By Alexi Zentner
Shmeers Café should be the St. Louis vegetarian’s best friend. It’s a kosher dairy restaurant, which means that although there is some fish on the menu, the vast majority of the food is vegetarian or vegan. That does not mean, however, that Shmeers is a wasteland for the carnivore; the menu is so extensive that anybody will be able to find something to eat.
There are four different menus to choose from, depending on the time of day. The brunch menu features eggs, pancakes, French toast and bagels. For lunch, there are salads and more than a dozen sandwich choices (some of which, such as the meatball sandwich, feature soy-based meat substitutes). The dinner menu is higher-end, with pastas in the $10 range; fish, including salmon, tilapia and a catch of the day; and New York–style pizza. And the late-night, post-Sabbath Saturday-night menu is the kosher version of bar food (think soy Buffalo poppers and veggie burgers).
Given the lack of kosher choices locally, Shmeers is an obvious choice for observant Jews, but it is also a nice option for vegetarians, vegans and anybody looking for a casual meal. Despite fancier dinner offerings, such as the pasta with fresh salmon and vodka cream sauce, what really shines at Shmeers is the café menu. Though it is empirically impossible to verify their claim that their fries are the best in St. Louis, it is also hard to dispute; the fries are crisp, perfectly cooked and lovely. (Order the large.) The New York–style pizza is a treat for people who are not fans of St. Louis–style pizza, and the salads are hefty and fresh.
The food comes out hot (or cold, depending on what you order) and made to order. The breakfast hash-browns alone are worth the price of admission, and the bagels, which are brought in fresh daily from Pratzel’s Bakery, may be slathered with your choice of more than a dozen “shmeers.” Keep in mind that, because it is a kosher restaurant, Shmeers is closed on most Jewish holidays and every Friday (but reopens 90 minutes after sunset on Saturday).
8400 Delmar, 314-991-2113, www.shmeers.com; Mon–Thu 10:30 a.m.–8 p.m., Sat from 90 minutes after sunset until 1 a.m., Sun 9:30 a.m.–8 p.m.
