Carl's Drive-In is a street-food stop in Brentwood, St. Louis.
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.
Tip: Grab a stool, order a double with root beer. There are only 16 seats, so expect a short wait at peak.
Address: 9033 Manchester Rd, St. Louis, MO 63144
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.
