Chew on This: Ian Froeb's Ten Best St. Louis Dishes of 2112

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Pint Size Bakery & Coffee

3825 Watson Road
St Louis, MO 63109

Category: Restaurant > Bakery

Region: St. Louis - St. Louis Hills

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Siete Luminarias

2818 Cherokee St.
St Louis, MO 63118

Category: Restaurant > Mexican

Region: St. Louis - Clayton

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Five Star Burgers

8125 Maryland Ave.
St Louis, MO 63105

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Clayton

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St. Louis Pho

3863 S. Grand Blvd.
St Louis, MO 63116

Category: Restaurant > Chinese

Region: St. Louis - South City

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Famous Szechuan Pavilion

8615 Olive Blvd.
St Louis, MO 63132

Category: Restaurant > Chinese

Region: Olivette/ Overland

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Blood & Sand

1500 St. Charles St.
St. Louis, MO 63103

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: St. Louis - Washington Avenue

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Cleveland-Heath

106 N. Main St.
Edwardsville, IL 62025

Category: Restaurant >

Region: Collinsville/ Edwardsville

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Little Country Gentleman

8135 Maryland Ave.
St Louis, MO 63105

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Clayton

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Pastaria

7734 Forsyth Blvd.
St Louis, MO 63105

Category: Restaurant > Contemporary

Region: Clayton

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Guerrilla Street Food

@guerrillastreet
St. Louis, MO 63102

Category: Restaurant > Filipino

Region: St. Louis - Downtown

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More About

• Chris Bork
• Brian Hardesty
• Joel Crespo
• Eating Out
• Food and Cooking

2. Chitarra at Pastaria (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-862-6603) You could easily overlook the most exciting dish at Pastaria. The menu calls it simply "Chitarra" and offers no further description aside from a list of the supporting ingredients: olive oil, garlic, chile. In this case, though, such a list is apt because the dish brings nothing but strands of pasta alla chitarra tossed with olive oil, slivered garlic and chile flakes. Its beauty and charm is its simplicity: the lightly chewy pasta coated with the fruity, nutty oil, the garlic softened to a very mild bite, just a pinch of chile heat. Which is why the chitarra is so exciting: It's the perfect introduction to what simple, casual and affordable Italian food should be, not the limp, oversauced slop it all too often is. (from "Using Their Noodles," December 13)

1. The "Flying Pig" at Guerrilla Street Food (@GuerrillaStreet; www.guerrillastreetfood.com; 314-529-1328) A food truck atop the year's list of best dishes? Put down the pitchforks, hipster-haters. That Brian Hardesty and Joel Crespo's Guerrilla Street Food is part of the ever-expanding fleet of St. Louis food trucks might be the least interesting fact about it. The "Flying Pig" is Guerrilla's standout dish: tender slow-roasted pork on a bed of jasmine rice, the meat's natural flavor subtly spiced and then spiked with chiles, Sriracha sauce and calamansi (a lime-like citrus fruit). And that slow-cooked egg on top, which has a texture like no other egg you've ever eaten: White and yolk are thick and supple, like custard. I'd happily eat one of these eggs on its own; deployed in tandem with the pork, it fully justifies the dish's name, elevating it to 2012's summit.