The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Play, eat, explore in St. Louis
St. Louis is my home away from home. It’s where I was born, and while I wasn’t raised here, it’s where I spent the bulk of my childhood vacations chowing down on gooey butter cake with grandparents and feeding goats at Grant’s Farm with cousins. It’s also a place I’ve learned to appreciate, in its own right, as an adult.
The city is a modest one. It has a rich musical history tied to the blues, but you don’t hear people bragging about it. It has a colorful beer history tied to AnheuserBusch and, more recently, some solid craft brews, but no one puts on airs over it. And it has a fun food scene, laying claim to a number of unexpected originals. It’s also home to the Eero-Saarinen-designed Gateway Arch, arguably the most recognizable monument in the Midwest. A work-hard, play-hard attitude is the sod beneath it all. The locals I know love the Gateway City and talk it up at every turn. But they’re happy that, among midsize cities, it has maintained a small-town friendliness and easyto-get-around comforts.
Things to do
New York has Central Park. Chicago has Grant Park. And St. Louis has Forest Park. There’s a world to discover in this cultural campus, which measures in at 450 acres larger than Central Park. Beyond the rolling green grass, forests, lakes and, yes, waterfall, there are three museums (Missouri History Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum and Saint Louis Science Center) and the Saint Louis Zoo, all of which are free. You can also play a round of golf, take in musical theater at the Muny amphitheater, rent a standup paddleboard, kayak or canoe and row around not one but two islands in Post-Dispatch Lake, grab a lakeside cocktail and a bite to eat at the Boathouse, and so much more. It’s a great place to take a Frisbee or just flop in the grass and watch Missourians in their natural habitat.
There really is no other museum like the City Museum, and its name is spoken with reverence by all who have sweated here. Imagine a museum that’s a little bit “Goonies,” a little bit Willy Wonka and a lot funhouse, where you can tunnel through caves, barrel down slides, discover secret passages and burrow through hamsterlike rooftop tunnels, most of which are constructed from reclaimed items from St. Louis and beyond — a school bus here, two airplanes there, a pipe organ and Ferris wheel for good measure. The 600,000-squarefoot building once was home to the International Shoe Company and has been transformed by visionaries and artisans into an urban playground complete with a cantina, barbecue joint, cafe, bar and sandwich shop for quick refueling. Not only is admission to Grant’s
Farm free, so is the beer. (Although, parking costs $13.) The petting zoo, park and landmark is the ancestral home still owned by the beerfamous Busch family and operated by Anheuser-Busch. Guests 21 and up get two complimentary beer samples at the Bauernhof (that’s German for “farmstead”), and can enjoy those samples on a lovely patio while snacking on bratwurst and pretzels. Before and after you enjoy the beer, there’s plenty to do at this Bavarian-style farm. The outdoor space is lined with stables and has an old carriage house that still displays the family’s collection. On a tram ride, you can catch a glimpse of the cabin where Ulysses S. Grant lived before he became president, pass by a fence made of rifles that were used in the Civil War and spot dozens of animals, including elk, deer and bison. The real crowdpleasers here are the goats and their kids. For $1.50, you can buy a bottle or a grain cup and watch the goofy animals fall over each other to have a handheld snack.
If you’ve never been to the top of the Gateway Arch, you’ve got to do it. And if it’s been a while, it’s time to do it again. While the 630foot edifice remains the same skyline icon it has been since opening in 1965, the surrounding area has been transformed in recent years, and the formal reopening is set for July 3. The $380 million renovations replaced a parking lot with a welcoming riverside park — which was established as Gateway Arch National Park in February — complete with miles of walking trails, an amphitheater and plenty of picnic space. A new museum and visitors center will pay tribute to Americans who helped shape this country of ours. Before the recent changes, the arch was separated from downtown by a freeway. Now, thanks to a landscaped pedestrian bridge, it’s accessible by foot and acts as a kind of front yard to the city. If you plan on taking the tram to the top of America’s tallest man-made monument to peek out the narrow windows, you might want to book your ticket online and ensure yourself a seat.
Where to eat
Union Loafers Cafe and Bread
Bakery is home to the holy trinity of carbs: pizza, sandwiches and bread, although you can’t always get them at the same time of day. That’s because this cozy establishment only doles out its heavenly sandwiches — such as the roasted pork with country ham, dill pickle, mustard and garlic mayo — at lunch Tuesday through Sunday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.); and the delectable pizzas, such as spinach with bacon, garlic and lemon, at dinner Wednesday through Saturday (5:30 to 9:30 p.m.). By the way, bread is available only until it runs out.
In some cities, you do a bar crawl. In St. Louis, I do a toasted ravioli crawl. Toasted ravs are a signature dish of the Gateway City stemming, the story goes, from a mistake a cook made decades ago when he dropped the pasta into the fryer, only to discover that BTR — before toasted ravioli — the world had been missing out. Start your crawl in the city’s famous Italian neighborhood, the Hill, at Anthonino’s
Taverna, a Greek and Italian joint that sets the fried pasta bar high. Here, the plump puffs of ravioli are filled with a delectable mélange of beef, ricotta and pecorino Romano, then are coated in bread crumbs, fried and served steaming hot with a tangy marinara. Share an order, have a local beer (Schlafly will do) and head on to the next spot. You can find toasted ravioli on menus around town, with a range of fillings including the traditional ones (meat and cheese) and barbecue.
Where to explore
One of favorite my spots to lose a day is the Delmar Loop, named for the streetcar route that once looped around here. Walkable and a smidgen bohemian, the six-block area near Washington University has been named one of the “10 Great Streets in America” by the American Planning Association, and there are dozens of boutiques, galleries, bars, coffee shops and restaurants, as well as a star-studded sidewalk dubbed the St. Louis Walk of Fame. A perfect day might include grabbing a frosty mug at Fitz’s Root Beer, where you can watch a sodabottling line in action. Next, shoe up for quick game at the vintagestyle Pin-Up Bowl, followed by a little shopping and some street tacos at Mission Taco Joint. Then, head up to the Rooftop Terrace Bar at the Moonrise Hotel for a nightcap or catch a live show at the Pageant or Blueberry Hill.
If it was good enough for William S. Burroughs, Kate Chopin, T.S. Eliot and Tennessee Williams to make home, the Central West
End is well worth an afternoon of exploration for visitors. The ohso-walkable enclave is filled with turn-of-the-century homes, many of which were built in time for the 1904 World’s Fair. The area sits on the eastern edge of St. Louis’ crown jewel, Forest Park. It was named one of the “10 Great Neighborhoods in America” by the American Planning Association, and its art galleries, boutiques, antique shops, sidewalk cafes and bars bring a touch of European flair to the Lou. Plus, the CWE is home to the World Chess Hall of Fame, and you can grab a game at the oversize chess board right in front of the building.