A genteel Victorian neighbourhood around a historic park, home to Park Avenue Coffee's gooey butter cake and the cocktail bar Planter's House.
Park Avenue Coffee pairs espresso with more than 70 varieties of gooey butter cake, the St. Louis dessert it is best known for. Visit the Lafayette original.
Signature drink: Coffee and gooey butter cake
Tip: The Mom's Traditional gooey butter cake is the order, named best in town by Food Network. Boxes travel well as gifts.
Park Avenue Coffee bakes more than 70 varieties of gooey butter cake, the dessert invented here, served with house-roasted coffee in Lafayette Square.
Tip: The Mom's Traditional was named best in town by Food Network. Boxes hold up well as edible souvenirs.
Worth the queue: Mom's Traditional gooey butter cake
Park Avenue Coffee roasts its own beans and pours them with more than 70 varieties of gooey butter cake, the St. Louis dessert it is best known for here.
Tip: Pair a roast with the Mom's Traditional gooey butter cake. The Lafayette Square original is the most charming branch.
Sources from: Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia
How they serve: Espresso, Filter, Whole bean retail
Open since 2001 in Lafayette Square, 33 lets you pull any bottle off the retail wall and drink it at the bar for a small corkage. A pioneering local wine bar.
Signature pour: A by-the-glass pour from the shop wall
Wine focus: Eclectic small-production and natural wines
Food: Cheese, charcuterie and small plates
Tip: Browse the shelves, pick a bottle, and pay shop price plus corkage to drink in. The cheese and charcuterie pair well.
Ted Kilgore's Lafayette Square bar started the modern St. Louis cocktail movement, and its barrooms still set the city's drinking standard today.
Signature drink: Classic and original cocktails
Food: Bar snacks and small plates
Tip: The front Bullock Room is louder; the back bar is for serious cocktails. Order a classic and watch the technique.