St. Louis eats like nowhere else in America: toasted ravioli born on The Hill, gooey butter cake from a Depression-era baking mistake, Provel-blanketed thin-crust pizza and concretes so thick they're served upside down. Three days, one very specific food dialect.
The oldest continuously operating public market west of the Mississippi, trading since 1779 in a 1929 Renaissance Revival hall. Open Wed–Sat, roughly 8am–5pm (Sat is the big day, from 6am). Produce stalls, butchers, spice vendors and Vietnamese banh mi counters.
The Hill is St. Louis's Sicilian-American neighbourhood, and Charlie Gitto's claims the invention of toasted ravioli — breaded, deep-fried meat ravioli dusted with Parmesan and served with marinara. Lunch mains run $16–30; the T-ravs appetiser is the required order.
A family-run Hill grocery since 1971, with a deli counter slicing mortadella, capicola and house Italian sausage, plus imported olive oils, San Marzano tomatoes and fresh-cut pasta. Grab a hot salami sandwich on Italian bread for around $9 and eat it at the counter.
Open since 1924 and still using the same Hill recipes: gooey butter cake, cannoli, almond macaroons and Italian cookies sold by the pound from glass cases. Cash-preferred, closed Sundays and Mondays, and frequently sold out of the best items by mid-afternoon.
Sells more than 70 rotating flavours of gooey butter cake — the dense, under-baked St. Louis invention of a 1930s baker who reversed the butter and flour proportions. Slices around $4, whole cakes $22–30. Original, chocolate chip and pumpkin are the steady sellers.
The defining St. Louis-style pizza: cracker-thin crust, sweet sauce, and Provel — a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone that melts to a buttery, low-stretch layer locals defend fiercely. Cut into squares, never wedges. A large runs about $20.
St. Louis-style pork ribs — trimmed spare ribs with the cartilage removed — plus apricot-glazed brûléed ribs finished with a blowtorch to order. Half slab roughly $18, burnt ends by the pound. Closes when the meat runs out, typically well before the posted 4pm.
On old Route 66 since 1941, serving concretes so thick the servers hand them to you inverted through the window. Frozen custard uses egg yolk for density. The Fox Treat and Cardinal Sin are the signatures; sizes run $4–8, cash and card, seasonal March–December.
A dense stretch of taquerias, panaderias and Mexican groceries between Jefferson and Compton. La Vallesana serves tacos al pastor and tortas from a converted storefront, El Torito grocery stocks dried chiles, and Diana's Bakery sells conchas from 6am.
Hand-twisted since 1920 and the source of the local pork-steak-in-a-pretzel and salami-stuffed pretzel sandwiches. Plain pretzels run about $1.50; the pretzel-wrapped bratwurst is the counter favourite. Open until roughly 3pm or until the dough runs out.
A Bavarian-style bierhall in The Grove with communal tables, Zwickel lager and Schnickelfritz weissbier brewed on site. Pints around $6–7, flights $10. German bar food — pretzels with obatzda, sausages, schnitzel — and a beer garden open most of the year.
Named for the hotel where the Tom Collins was allegedly popularised, this cocktail bar takes St. Louis drink history seriously — house Planter's Punch, seasonal menus and a hidden back room called Bullock's. Cocktails $12–16, no reservations for the main bar.