Food writers dish on St. Louis dining trends, highlights in 2023 and 2024

2023 was a year in St. Louis-area food that offered diners a broad diversity in serving styles, cultural influences and chef/diner engagement — all delivered on a base of fresh confidence and intention.

Ian Froeb is restaurant critic at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and one of three St. Louis-based food writers who joined St. Louis on the Air for a year-end review of the food scene. Speaking of Froeb's top new restaurants for the year, Froeb said he was struck by how much high-caliber fare is served at places that don’t take reservations or use linen napkins.

“We're really in a good place now where you can walk into these restaurants that are storefronts that look very casual, place your order, pick it up from a tray or whatever,” Froeb said. “But it's great food [that] can compete with anything you would get in most sit-down restaurants.”

For Sauce Magazine executive editor Meera Nagarajan, seeing the post-pandemic revival of the bar was a welcome highlight of 2023. That includes restaurants featured in Sauce's annual Best New Restaurants issue — places focusing on the kitchen and the beverage program.

“I think there's a communication where beverages really support the menu that the restaurant is trying to do,” Nagarajan said. “And I love seeing this rise in bars, from beer bars to wine bars to really big investments in classic cocktails bars.”