Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

My SO and I will be in St Louis from Dec 21-22. I want to maximize the trip since we have always wanted to visit the city, but only have a short amount of time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where we should stay, what we should see, where we should eat?

[v-girl]

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

The Hill has good Italian food.

The boat ride on the river is freakin' freezing in October so I wouldn't try it in December unless you're from Alaska and wouldn't care if your nose freezes off.

The arch is cool once. Sort of. Maybe not really.

The botanical gardens and zoo are our fav places there. But we love zoos.

As for where to stay...not sure. We have always stayed with family or friends of family (loved when the in-laws' good friends gave us their house keys and told us to enjoy -- the live in the Clayton section of SL -- fancy!).

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

there are a couple of threads in history where STL has been discussed ad nauseaum. I started one, and .... I can't remember who started the other. Lots of good info in both threads, I'll see if I can find one of them.

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15050

initially it's geared towards family trips, but there's a lot of good info in there.

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

Cool, thanks! I bet there's all sorts of useful info there. I knew there was probably a STL topic out there somewhere. Thanks for finding it for me.

[Meenah]

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

I don't know STL, but so nice to "see" you. How are you doing?

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

Born and raised AND despite the lack of STL love here, PROUD OF IT!!!

The Hill - excellent food, very homy environment. Shaw Coffee is a local roaster that has excellent coffee and Italian soda's. It's in an old bank and you can walk in the vault if you want I can vouch for a great lunch at Andrian'a Deli (that's were all the cops and firefighters are - so you KNOW it's good!), Guido's Pizzeria and Tapas is excellent but the service is so so depending on the day. Zia's is a great dinner or lunch place and the Sweet Italain dressing is out of this world and I have 4 bottles in my pantry. I just unloaded one to an Italian neighbor from New Jersey she fell head over heels for it, so yeah it's that good. Giovanni's on the Hill, LoRusso's Cucina, and Gian-Tony's on The Hill are the high rollers for a upscale dinner very $$$ but been around forever and excellent.
http://www.thehillstl.com/

The Central West End (where Jewish Barnes Hospital is) is very fun. It's a place were cobble stones from the old times are, fabulous historic flats and townhouses surround, and where fun bars, restaurants are, and not to mention super fun eclectic shops are. The restaurants at CWE are soso IMO... I can vouch for the Wildflower though.
http://www.thecwe.com/

The Loop - Urban, very fun, an adult bowling alley with cocktails, The Tivoli is there and it's a local indi film theater that is old and fun to go to, lots of cool shops, relaxed and more city folk there than CWE. The Vintage Vinyl is a fun record shop everyone knows and loves to hit for odd ball stuff (the staff is amazing and can find any cd you are looking for, just sing a riff or chorus and you're covered). THE bar for the Loop is Blue Berry Hill, it's a historic joint and all kinds of people have played there, it's very smokey so that's a warning. I like Ciscero's just up the street , they have a fantastic beer selection, food too, yummy cheesecakes, and less smokey than Blue Berry Hill (warning there is smoking all over STL). Brandt's is good for live music and drinks, never eaten dinner there before though. Fitz is an historic establishment as well. They make and sell all over STL root beer - YUM!!! They have great burgers there, it's like a 50's dinner, very kid friendly. eta: The Loop in not a loop it's all on Delmar. It use to be were the street cars looped around to go back to the county, hence the name.

http://www.ucityloop.com/

Clayton, - upscale dinner restaraunts, Cafe Napoli is very hoppin place, dress up like you're a night out on the town. I haven't been but it was on the list, and I know lots who have gone and loved it. Companion Bakery has AMAZING baked goods, go for breakfast YUM! http://www.companionstl.com/splash.html For crepes, my mouth is watering go to: City Coffee House and Creperies on Brentwood Blvd THE CREPES ARE SSSOOOOOOO GOOD breakfast and lunch For a good stone pizza with a nicer atmosphere but won't break the bank go to Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza. J. Buck's and Jimmy's Cafe on the Park are legendary and a local staple. They are expensive and BUSY! Remy's Kitchen & Wine Bar is quite good too, and mid to high price.

http://www.diningstl.com/Clayton.htm

That should keep you busy! All of these places are a stone throw from each other, 10-15 min tops. So if you get bored, just take a drive. Oh and these places are my old hood so if you have more ??'s let me know

And the best local coffee IMO http://www.kaldiscoffee.com/ found in clayton and other locations, is served brewed at a ton of restaurants all over STL.

Have fun, I can't wait to go in three weeks to see the family, I miss it like mad

http://www.slfp.com/ClaytonBusinessDist.html

Places to stay, well for high $$$ and to knock your socks off and be in the center of it all, in the Central West End:

http://www.chaseparkplaza.com/

There's a movie theater in it, that serves beer and wine There are hotels all around, the CWE or Clayton would be good places to go that are central, the prices may be high not sure. I know Clayton has a couple nice places. For cheaper places you should call around, the main highway 40 is being redone and it central to all these places, so if you are right off this highway could be dicey, I don't know you'd have to call. Towns that are a tad off 40 but central townships are Webster Groves, Brentwood, Richmond Heights, Maplewood. Webster Groves is a neat town, that has a traditional main street. I saw a new wine bar there that looked good. There are lots of little local places there that are good. It's very quintessential type of town. It would be a decent place to stay if CWE and Clayton were too high. Maplewood is up and coming and you can find a great micro brewery there and restaurant that is very fun we always go there on our visits home. http://www.schlafly.com/bottleworks.construction.shtml Their Toffee cake is unbelievable!!! http://www.cityofmaplewood.com/ There is a new dual piano bar that I heard is fun, and I've been dying to go to. http://www.jiveandwail.com/ There is also a cool brazilian place that has these swings you sit on at the bar, it's called Boogaloo. http://stlouis.metromix.com/restaurants ... 72/content
So look around there for Days Inn type places. It's only take 10 or less min from those places to reach the above locations.

And for restaurant reviews go to http://www.saucemagazine.com/ it's very concise and helpful. You can look per area on their search engine.

[Brodie919]

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

Google Best of St Louis, Riverfront Times. It is the pop culture, underground magazine in STL, and it was a LIFESAVER for me when my wife and I visited a few times. It really is the best list. ALso, check out the City Museum. Hands down, most unique thing about STL. I am hoping she matches there, and I will go to Wash U for Grad school. Have fun, it's a fun town. Oh, and Dogtown just south of Forest Park is a great Irish drinking neighborhood.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

I'm in St. Louis. I really LOVE the Art Museum here. Feel free to PM me if you'd like any info/contact for stuff holiday-related going on here. I can grab a local paper.

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

Thanks so much for the tips!

And hello Luanne! Nice to "see" you too. I've been ok, can't complain! SO and I are still doing well. He's in his 2nd year of general surgery now, in the middle of a trauma rotation, and boy his life is not easy these days. He is working 6 days a week, sometimes from 5am to at least 7pm. Things can always be worse so we're still trying to have an optimistic outlook and to be aware of our blessings. We are counting down the days until January, when trauma will be over and he'll have an easier rotation. Sundays are usually our day together, since I only see him once or twice a week these days but I am ok with that because I look forward to our time together.

I don't participate in the convos as often anymore but I still check in every once in a while... I hope everyone is doing well!

[Meenah]

Re: Anyone familiar with St Louis, MO?

I cannot imagine surgery, good for you for surviving it. Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.