Thanks for the recs everyone!
Here's a little summary of our trip:
St. Louis has a lot to do for visitors.
We stopped at the Arch on the way into town as my wife has never been up to the top. Well worth the effort!
We had reservations at Monarch in Maplewood.
It was very, very good. They have two dining areas, the main dining room which is more formal(ie, more expensive) and a more casual bistro side that serves well executed versions of Cajun and Creole offerings. The service was top notch and everything we ate was wonderful.
The next morning we got up to go check out Soulard Market just south of downtown.
I instantly fell in love with the place which is open year round. The selection of produce( a lot of it locally grown) and meats was vast and the food offerings very good. The biggest thing that I noticed was the price differences between our local farmer's markets and what they had on display there. I would say that they were about 50% cheaper on everything they had to offer including the meats.
You could get two whole farm raised chickens for like 6 or 7 bucks!
We ate some very fresh danish, a garlic sausage, hot dog coffee, pretzels, a Bloody Mary and some very good gourmet cupcakes and we only spent 10 bucks!
I'll definitely bring a cooler next time we go.
We ate lunch at Anthonino's Taverna in The Hill, St. Louis' version of a Little Italy.
We had to try the toasted ravioli. They were very good. We also had a pretty good pizza that didn't quite hold up to my new standard that is Paplino's. I think it's that Provel cheese. It seems to have no flavor to me. It had great toppings and a nice crust though.
We did take the A-B Brewery tour which I thought was pretty cool.
Went to the ball game and the Reds won! Busch Stadium is a beautiful ballpark with the standard overpriced fare. We had great seats right on the field!
After the game we had dinner at Schafly Bottleworks (also in Maplewood).Very good locally sourced food and the service was also very good considering the place was PACKED!
We got up early and made it to the Zoo. One of the nicest places I've been to that's FREE. It filled up quickly though so make sure you get there early!
Nice place for a long weekend. We can't wait to go back!