Coming to St Louis in February

[Samuel Glantz]

So I'll be in town in a few weeks to scout the area and take in what it has to offer.  There will be downtime as well.  If anyone has advice on things to do while here and areas to visit that would be great. Any advice of productive and nonproductive things to do is much appreciated.

[Max Householder]

Hey @Samuel Glantz hope you have a good time in St. Louis. Agree with Lance, driving up and down each street in south city is the best way to get a feel for the neighborhood. The Hill, Northampton, Southampton, Bevo, Holly Hills, Tower Grove South, Shaw, Tower Grove East and Southeast, Fox Park, Benton Park West, Cherokee St., South Broadway, Soulard, Lafayette Square, they all have a different feel so it shouldn't take long to get a sense of which speak to your investing goals more.

As far non-business things to do, the Arch and Arch Grounds/Riverfront is great and just underwent a big remodel. The museum there is great as well. The tour at Anheuser Busch is great as well. Forest Park is enjoyable, especially in the summer, but the History museum is nice and it's a beautiful place to walk around.

IMO the best way to get to know St. Louis is to eat and drink so here goes:

Drink: Craft Breweries. There are 30-40 in the metro area depending on how you count it. Civil Life is in the heart of South City and really great, probably our favorite to visit. It's cash only, so hit an ATM before you go. Urban Chestnut in The Grove (there are 2 locations) is close to Forest Park, it's a German-style bierhall, very fun to visit. 2nd Shift is near The Hill and has some phenomenal beers. Earthbound Brewing is on Cherokee Street and very hip/hipster kind of place with unique/funky beers. Some others around where you'll be are Heavy Riff (Dogtown), Perennial (Patch), and Modern Brewery. 4 Hands downtown is also really great.

Eat: BBQ, Pizza, Burgers, Italian, chicken, St. Louis has everything you could want. If you're here during lent, the fish frys at the local Catholic Churches are open to the public and very fun.

BBQ: Pappy's is the quintessential BBQ spot in St. Louis and the most well-known outside of town. Bogart's Smokehouse in Soulard is awesome, great burnt ends. Adam's Smokehouse in Clifton Heights has my favorite ribs. The Shaved Duck is a sit down BBQ place, nice for dinner, but it's as good as any of the others. Everything is great there and the Smothered Fries are an absolute must.

Pizza: People will tell you Imo's but DO NOT go there. It's complete garbage, not real pizza, just don't. I'm not a born-and-bred local so I guess it's not in my DNA, but it just sucks. Stay away. Our favorite is Pizza A-Go-Go. Cash or check only, super duper local place, but it's really great. They have sodas, but it's BYOB wine or beer so it's kind of fun that way. Hand-tossed pizza, relatively thin. Black Thorn Pizza & Pub in Tower Grove has the best Chicago-style deep dish in town and the best I've ever had outside of Chicago. Truly phenomenal. If anyone says go to "Pi" Pizzeria for deep dish, don't listen to anything else they have to say about anything. Felix's Pizza Pub is great for unique/funky pizzas, less traditional but really good.

Italian: The Hill is the old Italian neighborhood so stick to that area. Everyone has their favorite restaurant though. I have eaten at most of them and they're all phenomenal. Charlie Gittos and Zias are probably the most well-known, but I'm partial to Cunetto and my wife loves Gian-Tonys. Like I said, you can't go wrong.

Burgers: O'Connell's Pub or Seamus McDaniels. Great burgers, neat venues, and you get a feel for the Irish side of South City. There are many other great burger joints, but these are our favorite.

Chicken: Southern is the most well-known and right next door to Pappy's BBQ. Really good hot chicken. Hodak's is another one that I like and is a really local place.

Mexican: We like Paisanos and Amigo Joes, but are pretty low-key traditional American-style Mexican restaurants. Cherokee Street is our "little Mexico" so there are like a dozen great Mexican restaurants over there and several in Bevo now that have gotten rave reviews.

Others we love are The Peacemaker for seafood, it's really phenomenal. There are plenty of great steakhouses as well, but we usually do steaks at home. As you can see, there is no reason to eat at a chain restaurant by your hotel or anything of the sort! Don't waste an opportunity to have a ton of great meals and beer! Good luck!