Top Sports Bars and Restaurants in St. Louis

Let's be honest here, maybe a master's party or a, you know, maybe an opening day party, a Derby Day party, all these are coming up and we have ideas. All these will work, I think for those just because party and we will end up as we always do with a rant. And this one is about menu pricing and a recent development that we are less than enthused about.

it burned. Busk cheesecake. But I think that's, I don't think that's fair because it's caramelized. It's burned in a sense that blackened fish is burned or burned in a sense that, uh, Neapolitan pizzas are burned. I don't think it's fair. Let's just say it's caramelized. It adds some flavor and it's, it's incredible because there, it's, it's a little crispy on the outside and the inside is like eating a cloud. It's just so magical. You've had that I have.

It's lovely and I've actually had it, it, it seems to be like a very hot dessert right now. I would say like, if we were doing something on dessert trends, I would definitely put that on the list. Um, I've had it at bar Mro, I've actually had it right across the street as well at Bistro La Flore Song. So I didn't know they had it. Yeah, they do. And it's excellent there as well. You're right. It's, it's almost custard like, like creme brulee or something in

the center. And, and what I like about it, this is maybe the best part. It was paired with a, a madea that said you've got to have this Madea and I go madea, I cook with, I make chicken madea, you know, is that a cooking wine? No, this is a 10 year old madea by Henrique and Henrique. I've never had it. It was the best dessert pairing I've had in a long time. This madea had the same kind of Carly notes that the cheesecake had, it, had some, you know, kind of nut and,

and dried fruit. Back notes to it anyway, I had this a while ago and I'm still thinking about it. The basque cheesecake at bar moral. Don't forget the madeira. That sounds great. I'm such a huge dessert wine fan. Anyway, I'm usually a port drinker, but I will definitely try it with the madeira. It's in the port family. It's those oxidized wines that are so, you know, they don't go bad because they're oxidized. That's what I like about them. I'm going to cheat today and I'm going to have

two things. I can't stop thinking about that are very different. And the one I will just mention very quickly, I finally got the chance to go out to root food and wine in Augusta and you have not been there, but you know about it, right. I know about it. We've written about it. Dave Lowry has been there and raved he loved it. He just loved it. Uh Yeah,

it's out in Augusta. The chef there. Philip Day has been, I believe it was he nominated for his place, was nominated, the place the place is nominated for a Beard award this year. So, um I felt like I had to go check it out and it's absolutely delightful. Everything is well executed, but the service is just, and just the approach to everything. It's so earnest, you know, there is not some sort of air that they are, you know, putting on or looking down on you as a diner or,

you know, anything. It is just this earnest, lovely, warm inviting place and it's rustic. I mean, it's 100 plus year old home. It's a house. It's not like you would miss it if you were driving by. So highly recommend that they had this mushroom dish. It was like a mushroom soup and I can't stop thinking about the flavor. It was just this intense distillation of smoked mushroom. So that was fantastic. But the other place I went to this week, I guess it was a decadent weekend. This is the one

that has just blown my mind. Do you know of Sarah's cake shop? And this place is actually called Sarah's on Central, which is in downtown Eureka. You know, she makes great like cakes and desserts, but she has this darling little restaurant. It's so wonderful. I mean, great breakfast. Like they do a biscuit sandwich, but she makes the biscuits from scratch and she's a pastry chef. So they're perfect. But let me just tell you this cinnamon roll is the cinnamon roll to end all cinnamon rolls.

I can't get over the sink. Them words, my friend. Oh, boy. I, I can't even, like, describe it to you. It's kind of one of those massive square shaped ones. It almost looks like a Zarro or whatever. I wouldn't call it a pyramid. But, um, you know, it's kind of like peaked at the top a little bit. They have a lot of white icing. Oh, my gosh.

It's not cream cheese. It's that, you know, just very classic white icing and it soaks into every corner because that's always my big problem with it is I feel like you get pockets of like goo and sugar and cinnamon, but it's not distributed throughout this. You had it generously on every single bite. I love it. I will go eat more of them and I will probably be a good cinnamon roll and you can't beat the smell of a good cinnamon roll. That's, that's where it starts. Exactly. We'll be right back.

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recommend for various reasons. Some of the ones on my list, I'm, I'm recommending because the food's so good. I don't know what your parameters are, but that's where I started. What, what do you got to start? Good food is definitely key but find good food to me. You know, if I'm soaking up a little too much amounts of beer, a little too much at the bar, then, uh, I guess maybe my, uh, definition of good food changes. I, I get it. Yeah, I've been there and, uh, it was a very difficult

one for us to research. Let's just say that, you know, we had to go and, uh, go to places like one of my favorites. Should we just go ahead and jump in and get started? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, let's, let's get started because this, there's just too many and I'm, I'm, I'm excited about this. These are great places and you know, it's TV S and beer and good food. And you go first. This place is iconic. It's the Village bar out in De Pair, an absolute West County institution.

Uh It has the character to it. It's the kind of place where you're watching your burger get cooked and your onion rings, which their onion rings are fantastic. And you're watching that all get dropped at the little station behind the bar. That to me, the mark of a great bar, the extension of the bar. That's, that's the quintessential sports bar joint. You've got the flat top right next to the bourbon. It, what more do you want? It's just great. So, I love the Village Bar for that reason.

And I've got one at the Village Bar. This is the only place in town that I order mushrooms, fried mushrooms because they're like the onion rings. They hand them to order and they fry them to order and it's a whole lot different than any other mushroom. So they don't have that mushy. It's not like, you know, the ones you get in most other places come from other places. These are really noticeably better. I'm not a

fried mushroom guy, except when I go there. Now I was talking to the manager out there the last time I was there and I said, you know, I, I tend to slip into the same crack. You know, I, I, I'll have myself a burger. I'll have some mushrooms and a beer. What would you suggest? And his suggestion, he didn't even hesitate. And I don't know if you've had this out there or not. They're pork tenderloin sandwich, which they fry and

then they crisp up on that flat top. So they start and then he adds jack cheese and bacon and he just gives me that look like, thank me later. Yes. So anyway, that's on my list of things to do for the Village Bar. I thought you were going to say they're chili, which is also really good there. I mean, but, you know, you can't go wrong with chili. So Village Bars on my list. I love it. I do love the shuffle

word out there. I love, you know, the old, I think we all know my love of the old Clydesdale chandelier at this point. It just has that feel to it. Well, and they've got that new room now. It's a whole lot bigger than it used to be. So it's, it's, it's bigger and brighter in that second room. So, what's on, what's on yours? Do you have one that you're particularly excited about? Let's see, I think, let's see. I'm going

to start with one of the newer places. It's the pitch athletic club in Tavern, downtown corner to City Park. It's this giant uh sports bar. And soccer bar. And, uh, it's, it's really hard to describe. It's like a, it's like a very well maintained Irish pub. Uh, but it's new, but all their wood in there is distressed. You know, it came in distress. So it looks old, looks weathered

and that's all by design. And there's, you know, there's green wood, uh, uh, green painted wood and there's some, some, some beautiful, uh, tile white, uh, subway tile above. It's got this, this classic lines and classic look. But the coolest thing about the place is around the perimeter, they've got little seating groups and the seating groups are leather couches, leather chairs, nice carpet below. And you've got a customer control TV for

you just for you. And it's, you know, groupings of 46 and eight and it's, it's just really cool and it's, it's, you know, your own little private party there, there is one area behind, directly behind the host to stand. They've got this massive walnut back bar. It's the Tony Faust restaurant back bar from back in the day. And it is ornate and it's beautiful and right where all the liquor bottles were stored, they've cut it out and they put TV.

S in there. Again, customer control TV. S again, these are reserve areas. Takes it to a whole different level. I mean, that sounds like a fancy sports bar. It's not a, it's not a dive sports bar. And I think we talked about this, this the other day, the, uh, they've got a frozen Irish coffee that's just, it's just really good made with real, it's made with soft serve ice cream and it is, and they're not telling you what's in it,

but it's really, really good. That sounds like if we were compiling like the best frozen drinks in town, I think that has to be high on that list there. It's right there. So that's from the LHM Guys, you know, their other sports bar which is really kind of the opposite end of the spectrum is out in, in Westport, Westport social. I mean, it's this massive, this

place is really huge. It's like 13 or 15,000 square feet and they've got every game that you can ever want to play and it's, I don't know if you've seen it but it's, it's uh they could have probably put twice as many seats in there, but it's this kind of generously seated place. So everybody's not crammed in there. They do a really good job with food out there. They've got a smash burger that's killer. They do some wings that are brined

smoked and then flash fried. Those are my three favorite things to do to wings and it's just, it's just AAA superlative experience. Mathis did all the cocktails out there before he joined up with Tim Wiggins and did the bangers only. Those are, these guys are like the 22 cool cocktail dudes in town, you're gonna get a good drink, you're gonna get a good drink in there. That's what it means. So, anyway, that's, that's Westport social. Staying out in West County, the corner

pub and grill. There's several of those out there. One reason I like that place is it appeals to families and there's a gluten-free menu on there and not just a couple of gluten free items. They've got the biggest, I think gluten free menu in town that the owner's daughter is a celiac has celiac disease and thought it was important to do that part of it, right? And it's that menu is called Hannah's at Corner Pub after Hannah.

That's sweet. So that's very sweet. But what I, what I like about this place is they've been doing this a while and I was talking to the owner and he said, oh, you're doing, you know, something on March Madness. Let me give you some March madness, etiquette. Oh, there's etiquette for Mark. Well, I didn't know there was until I talked to him. So he says, he says, you know, cheer on your team, you know, go crazy. We want you to get there early and have a

good time. The first weekend is the craziest, which I didn't realize all those games were going on. You know, there's how many games the first night they're, they're everywhere. And he said, what happens is everybody wants to watch their game and they have to kind of, you know, be the traffic cop here. So, if you, here's the rules, if you want to watch the game, you want to watch, get there early because the first guy gets to control the remote. So don't come in

in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Don't come in in the middle of the game and say, I'd like to watch this because somebody has already come in and said they want to watch that. Well, that's, I mean, it's only fair. That might be a rant for a later episode. But the TV, changing in the middle of, of games. That's a, that's a pet peeve. Yeah, I just think that's, uh, it just makes sense. So, uh again, at Corner Pub, the Sleeper Dish, Mahi mahi tacos

really good. Again, you think, let's have a burger, let's have some fries. Let's have some, no, no, go with the mahi mahi tacos. So there you go. Another similar place like that out in West County is Three Kings Pub. There's several of those around. The one in the loop is getting rebuilt and that's gonna be opening, I think in a couple of months. What I like about that is kind of the same thing. It's upper level. It's Gastropub fair. It's just a step above. They do everything

in house, homemade, which I appreciate most. A lot of bar and grills don't, they don't have to. So these guys have taken it up a level and, um, the the, the hot item there, the sleeper item, there's a muffaletta. Would you ever order a muffaletta at a sports bar? No, probably not. You should at Three Kings Pub. Oh, wow, that sounds great. Well, I'm going to go a little bit further west as well, but this time I'm going

to go west of the Missouri River. There is a little place out in the Cottle area called J P's Hideout. I guess I shouldn't call it a little place. It's, it's not, it's not divey at all. In fact, the name does make it seem like maybe it's some like little dark dive bar and it's not kind of like what you were saying. It has this gastropub type fare. They have everything from these really great Sicilian meatballs as an appetizer. They do a fantastic Monte Cristo sandwich, their burgers,

great. They do smoked meats. Uh They usually do a brisket and I feel like they've done ribs and stuff in the past. It kind of just depends on the day out there, but I just love it. They have plenty of tvs that dark wood bar. Just a festive atmosphere. They have a cute little outdoor covered patio with a television vision. You were talking about corner pub. I also like that about them where when you can sit on the patio but you still have TV. Si love that. That,

that's so important on a nice day. There's nothing better, right? The corner pub has that and JP does too. They do. Exactly. So that is definitely, if you're in the Saint Charles area, that is my pick for, uh, places out there for sure. You were talking about Westport Social. And, uh, the pitch, the other place on my list is the armory. I mean, the armory is just this sprawling. It is the biggest sports bar in town. I want to say it's 250,000 square feet, which is head and

shoulders above anything else. That's just staggeringly huge. They have six bars, they have good food, they have those massive TV. S. Do you know who has the biggest TV in town? The armory get out. I was going to say maybe the district, but you're right. I think the Armory is bigger. That's, that's what I've been told. The biggest in town and the second biggest is at ballpark Village, which is on my list. It can hardly not be. I mean, you have to put that on your list like these major

complexes like that. I mean, it's, it's a complex, it's, it's like a bullpen in there with, with everybody watching. But what's interesting is that TV, they have increased the size of the TV. So there are so many screens in a row now that I'm told you can watch every March Madness game. Everyone that's played at the same time. They, you know, the first weekend they're playing them all at the same time. Well, you can watch them all at the same time

at ballpark Village. Wow, that sounds like a good time. You know, everybody goes there, they think about it. Yeah, we'll go there before and after the Cardinal game. But they also televised the, the UFC fights for free, which I didn't know that a lot of bars will charge you for that. I'm not a big fight fan but I thought there's a lot of people that are. So that's kind of interesting, the, the, the Blues Battle Hawks and city games, you know, there are free shuttles. That's another thing that

a lot of people don't know about park there. You can usually park there for free if you have a beer and get your, you get validated, you know, have a beer, have a burger, do whatever you want to do and then you can take a free shuttle to any of these things. The shuttles are here, parking can be as, you know, a pain downtown and very expensive. So don't forget about that if you're a ballpark village and then there's, there's sports and social which is part of ballpark village, but it's kind of,

I want, it's kind of a respite. It's not as wild and crazy. It's not this kind of scrum which, which is fun, but if you want something a little quieter, a little more sedate sports and social is the place for you. It's, it's in that same complex and overlooked by a lot of people because they, they just, they're just not in that zone. Exactly. No, that is, that's a definite place to put on the list to watch games, for sure. I'm going to head the opposite side of

the stadium here. I'm going to go to SARD because have you, have you been to Duke's Sports Bar yet? I have not been to Duke's Sports Bar. You talk about our good time. Duke's is just the place to go. It's kind of if you could combine the embodiment of a sports bar with this perfect caricature of a soulard bar. So it's a sports bar, but it's got great Cajun food and they have dance parties and they have, you know, 30 plus t they have three bars. They have two levels. They have

a patio. It is this festive atmosphere. You're going to have a good time there and they do um like I said, their Cajun food is really good. They do this um their house specialty is called the voodoo soup. It's um oh my gosh, just think this like glorious spicy Cajun Cauldron. I would say, yeah, I would say I like spicy Cajun Cobble. That's what we should call it.

Maybe closer to Halloween or what have you. But they apparently um either they run out or I don't know if they offer it all the time, but it goes pretty quickly. So put that on your list. That's the place to be in Suard. There's a place that I, I know was kind of on both our lists because it should be. And it's Lesters out in. We do. Yes, there are tons and tons of TV. S no matter where you are in that restaurant, you see, you know, they, they position those TV. S

very, very well. Again, that's a sports bar where the food is very good. You've got a few favorites there. Well, the TV s are great. The bar is great. That corned beef there. Their Reuben, I love it. I love their Reuben so much. It is piled so high. Did you get the big one? Oh, I do. I do. I don't eat the whole thing, but I just like the spectacle of ordering the big one. So you have to do it.

I would argue that probably the biggest sporting event going on at Lester's is watching people try and tackle you negotiate the sandwich. It's like an Olympic feat. If you can take down the whole thing without injuring yourself. They have great matzo ball soup there. Have you ever had their matzo ball soup? I've not had that, but I've had the chicken noodle and that is really good. Their soups in general are soothe your soul. So somebody's Jewish grandmother is making that soup as we speak.

What do you love the other? There's a, there's a sandwich. They have that again. Everybody's eating burgers and fries and things. But there's a rye club. You don't see clubs put on rye bread very often. Three kinds of meat, two kinds of cheese and it's on grilled rye with ranch dressing. It's not a triple decker. It's just a nice compact sandwich, but it's the only place that I know that has

a club sandwich on rye bread and it's darn good. Oh, that does sound especially with the ranch because I'm sure they make their homemade ranch. I bet it's really delicious. One place that and, and you and I have kind of gone back and forth about this. What constitutes a sports bar? You know, I would argue that sportsman's park, whereas not a sports bar in the sense where you're going to be inundated with massive screens, you might have to crane your neck to actually like get a view of uh

the television. But there's just something about the feel of this as a neighborhood gathering spot that you just, when there's something going on, you wanna gather with your friends. I love it. It's an institution. And the reason I put it on the list is there is a legend that they are the first place to ever offer buffalo chicken wings in ST Louis. I heard that that's right after I wrote that cul peppers was the first place and then they said, I don't think so.

It might have happened out there in Leo. And I don't know if Jackie Smith owned it at the time, the Jackie's place at the time, the legendary Cardinal, uh, Jackie Smith owned it. So, yeah, that's something you can discuss while you're out there. But don't expect 95 inch screens because you won't see them there. But it's the food's good. It's a legendary mid county watering hole. Yeah, I guess we'll call it Mid county. So there's a couple more, I think that, uh, we

shouldn't forget about. They're almost so obvious that they should have been at the top of the list. Ob Clark's in Brentwood, that place is busy all the time and justifiably. So, again, you know, uh, you talk about what constitutes a sports bar to me. You know, there's, there's a lot of things, you know, it's service, it's, it's a good beer, it's cold beer and, and it, at places like, uh, Ob Clark's, you know, the food is really good and they, they'll turn the volume up. Right.

That's very important to some people to hear the game and, and some people say it's not a sports bar unless they've got the volume turned up. So, I think that's, that's important there. The other one again, so obvious that we, we dare not forget it is the Post, the Post Bar and Grill and in that place, uh, there, there's three of them, I think. And, uh, again, they just, they've been there for, gosh,

I think 15 years doing, doing a really good job. Uh, I love the fact that they've got a progressive happy hour. Did you know about that? No, tell me about a progressive happy hour. What is this? So, from 2 to 6 they discount, uh, beers. So, from 2 to 3, I think they're a dollar 50 and then they ratchet up and from 5 to 6, I think they're $3 surge pricing. Didn't Wendy's just get in trouble for that? So, but you can do that

at uh at the Post. You know, if you want to have beers in the afternoon, they're really cheap between two and 30, wow, that's, that's good. So that is good. Intel. The Sleeper item there is the French onion cheesesteak sandwich. Their cheesesteaks are great and this one has uh has, has rib eye and it's got American cheese and it has brie. It has balsamic onion jam and horseradish. Wait a second. There's brie on a cheesesteak. I know, I know it's, it's a sin but it's

a good sin. We will forgive them for their sins. So that's at the post. That's a dish that's not super popular, but should be. So the Post ob Clark's, you know, where we should mention is top golf downtown. A lot of people haven't been there yet, but they've got a two story bar and you sit up on the top level and kind of look down to the TV. S the other place I like is the field house for

a lot of Billikens fans. It's their, you know, it's their home bar, but it's also a venue to consider when you're attending an event at Grand Center because there aren't a lot of places down there to eat and you can go there before or after and get some, some pretty decent bar food at the house. I had a great beer cheese soup there one time. I was down for that music in the Intersection Festival.

And you're right, you're kind of searching a lot of times in midtown or that part of like Grand Center, I would say for places. And they were fantastic. I, I really enjoyed that. Um, one place that we have to mention that is out in my neck of the woods and you just went there recently is Mulligan Grill out in, is that Ellisville? I believe that's Ellisville. I think it's Ellisville there. That is just this, it's a massive gathering place. I

couldn't believe. Apparently it's busy all the time. And when we were there, they said, oh, you just missed the hour long wait, which was, which was great. And this was during the week. It was insane. How many people were there? Massive, huge glasses of wine. I've never seen such. It's a two handed, you know, when you pick up the glass,

it's like a two hander. I've never seen that. That's probably why there's so many people going there and there was, yes, there's a lot of beers getting consumed and a lot of wine and, you know, the wines we had were decent. So I was immediately impressed with that. But what was most interesting is their chicken wings and they do this on purpose and it's somewhat controversial. They're smaller wings than most and, and, you know, they, they, some people love them and some people say, I don't

think so. Uh, they serve them nine count, 18 and 27 count. I got a nine count and they were small. And if I had to do it again, I would have gotten 18 because they were that good. And that small and one of the comments I read was, they are hilariously small. And so I ordered some hilariously small wings when I got there and they were really good. I didn't think I'd like them but they were, they were quite tasty. There was, you know, there's really, there's less meat on

a small wing. So you've got a higher percentage of sauce, which was just fine with me. And, you know, I like the little flatties. That's kind of what I like. And they were just kind of, you know, dainty and they were just, I guess I haven't had a small wing in a while. I was gonna poo poo it till I had it. And, um, you know, even the drummies were, you know, I'm not a drummy person but these drummies, you're a drummy person. I'm not, I think you and I share this, that we are both

flats, like we prefer the flats. And the reason why I typically go for the flat over the drummy is, you know, you kind of like crack it open and you get that really succulent piece of meat right in there. But the problem with the drummies is especially when you get them on these larger ones is, um, it looks like it's going to be a lot of meat, but it's actually very chewy. You don't get a lot

of meat and you're saying it was not the case. No, these, these smaller drummies is the way that people like me want to eat drummies. They were really good. It was, they were cooked through and it was all meat and no cartilage, any of this other stuff. And again, the, the sauce to meat ratio was delicious. Anyway, I get the small wings thing and I didn't think I was going to be that guy. Oh, no, the bigger, the better give me those big wings. No, the small ones are good.

Just get twice as, just get, just get twice as many as you think. That's Mulligan's grill out in Ellisville. Nice job. And thank you for that wine pour. Well, that's great. Well, you and I spend a lot of time talking about where we would go if we were going to be out and about. But I think we talked about this in the past that we both love to just spend time in our own homes and we like to entertain or maybe we just

don't even feel like going anywhere. There's always a fun way to bring a festive atmosphere into your own house. If you're watching the game, let's face it. A lot of people don't like sports bars. There's just too rowdy, too crazy, too insane. I get it. So we entertain at home. You've got a few ideas. You're an entertainer.

That's what we thought it would be fun to, you know, kind of put together a little, a little peek into like what our dream table would be like if we were putting out like our spread of the things that we wanted to for uh watching the game. I can't wait. What's on your table? Oh, gosh. Well, I am going to start with Bauman's wings. Have, have you been to Bauman's out in? Uh, not only have I been to Bauman's, I brought Bauman's wings to a Super Bowl party and you know what?

They were the first things gone and everybody said, what is that wing? And I, I should have brought more. But I didn't. These smoked wings are legendary. Bauman's with their wings is a, one of those, if you know, you know, places they are just so tender and you said there's a secret. That's the, that's what I found out. It's, it's the seasoning that they put on. It's a dry rub it's ac, they're chicken and pork rub, which they sell in tubs and I have tubs of it in

my pantry right now. It's really, really good and that's what makes it better. There's a, there's a lot of brown sugar in there and some other spices anyway. It is a really, it's a little bit darker than most because of the sugar in there. But, oh, my gosh, it is a great wing. They have them all the time. Uh, Bauman's got a couple of new young owners out there in Brentwood. Yeah, I'm, I'm with you on the Bauman's wing. So far. So good. They're an institution for sure.

I am going to, I know another one you're going to be with me. We've talked about them before is, uh, the smoked shrimp from Annie Guns. I will take any reason to have smoked shrimp on my table. They're just such a gem. We, we are huge fans of that because they're huge shrimp too. They're the biggest shrimp in town that you can find that are smoked. I've tried to do it at home. I can't do it. You just buy them from Annie's. Exactly. You know, you're guaranteed

a good thing. The other thing that's on my list is the, um, like a party size, like one of those gigantic, several foot long sandwiches from mom's deli. I'm getting the mom special, which is basically their club sandwich. It's what? Turkey roast beef and ham. The key though is you have to get extra sauce. Their 1000 island sauce. It's homemade. It's the best 1000 Island out there. And it's so wonderful and I always get so much of this dressing

on there that it's embarrassing. But whatever, that's a good, that's a good call because there are other big sandwiches in town. Other places that sell them. I didn't know about moms. It's the dressing that, that's what's key on it. Thanks mom. Yes, exactly. Um, also on there, Nikki slices pizza. It's one of those. Uh, you know, he, he's on Instagram. You order from there. It's kind of a take and bake pizza. He always has these fanta, he'll do anything from like, you know,

a really fiery pepperoni and sausage to right now. I think he's doing kind of a barbecue, inflected one. You have to order these in advance and it's kind of like he calls it a pizza club. It's a boutique pizza. So you have to follow him on Instagram. You have to, you know, kind of go that route there. He releases new specials once a week. Um That's a fun spot. But if you don't want to actually put that much leg work and you want to get a good, just a frozen pizza you can grab at the store. I

love as far as local goes. I love Katie's black garlic pizza. Had it. It's delicious. Oh, my gosh. That black garlic is like candy on there. So good big black splotches. And you go what? It's like, I'm not sure about that. And then you take a slice and you said I'll have another one, please. This is just fantastic. So those are definitely on my list. Um I'm going to get a pan of salt and smokes, mac and cheese. You know, because why not, why do it just for a sporting event? Maybe I've had a

bad day. I'm going to get a pan of a cork. You get a, you get a pan of addiction in. Speaking of you're also going to get a gallon of frozen margaritas from Taco buna, you know, 12, you know, it comes in a milk jug so it's so great. So we're going to get that and those are, those are hefty margaritas. So those are margaritas like you'd make at home. But no, they make them for you. Oh, they make them for you and it's fantastic. Um If it's Sunday, if the games happen to be on Sunday,

I am getting the beef ribs from stellar hog. Those to me are probably the last thing I want to taste before I, I meet my maker. They are my favorite food in town. Um but I will be happy with their brisket if it's not a Sunday and uh I'll be happy with beast brisket as well. I always love, you know, I'm a huge brisket fan. Salt and smoke. Beast. Stellar hog. Those are my, but those beef ribs, they're like, they're

like Fred Flintstone size ribs so good. And you have to know how to cook a beef rib. You know, if you're going to do them right. And there's, I'm telling you, you could butter a biscuit with these beef ribs. They're just extraordinary. I've got a couple more things on there. I've got two more is filling up, it is filling up. We're very indulgent. I've got crab Rangoon from some tea house. This is a little boba tea shop in University City. But they make the best

crab Rangoon. What makes them different? I don't, never had them. Well, they do, they put crab in them. They, uh, I don't, people don't, they don't put crab in there. It's just basically sweet cream cheese wrapped up. But I don't know, there's something about, they just get this ratio of like sweetness and savory just right. So, I love those. And then last on my list, I love La Grands for their brats. I know there are a lot of great brat places in town.

But Lagrande Classic brats are my go to. Yeah, I've never had them from there. Oh, they're wonderful. A little, maybe a little on the sweeter side. I'm not typically a brat person but La Grands is where I'll go for them. You got me thinking about wings when you started talking about bans. And, um, the other one that I like and I'm not a big breaded wing guy. But the ones at Three Kings Pub have won

many, many wing thing. They're great. And if you're gonna get a breaded wing, that's the one you want to get. And recently they started with a, a marinated smoked rib and the marinade is called Panca and pink is a Peruvian smoky fruity pepper. Oh, that, it's a sweet pepper, uh, that they marinate it in. So they, they do their smoking thing and then they serve it with a sweet chili habanero sauce. So you get this little kick at the end. So it's got a lot of different pepper

to it. And they're really good too. I think a relatively new item out at Three Kings Pub. I just put together a couple of, like, here's my favorite things and some, you make yourself right. Most of you make yourself some I do. But, but, but some, I don't. Um, one of my favorite things that I think this was on, on your list too is the little pretzel bites from pretzel boys. I love those. And they are, the pretzel bites are good but the little pups, you know, the little smokies that they wrap

in pretzels. They just, it's just like the best thing ever. You bring those to a party. Those are the first thing to go. Uh, the best fish dip in town I think is the, for me is the white fish dip from the Annex Frisco. It's just really good. The smoked trout spread from stars is really good too. I love those smoked fish spreads. I'm with you on best cheese dip. There is a brie gorgonzola tort that Strobs makes. Have you ever had that? No, but

that sounds fantastic. Unbelievable. A really good, that's always one of the first things to go pick up their chicken salad while you're there. Pick up a quart of chicken salad and they've got plenty of it there. You don't even have to ask. It's ready for the taking the best uncooked dip. This is one I do make. It's called the Neiman marcus' Million dollar dip. Have you ever had this shredded, shredded cheddar, almonds, green onion and bacon. And it's just like the perfect

dip ingredients. And you'll just sit there with a crack with crackers and just go at it. I mean, dip to me, it gets no better than that. So those, those are the ones that I kind of will buy. But, you know, I was thinking about this and it's so easy to make some things too. I would make buffalo chicken meatballs, you know, using ground chicken, doing it a buffalo style and then you dunk those in, in blue cheese or ranch.

You can do buffalo chicken in crescent rolls, rolling a little bit of that into a crescent roll and it's just delicious. Um, maybe like a buffalo chicken crab Rangoon like buffalo chicken dip in a crab. Rangoon. We're thinking the same thing. You just get a wonton wrapper and you can put anything in there you want. Uh Remember we talked about Steve Gru's shrimp burger. I do during our Linton piece. And that got me to thinking about

shrimp meatballs. You could do the same thing and make little meatballs out of shrimp. And the reason I'm thinking about that is they are on the menu at this place called Rouge Bistro, which just opened and it's their surprisingly big seller. Shrimp meatballs. It's like, OK, it's a meatball house, you know, meat, meatballs and beef veal and all these other kinds. And, but this is a shrimp meatball anyway.

So that's something you can easily make at home. One of my favorite items though, in a home setting is tempura cauliflower bites. But the thing about tempura batter and I didn't realize this, it's equal parts flour, cornstarch water and vodka. That's it. And that's all you need. And if you use that recipe, it's almost see-through batter and it is just delicious. Four ingredients. People complicate it. You know, they

put different uh club soda, different things like that. I'm telling you all you need is, is some cauliflower and you do it that way or you can do it if you really want to fancy it up, do it with lobster, you know, do some lobster bites and, you know, people think you've won the lottery, but it's, it's a good deal. It's a good way to go. And this other item that I've had and, you know, you always wonder these sauces. There's, there's sandwiches and, you know, they've got jerky and they've

got mayonnaise. There's one that my friend calls Barb and I just thought it was an odd name. It sounds awfully fancy. It's not though. It's mayo and barbecue sauce and red wine vinegar and garlic and all those things together. I'm telling you it's like a magic sauce and it goes on any kind of sandwich you want and he named it Baron. I will give my friend credit for that,

but it's really good. So, and again, just like the Tempura recipe, these are really simple things to make and you really hit a home run every time you do. What is, what is he put that? Like, what kind of sandwich would you just pretty much put it on anything, any kind of sandwich? Wow, that sounds wonderful. So, you know, we've gotten fancy and we've gotten basic, but I think something and you might just laugh at me for this, but something that I love to see

at any of these parties is puppy chow. Do you know what I'm talking about? Chocolate chips, peanut butter, powdered sugar and chex mix. And it's just delicious and it's so silly and so tasty. And again, we're talking basketball. Why not make some sugar cookies or some shortbread cookies? Get some orange icing and you know, make make some basketball cookies. That's, that's my

final suggestion. Very simple, happy basketball season or have Colleen at Colleen's cookies do it for you if you're, you know, maybe not artistic still, we'll be right back.

for his 102nd rep production. Witnessed the Weston family's roller coaster of emotions running March 19th through April 7th at the rep, get tickets now at Rep stl.org

Has that bothered you at all? Have you noticed that that used to be only like the super expensive places used to do that? It's like boy, if, if, if they don't put the prices on there. Then I know I can't afford this place. But nowadays I think restaurant owners, they're getting a little gun shy. They know people are very price sensitive and they have stopped putting their prices online and I think that's a problem. Yeah, I've noticed

that recently as well. In fact, what I find my doing is I'll initially go to the restaurant's website and if they don't have it on there, then I'll just go on to like Yelp or somewhere where someone's taking a menu picture. So I can actually see what the physical menu looks like. You and I are definitely not begrudging restaurants from having to, they need to merge what

they charge. It's expensive and they have absorbed so many costs over the last couple of years, they've absorbed everything from, you know, higher health insurance costs for their employees to higher wages. They've absorbed, you know, just dramatically increase prices for their product. And so there's so much that's going into this, that honestly, it probably should cost 30 bucks for a hamburger, but it doesn't, it costs 15 and certainly restaurants deserve to make a buck.

But I think the consumer deserves to know how much he's getting into before he walks in the door. You and I have had that experience like, wow, I knew I was going out to dinner, but I didn't know it was gonna cost this much money. And again, I, if, if you put your menu prices online, we all have a better shot at that. It's just like, you know, give it to us upfront

please and spare us that in-person sticker shock. You know, I mean, we know it's not going to be cheap to go out to eat, but we just need to know what we're getting, just let us know it. And with that little plea for restaurants to be upfront with us all, that's all for this week on RG eats, be sure to follow us and share with your friends. And we always provide links in the show notes for everything you heard about today.

And don't forget to hit that subscribe button and follow along on Instagram at Saint Louis Mag and feel free to give us a follow personally at George Mahe and Cheryl Hebert. If you loved what you heard, show us some love by rating and reviewing us on Apple podcasts. And if you're hungry for even more content, you can subscribe to our dining newsletters for the freshest coverage on the local restaurant and culinary scene. That's it for this week. Best dishes and see you next time.