Louie is an italian bistro restaurant in Clayton, St. Louis.
This DeMun bistro pairs a fiery pizza oven with a tight Italian menu, and its wood-oven roast chicken is among the best in the metro. A neighbourhood room.
Must order: The wood-oven roast chicken and the Ramon gnocco.
Tip: It does not take many reservations, so come early or settle in at the bar. The gnocco fritto is close to mandatory.
Address: 706 DeMun Ave, Clayton, MO 63105, St. Louis
Opened in 1985 and credited as the first Vietnamese restaurant in St. Louis, Mai Lee runs a vast menu of pho, bun and canh chua that sets the local standard.
Order: Salt-and-pepper calamari, pho, and canh chua sour soup.
Tip: The menu runs to hundreds of items; the salt-and-pepper calamari and the sour soup are the orders to anchor a table around.
A Benton Park gathering place for 25 years, Frazer's pairs a globe-trotting comfort menu with one of the better cocktail programmes on the south side.
Order: The cioppino loaded with mussels, clams, shrimp and squid.
Tip: It is a neighbourhood room that fills with regulars; reserve at weekends and ask the bar what is being shaken that night.
A Hill institution tied to the toasted-ravioli origin story, Charlie Gitto's plates red-sauce Italian classics in a clubby room. The t-ravs draw first-timers.
Order: Toasted ravioli, which the restaurant claims to have popularised.
Tip: Reserve for dinner; the dining room fills with regulars and out-of-town pilgrims. Start with the toasted ravioli and a Caesar.
A family-run Hill room going since 1985, Zia's plates generous Italian-American spiedini and pasta. The everyday Hill table locals lean on over the big names.
Order: Toasted ravioli and the chicken spiedini.
Tip: Reservations are taken for parties of eight or more only, so expect a wait at peak. The chicken spiedini is the house signature.
Open on The Hill since 1989, Gian-Tony's serves Southern Italian veal, chicken and seafood from a chef-owner who still runs the kitchen most nights.
Order: Veal and pasta plates from chef-owner Tony Catarinicchia.
Tip: Reserve for the small dining room and ask after the night's veal preparation. Closed early in the week, so plan a Wednesday-to-Sunday visit.
Loryn and Edo Nalic bake somun in a wood-fired oven and turn out cevapi and lahmacun, a James Beard-recognised take on Bosnian and Turkish street food.
Order: Wood-fired somun bread with cevapi and a lahmacun flatbread.
Tip: The bread comes straight from the oven, so the somun-based plates are the way in. Lines build at lunch; go early or late.
