Blue’s City Deli is an absolute gem of a spot. It’s a sandwich shop with blues-themed decor and an outdoor patio. Expect to see a line when you go to visit, because the people know what’s up.

So far, I’ve tried the roast beef and the reuben sandwiches. The reuben is made with house-smoked pastrami, and might be the best I’ve ever had. I’d rate Blues City Deli as one of the best restaurants in the entire St. Louis area. It even topped the list in 2023 in one of the Yelp Top 100 lists.

I’d like to work my way through the entire menu, because everything has been so good. I also have to get around to trying the Italian beef and updating with my thoughts.

If I had to make a short list of “must try” spots in St. Louis, Blues City Deli would definitely be on it.

After my favorite New York-style pizza place in town closed down, I was on the lookout for a good pizza place. I heard of Bud’s Pizza and Beer being comparable, so I went to check it out, and it did not disappoint! The ambiance is great, it has cozy vintage vibes, plenty of seating, and I’ve always had good service here.

The appetizers are all excellent. The wings are good, the meatballs are good, the beer nugs are good, and the homemade toasted ravioli is the best I’ve had in the entire Metro area.

Although I would consider the pizza more of just a standard “pizza” than New York style, the quality of the ingredients and the cook on the pizza are all top notch, and I highly recommend it as a place to take a group, get a bunch of apps, and share a pizza or two.

Carl’s Drive-In is a charming, no-frills diner right off historic route 66. It’s cash only and seating is very limited, so it can get packed during peak hours. The menu is small and to the point - they do smash burgers to order, and they also have IBC root beer on tap. They also have what I think of as “Chicago tamales” on the menu, which I find delightful.

If you want a little taste of Americana, get an IBC root beer float, a double smash burger, and some fries.

I’d say it’s a solid smash burger, and it was my favorite in the area until I tried Woofies. Between the limited seating, limited hours, and being cash only, it can be kind of hard to find the right time to go, but it’s worth a visit.

One of the first things I needed to find after moving to St. Louis was authentic Mexican food. I’ve always been used to having endless options for authentic Mexican food, bakeries, snacks, and groceries, but I was surprised to discover that St. Louis has a much smaller hispanic population than I was used to.

The majority of Mexican restaurants in the St. Louis area are actually more along the lines of Tex-Mex. Lots of fajitas, cheese sauce, and complicated combination menus. I tried four or five different taquerias that were highly rated, including some on Cherokee street, but the flavor and ingredients just weren’t what I was looking for.

Before I found El Jarocho I came across El Toluco, a similar Mexican grocery/taqueria combination that was close by, and they had awesome Al Pastor tacos - but unfortunately they closed down within a few months of finding it, so I was back on the search.

I kept looking, and eventually I came across El Jarocho. I’ll take any opportunity I can to talk up El Jarocho, because they’ve been an absolute godsend. Here you can find street tacos with corn tortillas, onions, cilantro, and meat, served with lime. The steak tacos are amazing, and the green sauce is top notch. My biggest complain about El Jarocho is they don’t have Mexican rice or refried pinto beans - they have white rice and black beans.

My favorite item on the menu is the “Burrito nuevo”, which is a burrito filled with steak, queso fresco, and fries. It’s very similar to the California Burrito that you’ll find all over San Diego, just minus the guacamole.

This is a great taqueria/grocery store combo and I highly recommend you check it out. I’m going to keep looking for more good Mexican food, and I have many more places on my list to try, but El Jarocho is always going to be a staple.

Recently, I saw pizzababble put Failoni’s as his number one pizza place in the whole city, so I had to check it out. I’ve tried a few other places from his recommendations like “Providence by the Slice” in Kansas City and it was quite good. I figure few people have tried as many St. Louis-style pizzas as ol’ pizzababble so it’s worth a try.

I was impressed to learn that the building has been in operation since 1916 under the Failoni name. They also make their pizzas in a brick oven, which feels unique and also very St. Louis.

I checked it out recently and we got toasted ravioli, salad, cheesy garlic bread, and two St. Louis-style pizzas. Overall, I thought it was fine. The toasted ravioli tasted like the default ones you get from most bars. The house salad was particularly strange to me - I tasted almost no vinegar in the salad dressing whatsoever, it tasted extremely sweet and sugary.

The pizzas were pretty good, I liked that the sauce was not overly sweet and didn’t have the artifical flavor I taste at the chain restaurants. The crust was nice and crispy - they clearly perfected the low hydration, cracker crust made with yeast. It tasted very similar to when I made a St. Louis-style pizza at home with a three-day ferment, except theirs was crispier due to the brick oven cook.

Overall, it was a decent STL-style pizza, but it’s not in my top five. The patio was nice and it seems like a good place to bring a few friends and have a drink.

Farotto’s is is a family-owned restaurant that has been making pizzas since 1956, making it one of the oldest ones as far as I can tell (Imo’s began in 1964). It’s my top-rated spot for St. Louis-style pizza - their pizza has an extra-extra-thin crust and has a buttery and flaky aspect to it that I haven’t experienced at any other pizza place. The sauce is slightly sweet but balanced, and blends well with the melted Provel.

Everything here is good - the toasted ravioli, the pizza, the pasta, the sandwiches. The STL sticks are their version of provel bites and they’e surprisingly good, too.

Farotto’s is also a great place to take a group, and it’s been one of my preferred restaurants to bring out-of-town guests. Their location in Rock Hill has an event space below, and a big open raised patio/restaurant on the upper level.

Grace Meat & Three is a classic comfort food spot to get fried chicken and sides. It’s located in The Grove alongisde a few other good restaurants.

Grace used to have some competition in the fried chicken arena with Southern, a restaurant connected to Pappy’s, but it closed down. Most of the other chicken spots are chains like Chuck’s Hot Chicken and Dave’s Hot Chicken, neither of which I like that much. I have yet to try Hodak’s or Gus’s, the two other local spots I’ve heard of.

Although no one can compete with Prince’s in Nashville for me, I think Grace Meat & Three is pretty damn good. My biggest complaint is that the spice levels are very low - usually in Nashville I get medium or hot and I’m suffering a bit, but at Grace I can get the extra hot and still wish it had more spice. Aside from missing some heat, the flavor is great, the chicken is crispy, and the sides are pretty good.

J.J. Twig’s is the only place in town that I know of that specifically makes a Chicago thin-crust pizza. They also make a “double decker pizza” - two pizzas stacked on top of each other with the crusts braided together.

They have locations in Valley Park, O’Fallon, Southampton, and there’s even one in the Northern Chicago suburbs in Palatine, IL. I’ve been to the Valley Park and Southampton locations, and both have good food and good vibes. It’s a great place to bring a group and have a drink and some pizza.

As a long time fan of Menya Rui, I’ve been hyped to try Kishimoto Mendo ever since it was announced. Kishimoto Mendo is the new Tonkotsu-style ramen concept from the chef-owner of Menya Rui. Tonkotsu is my favorite style of ramen, so although the Shoyu at Menay Rui is fantastic, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the STL ramen scene.

We ended up going to Kishimoto Mendo during opening weekend, and I have it say - it’s the best Tonkotsu ramen I’ve ever had, and I’ve had several across San Diego and Chicago (haven’t been to Tokyo yet, sadly). I really respect that the owner, Steven Pursley, delayed the opening until he was sure that the soup was up to his personal standards. We’ve been a few times and it’s been a complete 10/10 every time.

The pork broth is rich, flavorful, and comforting. The ramen shop vibes in the restaurant are great, and I love that it has twice as much seating as Menya Rui. I highly recommend stopping by and getting the classic Tonkotsu ramen.

I would put Kishimoto Mendo on my list of “must try” restaurants in St. Louis.

La Pizza is one of the only places in St. Louis where you can get an authentic New York-style pizza. It’s a small shop, mostly set up for takeout with a few small tables for dining in.

The atmosphere is very much a friendly neighborhood joint and the vibes are truly 10/10. We showed up one night when they were busy with take out orders for the rest of the night, and they managed to fit us in and make us a fresh pizza and wings. We got a sausage and pepperoni pizza.

As much as I liked the place and the people, I thought the pizza was just okay. One thing is I’m not a fan of strips of sausage, which I know is just the way it’s often done with NY-style, so I need to learn my lesson and just get pepperoni (the midwest in me just always wants the bulk sausage on my pizza). The crust was a little bland to me. I thought it was an overall decent pizza, I just probably wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

Louie is an excellent restaurant at an excellent location. It’s right on the strip on De Mun Ave in Clayton next to Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Ice Cream, Sasha’s Wine Bar, and a few other shops and restaurants. I really enjoyed the vibes of the street, as I saw a lot of people eating on the patios, walking around, and kids riding their bikes, all with the backdrop of the greenery of Concordia Park. It felt very lively and energetic, and that’s what I love to see in St. Louis.

My partner and I went to Louie for an anniversary dinner and had a great time. The service was fantastic, as well as the food - particularly the bread and foccaccia, a personal favorite. They also get burrata flown in from Italy, so that was a treat.

I also had the pizza, which I would probably rate a 9/10 - very good, but probably not the best in the whole city. Overall it was a great experience and a great place to go for a celebration.

Menya Rui was my first introduction to ramen in St. Louis, which was lucky for me since it’s excellent.

For a while, I went to Menya Rui once a week - even if this meant waiting in line for two hours in the St. Louis heat, or waiting in the car during winter. This is a testament to how good the ramen Menya Rui is.

Shoyu ramen is the main focus at Menya Rui, and they do it very well. The broth is light yet has a deep flavor. I would also highly recommend the Karaage as an appetizer, which they’ve perfected as well.

As much as I love Menya Rui, Tonkotsu is my favorite type of ramen and I always felt sad that I couldn’t get it there and try their take on it. Fortunately for all of us, Kishimoto Mendo opened up recently in the Delmar Loop by the same chef-owner as Menya Rui, so now you can get both Shoyu and Tonkotsu on opposite ends of town.

I know St. Louis is the town of thin cracker-crust pizza, but I’m particularly partial to the thicker, fluffier Detroit-style pizza. When I first moved here, I tried Motor Town Pizza and the Detroit-style at the now defunct Pie Guy, but neither scratched the itch for me. Jet’s is a good option, but a chain is never going to be top-tier.

Nicky Slices Pizza Club has identified and filled the gap for an amazing Detroit-style pizza place with their location in The Hill. My recommendation is to get The Roner - a Detroit-style with cupped pepproni and basil, drizzled with garlic chili hot honey.

Tucked away at a gas station in Chesterfield, O’B’Que’s serves up Texas-style brisket and BBQ. I tried the ribs, brisket, and pulled pork, and all had a great wood-smoked flavor without being too overwhelmingly smokey. Best of all, they have a spicy vinegar BBQ sauce, my favorite.

My only complaint was that the brisket was a bit lean and dry, but I went 30 minutes before closing so I’m going to try again earlier on another day and hope I can get some of the point.

This has been the only place I’ve found so far that does Texas-style brisket, and is currently my favorite BBQ in town.

I’ve been to Stacked a couple of times, and it’s always good. I’ll admit that burgers just aren’t my favorite food, and if I’m going to have a burger, I prefer a smash burger (and Woofie’s is my favorite choice for that). So my personal rating might be a bit “stacked” against them (sorry).

However, as far as thick burgers go, Stacked is a very good one. You get to select all the ingredients and write them down in your Scantron test with your #2 pencil for bun, meat, cheese, toppings, etc. so the burger can be exactly what you want. Also they have a buffalo chicken toasted ravioli that I like a lot (personally, I like it more than the standard beef most places serve) and plenty of local beers on tap. You can also go around the corner and get an ice cream sandwich at Sugarwitch.

It seems that the Carondelet is a historic neighborhood and there’s a lot of old architecture around that way. Most of that area seemed to be a bit empty and industrial, so I hope more restaurants open up around there. There doesn’t otherwise seem like much of a draw for me to be out that way.

This is our go-to spot for middle eastern food. Specifically, the beef kefta kabob is fantastic. Everything else is good, too - the rice, the lentil soup, the baba ganoush. They also have a mint lemonade that is the perfect balance of mint, lemon, and sweetness.

Middle eastern food in general is one of my favorite types of cuisine, and Lebanese in specific is possibly my favorite variation of it. I was excited to discover Taste of Lebanon right in Central West End.

The hummus, baba ganoush, and falafel at Taste of Lebanon are all fantastic - the best I’ve had in the St. Louis area. The lentil soup was also very good, and the various grilled meats are also good, though Sultan‘s kefta tops my list.

Taste of Lebanon also offers hookah and has a separate room for it, which I have not experienced but I think it’s cool that there’s a restaurant with both food and hookah available.

Telva is a Balkan-inspired cafe from the owners of the famous Balkan Treat Box. I visited on the recommendation that it’s one of the best chai teas around, and I was really impressed.

Telva’s all around a cool spot - the decor is very warm and inviting, and it’s in a walkable area close to a plant nursery and a few other cafes and restaurants like Olive + Oak and Le Macaron French Pastries. Telva also has breakfast/brunch items in addition to a full coffee bar. Many of the items on the menu have a Balkan flair to them, which is super unique.

I really loved going to this cafe and I’m excited to try more of the menu.

A really cool BBQ stop with a large outdoor patio and painted murals. The intergalactic BBQ vibes are fun, the sides are good, and there’s a lot of good stuff on the menu. I think it’s a great place to go with a group when the weather is nice.

There are three staple foods of the Chicagoan’s diet - the Italian beef sandwich, the Chicago-style hotdog, and deep dish pizza. You spend enough time in the Chicagoland area, and you think these things are ubiquitous, found everywhere.

Moving to St. Louis was a culture shock in discovering that is absolutely not the case. Travel only a few hours away, and not only do you stop seeing a hot dog and beef stand on every corner, but you don’t see them at all. You can’t even find them if you go searching.

Somehow, even in the age of computers and the internet, finding specific regional foods done correctly outside of the region they originated is quite the challenge, and Chicago-style hot dogs are no exception to that rule.

The ingredients on a Chicago dog are as follows:

• Pickle spear
• Tomato slice (2x)
• Sport pepper (2x)
• Relish, neon green
• Onion, diced
• Mustard
• Celery salt
• Poppyseed bun
• Vienna Beef hotdog (steamed!)

None of these ingredients are optional or negotiable (unless you’re making a depression dog, but that’s another story).

I’m happy to report that not only does Woofie’s out in Overland not only make a good Chicago dog, but they make a perfect Chicago dog. On top of that, they make the best smash burger I’ve ever had. I’ve you’re looking for a good burger or dog in a no-frills joint that matches the vibe of your neighborhood corner hot dog stand in Chicago, head over to Woofie’s!

I’m only giving them a 9 instead of a 10 because I wasn’t a fan of the Italian beef sandwich they offered. It just didn’t have the flavor and greasiness in the gravy that I’m looking for. Still on the hunt for a good Italian beef in St. Louis!