Month: May 2023

by

Remembering St. Louis Mall Food

After reading an item in the weekend Wall Street Journal about the demise of shopping malls, I thought about mall food my family and I have enjoyed in St. Louis. Here are some of our favorites.

  1. Cardwell’s At The Plaza. Plaza Frontenac. A favorite during the 90s. Never had a bad meal here.
  2. Elephant Bar. West County Mall. Well, “mall adjacent.” Went there several times with kids, grandkids, in-laws, etc. Generally good experiences except occasionally when they were seriously slammed.
  3. Chevy’s. Crestwood Plaza. Fish tacos. Negra Modelo beer. Yum. Family friendly, to be sure. I remember we waited nearly two hours for a table there one Friday night in 1998.
  4. Casa Gallardo Grill. Galleria. Many great lunches and dinners here. Liked the tableside guacamole prep. Good times!
  5. Houlihan’s. West County Mall. (And other malls, too.) My wife loved their ‘Shrooms. 
  6. Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grill. Northwest Plaza. Only went there once. With Cub Scouts and families after an outing at Bigfoot HQ. The food was good but the service was spectacular. Lots of people, separate checks and they got everything right. I had a chance to thank Dick himself a few months later during a radio interview.
  7. J. Gilbert’s. West County Mall. Hey, they’re still around! Had dinner there last week. Food and service are great but pricey.
  8. McCormick & Schmick’s. West County Mall. Huge seafood menu. I recall my mother-in-law going there and ordering oysters and being surprised that they were served raw not fried.  
  9. Pasta House Company. Crestwood Plaza. Had many a Pasta con Broccoli at this location. Their Galleria location did a good job as well.
  10. Breadco. Galleria. One of the better Breadcos in town. Waiting in a long line there during Christmas shopping season could seem interminable but led to major gratification when your food was ready. Also was a fan of the Breadco in the old version of West County Mall.

Let’s not forget the food courts. Auntie Anne’s, Sbarro, Chik-fil-A, among many others. Some of those places were pretty good!

—David Craig