We can argue about which of China’s regional cuisines is the greatest, but there’s no doubt that the spicy but deeply nuanced food of Southwest China’s Sichuan province demands a prominent place in that conversation. When we want good Sichuan cuisine — and Chinese homestyle classics too — in St. Louis, we head for ChiliSpot. Here’s why.

1. The atmosphere here is sociable and approachable: It’s neither hushed and restrained nor overwhelmingly noisy, and the crowd includes everyone from college students to families with grandparents and grandchildren in tow. Whether you’re dining in a larger, more rambunctious group or dining alone and people-watching, you’ll feel right at home.

2. The portions are large, so it pays to bring friends. And of course, the larger your group, the more you can order. Gather around one of ChiliSpot’s round tables, load up the lazy susan and spin it to grab more of the dishes you love before they’re all gone.

3. The enormous menu not only guarantees there’s always something new to try, ChiliSpot also makes ordering easier by providing photos of many of the dishes: If it looks good to you, get it.

4. The “dry pot” section of the menu shows off a Sichuanese approach to cooking that’s similar to hot pot, just – as the name suggests – minus the broth. We return regularly to the cauliflower dry pot, which is spicy and rich, infused with aromatics and red and green chiles. You can also take this a step further and go for the build-your-own dry pot option.

5. Fish stews and soups served in huge portions as a centerpiece for the table are something China takes very seriously, and these dishes are a recurring theme at ChiliSpot. You need to try each of these once to sample their diverse flavor profiles, so plan visits around the spicy grilled fish (kaoyu), a whole fish served in a shallow, spicy broth and topped with a mound of chile peppers, peanuts, cilantro and scallions; the boiled sliced fish in hot sauce (shuizhu yu), which features fish in a sharp, spicy and oily broth; and the fish fillet with pickled soup (suancai yu), a fish broth that shows off Sichuanese cuisine’s ability to blend sour and savory notes effortlessly while still retaining that signature kick of spice.

6. The boiled fish with Chinese green pepper is distinguished by its use of green huajiao (“flower pepper”). These peppercorns impart herbal, floral notes alongside the tingle of numbing spice that diners familiar with this pepper’s red counterpart will recognize. The smooth, flaky texture of the fish is a perfect foil for the silky broth, which also includes green peppercorn oil.

8. ChiliSpot supplements its more unique offerings with best-in-class versions of classic staples. The kung pao chicken is a case in point: boneless chunks of chicken, peanuts, scallions, scorched dried chile peppers, garlic, ginger and more, all doused in a sweet, tangy and slightly spicy sauce.

9. Liangcai, or cold dishes, are an essential part of any meal in China, and ChiliSpot has a number of excellent examples. Don’t miss the chewy texture of the wood ear mushroom salad, the handmade green bean jelly in chile sauce (mung bean shaped into strips of jelly-like noodles topped with a deep-red chile oil), or the Sichuan cold noodles, which are spicy, sweet and – thanks to a little Chinese black vinegar – a little sour.

7930 Olive Blvd., University City, 314.925.8711, chilispotusa.com

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Mexico’s food and drink scene is one of the most dynamic in the world right now, with restaurateurs, chefs, bartenders and producers blending centuries of heritage with technical prowess and creativity. In this year’s edition of the “50 Best” list of North America’s best bars, four of the top 10 are in Mexico City, with the capital’s Handshake Speakeasy in the No. 1 spot. “Mexico City has very much found its voice over the past four or five years,” said Michael Fricker, owner of Monstera: Mezcaleria & Natural Wines, formerly known as Grand Spirits Bottle Co., on South Grand Boulevard. “Wild flavor combinations, highly technical approaches, and philosophically it’s just so unique from anywhere else in the world.”

Of course, like anyone else, Mexico’s bartenders use the best spirits from around the world, but they also have a wealth of unique domestic spirits to choose from. Bartenders at places like Tlecan in Mexico City are creating drinking experiences that are infused with an understanding of the country’s cultural and agricultural heritage, using distilled spirits that are the result of proud, regionally diverse traditions going back many generations.

“If I’m using this specific agave from this region, then I’m going to use flora from that region to match – or I’m going to use flora from a different region to contrast,” Fricker said. “Cultural heritage is rooted so incredibly deeply within the cocktail movement right now.”

Increasingly, St. Louis is getting a taste for the fuller spectrum of Mexican spirits. And we’re not just talking tequila or mezcal, although the past few years have certainly seen explosive growth in sales of those leading agave-based spirits. According to data from the Distilled Spirits Council, tequila outsold American whiskey in 2023, and some analysts are predicting that this year could see tequila overtake vodka for the first time as the top-selling spirit in the United States.

Consumers have more to choose from than ever before, with a broader range of Mexican spirits coming onto the local market. For one thing, Mexican rums produced in southern states like Oaxaca and Michoacan are gaining a foothold in the local market. Charanda, a (typically) white rum made exclusively in Michoacan under denomination of origin rules, is just one example. Monstera stocks several products by Uruapan Charanda, which has been producing charanda for over a century.

At Lazy Tiger and Yellowbelly, Tim Wiggins has been effusive about Mexican rums for several years. On the current Lazy Tiger menu, the Railroad Man cocktail uses charanda anejo with rye whiskey, 12-year-old Thai rum, local peach and toasted avocado leaf. The Mango Tango at Yellowbelly includes Uruapan Charanda with overproof Jamaican rum, mango puree, peach and lime. “People in St. Louis are drinking it and loving it,” Wiggins said. “They do an aged expression that’s amazing, there’s no sugar added, no color added, it’s very pure. Whiskey drinkers love it. The clear one is very tequila-esque, so tequila drinkers love it.”

Additionally, look out for spirits from the north of Mexico. “Northern Mexico has some of my favorite distilled spirits in the world,” Fricker said. After mezcal’s explosion in popularity, sotol was tipped as the next big thing for Mexican spirits in the United States. Known for its usually smoky and grassy flavors, sotol is made from the dasylirion plant. Also known as “desert spoon,” this shrub grows all over Mexico, but denomination of origin protection means sotol can only be produced in the arid northern Mexican desert states of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila. Sotol may not have quite reached that tipping point in terms of consumer awareness yet, but look at cocktail menus and you’ll see bartenders are using it all the time. It’s one of the bases for the Running Wild (sotol, Bruto Americano, spiced pear and lime demarara) at Kenny’s Upstairs, and we’ve seen Fionna Gemzon at None of the Above use it to great effect in cocktails like the Desert Flower.

Northern Mexico doesn’t stop at sotol, however. There’s also bacanora, a type of mezcal specific to the state of Sonora. For another regional variation of mezcal, go down to Jalisco on the west coast and you’ll find raicilla. You can find several types of bacanora and raicilla, as well as many other mezcals, sotols and much more, amid the large selection of Mexican spirits at Mezcaleria las Chupacabras in Richmond Heights.

While Mexico’s distilled spirits heritage is worthy of respect and appreciation, don’t overlook the creative new products coming out of the country. At Planter’s House, co-owner Ted Kilgore said he’s enjoying Xila, an aperitif created by an all-female team of distillers. Produced in Mexico City using a mezcal base with flavor from roasted pineapple, ancho chile, cinnamon, pepper, clove, hibiscus and lavender, Xila stars in the Be All End All at Planter’s House alongside St. George green chile vodka, Faccia Bruto, raspberry shrub, lemon and egg white. “It’s a really cool brand, the distiller started distilling when she was a teenager,” Kilgore said.

Fricker is currently working on opening a bar, Malcriado, in Oaxaca, and his regular travels between there and St. Louis over the past few years have had a notable influence on the direction of Monstera’s cocktail program. All of the bar’s house cocktails, from the Hola Amigo to the Beach Umbrella, now feature at least one Mexican spirit. There’s also an “agave classics” section that includes a margarita and a paloma, with a twist on the Naked and Famous adding sotol to the traditional mezcalbased recipe.

Consumers are also becoming more discerning in their purchasing. “You’re seeing a lot more people get off of the Teremanas and the Casamigos and the bullshit, high-produced, high-flavored agave spirits,” Fricker said, identifying a shift instead toward more artisanal, small-scale producers. Fricker said mezcal education classes at Monstera typically sell out within 12 hours, and he said the people who attend those classes come with questions that scratch beneath the surface of the subject. “I don’t hold back from going super in-depth, scientific and nerdy,” he said.

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When fall hits, we reach for pumpkin ales, and the strong, spice-soaked ale brewed by Schlafly Beer has long been exemplary in the field. This year, Schlafly is getting even more from the pumpkin patch with its new vanilla pumpkin ale, which is available on draft at Schlafly’s brewpubs and also for sale in six-packs. If you read “vanilla” as code for “sickly sweet,” worry not: The notes of vanilla we taste here are closer to the aroma you might get from an oak-aged bourbon rather than a sugary, creamy dessert. The vanilla also adds a certain smoothness that complements those pumpkin pie baking spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg carried over from Schlafly’s original pumpkin ale. Sipping this, it’s impossible not to be excited about the season ahead of us. Or maybe that’s the beer’s 8% ABV talking.

Multiple locations, schlafly.com

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In the mid-1960s, downtown Clayton was already on a path to establishing itself as a business hub, but it was still a city in transition. “There wasn’t a whole lot out here at the time,” said Mike Brady, the current manager of the Saint Louis Club. When a group of local businessmen founded the Saint Louis Club in 1964, they set up shop in one of the first high-rise constructions in Clayton. It had only been seven years since the city government had abolished a regulation placing a height limit on newly constructed buildings.

Brady said the club started out primarily as a business networking group. “They were looking for a place where they could go, have privacy and conduct business,” he said. The conversations and connections the club has fostered have typically been facilitated over food and drink. That singular focus is a contrast with the region’s country clubs, and it’s a point of pride for Brady. “We don’t have golf, we don’t have tennis, we don’t have swimming pools – we really are just straight-up food and beverage,” he said.

When the club began planning for a move away from its longtime home at the Pierre Laclede Center to a state-of-the-art, more than 40,000 square-foot space at the nearby Centene Plaza C, it made sense to put food and drink at the heart of the new facility. With the help of New York City-based architecture firm Bentel & Bentel, that’s very literally what they did, placing the enormous, 8,000-square-foot kitchen at the center of the club. “The whole thing is like a racetrack that runs around the kitchen,” Brady said.

Run by executive chef Mathieu Lefebvre, the “Lamborghini of kitchens” (as Brady calls it) serves not only the club’s casual dining room and its fine dining restaurant, with convenient access points for each, but also provides catering services for the club’s private meeting rooms. As well as the main cooking lines – one for casual dining, one for fine dining – the kitchen includes a pastry station, a butchery, and a chef’s table-style dining room with large windows offering diners a panoramic view of the kitchen at work.

Although access to the club is membership-based, the broader St. Louis community has also enjoyed the work of many chefs who have passed through the Saint Louis Club’s kitchens at some point in their careers. Some notable recent examples include Andrew Cisneros, chef-owner of Jalea and Brasas (and a Sauce Ones to Watch honoree in 2021) and Christopher Delgado, owner of The Wood Shack before its closure in Soulard earlier this year. Brady said the club’s J-1 visa program also helps to bring talented young chefs to St. Louis, many of whom come with experience in Michelin-star restaurants in Europe.

The club’s new location was intentionally designed to smooth out the logistics of catering multiple events in tandem with regular dinner service. Whereas the new club is entirely located on a single floor, the old club’s multi-floor layout meant event management required the precision of an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist, with servers shuttling back-and-forth in elevators and managers coordinating by walkie-talkie. “It was all over the place,” Brady said. Now, the club’s private rooms can simultaneously host several events ranging from small meetings of less than ten people to weddings for as many as 260.

While the club’s management and staff welcomed the streamlined logistics and infrastructural upgrades afforded by the move to the new digs, they also had to get the aesthetic right. In this regard, Brady said they had to balance a fresh, modern feel with what he called a “tip of the hat” to the club’s history. “We brought certain pieces and elements with us from across the street,” he said, pointing out furniture, sculptures, vases and other decorative pieces that were on display at the club’s original location. St. Louis-born Carol Bentel, one of the partners at Bentel & Bentel, played a leading role in shaping the look and feel of the new space, consciously incorporating art by local artists like Bryan Haynes into the interior design, with many works depicting locations around St. Louis.

Other “artifacts” that were uncovered during the move were surplus to requirements. “We were getting into spaces we hadn’t been in a long time, and we were finding probably original beer cans from the construction crews that were from the 1960s – probably collector’s items,” Brady said. “They were just sitting there pristine behind the wall in the substructure.”

The sommeliers at the Saint Louis Club like to stash bottles of wine away for the future, though that’s part of the club’s expansive wine program. Brady said the club’s wine offerings, including a wine list as thick as an old-school phone book, as well as access to hard-to-find wines and rare allocated wines, are a big selling point for some members. The club invests early in wines that can be aged in-house, then broken out years later and sold to members at competitive prices. “What’s cool is people will come in from different parts of the country and they’ll look at the wine list and be like, ‘Do you really have this? Do you know that you’re not charging enough for that?’” he said. “It’s all relative.”

As the club approaches its 60th anniversary celebrations toward the end of this year, Brady is happy to take a moment to reflect on the past – but he also has his sights set firmly on the future. “We designed knowing that this was going to be home for the next 60 years,” he said.

7676 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton, 314.726.1964, stlclub.com

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Chef-owner Juwan Rice has created this daytime cafe concept in the same downtown space as his dinner-only Rated Test Kitchen. Here, Rice scales back the intricacies of his evening tasting menus to present an approachable menu that still has the capacity to surprise.

Each bite of the salmon wrap we tried yields varying flavor and texture, with fried rice, herb potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese, garlic aioli and Thai chile sauce all chiming in. The crispy sticky rice is a staple of the menu, a hearty bowl of sticky jasmine rice topped with quail egg, scallion jam, crispy shallots, garlic aioli and chicken sausage. If you’re in for breakfast, you might lean towards the French toast or breakfast bagel sandwich, and there are pastries and coffees for grab-and-go convenience.

313 N. 11th St., St. Louis, rated-cafe.com

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Saddened as we were by the drawn-out demise of Lulu’s Local Eatery, it’s a relief to see something new on the corner of South Grand Boulevard and Wyoming Street.

With Eat Today, new tenants Theo and Ruth Mengistie offer up a taste of their native Ethiopia, with plentiful vegetarian options and a menu that isn’t averse to including things like quesadillas, broccoli and fries. Our tip is to look for the more Ethiopian leaning dishes: The “veggie lover” combo includes deliciously spiced, warming yellow split peas, as well as whole brown lentils, and collard greens that are packed with flavor. The roast chicken is tender and juicy, with flavor from garlic, rosemary and assorted Ethiopian spices. Be sure to order the spongy injera (the slightly sour Ethiopian flatbread made from teff flour) with your meal: It’s perfect for mopping up leftover sauce.

3201 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314.449.1051, eattodaynew.toast.site

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Oak Street Lounge
The utterly charming town of Cottleville has a new, even more charming spot to have dinner and drinks. Start with the pork belly appetizer, our favorite dish of the evening, made with bourbon molasses and pineapple salsa atop a savory-sweet scallion pancake. The Oak Street salad is another winner with its fresh, local greens, a ranch-inspired farmhouse dressing, manchego cheese, baby tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and smoked sunflower seeds. The dry-aged short rib was an ideal entree, served alongside Vermont cheddar grits, asparagus salad, and topped with pickled red onions and a beef rib reduction. To drink, start with the margarita-inspired Pineapple Sipper, which features Una Vida blanco tequila, pineapple juice, dry curacao, agave, lime juice and Deacon scotch. Finish with a dessert cocktail like the Mangue et Mure with Plantation white rum, ginger liqueur, blackberry, mango, orgeat and cinnamon served with an aromatic smoke bubble atop the drink. After dinner, head up to the rooftop to enjoy the sunset view of the green pastures just west of Oak Street. There’s a bar on the rooftop, but it only offers beer and wine, so if cocktails are more your speed, be sure to order one in the restaurant before hopping on the elevator. 
5521 Oak St., Cottleville, 636.720.1901, oakstreetinnandlounge.com

Kpot
This chain’s first St. Louis-area location combines two of our favorite things — Korean barbecue and hot pot — under one roof. At the same table, in fact: Tables are fitted out for both barbecue and hot pot service, so use the tablet provided to order whatever you’re hungry for, cook it by yourself as your platters of food arrive, then enjoy with a range of dipping sauces. And then, start all over again, because Kpot gives you an all-you-can-eat feast for one flat price. You can choose to do just hot pot, or just barbecue, but doing both only costs an additional $5. We went for the hot pot, selecting the self-explanatory Szechuan Spicy and milder Healthy Herbs broth base. For meat, the prime brisket and fattier cuts like pork belly and beef belly offered most satisfaction, and we loved the option of ordering items like gyoza and shumai to plunge into the boiling broth. However, the real beauty here is that you can have a little bit of everything: Portions are relatively small, so there is no danger of filling up on one serving of meat and a couple of vegetables here. Take your time, have fun, and work your way through as much of the menu as you can.
9140 Overland Plaza Drive, Overland, 314.733.5733, thekpot.com

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If grab-and-go breakfast is what you’re after, the assorted temptations offered by Gelateria Coffee Co.’s pastry cabinet are sure to have something to satisfy. However, if you have the time to indulge in a little morning escapism, order one of chef-owner Andrew Fair’s breakfast egg sandwiches and grab a table on the garden patio at this Tower Grove South institution while the kitchen makes your sandwich from scratch. Pillowy, golden-brown brioche is the vessel for an elevated start to your day, with a slab of soft scrambled egg, white cheddar and spicy mayo coming together for the Classic, a sandwich whose comforting texture belies a sharp edge. We recommend adding thick-cut bacon or layers of ham for an extra twist. An alternative option features spinach cooked with the egg, Swiss cheese and salsa rossa. Available until
11 a.m. every day.

3197 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314.776.3500, thegelateria.com

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This popular Tower Grove Farmers’ Market bakery now has a corner of Shaw to call its own, and they make it count. It’s a cute little space, with a chessboard floor, a few leather stools to perch on by the window and a patio with candystriped umbrellas and colorful chairs.

The menu of baked-in-house items offers so much more than the eponymous pastries, but those pies are blessed with a crust so memorably rich and flaky that you won’t want to skip them. The hand pies offered change regularly, but we enjoyed a recent grilled summer veggie option with grilled yellow summer squash, zucchini, Marconi peppers, red onion, mozzarella and basil. The brown butter apple fritter is a decadent treat, oozing with diced apple and cinnamon filling. Sourdough brioche doughnuts and the market-favorite cake doughnuts only amplify the temptation. The Damn Fine BLT was our pick of the sandwiches, a brioche sandwich filled with thick bacon, fresh and flavorful tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and the shop’s creamy signature aioli.

4000 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, Instagram: @damnfinehandpies

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