[mresseguie]

My wife and I will spend an evening or two in St. Louis on our way to Atlanta. We ought to arrive on October 1st and <potentially> stay for two nights.

Good food ideas? Great audio gear? (my wife might kill me if I were to sneak off for a couple hours, but it's worth asking); things to do?

Thanks for any ideas.

Michael

[Blackmore]

Hi Michael,

Be sure to hit “The Hill” for some great Italian food!  Music for Pleasure is in town for audio gear and there are 4 or 5 good store to shop for vinyl.  I live an hour out of town, so you’re welcome to come hang out with me, but I doubt your schedule allows for that much time.

Mark

[ptman]

Some of the things I like to show off when we have friends/relatives from out of town. They will depend on your interests and what you have in your hometown:
- Tour the Anheuser-Busch brewery. They brew about 16.5 million 12 oz servings each day. Quite a feat of automation with history and Clydesdales
- Visit the Catholic Basilica. You don't need to be religious to be awed with the mosaic murals created with over 40 million glass tiles, hand-laid over a span of 70+ years. This likely gets the biggest reaction from our visitors
- The Art Museum in Forest Park is world class. Many cities have great Art Museums...if yours doesn't, it's worth a visit
- Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, if you're interested in the 1904 World's Fair, which was conducted in St Louis. Forest Park is the largest park in a major metropolitan city in the US...larger than Central Park in NYC
- Old Town in St Charles. St Charles is where Lewis and Clark launched their expedition, and the riverfront area retains the cobblestone streets and lots of small shops
- The Zoo in Forest Park, if you like zoos. Still free. Consistently voted one of the top in the country.
- October 2nd the Blues have a preseason hockey game against Washington, if that's your thing.
- St Louis has a lot of neighborhoods with their own small town flavor...the downtown areas of Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Central West End and the Loop are nice to stroll around. They all have various places to eat, as well.
- I would admire the Arch from afar, but avoid the hassle of going to the top, looking through tiny windows, and waiting your turn to go back down. Interesting fact...it is exactly as wide as it is tall (630 feet).

Places to eat:
- The Hill is the original Italian settlement area. Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra grew up there. Retains a lot of its original architecture of shotgun houses. Lots of Italian restaurants. You can find all kinds of price ranges online.
- Pappy's BBQ downtown or any of the other BBQ joints. Lots of debate here...there are a number of quality BBQ restaurants in St Louis. I'd avoid Bandana's and Sugarfire, but that's just me. Likely get recommendations from folks that know in online forums focused on food and BBQ
- In Maplewood, on Manchester just east of Big Bend, there are a number of restaurants serving a variety of food. Acero is good...also pricey
- Clayton has lots of good restaurants

Stereo:
- Like a lot of towns, our brick-and-mortar options aren't great. Music for Pleasure is a great store in Webster Groves, featuring Boulder, Atoll, Moon, Dynaudio, Chario and the YG Acoustics Peaks series. Several listening rooms and a couple home theatre setups. Dwayne, Rob and Eric are friendly and knowledgeable.
- Vintage Vinyl is a well-regarded record store with a long history. Located in the Loop.

I've lived in St Louis for 42 years, having come from College Station TX in 1983 when I was 27 years old and a lifetime of living around Texas prior to that. I think it's a great town. The reputation for crime downtown in the city shouldn't be ignored, but only in certain areas. The suburbs I've mentioned above, and the areas in the City that I've highlighted, are normally safe.

Enjoy your visit!

[ptman]

Mark,

I was typing while you were...nice to see our alignment!

[Mitsuman]

I would add Bogarts in Soulard. Pappy’s and Bogarts are the same family, but I prefer Bogart’s BBQ. And while you’re there, visit the Soulard Farmers Market, the oldest public market in the US west of the Mississippi. It’s open Wed-Saturday. I would also highly recommend going to Shaw’s Garden aka The Missouri Botanical Garden. As Mark said, The Hill area IMO, has some of the best Italian food outside of Manhattan.

[popthinker]

I would add Bogarts in Soulard. Pappy’s and Bogarts are the same family, but I prefer Bogart’s BBQ. And while you’re there, visit the Soulard Farmers Market, the oldest public market in the US west of the Mississippi. It’s open Wed-Saturday. I would also highly recommend going to Shaw’s Garden aka The Missouri Botanical Garden. As Mark said, The Hill area IMO, has some of the best Italian food outside of Manhattan.

I totally agree with this set of recommendations.

[mresseguie]

Awesome! Thank you for the many suggestions. 

My wife loves going to museums, so I will point out the art museum in Forest Park. My mouth has been watering in anticipation of trying some world class BBQ, so I will research Bogarts and Pappy's. Given our limited time there, I suspect I'll only get one BBQ meal, and I want to make the most of my opportunity. The second evening meal could easily be at The Hill.

My wife will almost certainly want to ride to the top of the arches.  - but I will attempt to dissuade her with dire warnings of long wait times for the elevator.

The Soulard Family Market sounds like a fun adventure. I love buying food.

Old Town in St Charles sounds appealing.

In the next few days, I'll research these ideas, and come up with a game plan.  As much as a visit to an audio store in a new city is my idea of great fun, my wife will have to be bribed with good food and fun activities.

Blackmore: Mark, Thank you for the invitation, but I can't imagine being given permission to spend a few hours visiting anyone an hour's drive from the city. If I were solo, I'd happily accept your offer.

I appreciate your input, guys! 

[EvanF]

The venues with the best sound in St. Louis are Club Viva and Venice Café. And the music is impeccable. And there is dancing at both venues (myself indulging of course). Viva does not have the highest quality speakers. But there are multiple percussion instruments played by patrons around the club and speakers everywhere. And you get to see incredible dancing! Venice only reinforces the sound of the vocals much of the time, and the drums are ALWAYS unamplified. You hear straight from the guitar amp, stand up bass, trumpet, it is incredible. Also quite small. They use a single Bose pro tower and it is fantastic.

[EvanF]

I would add Bogarts in Soulard. Pappy’s and Bogarts are the same family, but I prefer Bogart’s BBQ. And while you’re there, visit the Soulard Farmers Market, the oldest public market in the US west of the Mississippi. It’s open Wed-Saturday. I would also highly recommend going to Shaw’s Garden aka The Missouri Botanical Garden. As Mark said, The Hill area IMO, has some of the best Italian food outside of Manhattan.

Pappys has lunchmeat grade brisket. I have not been to Bogarts but I have seen it poorly reviewed by Rashad Mooreman (Mr Chimetime on YouTube and Instagram). I believe stellar hog is the very best in St. Louis proper, and they have good live music as well. Beast in Belleville is a great spot for the greater St. Louis area

[mresseguie]

Update:

We'll pull into St. Louis on the 1st and leave the 3rd, so we'll be there for two nights. My wife and I both want to see the botanical gardens and the art museum. I haven't mentioned the elevator ride to the top of the arch yet - and she doesn't yet know about it! 

I'm already drooling at the thought of BBQ and great Italian dishes. I need to eat more veggies tomorrow and the next day to balance all the calories I'll consume.

Pulling out of the Twin Cities in the morning.