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Photograph courtesy of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis
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Image the Compton Hill water tower
St. Louisans have a love affair with routines. We take the same route to work every day. We picnic before Opera Theatre, hit Hrabosky’s after the ballgame and head for the same fish fry every Friday. Routines are good, but they severely shortchange the local options, because the St. Louis metro area is a study in contrasts—be they in food, music, culture or history—just waiting to be explored. We challenged ourselves to devise five days packed with these local contrasts. The only rule was to combine the familiar with the less familiar, the logical with the illogical—and to cover as much of the metropolitan area as possible.
Day 1
Zabione meets the Big Elwood, the Missouri meets the Mississippi and opera's high energy melts into urban jazz
Start at La Dolce Via (4470 Arco, 314-534-1699), an upscale bakery/café in the downscale but fast rehabbing Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, with artisanal pastries you may have met on pricier dessert menus. In early morning, the soft light infusing the neighborhood hints at its potential and makes the experience feel more European than mid-American.
After indulging a bit too freely (wasn’t that the idea?), drive to Missouri’s relatively new Confluence Point State Park (1000 Riverlands Way, West Alton, 636-889-1135). Hike to the water and gawk at the confluence of the mighty Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Immediately you will notice that rivers have personalities, and these two monsters collide in a watery crash that—cartographers be damned—is actually won by the Missouri. The racing currents will make you wonder how Lewis and Clark ever managed to hang a quick right into the Missouri and pole their way upstream.
After your hike—a minimal one, but, in warm sun, a sufficient excuse for a breather—cool off across the Mississippi at Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air, in Alton, Ill. (1530 E. Fourth, 618-462-5532, www.fasteddiesbonair.com). After overcoming the momentary blindness and immediate chill of entering a vast cave, you’ll see bikers rubbing elbows with the after-church crowd, feasting on free and well-salted popcorn, individually priced shrimp and entrées with such names as Big Elwood on a Stick, all washed down with ice-cold beer and bought at prices from a kinder era.
Now, leave the Hot Chick on a Stick behind and head to Opera Theatre of St. Louis (130 Edgar, 314-961-0644, www.opera-stl.org). Why not? Opera Theatre traditionalists picnic before the show, and Fast Eddie’s is one enormous indoor picnic. Any production at Opera Theatre will be worth your while, but we suggest one of the less obvious, more theatrically exciting choices, either Jane Eyre or Kurt Weill’s Street Scene.
After the opera, transport yourself to Spruill’s (2625 Stoddard, 314-533-8050). The sign may say “International Catering,” and the building may look like a small-scale warehouse, but inside you’ll be listening to both current and future local jazz giants. Live lessons are rarely so stimulating.
Day 2
Cross a bridge, climb a tower, feed your soul and drown your sorrows
Sleep in and make breakfast an early lunch at Crown Candy Kitchen (1401 St. Louis, 314-621-9650, www.crowncandykitchen.com), the soda fountain that refused to die with the rest of its neighborhood and now has the good fortune to have what’s left of Old North St. Louis being rehabbed around it. The menu will zap you back to the culinary favorites of junior high. Drop a bit more change and hit the road packing some Black Jack chewing gum.
Now that you’re feeling nostalgic, drive up to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and hike off the calories. The bridge provides a great view of both the river and downtown, and, if you’re under a certain age, you won’t miss the charm of its former, impossibly narrow traffic lanes and amazing 22-degree angle midstream. The decorative water intake towers in the river (yes, both actually contain living quarters) will remind you of the Grand Avenue water towers, so drive off for a closer look at them.
Why the Chicago Water Tower gets such good press and our three are so often ignored remains a puzzle. The two on North Grand are an impressive study in contrasts. The white Corinthian column and the redbrick, uh, phallic symbol (designed, appropriately enough, by Walt Whitman’s brother) both deserve careful renovation and showcasing. The Compton Hill Water Tower, south on Grand, is the role model, successfully restored and maintained by its own historic foundation. Visit on a day when it’s open to the public, climb the interior stairs and enjoy a panoramic view of the city.
From there, you’re off to Del Monico Diner (4909 Delmar, 314-361-0973), the insider’s choice for soul food. The sign out front says, “Specializing in home cooked foods, from meat to home grown vegetables, home made desserts”—all at homemade prices, we might add. Save room for pie.
Sated but still sad about the water towers? Entertain yourself in a uniquely St. Louis, unsinkably cheerful fashion at The Muny. One early-summer study in contrasts: Elton John’s Aida (June 26–July 2, Forest Park, 314-361-1900, www.muny.org). The days of seeing the bridge from Brigadoon recycled into a portion of the yellow brick road for The Wizard of Oz are long gone, but The Muny remains very much The Muny. What other theater blares the national anthem before the show and sells beer at intermission?
Now head to O’Connell’s Pub (4652 Shaw, 314-773-6600), the last survivor of Gaslight Square. Wait for one of Nora’s tables, and you’ll be sharing the living history of a local landmark with a late-closing kitchen (try the cooked-to-order roast-beef sandwich, french-fried mushrooms and a salad topped with the house dressing of Gaslight Square’s grand Three Fountains Restaurant).
Day 3
Local history, from prehistoric mounds and colonial French culture to Latino cuisine and the legendary Chuck Berry
St. Louis may have a French name and a French founder, but it’s a very German city. The French part of our heritage—not to mention the Native American—is preserved in Illinois. Prepare for the trip by visiting the original Amighetti’s on the Hill (5141 Wilson, 314-776-2855, www.amighettis.com). An Amighetti’s Special is perfect picnic fare (ask for the special sauce on the side so that the rolls won’t get soggy).
Your first stop: the Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site (just west of the junction of Route 3 and Highway 157, 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. Wed–Sun, 618-332-1782, www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/historicsites.htm). An excellent example of French colonial post-on-sill architecture, the building was built as a private home circa 1740, when Cahokia was a French colonial settlement, and in 1790 became the first courthouse in the first county of what became the state of Illinois.
Driving south on Highway 3, aim for both the Pierre Menard House (Ellis Grove, off Route 3, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., 618-859-3031, www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/historicsites.htm) and Fort de Chartres (Prairie du Rocher, off Route 3 on Route 155, 9 a.m.– 5 p.m., 618-284-7230, www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/historicsites.htm). The immediate impression is that the French certainly left their mark. The secondary impression is that the Pierre Menard House is stunning in a simple way and that the state of Illinois must have worked very hard to keep it from being washed away in the last flood of the century. The fort (a restoration of a building erected in the 1750s and ’60s) is the only fort worthy of the name in the entire area.
Now retrace your steps and watch the sun set over St. Louis from the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (Collinsville, off Interstate 55/70, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., 618-346-5160, www.cahokiamounds.com). St. Louis is the Mound City left without a trace of a mound. When you see just how much of our initial heritage we’ve leveled in the name of progress, you’ll come to realize how spectacular a Native American megalopolis the metropolitan area must once have been. French and Indian might be the theme of the day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dine at El Mundo Latino (4301 Manchester, 314-533- 6969, www.thelatinoworld.com), in the building formerly occupied by the late, lamented JaBoni’s. The restaurant takes its name seriously: Signature dishes from across the western Latino world occupy its menu, morphed into new incarnations in much the same way that pan-Asian restaurants turned the flavors of Asia into St. Louis staples.
And after? Grab tickets to Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room (6504 Delmar, 314-727-4444, www.blueberryhill.com) to see Chuck Berry perform. Local history’s the goal, after all, and Berry is both local and historically significant. If you’ve not seen him perform, shame on you. The opportunity’s there— and there are very few men his age who can still duck-walk.
Day 4
Breakfast in an all-American diner, dinner in central Europe and—in between—nature, drama and a simple can of beer
Drink your first breakfast at the Cat’s Meow (2600 S. 11th, 314-776- 8617, www.catsmeowstl.com) at an impossibly early 7 a.m. This bar opens at dawn for the night shift. The Cat’s Meow is, shall we say, really local Soulard, and the night shift is, shall we say, a lot wider awake than we would be, but the experience can’t be duplicated.
Your more nourishing breakfast will be at the Goody-Goody (5900 Natural Bridge, 314-383-3333, www.goodygoodydiner.com). This is not a trendy restaurant disguised as a diner but an honest-to-God diner that both wears its age and serves its menu well. Unlike other local institutions, the Goody-Goody did not move when the demographics of its neighborhood changed. It simply welcomed a new clientele and trusted that the old one would keep coming. Set your palate for a real diner breakfast and, if you’re old enough, rekindle cravings for Sam the Watermelon Man, whose stand used to be right up the street.
After probably too many cups of coffee (at a diner, who’s counting?), drive out to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve (Highway 100 and I-44, 636-451-3512, www.shawnature.org) in Gray Summit. This is the Garden’s showcase of botanical life (and an intriguing array of wildlife) in its natural state. You can drive through, but we suggest the hiking trails to truly appreciate what Missouri must have looked like before it was tamed, cut and replanted.
Once you’ve worked up an appetite, head back into town to Grbic (4071 Keokuk, 314-772-3100), a European restaurant on the South Side. When we say “European,” we mean it. The owners may be Bosnian, but the atmosphere is eclectic Mittel Europa: The menu’s heavy on the spaetzles, schnitzels and goulash, and the top wine is Romanian. This is a classic European neighborhood restaurant, counterpoint to the all-American diner of the morning.
Your evening’s entertainment is the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis (Forest Park, 314-361-0101, www.sfstl.com), with Julius Caesar’s lust for glory as a foil for the gentle foliage of the afternoon. After the bard’s masterpiece, top off the evening at the Tin Can Tavern & Grille (3157 Morganford, 314-865-3003, www.tincantavern.com). The basic premise is pristine in its simplicity: The beer comes in a can. It’s cheaper than many a soda. And where else can you still get a frosty Stag?
Day 5
Wine in the country, beer at the ballpark, zuppa at the top of Met Square
Feeling the need to leave the city behind? Speed through suburban sprawl into the country air of Augusta. Before Prohibition, Missouri was the country’s top wine-producing state, and Augusta is prime winery territory. We suggest the Montelle Winery (Highway 94, 636-228-4464, www.montelle.com) for a view of both river and town and a restaurant with a menu designed to set off the wine. Linger as long as you can in the quieting atmosphere of rural Missouri … then head downtown for the opposite sensation. You’re about to visit two contrasting steel structures (one generally loved, the other generally loathed) that never seem to receive enough attention, basically because no one ever pauses long enough to truly look at them.
“Twain,” the Serra sculpture (10th, 11th, Market and Chestnut), is everyone’s favorite cultural whipping boy. If you take the time to slowly perambulate it, paying particular attention to those moments when the spaces between the slabs come into line and looking at the play of the light and the shadow on the grass within the piece, you’ll begin to see it as it was meant to be seen. Just do your best to ignore the misguided Cardinals fans who mistake it for a pissoir.
The Eads Bridge is just as solid as the Serra but rather more decorative. This is an engineering marvel, the first bridge over the lower Mississippi, and, because it allowed the railways to cross the river, the reason St. Louis was such a boom town at the turn of the last century. If you take the time to walk partway across the bridge, you’ll perceive it as it was conceived: a grand promenade connecting Illinois and Missouri.
Your next two stops must be carefully calibrated for time: a ballgame at Busch Stadium (Clark, Seventh, Poplar and Broadway, 314-345-9000, cardinals.mlb.com) followed by an elegant dinner and dancing at Kemoll’s (1 Metropolitan Square, 314-421-0555, www.kemolls.com). The combination actually makes historical sense: Both experiences started on North Grand, and, in truth, we preferred their original incarnations; Sportsman’s Park was an infinitely better ballpark than Wrigley, and the new Busch is, well, shall we say, a little bit corporate, what with all the private clubs and corporate boxes and sanitized ballpark atmosphere. As for Kemoll’s, you entered the original through a neighborhood bar before being ushered into a warren of rooms cobbled from three-or-so buildings. Even in its starkly upscale incarnation, though, this is the last vestige of the old North Side Italian community, and it remains a fine restaurant, capable of whipping up a zuppa di pesce found nowhere on the menu.
