French onion soup is a favorite in St. Louis, at least partly due to the (ongoing) popularity of the version served in those McCoy Pottery one-handled crocks at Famous-Barr tea rooms for so many years. The soup isn’t difficult to make (click here for two versions of the recipe), but it takes time, as the onions must cook low and slow to caramelize properly. For restaurants that use veal stock as the base, French onion soup can be a multi-day process.
I can personally vouch for a few places around town (see my notes below), and a little research uncovered a winter’s worth of steaming crocks to try (also noted below).
Truffles: The recipe has always been a variation of Famous Barr’s legendary iteration, but the soup base is house-made veal stock. The cheese is a blend of Gruyère and Emmentaler, and the croutons (now wisely cut in chunks, so the soup is easier to scoop) are cut from a baguette from the Butchery Market.
La Bonne Bouchée: The cups are served in dainty French ramekins and the bowls in handled crocks, with Gruyere cheese spilling over the edges.
Herbie’s: The onion soup program has 40-year-old roots (“born in the Balaban’s days”). It includes beef stock, deeply caramelized yellow onions, red wine, and a little thyme. Executive chef Karl Schloz adds a few other components, such as a splash of demi glace, a hint of garlic, and a touch of sherry vinegar.
Brasserie by niche: Devotees claim Brasserie serves the best version in town, thick and loaded with onions. Thankfully, the white crock is always full to the brim.
Café Provencal: For nearly 40 years, chef-owner John Schreiner has served the same classic onion soup recipe: caramelized yellow onions, rich beef stock, a slice of toasted baguette, and a generous capper of melted Gruyère. Prying the crusty bits of cheese from the side of the stoneware crock is a ritual that we call “dessert.”
Here’s my list of ones to try:
- avenue
- Biggie’s
- Bistro La Floraison
- Café La Vie
- Cyrano’s
- Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill
- The Frisco
- Grand Pied
- La Belle Vie (Frenchtown)
- Modern Brewery
- OB Clark’s
- Olive + Oak (onion & ale soup)
- PJ’s Tavern
- Perennial on Lockwood (onion & ale soup)
- Schlafly
- SqWires
- Vintage 1847 (in Hermann, Missouri)
- Westchester
Did I miss one? Email me at [email protected], and I’ll add it to the list.
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