Post-Dispatch file photo
Sameem Afghan Restaurant
Forest Park Southeast's Grove is St. Louis' most exciting restaurant district right now. This year, it claims seven STL 100 honorees, with several other restaurants orbiting the list. Of those seven, six have opened just in the last couple of years. Sameem Afghan Restaurant, on the other hand, has been helping to make the Grove a dining destination since 2012. Brothers Fahime and Qayum Mohammad and Qayum's wife, Sitara, impress with straightforward beef and chicken kebabs and the more complex spicing of the beef curry and lamb biryani. (For a brilliant extra accent to your dish, request the spicy green chutney that accompanies the sambosas.) However long the Grove remains a restaurant hot spot, Sameem is built to last: The Mohammads first introduced the restaurant in Tower Grove South in 2005.
Hours: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday (closed Monday)
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2005 (original location), 2012 (current location)