Photo by Roberto Rodriguez
Schlafly Tap Room
Elsewhere in this year’s STL 100, I write that brewpub fare has been liberated of its “fish-and-chips straitjacket.” This is true in part because the new crop of craft breweries have branched out in food offerings just as they have done in the styles of beer they are brewing. It’s also true because the Schlafly Tap Room, St. Louis’ original brewpub, has refined its classic pub fare to the point where you need to do something different to stand out. Chef Andy White has nailed British (fish and chips, naturally), Belgian (moules frites) and most exactly American (burgers and a murderer’s row of sandwiches: shaved prime rib, barbecued tri-tip and fried bologna-and-egg among them) pub grub. And while Urban Chestnut now claims the German pub-fare crown, the Tap Room still has its pretzels with cheese sauce.
Opened: 1991
Must order: Bag of pretzels ($7.50)