expects to see a parcel-loaded Barbara Stanwyck bump into S.Z. (Cuddles)

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  • Lemongrass

     A couple of summers back, we took a stalk of lemongrass we’d bought at a grocery store, stuck it in some soil in a large pot and set it outside. In our hot, humid weather, it thrived, and left us with a potful of long, gracefully sweeping leaves, and a mass of root that had

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  • The Scottish Arms: Brunch

      The Scottish Arms bar staff proved to us that Real Men Wear Kilts. Now the kitchen is demonstrating that Real Men eat quiche, too, and quite happily. We never thought we’d be gurgling with delight about quiche, which at best we always have seen as just an okay thing and at worst…oh, you don’t

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  • Urban Eats Cafe & Bakery

    City living is something we both consider the proper environment. Joe grew up in Brooklyn and figured out rather quickly that the country might be bucolic but it was a place to visit and not to sprout roots. Ann’s from a small town and knew that while she was in a good place to be

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  • Mosaic

    Did Mosaic start out to be a restaurant and end up being part of the bar scene? Or did it start out hoping for a good bar crowd and offering some fashionable food alongside? We suspect it’s more the former than the latter, but the point is moot because Mosaic has turned into a reliable

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  • Veritas

     We finally succumbed to a temptation that's been coming to our in-box every week. Very early on Sunday mornings, Veritas in Chesterfield sends out an e-mail list of food available for carryout. Easily reheatable two-portion amounts are sold for about half of what they would cost to eat in the shop's restaurant area. First come,

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  • Monarch

     The intersection of Manchester and Sutton has become the western gateway to the Maplewood Strip of restaurants. Once a stretch of not-quite-but-almost-shabby retail shops with Tiffany’s 24-hour diner as the last stop before White Castle, Manchester Avenue now is a brightly lighted string of restaurants and bars for all styles and tastes, with Monarch and

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