Wright's Tavern is a fine-dining restaurant in St. Louis.
Zoe Robinson's Clayton steakhouse plates dry-aged beef and polished seasonal cooking in a handsome Wydown room. The western-suburb special-occasion table.
Tip: Reserve on Resy and ask which steak the kitchen is proudest of that week. The bar pours a serious martini.
Address: 7624 Wydown Blvd, Clayton, MO 63105, St. Louis
Chef Lou Rook's Chesterfield mainstay works as both a serious steakhouse and a market-driven kitchen, with a Wine Spectator award-winning cellar for years.
Tip: It is a drive west of the city but worth it for the wine; reserve a window table. The attached Smokehouse Market sells the meats.
801 Chophouse plates USDA Prime beef, Wagyu and jet-fresh seafood in a clubby Clayton room with a Wine Spectator-awarded list. The expense-account steakhouse.
Tip: Reserve through OpenTable; the bone-in cuts and the seafood tower are the splurges. Jacket-optional but the room is dressy.
A clubby steakhouse inside the historic Chase Park Plaza, The Tenderloin Room has plated the pepperloin and tableside Caesar for generations of St. Louisans.
Tip: Dress up; this is a special-occasion room. The pepperloin is the signature, finished tableside.
Commonwealth fills the Angad Arts Hotel ground floor in Grand Center with a modern European menu that draws on more than 50 Commonwealth nations.
Tip: Pair dinner with a show across the street at the Fox or Powell Hall; reserve on OpenTable. The room runs 4-10pm Tue-Thu and 4-11pm Fri-Sat.
The former Stone Soup Cottage in Cottleville reopened as Le Champ De Fleurs, a tiny destination serving a fixed monthly tasting menu by reservation only.
Tip: Seatings are limited and book a month ahead; the menu is a set monthly tasting, so there are no a la carte options.
Eclipse plates modern American cooking inside the boutique Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop, with a rooftop bar above. A polished pre-show Loop dinner.
Tip: Pair dinner with a rooftop drink at the Twilight Room upstairs. Reserve on OpenTable; the Loop fills on event nights.
