New St. Louis Restaurants Destined To Become Classics

Wright’s Tavern
7624 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton; 314-390-1466
It’s hard to imagine a more impressive dream team than Matt McGuire and Carey McDowell. Between the two of them, they’ve run some of St. Louis’ most ground-breaking and beloved restaurants, worked alongside acclaimed chefs (including McDowell’s time with Daniel Boulud) and been instrumental in setting service standards for the area’s hospitality community. Wright’s Tavern, which McGuire owns and where McDowell is executive chef, is the culmination of this experience and, unsurprisingly, an utterly exceptional restaurant. Wright’s delivers this level of dining with a restraint honed by the confidence that comes from being a master of one’s craft. It is a classic steakhouse. As such, Wright’s serves steakhouse classics — a flawless Caesar salad, ridiculously fresh oysters, an impeccably seared ribeye — in their most essential, perfect forms. No dish exemplifies this ethos better than the crab cake, a stunningly simple assemblage of colossal crab meat so fresh, it tastes as if it was plucked out of the sea moments before it landed on the plate. It’s accented with a touch of cracker crumbs and cream that serve more as gentle nudges than actual binders. This is the definitive crab cake in St. Louis, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it comes courtesy of the city’s definitive restaurant duo.

A selection of dishes from Wright's Tavern.

Bar Moro
7610 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton; 314-296-3000
Ben Poremba has spent the past decade exploring different parts of the Mediterranean — North Africa and Israel in particular, which comprise his dual heritage and are reflected in his excellent restaurants Elaia, Olio and the Benevolent King. With his latest effort, Bar Moro, Poremba heads further west, basing the restaurant not on Spanish cuisine per se, but on a feeling. He captures the essence of what it means to dine in Spain in all of its rustic, sexy glory. In bringing to life Bar Moro, Poremba concerned himself less with cookbooks than with the region’s history, politics, movements and art; as a result, the Wydown eatery feels utterly transportive. Poremba’s knack for creating stylish spaces is on full display at Bar Moro, which features a black-on-black color palette, dim lights, gem-studded fishing nets and a surrealist mural from local artist Edo Rosenblith. However, a leg of jamon, set into a stand and prominently displayed on the bartop as the restaurant’s focal point, shows he has put every bit as much care into the food as the aesthetics. Gazpacho, served with shot of gin, is complex; eggs and caviar embody his penchant for luxury; squid-ink rice porridge and pan-roasted sturgeon evoke seaside dining; and his selection of tinned seafood makes you wonder if you’ve stepped through a wormhole to San Sebastian. It’s all delicious — and you’d expect no less from one of St. Louis’ most talented chefs.

A selection of dishes from Bar Moro.

Arzola’s Fajitas + Margaritas
2730 McNair Avenue, 314-226-9672
If you’ve ever suffered through the dried-out, jerky-like strips of meat all too often passed off as steak fajitas in lesser Tex-Mex joints, you may bristle at the suggestion that the form can result in anything else. Arzola’s Fajitas + Margaritas will change your mind thanks to a pedigree that goes back over four decades to Austin, Texas. There, patriarch Eddie Arzola got his start in the restaurant business grilling meat on a pushcart in the city’s bustling entertainment district. He brought that experience with him to St. Louis, where he ran one of the area’s most beloved restaurants, Chuy’s Arzola in Dogtown, for 20 years. Now, nearly 15 years after that eatery closed, Arzola’s son Coby is carrying on the family’s legacy in Benton Park. At his year-old restaurant, he and his father take the original as a jumping-off point to elevate the Tex-Mex experience. Together with Coby’s husband, Derek Fatheree, and chef Tanya Key, the younger Arzola has created an outstanding neighborhood restaurant filled with delights including mojo shrimp as fresh as if you were dining oceanfront, stunning burritos, outstanding overstuffed quesadillas and a large list of creative margaritas and craft cocktails. However, if you eat one thing at this gem of a restaurant, it has to be the steak fajitas. These tender petals of perfectly charred yet impossibly juicy flap steak are cooked atop lava rocks so that the fat renders, hits the rocks, then bastes the meat from the bottom. It’s a meaty masterpiece that will leave you realizing that you have never had a steak fajita until you’ve had one at Arzola’s.

Dishes from Arzola’s Fajitas + Margaritas.

Bistro La Floraison
7637 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton; 314-725-8880
Restaurateurs and accomplished culinarians Michael and Tara Gallina understand that luxurious French decadence may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of their brand. After all, the pair have made a name for themselves through Vicia, their from-the-earth, plant-centric temple of elevated dining that asks diners to rethink the center of the plate. However, before Vicia, before their tenure at New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the Gallinas were aspiring chefs inspired by their passion for classic French cooking. It was the spark that lit their careers and the inspiration they drew upon when they had the opportunity to take over the beloved French bistro Bar Les Frères from retired St. Louis restaurant icon Zoë Robinson. Under their stewardship, the space has become Bistro La Floraison, a celebration of the quintessential Parisian dining experience in both form and substance. Set against elegant cream and blush-hued decor, Bistro La Floraison leans into the classics of French cuisine in dishes such as fluffy gougères served alongside silken molten gruyere, caviar with crème fraîche on a potato waffle, chicken cordon bleu and braised short ribs with rich bordelaise. Add to this an impressive French wine list (and an even more impressive beverage team to assist your selections) and you realize that the versatile Gallinas are not only carrying on the Bar Les Frères legacy; they have made it their own.

Dishes from Bistro La Floraison.

Cellar House
5634 Telegraph Road, Oakville; 314-846-5100
For several years now, chef Chloe Yates has been sharing her talents with St. Louis diners in various ways. There was her time at OSP Tap House, which earned her a reputation for her wonderful beer dinners and landed her a spot, as her alter ego “the Pin-Up Chef,” on Guy’s Grocery Games. From there, she worked alongside pre-Mayo Ketchup Mandy Estrella at the short-lived Alphateria at Alpha Brewing Company, did her own events under the Pin-Up Chef brand after Estrella left Alpha, and eventually went on to launch the food truck Red Dirt Revival with then-business partner Ben McArthur. Through it all, Yates has seemed poised for her big break but was just waiting for the right spot. That happened in February of last year, when her friend and owner of Cellar House in Oakville, Patrick Ahearn, needed a chef on the fly. Yates was available, and before she knew it, she’d become general manager and executive chef of the restaurant, finally finding a venue to showcase her talents. Yates has bloomed in this environment, showing off her masterful cooking, knack for multi-layered flavor, talent for knowing just what to do with seasonal ingredients on dishes such as a flawlessly cooked bone-in pork chop accented with chile-pistachio pesto or beautiful scallops served with avocado butter cream, pork belly and fava beans. With Yates at the helm, Cellar House has transformed itself into an essential neighborhood eatery — and Yates has transformed herself into the chef she was always meant to be.

Dishes from Cellar House.

Clara B’s Kitchen Table
732 South Illinois Street, Belleville, Illinois
As a little girl growing up in Texas, Jodie Ferguson was enraptured by the way her late grandmother, Clara Bloodworth, held court in her kitchen. Perched on Clara’s hip, Ferguson developed a curiosity for cooking that would become a passion and inform her own journey as a chef. After losing her job with the Ritz-Carlton during the pandemic, Ferguson again looked to her grandmother for culinary inspiration, this time as the driving force behind Clara B’s Kitchen Table. Clara B’s began as a food truck but expanded to a brick-and-mortar storefront in February of 2022, quickly gaining a legion of loyal followers and critical acclaim for its outstanding, Southern-inflected daytime fare. Ferguson’s biscuits have become the stuff of legend: golden and flaky on the outside, cloud-like on the inside and so rich you can taste the butter with each bite. They serve as a delectable canvas for a variety of excellent biscuit sandwiches, including the Spicy Honey Chicken, which pairs sweet local honey with Ferguson’s subtly funky secret hot sauce. Already grown out of its digs, Clara B’s has partnered with the Belleville roaster LongStory Coffee and will soon be moving into its recently remodeled space. The expanded kitchen and dining area will afford Ferguson the increased kitchen capacity she’s been dreaming of since first launching Clara B’s, which means there will soon be even more reasons to love this gem.

Dishes from Clara B’s Kitchen Table.

Lousies on the Loop
567a Melville Avenue, University City; 314-696-2002
As a young boy growing up in Bowling Green, Missouri, Day Boyer would regularly travel the area with his dad, gobbling up loose-meat sandwiches from Maid-Rite and falling in love with food in the process. After culinary school and a successful career in upscale New Orleans kitchens, Boyer returned to the Midwest in 2021 with his wife, Kelle, intent on opening a casual spot to pay homage to the sandwiches of his youth. That restaurant, Lousies on the Loop, is an unexpected thrill, balancing the easy nostalgia of Maid-Rite-style sandwiches with his undeniable culinary talent. You see this in the small details; Boyer grinds his meat fresh, then cooks it with seasoning and finely diced onions that soak up all of the beef’s flavor. The result is a dish that gives you the flavor of a diner smashburger with the satisfaction of crispy meat edges in every bite. However, Lousies is much more than a loose-meat sandwich shop, a fact that becomes apparent in Boyer’s thoughtful side dishes, such as blue cheese coleslaw with pickled beets, dressed sweet potatoes and a host of rotating specials that are a nod to his time in New Orleans. If he’s serving it when you are there, make sure to finish your meal with his bread pudding, a scone-like pecan-and-raisin-flecked concoction that is one of the best versions in town. That such a masterpiece of pastry is served out of a humble loose-meat storefront says all you need to know about Lousies on the Loop.

Dishes from Lousies on the Loop.

Maize & Wheat
1912 South Brentwood Boulevard, Brentwood; 314-749-4778
A computer programmer by trade, Claudia Niswonger got drafted into the restaurant business after her daughter volunteered her mom to make her outstanding Colombian-style arepas for the local Hispanic festival circuit. When her handiwork sold out early on her first outing, Niswonger realized she was on to something. She quit her full-time job to devote her energy to bringing traditional South American specialties to St. Louis, dreaming all the while with her son about one day opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant. After her son’s unexpected passing in 2019, Niswonger channeled her grief into making their dream a reality, opening the Colombian cafe Maize & Wheat in November of 2021. Here, Niswonger dazzles diners with her excellent arepas, thick and fluffy discs of white corn stuffed with ingredients such as cheese and shredded beef as succulent as pot roast. Her empanadas are equally outstanding. Their flaky shells and mouth-watering fillings make it clear why Niswonger garnered a reputation for her wares on the festival circuit, while dishes like Colombian sausages, shrimp ceviche and chicken soup straight from a grandmother’s South American kitchen show her range. Niswonger has an even bigger vision for the restaurant and talks of putting in a coffee bar and launching a frozen food line. With food this good, there’s no limit to what she can achieve.

Dishes from Maize & Wheat.

Sabroso
1146 Old St. Charles Road, St. Ann; 314-918-5037
The cochinita pibil at Sabroso is one of the most delicious foods you will eat in the St. Louis metro area. Seriously. This porcine masterpiece is so tender you could spread it on a cracker. Its rendered fat, kissed with just a whisper of citrus, serves as a glorious sauce that drips down your hands and past your wrist when you try to contain it in a house-made tortilla. Chef Miguel Pintor, the artist behind this outstanding dish, has spent his entire culinary career cooking for others, but with his debut restaurant, Sabroso, he finally gets to show St. Louis diners the traditional recipes he inherited from his family in Mexico City and Tabasco. He does so out of a humble St. Ann storefront, where the cochinita pibil is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his culinary talent. Tamales, made from impossibly creamy masa and filled with green chiles and cheese, evoke the warm comfort of an elevated jalapeño popper. A machete stuffed with char-kissed carne asada, onions and cheese, is a mouthwatering mash-up of a quesadilla and a Philly cheesesteak. Birria, stuffed onto a housemade torta, evokes a Mexican French dip. For years, Pinto has been dreaming of bringing the cuisine he grew up on to St. Louis diners, hoping to educate his guests on the different regional specialties that define his native country’s rich and multi-faceted culinary tradition. When you taste his food, you understand that Sabroso is not only his dream come true; it’s St. Louis restaurant-goers’, too.

Dishes from Sabroso.

Sado
5201 Shaw Avenue, 314-390-2883
Since returning to St. Louis in 2017, Nick Bognar has made an indelible mark on the area’s food scene, beginning with his parents’ now-shuttered Nippon Tei, which he transformed from a classic Japanese eatery into an extraordinary sushi powerhouse. Two years later, he opened Indo, which fused his Thai heritage with the Japanese cooking that had made up a significant part of his culinary career. James Beard nods came, and the national press took note. Bognar’s sophomore spot, Sado, quickly became the area’s most buzzed-about restaurant even before it opened this past March. Just a couple of months in, it’s clear the hype is real. Located in the former Giovanni’s in the heart of the Hill, Sado is a revelatory amalgam of Bognar’s culinary background, focusing mostly on his undeniable talent for sushi. At Sado, Bognar takes what he began at both Nippon Tei and Indo and runs with it to create the region’s definitive sushi program. However, he does not rest on his sushi skills alone but instead creates dazzling dishes using a variety of techniques, such as dry-aging his fish and cooking on a special yakitori grill. What makes Sado so special, though, is that — despite its dazzling sushi, thrilling cold appetizers and incredible beverage program — the restaurant aims to be as lighthearted and fun as it is serious about food, meeting diners where they are while also taking them to new heights. That Bognar and team can navigate this delicate balance shows their mastery.

A selection of dishes from Sado.