From Gooey to Smoky: 12 Iconic St. Louis Foods You Need to Try (2024)

Whether you are visiting St. Louis to:

• take in the amazing views from the top of the Arch,
• cheer for the Cardinals at a baseball game, or
• enjoy the city’s many free attractions,

at some point, you’ll get hungry. And when that time comes, this article about the St. Louis food scene is here for you! Create a food itinerary that takes you through all three meals of the day by trying St. Louis originals at these recommended restaurants.

Cake for breakfast? Sign me up! In St. Louis, the most important meal of the day often includes a slice of gooey butter cake. While some debate lingers over who should get credit for inventing this iconic St. Louis food, we can at least agree that it was not Paula Deen, even if she calls her recipe the original.

Whether you’re on Team Danzer or Team Koppe, it’s widely believed that this must eat St. Louis food was mistakenly invented when the baker accidentally doubled the amount of butter in his cake recipe. The result is a coffee-cake like-base topped with a gooey custard and dusted with powdered sugar.

Best Gooey Butter Cake in St. Louis

You’ll find this quintessential St. Louis pastry at coffee shops, bakeries, grocery stores, and just about anywhere else food is sold in St. Louis, but I recommend Park Avenue Coffee and The Missouri Baking Company. Try original gooey butter cake first and then dig into unique varieties like cherry, chocolate chip, turtle, red velvet, and white chocolate raspberry.

Not to be confused with the chicken sandwiches sold nationwide at Sonic, a slinger is a greasy gut bomb that’s perfect for soaking up beer and booze after a night on the town to head off a massive hangover. This St. Louis original dish is made by topping a hamburger patty, two fried eggs, and a side of hash browns with a generous ladle of chili, a handful of shredded cheese, and a sprinkle of diced onions.

Best Slingers in St. Louis

I believe that diner-style dishes just taste better when eaten at the formica counter in an old-school establishment, but sadly the Eat-Rite Diner has permanently closed. The next best hole-in-the-wall option is Dave’s Diner, founded by a man who got his start at Eat-Rite Diner.

Or enjoy this classic St. Louis food with a twist at other St. Louis restaurants. Rooster offers three slingers: the rooster slinger (that swaps the hamburger patty with andouille sausage), a pork slinger (that substitutes sausage and bacon for the hamburger), or the vegan slinger, made with vegan sausage and eggs. The Mud House offers a vegetarian slinger with black bean chili (that can be made vegan upon request), and I can’t get enough of the Southwest Diner’s slinger that includes diced green chiles.

Hotel Caesar in Tijuana is known as the birthplace of the Caesar salad and its distinct anchovy dressing. And the Mayfair Hotel (now Magnolia St. Louis) is home to Mayfair dressing. Think of it as Caesar’s delicious cousin!

Initially served in the hotel’s Mayfair Room, Missouri’s first five-star restaurant, the original Mayfair salad was a bed of romaine lettuce topped with julienned Swiss cheese and ham, croutons, and its namesake dressing. When you dine at Magnolia St. Louis today, the salad is a fresh take on the Mayfair original, with field greens, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes tossed with Mayfair salad dressing.

Where to Find Mayfair Dressing

In addition to Magnolia St. Louis’s restaurant, both Circa Pub & Grill and The Original Crusoe’s offer Mayfair dressing alongside ranch, Thousand Island, blue cheese, and other salad standards.. Or pour Mayfair dressing over your favorite salad at home by buying a bottle online or whipping it up from scratch with this recipe.

Along with sweet-and-sour chicken and fried rice, you can find the St. Paul sandwich on the menu at nearly every Chinese restaurant in St. Louis. A total departure from typical noodle or rice dishes, the original version of this St. Louis food places a fried egg foo yong patty, iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and pickles between two slices of cottony white bread slathered in mayonnaise. But many restaurants now offer varieties that include shrimp, crab, chicken, beef, ham, pork, and vegetarian.

Best St. Paul Sandwich in St. Louis

Mai Lee’s St. Paul sandwich, proclaimed by Food Network as one of the best sandwiches in the nation, is available in plain, pork, ham, chicken, beef, shrimp, or special varieties. You can also order this must-eat St. Louis food at Old St. Louis Chop Suey or The Rice House.

Order online and have a St. Paul Sandwich from Old St. Louis Chop Suey delivered to you viaGrubhub.

Sage Advice: To learn about the St. Louis foods shaped by immigrants, listen to the “Chinese Food, Missouri-Style” episode of the Hungry for MO podcast here.

Another St. Louis food original is the Gerber sandwich. Similar to a French croque monsieur, this open-faced feast was invented at Ruma’s Deli in the early 1970s. The original Gerber sandwich is made by transforming fresh bread into cheesy garlic bread and then topping the crispy carb slab with sliced ham, Provel cheese (more on that St. Louis food shortly), and a sprinkling of paprika before toasting it again.

While you may have spotted a Gerber sandwich on the menu at other St. Louis eateries in the past, Ruma’s Deli now holds a trademark on the name.

What’s better than fresh homemade ravioli? Fresh homemade ravioli that’s been breaded and deep-fried! Invented in the city’s Italian neighborhood known as The Hill, this famous St. Louis snack is made by dipping ravioli in milk, dredging it in seasoned breadcrumbs, and then frying it to crispy perfection before serving with marinara sauce and Romano cheese.

Best Toasted Ravioli in St. Louis

While you’ll find toasted ravioli on menus all across town, there’s no place quite like The Hill to try this popular dish alongside some of the best Italian food in the city. Although the chef and restaurant credited with this delicious invention are both long gone, you’re sure to enjoy the toasted ravioli appetizer at Charlie Gitto’s, Mama’s, and Zia’s.

It’s impossible to talk about Provel cheese without mentioning the St. Louis style of pizza. After all, Provel cheese was created specifically for the local take on pizza. Instead of the buttery deep dish that you’ll find in Chicago, St. Louis style pizza begins with an unleavened, cracker-like crust. Pizza sauce, Provel cheese, and other toppings are added before it’s baked and served. It’s always cut into squares — like Little Caesars Pizza — rather than slices. With its low melting point, Provel cheese breaks easily with the thin crust when you bite into this St. Louis food.

Best St. Louis Style Pizza

My favorite St. Louis style pizza parlor is Imo’s where, in addition to pizza, they serve toasted ravioli and Provel bites, of course!

Order online and have Imo’s pizza delivered to you via Grubhub.

Living in Kansas City, I’m used to a specific style of slow-cooked, smoked meats covered in tangy bbq sauce. But St. Louis does barbecue in its own special way. While Kansas City barbecue features a wide range of dry-rubbed meats, St. Louis barbecue focuses on pork. And when it comes to pork ribs, St. Louis style means they are always trimmed into a perfect rectangle.

Best Ribs in St. Louis

You can enjoy classic St. Louis barbecue — includingfall off the boneSt. Louis ribs —at Pappy’s Smokehouse. Or opt for a fresh take on classic St. Louis barbecue at Sugarfire Smoke House.

Related Article: Delicious Barbecue Quotes That Will Make Your Mouth Water

Two of the best places to try BBQ pork steak in St. Louis are Sugarfire Smoke House and The Original Crusoe’s. And if you eat at Crusoe’s remember to try the Mayfair salad dressing if you order a dinner salad as one of your options!

Fun Fact: At a rate nearly double the national average, St. Louis consumes more barbecue sauce per capita than any other US city.

Perhaps it’s because I attended fifth grade in St. Louis – and that’s the year most American school children study their state’s history — but the only World’s Fair I seem to know anything about is the 1904 event held in St. Louis. And all I remember of that history lesson is that the ice cream cone was invented there. I mean, what else would stick in the brain of a ten year old?

Technically, the ice cream cone was created by an Italian immigrant in New York who was granted a patent for his edible container in 1903. But the better known story — especially in St. Louis — is that an ice cream vendor at the 1904 World’s Fair ran out of paper cups and partnered with a waffle vendor to create a rolled cone.

Best Ice Cream in St. Louis

Whether you eat it old school in a paper cup or in a cone (albeit technically not invented in St. Louis), my favorite ice cream parlor in St. Louis is Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Creamery. On the nice list, you’ll find gooey butter cake ice creamwith chunks of gooey butter cake layered throughout a rich and tangy cream cheese ice cream — among other tasty options. And crossing over to the naughty list means enjoying a scoop with a shot thanks to Clementine’s secret process of freezing alcohol into ice cream.

Another delicious ice cream shop in St. Louis is Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream. While their ice cream is served between two flat – not rolled into a cone – waffles, you’ll also find gooey butter cake ice cream on the menu.

Order online and have Clementine’s delivered to you viaGrubhub.

Like ice cream cones, St. Louis cannot take credit as the birthplace of frozen custard for it was an ice cream vendor in Coney Island, New York, who discovered that adding egg yolks to its standard ice cream recipe gave it a smoother texture and helped the ice cream stay cold longer. But St. Louis can take full credit for inventing the concrete (not “concrete” the building material, but “the concrete”, the famous St. Louis snack.)

Fun Fact: While frozen custard is decadently rich and creamy, it actually has fewer calories than ice cream.

Created in 1959 at the Ted Drewes frozen custard shop on historic Route 66, a frozen custard concrete is a malt or shake that is so thick it is served upside down. And while an ice cream treat that thick would be impressive on its own, the frozen custard in a concrete is typically blended with candy, fruit, nuts, sauces, or other tidbits before it’s handed over, upside down, of course!

Fun Fact: Fond memories of this beloved St. Louis food spot inspired St. Louis native Danny Meyer when he created the milkshake menu at Shake Shack.

Best Frozen Custard Concretes in St. Louis

While you’ll find frozen custard concretes at several places across St. Louis, including national chains, I prefer the original. Be sure to add a stop for Ted Drewes at its original location on Chippewa to your St. Louis food itinerary. And if you’re one of those people who can’t eat ice cream when it’s cold outside, the folks at Ted Drewes feel you. Both locations typically close for about six weeks in January and early February, so plan accordingly!

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