St. Louis Restaurants?

Someone wrote:
: I am a St. Louis native and visit there a couple of times a year. : Just visited the Blue Sky [sic], actually the Big Sky and found : it very enjoyable.  Same owners run the Blue Water Grill on : Hampton Ave. in south St. Louis and it is also good.  Specializes : in fish as the name suggests.

    Both the Big Sky Cafe and Blue Water Grill are good restaurants.  If
you go on a Monday night to either restaurant, they serve tapas in lieu of/ addition to their regular menus.  Also, the owners of these two places have a third place called Painted Plates.

    For more tapas style dining, try Piccolo's in downtown St. Louis.
They serve Mediterranean dishes (Greek, Spanish, French, and Italian), and the food is simply delicious.
    Also try a restaurant (it is new) called Jimmy's: telephone#
314-725-8585.  Located at 706 DeMun, 63105.  They have a fish pizza there that is the best I've had since I was in Florence last year ( called Grill Pescatore).  Pastas, steaks, fish, soups, white chili, sandwiches and salads (large seafood salad).  Definitely worth checking out.

    Patty Long's Ninth Street Abbey is good for Sunday brunch, but be
sure to call and make sure they are open.  Eclectic dining in a beautiful, renovated church.

    Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant is good.  Their specialty are their
fajitas -- the meat (beef or chicken) is terrific and plentiful.  You definitely get a lot of food for your money at Chuy Arzola's, and the lunch specials are great deals.

    Saleem's Lebanese restaurant is one of my own favorites.  Their
motto is, "Where garlic is king" and they mean it.  The garlic potato dip is great if you think you can handle it.  For my entree I like to get a combination plate and usually I split it with someone b/c I can't eat a whole lot and it is rather high priced anyway.  Any of the chicken, lamb or beef dishes are simply excellet.

    For Indian, I go to The Star of India.  It was given lukewarm
reviews when it opened, but I really like the place.  And the lunch special is a good one ($5.95 all you can eat buffet).  I don't think the place has its liquor lisence, so you would need to consider that.

    Another goodlunch special can be found at Siete Mares --
314-776-7074 (also new) at 3204 Grand Blvd.  anywhere from $3.50- $5.50 for a decent sized plate of Mexican or Nicaraguan food.

    For inexpensive Vietnamese (not express), try Pho Grand.  The egg
rolls are terrific, and most entrees are only $3.50 (for a large quantity of excellet tasting food).

    Also try Mekong for good Vietnamese food.  Still quite inexpensive.
And the best vegetarian menu of all the Vietnamese restaurants.
    For Chinese or Vietnamese, Mai Lai is really good.

    For Thai, my favorite is The King and I.  The food is very spicy
there and they really do make it hot when I request "Thai hot!"  Also good for Thai food, and a larger vegetarian selection, is The Thai Cafe. (same owners), but the food just isn't as spicy there.

    The Thai Country CAfe is also owned by the same folks as the above,
but the food is way less expensive.  They seem to offer almost all the same things as the Thai Cafe.

    For good burgers, try O'Connell's.
    For good white chili and home made potato chips, try Llewelyn's Pub.

: As you probably know there are also a lot of good enough Italian : restaurants on "the hill".  Can't make any definite recommendations, : but there are many popular spots.  A St. Louis Italian specialty : dish is deep-fried ravioli.  Delicious.
    I find it hard to reccomend the Italian hill restaurants.  Granted,
I don't have a lot of money, so I don't get to try the really high
-priced places.  But the few places I have been to are good (Cunetto's, Zia's), but not a whole lot better than the Olive Garden when I compare the St. Louis hill restaurants to the Italian restaurants in Boston and New York.  (I won't be so unfair as to compare them to the restaurants in Italy).  I'm in heaven whenever I go to the East Coast, so I can see how you might just want to avoid Italian food altogether in St. Louis (save those toasted ravioli).  On the East Coast, I can always get a tasty Italian meal for very little money, and here, I pay through the nose for a modestly good Italian meal.

    I have found good fish pastas at The Dogtown Bistro.  And by far the
best pasta I've ever had in St. Louis was at a very fancy place that my parents took me to, called, Benedetto's.  The Linguini with a vodka reduction cream sauce and salmon, was just knock-out.  But it was $15.00 from what I recall.  A place I usually wouldn't go to on my own. But the pasta I ordered was simply fantastic.  I also ordered soup and salad and tasted my mother's chicken and my father's marinara sauce.  None of those items were worth the money my parents payed for them.  But that salmon pasta was magnificent.  If you do try it, you'll need to call and get the new location, b/c they have moved and are not in the book, but their number is.
    For carry-out pizza, try Talayna's (St. Louis style pizza, New York
style or Chicago style), or Fio's (the one on Chippewa).

    Well, those are my personal favorites.  There are a few more that I
know I'm forgetting, and many more than that that I can't afford (yet) to try.  Good Luck, and I hope I was helpful!
                      Jeanne