Post-Dispatch file photo
Acero
Jim Fiala’s restaurants, the Crossing and Acero, are fully considered. This might not be the sexiest praise I can bestow on them, but it’s vital. How many otherwise great restaurants stumble on, say, dessert or the cocktail list? At Acero, under executive chef Andy Hirstein and general manager Adam Karl Gnau, excellent Italian fare is a given, from pasta (here is the obligatory mention of the signature egg raviolo, though in recent years I’ve fallen harder for the rustic spaghetti alla chitarra with amatriciana sauce) to porchetta. Pair your meal with a wine from the deep list of Italian bottles or a cocktail such as the Affumicato, which lends an Italian accent to the mezcal craze with Nardini Amaro and Lazzaroni Amaretto.
Hours: Dinner Monday-Saturday
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2007