Visitor question: Best restaurants for foodie traveling with picky kid (St. Louis: airplanes, food)

[trinitym]

I'm traveling to St Louis in May from the East Coast. I'm a bit of a foodie and love to try regional (and otherwise excellent) foods from local/non-chain restaurants. But I will be traveling with my 6 year old, whose food groups include sugar, yogurt, hotdogs/burgers, and Mexican. Lol. Can anyone point out some delish places to try excellent food that also might have something that a picky kid might eat?

[billiken]

I've got a 2 year old, here are some favorites:

For BBQ: The Shaved Duck or Salt & Smoke. There are other really great options but they're more fast casual with gigantic lines that we have no patience for with kids, haha.

Pastaria (italian place run by well known chef, but definitely family friendly. same chef runs a fast casual place, Porano Pasta, downtown, but haven't been).

Crown Candy Kitchen (STL institution, known for gigantic BLTs, gigantic milkshakes, and they have lots of sweets, too)

Gribic for Bosnian (huge refugee population here)

Rooster or Southwest Diner for breakfast

Bailey's Range is so popular downtown, but I think the burger patties themselves are not good regardless of the rave reviews--I've been more times than I can count...5 Star or Stacked are way better.

[STL1980]

Lona's Lil Eats. Not sure about kids menu there, i'm sure they must have something though.

[STL74]

Reeds American Table in Maplewood is great and comfort food oriented. Your child could definitely get a burger there
The Tavern in the Central West End is also good (similar style) with a kids menu

Picky kids make it hard...mine are older now and can go to more places with us and find something (although my 7 year old is still tough).

My youngest will eat the quesadilla at Seoul Taco, while I prefer the spicier Bulgogi beef tacos. It's a St. Louis place but it's turning into a chain...so good, very casual.

I love Salt and Smoke too, although I like Sugarfire more for BBQ. My boys love ribs though, no matter where they come from

Take your 6 year old to Ted Drewes for sure.

We love City Coffeehouse and Creperie in Clayton for breakfast. My kids love the Nutella and banana crepes. I think they are better crepes than Rooster, but we like Rooster too.

I'll try to think of more places my kids enjoy. We go out to the foodie restaurants more often on date nights though.

[Angus215]

A really cool place is Fountain on Locust, which is an old-style ice cream parlor that is also serves food and is known for "adult" ice cream related beverages. Great place to bring kids. It's close to Pappy's, which is probably the most famous BBQ place in STL (though can get long lines) as well as Southern, which is an awesome Nashville style Hot Chicken place.

A good resource for "foodie" type places is the Post Dispatch Top 100:

https://graphics.stltoday.com/apps/stl100-2018/

By the way, City Museum is a must when visiting STL with kids.

[KSinmyrearviewmirror]

I recall The Old Spaghetti Factory having a kid-interesting interior, ~ 1984, pedal cars & airplanes hanging from the rafters. I see they have a kids menu.

[billiken]

Originally Posted by KSinmyrearviewmirror

I recall The Old Spaghetti Factory having a kid-interesting interior, ~ 1984, pedal cars & airplanes hanging from the rafters. I see they have a kids menu.

Ha, my best friend used to work there. It's a national franchise, not very "foodie"

[glamatomic]

I second the Fountain on Locust!!! My kids really enjoy it, as do I!

Also, not exactly "foodie", but check out The Urban Fort just south of downtown. They have a cafe with some pretty decent offerings (for parents and kids), but the main attraction is the big indoor play space with lots of toys, a "fort", etc! It is contained enough that you can sit and enjoy your lunch and coffee while your little one plays.

[STL1980]

Take your child to the City Museum Downtown and they have this restaurant there: Samwiches | Food in the City Museum