Katie's Pizza & Pasta Osteria is a pizza and pasta restaurant in Rock Hill, St. Louis.
Katie Collier's Rock Hill osteria fires blistered pizzas and plates house-made pasta in a buzzy room, a polished casual Italian with several metro branches.
Must order: Wood-fired pizza and house-made pasta.
Tip: The wood-fired pizzas and the burrata are the orders. Reserve ahead; the Rock Hill room stays busy.
Address: 9568 Manchester Rd, St. Louis, MO 63119
The chain that made St. Louis-style pizza a city standard, Imo's tops cracker-thin crust with Provel cheese, cut in squares, an essential local taste.
Order: St. Louis-style Provel pizza, tavern-cut.
Tip: Order it tavern-cut into squares. Provel is the defining St. Louis cheese; this is where to try it.
Open since 1913, Crown Candy is the metro's oldest soda fountain, slinging hand-made malts, a towering BLT and chili in an Old North parlour frozen in time.
Order: A hand-made malt and the towering, bacon-heavy BLT.
Tip: Take the malt challenge or split the BLT. Expect a weekend line at one of the city's oldest counters.
A Benton Park sandwich counter, Blues City turns out New Orleans-style po-boys and muffulettas with live blues some afternoons, a lunch-only institution.
Order: The muffuletta or one of the New Orleans po-boys.
Tip: The muffuletta and po-boys are the orders; arrive before the lunch rush. Live blues plays some afternoons.
A St. Louis Hills deli, Mom's stacks the locally famous Mom's Special and made-to-order subs, reopened in 2025 to hour-long lines of devoted regulars.
Order: The Mom's Special with thousand-island dressing.
Tip: The Mom's Special is the order; the thousand-island dressing is the secret. Expect a line since the reopening.
A James Beard America's Classics winner on The Hill, Gioia's slices its house Hot Salami onto fresh-baked bread, a sandwich St. Louis treats as a rite.
Order: The Original Hot Salami sandwich.
Tip: The Original Hot Salami is the order, made from Gioia's own fresh sausage. The line moves fast at lunch.
Andrew Trinh reopened his family's longtime South Grand Vietnamese in the old Pho Grand space, plating familiar pho and rice plates with a cocktail program.
Order: A large bowl of pho dac biet with a side of summer rolls.
Tip: Order the pho dac biet; the Trinh family ran Pho Grand here for decades before relaunching the room as Grand Bistro.
