The coasts don't hold a monopoly on culinary cool. While New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have long dominated the innovative culinary conversation in America, the so-called "fly-over" country is challenging that notion, and winning.
Last year, St. Louis, Missouri was named America's Next Great Food City by Food & Wine Magazine. It's an electrifying culinary destination brimming with exceptional restaurants and globally inspired flavors.
Actor and St. Louis native John Goodman recently narrated a 30-minute documentary, The Flavor of St. Louis, highlighting James Beard-nominated chefs and the inspiration behind some of the most sought-after places in the city.
Cat Neville, Vice President of Communications for Explore St. Louis, says the film showcases "some of the city's finest chefs. We're using it as a launching pad to tell the story of St. Louis food to a broad national audience. Consider the film a gateway, drawing people into the story of the region's culinary scene and helping to establish the city's reputation as a dining hot spot on a national level."
From Chicago's 22 Michelin-starred restaurants to the underground scene in Detroit, the American Midwest has become a haven for serious foodies. This trend is driven by lower living costs and includes cities like Milwaukee and Cincinnati, which proves that some of the most exciting food in the country is where you least expect it.
Best New Restaurants
World-class sushi might not come to mind when you think of Missouri, but the editors of Esquire magazine would disagree. They recently crowned Sado, a sushi-focused restaurant in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis, one of the Best New Restaurants in America.
Led by chef Nick Bognar, whose first restaurant, iNDO, was on Esquire's 2020 Best New Restaurant List and GQ Magazine's Best New Restaurant, Sado combines both Thai and Japanese influences for some of the best seafood you've ever had. The salmon aguachili with creamy jalapeno, apple, and puffed rice is a masterclass in texture and contrasting flavors.
But it's not just raw fish where Bognar shines. Bognar dry-ages most of Sado's fish for roughly one week, making it denser and fattier, translating into a luxurious mouthfeel more akin to filet mignon than sushi. The salmon yaki, cooked over Japanese white binchotan charcoal, is so buttery that it melts upon each bite.
Sado isn't the only Japanese-inspired restaurant in town. Steven Pursley, a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2023, opened Menya Rui last year as an ode to his time working in traditional ramen shops in Okinawa and Matsuyama.
The tender, homemade noodles with delicate, silky broths are worth the wait. People line up before opening each day, since only 24 seats are available. With every component made from scratch, each bowl is thoughtful, balanced, and a testament to what ramen should be.
Affordable Experiences
Lonely Planet named the American Midwest the top travel destination for affordable travel in 2024. With cooler-than-you-think cities rich in creativity, diversity, and, yes, food, the Midwest is having a moment.
As a bonus, half of all Americans can skip expensive plane tickets and take a road-trip destination to most Midwestern cities. A vacation to Cincinnati, the largest metro area in Ohio, costs 25% less than a trip to New York City and is half the price of a San Francisco getaway.
"One of the best things to do in Cincinnati is eat," said Monica Fish, a frequent traveler with Planner at Heart. "Trained at the top restaurants in New York City, enjoy the same caliber of meals at one of Jose Salazar's James Beard award-nominated restaurants," she said. "Pick from Salazar, a New American farm-fresh outpost, or Mita's with a tapas-like menu and killer cocktails. Or if David Falk's infamous Boca is out of your budget, drop into Sotto, his trattoria located in their basement space."
In neighboring St. Louis, four restaurants were named among the Top 100 Budget Eats by USA Today in 2023, with two in the top 10. The USA Today research team looked at 28,000 restaurants with at least 200 reviews, no more than 10 locations, and affordable prices. St. Louis stands out as the only Midwest city with 5-star budget restaurants.
Blues City Deli ranked number six and was named Yelp's best deli shop in the Midwest, offering hearty sandwiches with nods to the blues music genre.
Balkan Treat Box, at number 13, is no stranger to national accolades. It's been awarded Best New Restaurant by Esquire Magazine, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Feast and Sauce, and chef Loryn Nalic was a James Beard Semifinalist for Best Chef in 2020. Serving fresh, traditional Balkan fare, including pide, a Turkish wood-fired bread stuffed with minced beef, cheese, and tangy ajvar, a red-pepper paste.
Farm-To-Table Dining
Farm-to-table dining has exploded in popularity over the last decade as consumers increasingly demand to know the origins of their food. More restaurants are cultivating relationships with local farms and purveyors to feature hyper-seasonal dishes on ever-changing menus.
Vicia prides itself on its farm-to-table cuisine, using high-quality ingredients from local producers. Chef and owner Michael Gallini says he is thrilled to bring a taste of the world he's explored back to his hometown of St. Louis.
His thirst for experimentation with ingredients has helped earn Vicia several accolades since its opening in 2017, including 4 stars from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a semifinalist nomination from the James Beard Foundation for Best New Restaurant 2018, and a nod for Best New Restaurant in America by Eater, Esquire, and Bon Appetit.
The restaurant works closely with about 30 farmers and purveyors within a 150-mile radius to source seasonal ingredients and highlight regional flavors. Dishes at Vicia showcase the Midwest's abundant produce, like heirloom tomatoes and eggplant in the summer or wild mushrooms and root vegetables in the fall. It's an authentic farm-to-table fine dining experience that captures the essence of Missouri.
Impressive in its quality, expansive in its diversity, and unique in its breadth, dining in the Midwest offers an authentic taste of the heartland, where global techniques and ingredients meet the fresh bounty of local farms in restaurants that capture the creative spirit and welcoming hospitality of the region.
This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
