20 editor picks in St. Louis.
St. Louis street food is a catalog of local landmarks, from frozen custard to drowned tortas. Ted Drewes Frozen Custard has handed over its concretes upside down on old Route 66 since 1941, while La Vallesana serves tacos al pastor on Cherokee Street and Taqueria Durango in Overland is famous for its chile-drowned torta ahogada.
20 street food places in St. Louis we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in St. Louis · Street Food across every city.
Try Tacos al pastor and tortas
A Cherokee Street taqueria with a sheltered patio, La Vallesana serves tacos al pastor, tortas and aguas frescas, an anchor of the Mexican Cherokee strip.
Try Torta ahogada and tacos
A family-run Overland taqueria, Durango is famous for the torta ahogada, a pork sandwich drowned in spicy red chile, with big portions for cheap.
Try St. Louis-style loaded hot dogs
Founded by musician Steve Ewing, Steve's loads creative toppings onto griddled dogs on South Grand and has been voted the city's best, a cult counter spot.
Try Hand-twisted soft pretzels
Opened in 1920 near the Anheuser-Busch brewery, Gus' Pretzels hand-twists soft pretzels and pretzel-wrapped sausages, a Benton Park snack-counter institution.
Try Chicago-style hot dogs
A drive-in near the airport, Woofie's has sold Chicago-style hot dogs since the 1970s, billing itself the home of the hotdog with dignity.
Try Crispy-edged burgers and root beer
A 16-stool roadside drive-in of six decades, Carl's griddles crispy-edged burgers and pours house-made root beer, a Route-66-era St.
Try Soda-fountain malts and BLTs
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.
Try The slinger and elevated diner food
In the old Eat-Rite Diner building, Fleur STL plates an elevated slinger of prime patty, hash, chili, cheese and onion, carrying on a Route 66 legacy.
Try Toasted oven sandwiches
Snarf's toasts its sub rolls and piles on classic deli fillings at a South Grand counter, a fast and cheap sandwich stop near SLU and Grand Center.
Try Peruvian and Latin small plates
Maritza Rios runs a Peruvian-leaning Latin kitchen on Euclid, plating aji de gallina, ropa vieja and rotisserie chicken at quick-counter prices.
Try Vietnamese pho and rice plates
Grand Bistro relaunches the Trinh family's South Grand Vietnamese in the former Pho Grand room, ladling pho and com tam at counter-style prices.
Try Korean-Mexican tacos and bowls
David Choi's Korean-Mexican counter griddles bulgogi tacos and kimchi-fried-rice gogi bowls, the brick-and-mortar original of a food-truck-born local chain.
Try Ice cream martinis and sandwiches
An Art Deco soda fountain in Grand Center, The Fountain on Locust pours ice-cream martinis and plates retro sandwiches and over-the-top sundaes.
Try Grass-fed burgers and house ice cream
Baileys' Range griddles grass-fed burgers and churns house ice cream for boozy shakes, a build-your-own burger counter that moved to the Shaw area.
Try Frozen custard concretes
Serving since 1941 on old Route 66, Ted Drewes is the St.
Try St. Louis-style Provel pizza
The chain that made St.
Try Wood-fired tacos and modern Mexican plates
Adam and Jason Tilford's CWE taco room turns out wood-fired tacos and coastal-Mexican plates in the old Session Taco space, a quick festive corner of Euclid.
Try Po-boys and muffulettas
A Benton Park sandwich counter, Blues City turns out New Orleans-style po-boys and muffulettas with live blues some afternoons, a lunch institution.
Try St. Louis deli sandwiches
A St.
Try Sicilian subs and soups
Mama Adriana Fazio's Shaw Avenue shop, run by her daughters, builds foot-long Sicilian subs and Sicilian soups, a Hill lunch counter going more than 30 years.
