I thought I had seen a similar thread, but can't find it. I am going to the NRA Convention in St. Louis next week. I will be there for a couple of days. Does anyone have any recommendations for restaurants that are unique to St. Louis? Who has the best ribs or steaks? Anything else I should try while I am there? Thanks, Waldo.

I would stay away from trying to eat any cardinals.

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Vaya con Dios

Cunetto House of Pasta in the Hill section of St. Louis. Outstanding old
Italian restaurant in the area where Italian immigrant factory workers
settled.Another good one is Gian-Tony's on the Hill.My son went to
school there & we ate at one or both every time we visited him.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

Super Smokers BBQ!

Kevin

Five thumbs up for Gian and Tonys. Gus's Pretzel's for lighter fare, get the hot dog (or salzitza or a brat) wrapped in pretzel dough. Hodaks, for chicken, frog legs and other bar type fare. Southwest Market or Amighetties for sandwiches. Cunetto's, Favazza's for Italian fare, Mike Shannons, The Best Steakhouse, or a little further out, Frankie G's.

Have fun!

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Bogart's Barbecue claims to be the second best barbecue in the city.
We had some when we were in St. Louis last summer and it was great.
It's near the big farmer's market.

Is Big Al's still there along the waterfront? Fabulous place, but a hint is there were no prices and no menu. The waiter will bring around a display of the actual offerings. Plan to spend the evening.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Don't forget some authentic St. Louis-style pizza!

Bring your own.

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Forum consigliere

Howdy,
Zia's is a great back up to Cunetto's and in the same area. Both on Italian American hill. (Bet you cant guess what they called it when I was a kid)
Lemay Wok on Lemay Ferry blvd.is a cut above most Chinese and is on old Hwy 67 just south of Sam's. Not too far south of Lindbergh Blvd.
If it warms up, Ted Drewe's is a local legend in the frozen custard world.
Another decent all around restaurant, not too far from down town is Cussinelli's. It is south of down town on Lemay Ferry Blvd. (North of Lemay Wok) Good shrimp, chicken, pizza and a little Italian. It is right across from Lemay gun and pawn which is always worth checking out.
Plenty of gentlemen's clubs on the east side serve food but I'd stay away from E. St. Louis (my home town) St. Louis can be bad enough.
If you have any free time or family with you we have a great free zoo. The art museum is interesting and the Omnimax theater at the science center is cool if you can catch a show where thing swim of fly.
I hope you enjoy your stay.
Mike

Anything that serves food on the hill...it's not little Italy, but it's got some great food. Ask the locals for directions to The Hill.

hot dogs at the ball park of course, but take lots of money with you cause they cost more than one of those fine italian dinners will. lee

The Spaghetti Factory is fun and very good food. Mike Shannon's is a great place. Avoid Immo's Pizza, it is horrible.

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Always bet on stupidity.

Yeah, but Imo's is pretty good if you like St. Louis style pizza.
If you get by Zia's on the hill be sure to buy some of their salad dressing.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

I don't know if it's unique to St. Louis, but I loved Burger Bar. I spent a week in St. Louis a couple of years ago and I think I ate dinner there 2 or 3 times. They have a lot of different varieties of burgers, including a gourmet Kobe beef burger that was upwards of $40, IIRC. I stuck with the turkey burger, which was the best turkey burger I've ever had.

I also ate at the Spaghetti Factory, but that's a chain that's in a lot of different cities. Definitely good if you're on a tight budget, though.

Being from Memphis I can assure you Super Smokers ain't all that. The ribs I got there during my one and only visit were pathetic.

Go to Ted Drewes

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

Not sure about unique or best ribs or steaks, but here are a few thoughts.

Close to the convention center, good food, and not expensive. JF Sanfilippo's.

Welcome to J.F. Sanfilippo's

Downtown, excellent food and expensive. Kemoll's.

St Louis Banquet Halls | Wedding Receptions | Fine Dining | Private Parties | Kemoll's & Top of the Met

Close to the convention center, Irish, nice. The Dubliner.

The Dubliner

Downtown, good food, revolving restaurant up high. Top of the Riverfront/Millennium

Hotel Dining St Louis | Millennium Hotel St. Louis

Close, cigars, nice place for a drink and smoke. Stanley Cigar Co.

Home

Downtown, Hilton Three Sixty Rooftop Bar.

St Louis Hotel Restaurant - Hilton Food and Dining

Casino, a few blocks away. Lumiere.

https://www.lumiereplace.com

The Botanical Garden should be lovely now, a nice place to visit if interested.

Missouri Botanical Garden

That's all I got at the moment.

I live here. Try Shamus McDaniels in Dogtown. Best buffalo chicken sandwich ANYWHERE. Trust me on this I have done extensive research all over the country, For BBQ go to Pappy's Smoke House (3106 Olive). Go early, there will be a LONG line. Crown Candy Kitchen (bad part of town, pack if you can) but a landmark. Old fashioned malts and shakes, GREAT sandwiches. Some good places on the Hill as previously mentioned.

Hodak's for chicken. I'll second that. GREAT fried chicken. It'll will be packed also.

All these St. Louis guys now have me hungry..... All are right on. Get some St. Louis butter cake too.

You want Italian you go to Rigazzi's (order anything on the menu but DO get a fishbowl) or any place on the Hill. For you out of towners that's basically around Kingshighway and Southwest. Any Italian place there is worth the trip. You want to stay downtown and are willing to spend some money try Tony's. STAY ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE RIVER. The east side is not for the out of towner.

Pecos

Even downtown after dark is no guarantee anymore. Best to pack anywhere you go it you can.

One of my favorites is 54th Street grill. Had a great dinner at Texas Roadhouse for my daughter's birthday. Hodak's for chicken, like some have said. Definitely stay AWAY from east side of town, just read the online Dispatch and you'll see why real fast.

Rigazzi's isn't what it used to be years ago. I'd take a pass on it. If the wife or GF isn't with you try Johnnys in Soulard Market.

Sybergs (great shark bites and wings) Hodaks great fried chicken. White Knight Dinner ( great hamburger also where the movie White Pallace was filmed) DBs off broadway behind Dairly Queen similar to Johnny in soulard.

Downtown Restaurants | Urbanspoon

Don't forget to try the toasted raviolis and/or Slinger

Sent from my ADR6425LVW

Last time I went to St Louis, I went to Union Station to see the trains. What a disappointment. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

Thanks to everyone for the replies. The Dubliner sounds like a nice walk from the America's Center exhibit hall. I will do that for lunch one day. I am staying at the Millenium Hotel on South 4th St. I think Johnny's or DB's would be a good spot for dinner one night. It looks like an easy walk. But I am curious about the neighborhood? Should I walk it, or would I be safer driving or taking a cab? I am an old white guy (WHMF), and do not want any trouble. Thanks for any advice.

Been to Johnny's, good burgers and great atmosphere.

Db's isn't really a dinner place. I wouldn't walk. Drive or cab. Both Johnny's and DB's are too far to walk from where you will be anyway.

Actually if your looking for a great meal on the cheap try Schwatz's Bar in Belleville, Il. They have outstanding pork steak dinner on Sundays for $4.99 a plate, with your choice of sides! Just take 64 east to 159, then follow it to 161, turn left follow it to said bar.
One more thing, fellas the East side isn't near as bad as the north end of St. Louis! I've lived here most of my life, and aside from the usual poser types have yet to have an armed encounter. Just avoid the seedier areas and you'll do fine. Dale

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"Long live the S&W 3rd. Gen.!"

Only been there one time, was with another couple that grew up there, we had a 3 hour flight layover, he insisted we go get a whitecastle hamburger so we rented a car and off we went, he drove so I dont know what part of town we were in but it was rough! He said it was the original whitecastle resturant so I assume it was not in the best part of town.

Walt Kelly would have suggested to avoid the chop suey. As in his famous ode:

I was eatin' some chop suey with a lady in St. Looie
when I sudden hears a knockin' at the door
And that knocker, he says 'Honey, roll this rocker out some
money, or your daddy shoots a baddie to the floor!'

White Castle is about a mile south of your hotel off broadway. St. Louis is pretty safe as long as you dont go any farther north than the Lumiere casino you should be fine.

+1!!

As others have recommended, The Hill is the spot for Italian food. Charlie Gitto's ain't bad and there's a restaurant in Chesterfield (west St. Louis County, about 24 miles from downtown St. Louis).

Dewey's Pizza (on Clarkson Road in Ballwin - again, about 24 miles from the city) offers really tasty pizza but they are not your traditional pizzeria offerings. The crust is a bit thicker than "St. Louis style" - which is essentially a cracker masquerading as support for the pizza fixins. (C'mon, you thin-crust lovers, bring it on!).

Kreis' Steakhouse has good fare, too. It's on Lindbergh, one of the north-south arteries and about 20 miles west of the city of St. Louis. It's worth the drive, imho.

Bristol's on Olive Street (near I-270 intersection) is mighty good. They have 'everything'.

Welcome to St. Louis, the Gateway to the West!

Chris

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/at least she finds me handy.

Thumbs up for Ted Drewes (Chippewa) and Pi Pizzeria!

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard - Home

Pi Pizzeria

Let us know what you liked. I went to the show last night. I was there about two hours and only made it half way threw. Going back today.

Same here. Went for 2 1/2 hrs Sat morning. Did you you make it to Johnny's?

I got there Thursday afternoon. Parked the car, and did not start it again until I left Sunday morning. Walked up to the convention center and fired a few air-guns. Walked back to the hotel, then went to Johnny's and DB's for dinner. The wings were good and the service was fine. I am a retired Union Ironworker. There were a couple of guys in DB's wearing Ironworker tee shirts. Talked to them for a couple of hours, good guys, we had a nice conversation. Got to the convention center Friday morning, looked around went to the Dubliner for lunch. It was good. Went back to the exhibit hall and looked around some more, had a good time. It rained most of the day. Went to Show Me's for dinner, it was very similar to Hooter's. It was still raining Saturday morning, went back to the exhibit hall for a few hours then had lunch at the Broadway Oyster Bar. Had dinner at Hooter's. Left Sunday morning. It was a good trip. My thanks to everyone for the advice.

I cook a lot, and don't go to many restaurants, but I had heard good things about Syberg's and they didn't disappoint. We tried Shark Chunks as an appetizer and they were AWESOME, they do good Buffalo Wings, and even the Reuben is superb. There is one on Market around 20th Street and another farther west and south on Gravois. Well worth it