Crown Candy Kitchen is a street-food stop in Old North, St. Louis.
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.
Tip: The malt challenge and the bacon-heavy BLT are the orders. Expect a weekend line for one of the city's oldest counters.
Address: 1401 St Louis Ave, St. Louis, MO 63106
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.
