Photo by Robert Cohen (Post-Dispatch)
Gioia's Deli
- Under $15
- Deli | Food Truck | Italian | Sandwiches
Gioia’s Deli celebrated its 100th birthday last year with $5 sandwiches and a block party, and owner Alex Donley got up at 3:30 a.m. to start prepping the Hill institution’s signature hot salami for the event. “We’ve made 1,600 pounds,” Donley told me at the time. “Which might be overkill.” Never underestimate diners’ demand for Gioia’s hot salami, and never doubt Gioia’s ability to meet that demand with a consistently excellent product at its Hill home, its downtown outpost or its year-old Creve Coeur expansion. Maybe the most telling moment of Gioia’s centennial year wasn’t the party but Donley’s decision to pull the restaurant’s hot salami from Busch Stadium’s concessions after Opening Day snafus. “It cannot be about the money,” he said then. “It has to be about who we are. I will lose money to make sure my customers are happy.”
Hours: Hill: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday; Downtown: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; Creve Coeur: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 1918