Photo by Ian Froeb, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Trattoria Marcella
After two decades, Steve and Jamie Komorek’s Lindenwood Park restaurant delivers an upscale dining experience with the vibe of your favorite neighborhood joint. The cuisine nods to both St. Louis Italian (I mean, you can’t not order the toasted ravioli) and more rustic fare (risotto with crisp chicken livers). A highlight of my most recent visit here was the Roman chestnut gnocchi that accompany the beef tenderloin involtini, and I could eat an entire plate of the polenta fries served with the roasted-mushroom appetizer.