Recommendations for Food and Attractions in St. Louis this weekend?

How has nobody talked about Pi yet? Tasty, but pricy, pizza, also very vegan friendly. It's in the University City Loop.

And I'll chime in that everything that has already been suggested is worth your time. I'll also plug my old employer, Square One Brewery and Distillery in Lafayette Square...good food, great beer (the lighter stuff and wheats are good, the stouts/porters/barleywines etc. are GREAT), and they do some interesting distilled spirits as well.

Other good bars? The Royale on Kingshighway (a little hipsterish, but excellent cocktails), the Tin Can (one downtown, one in Tower Grove South), O'Connells...I could go on.

N Sperlo wrote:

jrw1621 wrote: I am pretty sure there is a place there that makes beer. And, has horses.

Actually, their a few miles away. A few hundred miles away.

The horses are not in St. Louis. The brewery tour is free, and you get two free beers at the end, but it's really not all that interesting.

Speaking of oddities in The Loop, there is an "ice bar" that serves a beer shake. Never been there. May as well hit up Blueberry Hill while you're at it.

Go pet one dem horsies for me, psteav. You're close to um.

EDIT: THE CHOCOLATE BAR! Sorry to yell, but I remembered what it was.

alex wrote: Cool, the Hyatt will put you within reasonable walking distance of all the Wash Ave related stuff.

Don't venture north of the city museum on foot.

psteav wrote:

N Sperlo wrote:

jrw1621 wrote: I am pretty sure there is a place there that makes beer. And, has horses.

Actually, their a few miles away. A few hundred miles away.

The horses are not in St. Louis. The brewery tour is free, and you get two free beers at the end, but it's really not all that interesting.

I was just here this past summer and they had some horses and I agree the tour is boring. Do you think these horses are for the tourists and the real team is somewhere else? More importantly the brewery had s/s flexible hoses.

Wikipedia says they keep one at the STL brewery for tourists. I believe the biggest breeding facility now is near Boonville, MO (2 1/2 hours from STL).

The brewery tour isn't a total waste of time, but it's down the list of stuff to see in town if you've only got a weekend.

Also, how have I never heard of the Moto Museum? I need to go there. NOW.

Pete240Z wrote:

psteav wrote:

N Sperlo wrote:

jrw1621 wrote: I am pretty sure there is a place there that makes beer. And, has horses.

Actually, their a few miles away. A few hundred miles away.

The horses are not in St. Louis. The brewery tour is free, and you get two free beers at the end, but it's really not all that interesting.

I was just here this past summer and they had some horses and I agree the tour is boring. Do you think these horses are for the tourists and the real team is somewhere else? More importantly the brewery had s/s flexible hoses.

There are, I think, about 250 horses. Sometimes their in town, sometimes not.

• Moto Museum keeps weird public hours. Be sure to check before stopping in. But it's worth it. I had my anniversary party there the first year they were open. It was awesome.

• They rotate a few Clysdales into the Arsenal brewery, so there are usually some on site. (I live about 6 blocks from there.)

• No more free beer on the A-B tour. I blame the Belgians.

• Pi in the Loop is really good. (There's also a location in the Central West End, another nice place to stroll around and drink/eat.) The Good Pie on Olive at Compton is even better. Real deal (certified) Neapolitan pizzas. Serious business.

• I'll second the recommendation for Square One. But I would honestly choose the Tap Room over it. Hard to go wrong either way.

• The Chocolate Bar was good last time I was there about 5 years ago. Of course, I'm biased, since I was the chef then.

What about breakfast? I just checked the hotel's website and I didn't see a free continental breakfast included, so if I'm going to pay for it, I might as well get a good one. I'm making notes and planning carefully, but it definitely looks like a return visit is in order.

My go-to spot for breakfast is a short hop from downtown (like 5 minutes south on I-55) on Cherokee, a little joint called The Mud House. Sort of a coffee-shop-ish vibe, but really good food in a cool atmosphere. It's one of those places where if you're from the neighborhood, you can't go without seeing four or five people you know there. Highly recommended.

There's also the City Diner, with an original location on S. Grand and one on Washington in Grand Center by the Fox theater. I haven't been to the new one on Washington, but the original South City Diner is way above-average diner food in a quirky atmosphere.

City Diner is delicious. Also a great spot for late-night post-bar food...I believe the one on Grand stays open way late.

South Grand is a good spot for restaurants in general. Meskerem (I think that's the spelling) is good Ethiopian food, and Pho Grand is good Vietnamese.

As for stuff to do, I don't think anybody has mentioned the zoo yet. It is fantastic, and it's free. IIRC, it's been ranked #3 in the nation behind San Diego (which is not cheap) and the National Zoo in D.C.

Alex (and everyone else), you rock. I totally owe you a beer or two next time I'm in town. Friday we checked into the hotel and walked to the Radiohead show. After the show, we walked to Hair of the Dog, and while it was definitely our style of bar, it was WAY too crowded that night, so we kept wandering. After looking around for another place close, and everything being packed to a similar density, we walked to Jack Patrick's. It was pretty much perfect, and we actually ran into four of our friends from Evansville that randomly found that spot after the show. We went across the street to Baily's for a burger before heading back to the hotel. Does everything shut down at 1am in St. Louis? I was a bit surprised by that, since in our backwater town bars are open until 3am 7 days a week.

The next morning we went to The Mud House, and it was perfect. We even found some Bob Dylan vinyl there (Colleen is a HUGE Bobby D fan). Then to the City Museum. That was no surprise, but a fantastic time no less. After we left there, we had a little time to kill before dinner and went to O'Connell's. We're definitely coming back to eat there. That was TOTALLY our style of place. We had already decided to eat dinner at Everest, but the smell of O'Connell's almost changed our minds. And it was an added bonus that they actually have a Vegi-burger. Then to Everest where we had a fantastic meal. After dinner, we were about to head home. Colleen was looking at maps to find the easiest way back to the interstate, and I pulled a ring out of my pocket and proposed. TOTALLY shocked her! She's hard to surprise, and I totally got her. And it was right next to a bright pink bar called "Attitudes", which made it that much more hilarious. All in all, a perfect weekend. Thanks a million!

Mazel tov! Glad the weekend went so well for you guys.

(Oh, and St. Louis has both 1:30 and 3am liquor licenses. The former are more common than the latter. But Jack Patrick's and O'Connell's are both open until 3am on the weekends, for future reference.)

Glad I found this thread. The wife and I are planning a trip to St.L and the info here should keep us busy for a couple of days. She won't believe where I came up with "my" ideas...

I guess nothing much has changed in the last few months, but I'm always open to suggestions for places just west and east all the way back to Ohio.

thanks Corey (et al)!

Stan

Does KC count in your "just west" category? I call it home and could point you in the right direction.

Been there and liked it. But. It was where my old girlfriend lived and the wife knows it...

Too bad too as the downtown was nice when I was last there.

(Thanks for the offer).