Photo by Robert Cohen (Post-Dispatch)
Five Bistro
Farm-to-table dining has always been an awkward, imprecise term at best. In recent years it’s been so overused and misused that it’s now essentially meaningless. This is excellent news for Five Bistro. Look beyond the farm-to-table trend and its many pretenders, and you’ll appreciate all the more what Anthony Devoti has accomplished at his restaurant over the past decade. Devoti has built relationships with local farmers and, crucially, he and his staff possess the kitchen chops to turn quality ingredients into quality dishes. The menu changes so frequently that I can’t recommend any one dish, but this is the sort of place where a description as basic as, say, a beef roast with root vegetables or a pasta with local mushrooms gets you excited. And in a time when menu sprawl can lead to choice paralysis, Devoti’s daily offering is compact and, if you opt for the $50 four-course prix-fixe menu, a tremendous value.
Hours: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday, lunch Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday)
Last year's ranking: No. 13
Opened: 2006
Must order: Menu changes frequently