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Dan Thomas

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St. Louis recommendations

by Dan Thomas » Thu Aug 12, 2010 6:49 pm

We are going to St. Louis over Labor Day weekend to see the Reds vs.Cardnals.
Since I haven't been there since I was in high school, I'm looking for any must "not miss ideas" for one nice dinner within a $100 for two budget and recs for any worthy cheap eats that have never been on any TV food show. Also anything else worth seeing that's not on the agenda of because of baseball. Thanks :D
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Robin Garr

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Robin Garr » Thu Aug 12, 2010 6:59 pm

Dan Thomas wrote:worthy cheap eats that have never been on any TV food show.

:lol:
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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by BrianW » Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:42 pm

Pat's! Very near Forest Park (10 min. from Busch Stad.) has some great bar food and is in an interesting part of town, sorta hemmed in between I64 and 'The Hill'. As for the Italian places - people used to tell me 'don't miss Imo's Pizza' but after trying it I like Pizza King better. On the way there or back, stop in Haubstadt,IN (north off Evansville exit) for some country cookin;.
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Jeff T

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Jeff T » Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:51 pm

Dan
My wife has been on temporary assignment in St Louis for the past 3 months. Here are a couple of my picks.
Saturday morning- Soulard Farmers Market. It is incredible plus there are several food stands and a couple of places that you can get a beer or Bloody Mary. It is OK to drink your adult beverages throughout the market. LOTS of fun for a foodie. Its about 3 blocks south of the stadium. They have a PORK store!!

Terrene- located at 33 North Sarah St. Small plates and the like. Focus on farm to plate. Check the website.

Scottish Arms- 8 South Sarah St. Good pub grub lots of brews. Website also.

If you have time go to the Cathedral Basilica on Lindell Blvd. It is a functioning Catholic Church but you can explore on your own no charge between mass. It is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen. The interior is decorated with 42 million mosiac tiles. It took 80 years to complete. Stunning!! Even if you are not a religious person the craftsmanship and the artwork is beautiful. It is HUGE!! and its air conditioned if its a hot one its a great place to cool off.
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Ed Vermillion

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Ed Vermillion » Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:56 pm

Hey Dan,

I found this St. Louis version of LHB when we were headed over to St. Lou for a foodie weekend.

http://www.stlbites.com

The highlight of the trip was hitting 222 Artisan Bakery in Edwardsville, Illinois.

http://www.222bakery.com

We ate Pi. Pretty good pizza.

Cafe Osage was very good for Sunday breakfast.

Here was our take from October 2008

http://www.stlbites.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=363

Enjoy your trip!

******Looks like it won't link to my thread. Click back to Oct. 17, 2008 on the forum and you'll find my posts.
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Brad Keeton

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Brad Keeton » Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:55 am

I lived there for three years, and ate at most of the better restaurants in town. The two best, hands down, are Harvest (http://www.harveststlouis.com/) and Monarch (http://www.monarchrestaurant.com/). Harvest utilizes a seasonal menu with emphasis on "local," while Monarch is more international. Both are fantastic, and Monach has a great bar area with some very talented mixogologists. I really cannot recommend these two restaurants enough.

For less expensive options, you should consider either the Schlafly Taproom or Schafly Bottleworks, both of which contain brewpubs.

For brunch, hit up Duff's in the Central West End on Euclid.
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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Steve Shade » Fri Aug 13, 2010 5:07 pm

St Louis has one of the finest zoos in this part of the country. As much as I like Louisville's zoo, St Louis' is better.

Don't skip the monkey house, which both you and I can blend right into.
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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Jason R » Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:45 pm

Ted Drewes for dessert. The custard really is unique.

And if you end up in an Italian joint, you must try the toasted ravioli -- truly a STL original. We had ours at Zia's (on the Hill, of course), and it was quite good.

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Linda C » Sun Aug 15, 2010 6:56 pm

Visited my daughter for a year while she was in college there. Little place across from the stadium called Broadway Oyster Bar that has good cajun food and music.
http://broadwayoysterbar.com/

We liked the Drunken Fish for sushi and Japanese.

Really good wood oven pizza Sicilian Style, the Good Pie
http://www.thegoodpie.com/

mmmm wish we had that in Louisville. I always used priceline for downtown and always got 4 star hotels for 60 dollars or less.

Another good idea is to join www.groupon and enter St. Louis. You might find a good bargain between now and then.
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Dan Thomas

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Dan Thomas » Tue Sep 07, 2010 2:37 pm

Thanks for the recs everyone! :D 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. :shock: You could get two whole farm raised chickens for like 6 or 7 bucks! :shock:
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! :shock:
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! :D
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James Natsis

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by James Natsis » Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:09 pm

I was born and raised there and go back twice a year to see family and friends. It is a much more racially segregated city than Louisville and more dangerous. Unfortunaelty, places like U City and the Central West End are cool but you walk a few blocks astray and the socio-economcs drops off abruptly. That said, I went back once a few years ago as a visitor for the first time staying at the conference hotel and going out with the others to the touristy stuff like the Brewery, the Botanical Gardens, etc.--good stuff. St. Louis certainly has its charms, its good eateries, free museums, etc., but I wouldn't leave "The Ville" to go back. East St. Louis is as economically depressed and as ugly as it gets, and the north side is just as bad. It is quite tragic along the lines of pre-Katrina New Orleans.
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Jeff T

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Jeff T » Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:13 pm

Dan
Glad you had a good time. My wife worked there for 3 months this late spring/early summer. We thought the city was going to be so-so but we were surprized to say the least. It is a great town with lots of free stuff to do like the zoo. Same impressions about Soulard. Great stuff at really cheap prices. A real farmers market in my book. It seems that the local ones in Louisville have become the "in"thing to do and are starting to command some expensive prices. We are in Connecticut now and the local markets are very hip and expensive. Back in the day I can remember going to a farm stand or two where $5 would but you a big grocery bag full of stuff. But that was years ago.
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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Brad Keeton » Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:31 pm

Dan Thomas wrote:W e 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.


So glad you went with Monach. It was the first "nice" dinner I had in St. Louis when I moved there for law school, and it had only gotten better when we went for dinner there on a weekend trip last year, about 7 years after our first meal there.

Give Harvest a shot on your next trip.
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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Bill P » Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:49 pm

Dan Thomas wrote: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. :shock:

Dan-
Perhaps at Soulard price fixing by the vendors is not encouraged==>lower prices??
'Winger
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Dan Thomas

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Re: St. Louis recommendations

by Dan Thomas » Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:54 am

Bill P wrote:
Dan Thomas wrote:Dan-
Perhaps at Soulard price fixing by the vendors is not encouraged==>lower prices??
'Winger


I don't think that's the case at all...I saw plenty of stuff that probably came from a "terminal" of some sort. But I could tell what was locally grown and what wasn't pretty easily; but then again, I have an eye for such things.

The thing that impressed me the most was that we bought our Danish, we walked around a little, and by the time we got back to the booth and wanted more, they were almost sold out. They were selling them 4 for a $1.00 and they were fresh, buttery, rich and delicious :D
The pretzels were the same way; Hot, Fresh and only 2 for a buck! I bought 4 and stuck them in my pocket to go to the baseball game. 8)
Heck, It costs 8 bucks for an omelet or waffle and coffee at any farmer's market here.

We bought a lot of "Food Truck" quality stuff, much cheaper at Soulard Market than I ever would at any farmer's market locally. Do you think that anyone locally would ever sell fresh baked goods at 4 of anything for a $1.00?
Yeah, I doubt that too..... :roll:
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