I moved to St. Louis a few years ago, and I started documenting the food I've tried, neighborhoods I've explored, and just the random stuff I've learned in a website (stlouing.com).

The main features:

Food Map - a map where you can filter restaurants/cafes by type of cuisine, neighborhood, or rating, and sort by rating or alphabetical.
Neighborhood Map - a map of all the neighborhoods and parks in the city, and some notable St. Louis county suburbs.

I tried to make it interlinked and fun to explore, like you can land on the page for Sultan, which leads you to The Grove, which could lead you back to Grace Meat & Three, or over to Midtown, etc.

I also wrote about some topics that interested me, like STL-style pizza and the city-county split and other regional foods.

I was inspired by sites like Built St. Louis, an early internet-style (no infinite scroll or ads) labor of love someone made all about St. Louis architecture just because they wanted to.

Anyway, I have a long way to go and a lot more places to try and things to see and learn, but if nothing else it's a fun project for me and I thought some of y'all might find it interesting.

I moved here three years ago and have been making it my mission to find fantastic versions of all my favorite foods. Here are my 10/10 spots so far.

Pizza

Detroit style - Nicky Slices Pizza Club (The Hill)
New York style - It WAS Pie Guy (RIP)...
St. Louis style - Farotto's (Rock Hill)
Chicago style deep dish - ??? TBD
Neopolitan style - Fordo's Killer Pizza (Foundry)

Nicky Slices Detroit style pizza is absolutely fantastic. For NY style, Pie Guy was amazing, but the latest reviews lead me to think it's finally gone for good. I tried La Pizza but it wasn't close. Bud's Pizza and Beer is an honorable mention.

For STL style pizza, which is a taste I eventually acquired, I would rank the places I've tried as: Farotto's, Pirrone's, Faraci's, Salvage Yard, Firehouse, Imo's, Elicia's, Cecil Whittaker's, Nick & Elena's. Sorry, I know it's contentious.

J.J. Twig's is the only Chicago thin-crust place I've seen, and it's pretty good but not 10/10. Haven't tried any deep dish yet but none look like the cornmeal crust style I like, but more of a Giordano's stuffed pizza.

For Neopolitan, Fordo's Killer Pizza surprised me with how amazing the crust was - fluffy, chewy, flavorful, and the sauce was bright and fresh, and the ingredients were high quality. Louie was also great. Katie's was not good.

I want to try Blues Fired Pizza, Union Loafers, Failoni's, a few more.

Steak Taco

El Jarocho (Ballwin)

El Jarocho has excellent steak tacos, California burritos, and green sauce.

Finding authentic Mexican food has been the most challenging task for me in STL since most spots here are Tex-Mex. I tried a lot of spots - El Toluco (RIP), Taqueria El Bronco, La Tejana, La Vallesana, El Maguey, El Indio - and my experiences ranged mostly from okay to quite bad. Mestiza was very good.

There are a lot of places I'm still excited to try, like El Morelia, Fonda La Poblanita, Locoz Tacos, Tacos la Jefa.

Ramen

Kishimoto Mendo (University City)

Menya Rui is fantastic, but tonkotsu ramen is my favorite, so the shoyu ramen they serve never quite scratched the itch for me. Now that the owner of Menya Rui has opened a new joint for tonkotsu ramen, I couldn't be happier. One of the best things I've ever eaten.

Middle Eastern (various)

Sultan (The Grove)

Sultan is our go-to spot. The lentil soup is amazing, the keftah kebabs are juicy and delicious, the hummus and baba ganoush are really good, and the homemade bread is great.

Taste of Lebanon in Central West End also has very good hummus, baba ganoush, and falafel.

I want to try Sameem, Majeed, Ehsani, I'll throw Balkan Treat Box here, too.

Sandwich

Reuben - Blues City Deli (Benton Park)
Salami - Gioia's

Absolutely perfect Reuben, 10/10! Based on how good it is I'm sure some of their other sandwiches are always amazing, I just can't stop myself from getting the Reuben. I was very impressed by the Hot Salami at Gioia's, it was special.

I've also had Mom's, LeGrand's. Want to try Gramophone, Zlatno Zito.

Hot dog/Smash burger

Woofie's Hot Dogs (Overland)

Perfect, authentic Chicago-style hotdog with all the fixings in the proper size, shape, and quantity (mustard, pickles, relish, tomato, onion, sport peppers, celery salt, poppyseed bun, Vienna Beef dog). Woofie's also had possibly the best smash burger I've ever had.

Carl's is an honorable mention for a great smash burger plus that IBC Rootbeer float with the classic vibes. Mac's Local Eats was pretty decent but too smashed for me. I've tried Hi Pointe at many locations and have never enjoyed it. Stacked is good for a regular burger but I'm not much of a burger person.

Butter Chicken

Tikka Tangy (Chesterfield)

The butter chicken at Tikka Tangy has been incredibly flavorful and consistent in my experience. Still on the search for excellent Lamb Korma.

Texas-style Brisket

??? TBD

I've tried Stellar Hog, Salt & Smoke (multiple locations), Sugarfire (multiple locations), Beast BBQ, Pappy's, Adam's Smokehouse, and none of them have really had a brisket that tasted like Texas to me.

I think the ribs at Pappy's are excellent, and the wings at Beast and S&S are excellent. I don't really like anything at Sugarfire except the Sugar Pie.

I had Fourth City BBQ at the farmer's market, and that was definitely the best one I've had yet, but not something that is easily accessible.

Chai Tea

Telva at the Ridge (Webster Groves)

Awesome vibe and Chai tea from the Balkan Treat Box owners. I'm excited to try more things on the menu.

Other

There are a few favorite foods I haven't found yet, but I either haven't tried many places yet or the places I have tried so far aren't good enough to make the list.

Thai - pad kee mao/pad see ew/red or green curry
Vietnamese - pho, banh mi
Korean - bulgogi, bibimbop
Indian - lamb korma, aloo gobi, paneer masala
Italian beef (not Vinny's, not Woofie's)
Fried chicken (Grace's Meat + Three was good, but not Nashville level)
Shawarma (not Shawarma House)
Gyro (Troy Mediterranean was decent)
Sushi (I know I have to try Sado)
Takeout Chinese (King Doh is good)

> Note: I only think the items I specified are 10/10 (like steak tacos are 10/10 at El Jarocho, but not Al Pastor)

Just wanted to share my findings! Always open to more suggestions!

u/binaryodyssey

I built a St. Louis food and neighborhoods discovery guide

Can you guess which one was made by AI? St. Louis pixel flag edition

An interactive St. Louis food map I’m working on

My 10/10 food spots in St. Louis