Restaurants in Missouri

The barbecue of Kansas City is legendary, rightfully so. But K.C., MO, also is home to four-star fried chicken dinners and some of the best blue-ribbon steaks in all of the Midwest. At the other side of the state, St. Louis has its own fine barbecue customs as well as custard that sets the Midwest benchmark. The Gateway City is home to a multitude of unique specialties that include toasted ravioli, St. Paul sandwiches (egg foo young on white bread), and a sweet tooth’s best friend, gooey butter cake. And there’s Branson, which has its fair share of tourist-trap restaurants with forgettable food, but also boasts a number of hidden gem dining opportunities well worth a detour.

Missouri’s Most Famous Dishes

Two rib bones are laden with a great mass of spice-crusted, smoke-cooked beef

BBQ Ribs

A thin square of gooey butter cake dusted with powdered sugar shows a chewy edge and custard-soft center

Gooey Butter Cake

In a red drive-in basket, onion rings are crisp and golden-brown

Onion Rings

Bakery-fresh loaf of Italian bread, resting on the bag it was sold in

Bread & Rolls

Missouri’s Best Restaurants

Bissinger’s

ST. LOUIS, MO

Hodak’s

ST. LOUIS, MO

Gates Bar-B-Q

KANSAS CITY, MO

Lambert’s Cafe

SIKESTON, MO

A Slice of Pie

ROLLA, MO

Blueprint Coffee

ST. LOUIS, MO

Pappy’s Smokehouse

ST. LOUIS, MO

Hugely thick strip steak, ready to slice
Jess & Jim’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

Snead’s

BELTON, MO

Open-face sandwich is topped with four different kinds of melty cheese
Eden Alley

KANSAS CITY, MO

Donut Stop

ST. LOUIS, MO

Amighetti’s

ST. LOUIS, MO

Ted Drewes - Blueberry Concrete
Ted Drewes

ST. LOUIS, MO

Stroud’s - Fried Chicken
Stroud’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

L C’s Bar-B-Q - Burnt End Sandwich
L C’s Bar-B-Q

KANSAS CITY, MO

Triple Winstead
Winstead’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

O’Connell’s Pub - Roast Beef Sandwich
O’Connell’s Pub

ST. LOUIS, MO

Connelly’s Goody Goody Diner - Wilbur
Connelly’s Goody Goody Diner

ST. LOUIS, MO

Ceramic pan holds a hamburger topped with eggs, chili, hash browns, cheese, and onions
Chris’s Pancake & Dining

ST. LOUIS, MO

Crown Candy Kitchen - Chocolate Malt
Crown Candy Kitchen

ST. LOUIS, MO

Grandma Ruth’s

BRANSON, MO

Missouri Articles & Guides

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Stroud's

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St. Louis

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Heartland Soda Fountain

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Gimme Shelter

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Smashed crispyburger, fully dressed

Route 66 Classics: 21 Affordable Eateries from Chicago to Los Angeles

What a yummy trip it is to eat one's way from Chicago to L.A. along old Route 66! This tour of 21 excellent stops along the way includes some...

Joe Rogers Original Recipe Chili Parlor - Sign

Route 66: Illinois & Missouri Edition

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Carminuccio’s - Stern Special

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Anderson’s Frozen Custard - Frozen Custard

9 Places to Go For Great Soft-Serve

Great Soft Serve There is so much inferior soft-serve ice cream (aerated, chemically-flavored), that soft-serve in general has a bad reputation among ice cream lovers. But there are exceptions, soft-serve...

America's Great Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Grilled Cheese From pressed-flat, wafer-thin, white-bread-and-Velveeta cooked on a lunch-counter flattop to effulgent bouquets of imported cheese melted between halves of an artisan bun, the best grilled cheese sandwiches have...

L C’s Bar-B-Q - Close Up

The Best (Real) Burnt Ends in Kansas City

The Real Thing Barbecue's newfound nationwide popularity has put burnt ends on menus across the country, but in all too many cases, the burnt ends are bogus. The best burnt...

Randy's donuts exterior view

First Stop: 25 Great Roadfood Eateries Near Airports

Airport Food Food in airports is better than it used to be, but when we arrive by plane, we can't get out of the terminal fast enough. By rental car,...

Ted Drewes - Blueberry Concrete

St. Louis Essentials

One day to taste St. Louis's best Roadfood? Not counting the enigmatic St. Paul (an egg foo yung sandwich sold in Chinese restaurants), toasted ravioli (which has gone national),...

Widman’s Candy Shop - Hot Air

12 Best Chocolatiers from Coast to Coast

Twelve champion chocolatiers, from the Oregon coast to downeast Maine.

The sign at Little Miss BBQ in Phoenix. AZ

Barbecue's Delicious Dozen

Of the hundred five-star barbecue parlors around the U.S.A. this dozen is the crème de la crème. .

BBQ Sauce Arthur Bryant's Legendary BBQ In Kansas City, MO

Kansas City Barbecue and More

Even before Calvin Trillin declared Arthur Bryant's to be "possibly the single best restaurant in the world" in a 1974 Playboy magazine article, Kansas City was famous for barbecue....

Custard at its Creamiest

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Many restaurants serve steak, but some places are dedicated to it. Although no great steak house is cheap, some of the best are extremely informal (like Doe's Eat Place...

Fried Chicken: The Delicious Double Dozen

Fried chicken is popular all across America and so different everywhere that it is not possible to say what city, state, or region does it best. While the process...

Midwest Urban Barbecue

When barbecue migrated up the Mississippi from its homes in the Deep South and in Texas, it took on a new personality -- similar to what happened to the...

Great Missouri Recipes

Corned Beef Factory Sandwich Shop - Italian Beef

Amighetti Special

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