All we wanted was a few soup dumplings. Specifically, from Soup Dumplings STL, which opened at 8110 Olive last week. The restaurant is two doors down from Private Kitchen and owned by the same chef, Lawrence Chen.
Alas, the restaurant was closed. Mechanical issues. No dumplings for us.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
Chen saw our despondent faces pressed to the glass and informed us that the faulty A/C system has been repaired, and St. Louis’ first dumpling shop will reopen tomorrow, September 28.
Just like on Cherokee Street, a new restaurant seems to pop up along the mile-long stretch of Olive Boulevard east of I-170 every time you look. Such was the case today. Here’s the latest.
The Grill Stop opened last Sunday at 7758 Olive. On the menu is an array of sandwiches (gyros, burgers, grilled chicken), Philly steaks (seven varieties), salads (house, Greek, gyro, buffalo chicken), as well as some curveballs: nachos, fried fish and shrimp, wings (with seven flavors), tenders, hot chicken, even a T-bone steak.
Prices are extremely reasonable across the board: $5.29 for the gyro (plus $1.99 for fries and a drink) and $10.99 for the T-bone (served with baked potato, salad, and Texas toast). And there’s a dessert case sporting what appears to the biggest piece of $2.75 baklava in town.
Grill Stop is open for lunch and dinner daily. 314-339-5656.
Advertising “African food at its finest,” Simba Ugandan Cuisine is slated to open next month at 8531 Olive (at Woodson, in the former Taqueria La Monarca location), according to owner and Uganda ex-pat Christine Mukulu Sseremba.
The restaurant will feature popular items from her prior restaurant, Olive Green International Cuisine, which shuttered a few months ago. Her son, George, told SLM that the increased size will allow for a supermarket and convenience store component as well, offering everything from African spices to Ugandan clothing.
Follow along closely for this next one: Yummy Café, an Asian café/bakery on the west side of Olive Supermarket, at 8041 Olive, closed over the weekend. A sign on the door said it’s moving to the east side of the store, the former Yummy 17 Restaurant. For the past few months, a sign announcing “Chinese BBQ Coming Soon” was posted outside that restaurant.
Today, signage for the grand opening of a new restaurant, Yummy Cafe & Barbecue, was being erected. SLM learned that the new endeavor would be a combination of several concepts—Chinese BBQ, bakery, seafood, and beer—another first for St. Louis.
Better yet is the opening-week tease, a 70 percent discount on October 1 that decreases throughout the week and month. 8041 Olive, 314-993-2933.
More as we learn it—we’ll likely be traveling that stretch of Olive again come Sunday.
