The fastest, cheapest, frequently best food on St. Louis's streets.
Vendors, food trucks and stalls: the cheapest, fastest, frequently best food in St. Louis.
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: Tacos al pastor and tortas
Tip: The al pastor tacos and the chicken chipotle torta are the orders. The patio and aguas frescas suit a warm afternoon.
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: Torta ahogada and tacos
Tip: The torta ahogada is the signature; come hungry. Everyone can eat for under ten dollars here.
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: St. Louis-style loaded hot dogs
Tip: The over-the-top loaded dogs are the draw; the Get Down dog is a favourite. Counter service, fast turnaround.
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: Hand-twisted soft pretzels
Tip: Get a fresh hot pretzel or a salami-stuffed pretzel stick. It is a snack stop, not a sit-down meal.
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. A retro counter.
Try: Chicago-style hot dogs
Tip: Order it Chicago-style, dragged through the garden. It is a quick roadside stop near the airport.
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. Louis time capsule.
Try: Crispy-edged burgers and root beer
Tip: Grab a stool, order a double with root beer. There are only 16 seats, so expect a short wait at peak.
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: Soda-fountain malts and BLTs
Tip: The malt challenge and the bacon-heavy BLT are the orders. Expect a weekend line for one of the city's oldest counters.
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: The slinger and elevated diner food
Tip: Hours are now Thursday through Sunday only; the slinger with a quarter-pound prime patty is the order. It nods to the Eat-Rite legend in the same building.
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: Toasted oven sandwiches
Tip: Get any sub toasted, the house move. The hot giardiniera is the topping regulars add for heat.
Maritza Rios runs a Peruvian-leaning Latin kitchen on Euclid, plating aji de gallina, ropa vieja and rotisserie chicken at quick-counter prices.
Try: Peruvian and Latin small plates
Tip: Order the aji de gallina or a chicken plate; mains stay in the low double digits and travel well for a walk along Euclid.
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: Vietnamese pho and rice plates
Tip: Pho dac biet is the order; eat in or grab takeaway and walk the strip. The Trinh family ran Pho Grand here before reopening as Grand Bistro.
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: Korean-Mexican tacos and bowls
Tip: The gogi bowl with bulgogi feeds two; add the chips and queso. Fast counter service.
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: Ice cream martinis and sandwiches
Tip: The ice cream martinis are the signature; pair one with a sandwich. A good pre-theatre stop in Grand Center.
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: Grass-fed burgers and house ice cream
Tip: Build a burger and chase it with a spiked milkshake. The house ice cream is made without artificial ingredients.
Serving since 1941 on old Route 66, Ted Drewes is the St. Louis frozen-custard landmark, famous for the concrete, a shake handed over upside down.
Try: Frozen custard concretes
Tip: Order a concrete and watch them flip it upside down to prove the thickness. Cash-friendly, often a summer line.
The chain that made St. Louis-style pizza a city standard, Imo's tops cracker-thin crust with Provel cheese, cut in squares. A handy first taste.
Try: St. Louis-style Provel pizza
Tip: Order it tavern-cut into squares to eat it the local way. Provel is the defining St. Louis cheese; this is where to try it.
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: Wood-fired tacos and modern Mexican plates
Tip: Order the duck taquitos or a couple of wood-fired tacos at the bar; lunch is brisk, dinner livelier with cocktails.
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: Po-boys and muffulettas
Tip: The muffuletta and the po-boys are the orders; arrive before the lunch rush. Live blues plays on 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 regulars.
Try: St. Louis deli sandwiches
Tip: The Mom's Special is the order; the thousand-island dressing is the secret. Expect a line since the 2025 reopening.
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.
Try: Sicilian subs and soups
Tip: Get the Sicilian sub and split it; it is huge. Lunch only, and the line moves quickly.