Photograph by Katherine Bish
810 Chestnut
Downtown
Phone: 314-436-8855
Website: citygardenstl.org
Hours: Lunch and dinner, Mon–Sat
I believe his exact words were: “How could I say no?” Indeed. Jim Fiala was honored to get the nod to operate The Terrace View, the all-glass restaurant with the green grass roof, a shy monochrome whose only glint of color comes from Niki de Saint Phalle’s riotous, bulbous sculpture Adam and Eve lounging dead-center in the 50-seat room. Fiala’s heretofore-unplanned fourth restaurant occupies the only building within Citygarden, downtown’s one-stop photo-op that’s gaining on the Gateway Arch as the most memorable attraction in town. Fiala’s approach this time is…to be approachable. The preliminary menu of small plates and half-size entrees (all under $15) was outstanding enough, with virtually no clinkers; then he tossed in ringers like the roasted-beet salad from The Crossing, the burger from Liluma on that tasty house-made bun, and the mushroom tagliolini—not to mention those quartinos of hip-varietal wine—from Acero. If you think there’s no such thing as a sure thing, we’re thinking otherwise.
