Tag Archives: restaurant

3 St. Louis food trucks make nationwide ‘best’ list

18 Sep

Three St. Louis food trucks made the Daily Meal’s top 101 list.

Guerrilla Streetfood, No. 20 on this list, is no stranger to national accolades: It won a similar award in Munchies People’s Choice contest, made USA Today’s top 10 foodie spots in St. Louis and Forbes’ top 25 food trucks list.

Seoul Taco came it at No. 87; Cha Cha Chow is No. 94.

See the complete list.

In June, Schlafly Tap Room made the Daily Meal’s best burger list.

32 new pizza locations this year in the region

8 May

This story originally appeared on RealTime/STL.

You know what we love in St. Louis? Pizza. Or we’d better, because a lot of new pizza restaurants have opened or plan to open in 2014. While there’s only seven pizzerias with locations planned, they expect to open more than 30 locations. Here’s what we’ve found so far:

Imo’s: 1

That’s right, the “square beyond compare” has a new location at an old location. The Imo’s at 9600 Watson Road, Crestwood, caught fire in March 2012. Owner Bill Puricelli opted to change gears, and opened Puricelli’s Deli at that location eight months later. Now the deli has closed, and an Imo’s will return under new ownership, an Imo’s spokesman told RealTime/STL.

The Good Pie: 1

It’s not technically new, but the restaurant finally opened at it’s new Delmar Boulevard location on Feb. 26. Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Ian Froeb says the new location is even better than the old one.

Pizza Story: 1

Maplewood’s newest pizza restaurant is owned by two Washington University professors: Muhammad Alhawagri is a biologist and Sherif Nasser is an assistant professor of marketing. An open date hasn’t been set yet, but they’ll be serving wood-fired Neopolitan pizza.

Jet’s Pizza: 1

Jet’s, which already has six St. Louis-area restaurants, is adding a Hampton Avenue location.

Sarpino’s Pizzeria: 5

The Chicago-area chain will open its first store “in the Ladue/Clayton area later this year,” according to the Post-Dispatch.

Pie Five Pizza: 20

The Texas chain plans to open 20 locations in the metro area this fall, according to the Business Journal. That’s more locations than Pie Five now has nationwide. No word yet on where those locations will be.

PizzaRev: 3

According to a March press release, the “craft your own” pizza chain will open three locations in St. Louis “soon.” No word yet on locations or a more precise timeframe. The Business Journal reports the chain was founded by St. Louis native Irv Zuckerman.

2013

Last year, several new pizza places popped up too, including Katie’s Pizzeria Cafe, Blind Tiger, two Crushed Red locations, three Jet’s Pizzas and a Little Caesars.

Research assistant Erin Fiehler contributed to this report.

Next stop for Strange Donuts: Kirkwood

19 Apr

This story originally appeared on RealTime/STL.

Attention Kirkwood: Things are about to get strange.

In March, the owners of Strange Donuts announced they would be opening a second location, but they’ve been keeping that location mum. Now we may have an answer.

The Kirkwood Planning and Zoning Commission approved a petition Wednesday for a restaurant permit for Strange Donuts for 107 1/2 E. Argonne Drive in Kirkwood. The approved space, just northeast of the Kirkwood Amtrak station, is 375 square feet.

A snapshot of 107 E. Argonne Drive, Kirkwood, from Google Streetview.

A snapshot of 107 E. Argonne Drive, Kirkwood, from Google Streetview.

“What’s ‘strange’?” one of the commissioners asked after the petition was reviewed. Strange Donuts co-owner Jason Bockman explained how different ingredients were used in the shop’s creations.

“We have worked with six James Beard nominees — chefs that have won the highest accolades in the world,” Bockman said. “We have developed donuts from regular glazed doughnuts to, this past weekend, we had something called the Finding Nori, which was seaweed, roasted sesame seed, sesame oil and sea-salted caramel, up to the Chicken and Waffle doughnut, where the doughnut itself is waffle batter, then there’s a large chicken tender placed on top with butter and syrup.”

“It’s definitely not a typical pastry,” he said.

The Kirkwood City Council must approve the petition; the council next meets on May 1. Strange Donuts opened its first location at 2709 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, in October.

In other new business before Kirkwood’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Sammy Soap sought a permit to open just down the street at 123 W. Argonne Drive. Owner Karen Copeland and two partners will be making and selling soap. “It’s probably easier than making doughnuts,” she told the commission.

The zoning commission meets again May 7.

Pappy’s, Guerrilla add to food honors

9 Apr

This story originally appeared on RealTime/STL.

Looking for the nation’s best barbecue or food truck? Then St. Louis is the place to be.

Pappy’s Smokehouse and Guerrilla Streetfood picked up honors in their respective categories in the Munchies People’s Choice food awards, sponsored by Tablespoon. Winners were announced Wednesday.

Pappy’s is known for its traditional barbecue fare, including dry-rubbed ribs. Guerrilla features traditional Filipino and Filipino-inspired dishes.

Guerrilla Streetfood and Pappy’s Smokehouse recently have picked up other honors, too. Both were included on USA Today’s “10 best foodie spots” in St. Louis. Hopper cited St. Louis as one of the 10 best cities for food trucks, calling out Guerrilla. Pappy’s made Thrillist’s best barbecue restaurants list, and it’s one of St. Louis’ restaurants in Yelp’s Top 100 list.

Boathouse reopens March 31

19 Mar

This story originally appeared on RealTime/STL.

The Boathouse restaurant at Forest Park will reopen its lakeside bar on March 31.

Post by Boathouse Forest Park.

Firefighters extinguished a roof fire at the St. Louis landmark on Jan. 29. Reconstruction started a month later, and the restaurant has posted several photos of the process on its Facebook page.

Post by Boathouse Forest Park.