THE REST OF THE BEST
AN ALPHABETICAL LISTING
Acero ITALIAN
Flaming Wicked Prawns at Bait
Los Cuatro tacos at Alta Calle
Alta Calle BRUNCH, MEXICAN
I didn’t expect to leave Alta Calle raving about black-bean hummus. The new Mexican restaurant on the Tower Grove South side of the South Grand strip features so many dishes worth touting. Shrimp, marinated in guajillochile sauce, folded into a cheese-shellacked tortilla with poblano crema and pineapple pico. Sous-vide, flashfried chicken in pipián mole verde. Even guacamole and queso, the former graced with mint, the latter drizzled with chive and redguajillo oils. Order all of that, but don’t skip the hummus, served with a verdant bounty of fresh and pickled vegetables and topped with fresh herbs, pico de gallo and queso fresco. Like the whole of Alta Calle — from sisters Veronica and Dulce Morales and Veronica’s son, Steve Suarez, the chef — it is rooted in familiar flavors but is arrestingly new.
LAST YEAR’S RANKING Rest of the Best • OPENED 2007 • PRICING $30 and up WHERE 7266 Manchester Road, Maplewood • MORE INFO 314-644-1790, acero-stl. com • HOURS Dinner MondaySaturday (closed Sunday)
Akar
Spaghetti alla chitarra at Acero
BRUNCH, CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN, MALAYSIAN
I do miss Hiro Asian Kitchen, the downtown west restaurant (and STL 100 mainstay) that Bernie Lee closed in 2019 after a six-year run, but I will take the trade that has given us Lee’s next venture, Akar. This compact Clayton restaurant bursts with Lee’s personality, from the decor (including light fixtures from Indonesia that Lee himself designed) to the menu, which draws from the Malaysia native’s life and travels. Akar’s fare is elegantly plated and unfolds in complex layers of bold but balanced flavors at both dinner (the day’s
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Beef bibimbap at Akar fish over black rice with pickled pink peppercorns and capers in a curried shrimp bouillon) and more casual lunch (beef
bulgogi bibimbap with apple gochujang). LAST YEAR’S RANKING New • OPENED 2019 • PRICING $30 and up
WHERE 7641 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton • MORE INFO 314-553-9914, akarstl. com • HOURS Dinner TuesdaySaturday, lunch Tuesday-Friday, brunch Sunday (closed Monday)
IAN FROEB’S STL 100 GO! MAGAZINE • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • 03.08.20
LAST YEAR’S RANKING New • OPENED 2019 • PRICING Under $30 WHERE 3131 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis •
Endive salad at Bar Les Frères MORE INFO 314-282-0840, altacallestl.com • HOURS Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday, brunch Sunday (closed Monday)
Bait CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN, SEAFOOD
Bait should have been a shoo-in for this year’s STL 100. The Central West End seafood restaurant from firsttime restaurateur Kalen Hodgest, chef Ceaira Jackson and general manager Misha K. Sampson was one of 2019’s stellar debuts. Jackson’s cooking was a revelation, often bold (a whole fried snapper with spicy aioli and three dipping sauces, prawns in a flaming beer-sherry broth), sometimes subtle (scallops with wine-braised pears over a parsnip puree) and always memorable. Sampson ensured a sophisticated but fun dining experience. Then, in January, Jackson
and Sampson left Bait. With no time to revisit the restaurant for this project, what to do? I have opted to pay tribute to Bait’s 2019, hoping Hodgest’s team will maintain the standard that Jackson and Sampson set while eagerly awaiting what Jackson and Sampson do next. LAST YEAR’S RANKING New • OPENED 2019 • PRICING $30 and up WHERE 4239 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis • MORE INFO 314-405-2797, baitstl. com • HOURS Dinner Wednesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Tuesday)
Bar Les Frères FRENCH
That Bar Les Frères, now in its eighth year, remains an excellent restaurant isn’t surprising. The powerhouse duo of restaurateur Zoë Robinson and chef Ny
Vongsaly develop smart concepts — here a tight menu of beloved French fare — and build strong teams to keep those concepts humming. Small menu changes feel seismic, and the annual chilly-weather return of the best-in-town cassoulet should be a civic holiday. (Honestly? I would feast on that crock of duck confit, pork belly and Toulouse sausage at the height of summer.) What is remarkable is how fresh Bar Les Frères still feels. With its balance of sophisticated, sexy vibe and quirky decor, it isn’t a gimmicky, Disney replica of a French restaurant but a halfremembered dream of one Paris night you’re eager to fall back into. LAST YEAR’S RANKING Rest of the Best • OPENED 2012 • PRICING $45 and up WHERE 7637 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton • MORE INFO 314-725-8880, barlesfreres.net • HOURS Dinner Tuesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday)
stltoday.com/stl100
P H O T O S : D AV I D C A R S O N / P O S T- D I S PAT C H ( A C E R O ) ; H I L L A R Y L E V I N / P O S T- D I S PAT C H ( A K A R , B A I T, A LTA C A L L E ) ; P O S T- D I S PAT C H ( B A R L E S F R È R E S )
Under the stewardship of chef de cuisine Andy Hirstein and general manager Adam Karl Gnau, Jim Fiala’s Acero can still surprise. Most recently, the menu tempted me away from not one but two go-to pastas — the renowned egg raviolo and the spaghetti alla chitarra in Amatriciana sauce — for a bowl of rye gnocchi and braised beef cheeks enlivened by lemon zest and parsley. In chilly weather, I can’t imagine a more satisfying dish. Acero delights whether you stick to your favorite dishes (the ethereal gnocco fritto with gossamer slices of prosciutto) or venture outside your comfort zone. As ever, Acero’s prix-fixe is a terrific value at $40 — and remains so even if a specific dish adds a supplement of a few dollars.