4 Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches in St. Louis to satisfy fans of 'The Bear'

If binging the latest season of The Bear has you craving a Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich as much as we are, never fear. We got you. It feels almost cruel seeing such culinary delights dangled in our faces from a mere five hour drive away. We’d be lying if we claimed to never eye our keys in temptation for a foodie field trip. Never fear – St. Louis is certainly not Chicago, but we hold our own in the sandwich department. Here’s a list of local places serving up Chicago-style takes on the classic, so that next time you’re in Chi-town, spend your time waiting in line for that breakfast sandwich from Kasama instead. We promise it’s worth it.

Vinnie’s Italian Beef
This Lindenwood Park staple is the obvious choice for getting a sandwich as close as you’re gonna get to the motherland. Owner Matt Mulholland’s specific Greek-meets-Italian-American-by-way-of-Chicago sensibility makes for some uniquely flavorful dishes. The Italian Beef is the star of the menu, and the irresistibly crusty bread takes it to the next level.
3208 Ivanhoe Ave, St. Louis, 314.644.7007, vinniesstl.com

Classic Red Hots Albasha
This Chesterfield hidden gem serves up both Mediterranean dishes and plenty of Chicago charm and, yes, the hot dogs are Vienna beef. Served sweet or hot, dry or wet, and with all the peppers and relish you’d expect, this Italian beef is everything you want – tasty, messy and classic. And, what the hell, get an order of baba ganoush to go.
41 Forum Shopping Ctr, Chesterfield, 314.878.4687, albashaclassic.com

Blues City Deli
The oft-declared king of St. Louis sandwiches unsurprisingly makes a delicious, potentially controversial rendition with Italian-style roast beef and your choice of hot giardiniera or grilled sweet peppers piled onto a chewy hoagie. Purists may side-eye the grilled veggies and bread choice, but make sure you specify wanting it wet, take a bite and get back to us.
2438 McNair Ave, St. Louis, 314.773.8225, bluescitydeli.com

Lion’s Choice
OK, Chicagoans, put those pitchforks down! Listen, don’t act like you haven’t been scoffing at this entire list anyway. It’s worth reminding desperate diners that St. Louis’ favorite local fast food chain offers a perfectly suitable take on an Italian beef. Swing through that drive-thru and order yours with spicy hot giardiniera that packs a surprising punch. Make sure to order it wet or with au jus on the side.
Multiple locations, lionschoice.com

Best New Restaurants 2023 // No. 3 Sado

Tomes have already been written about the culinary prowess of Sado’s chef-owner Nick Bognar. Bognar’s career has thrilled and delighted us since 2017, when he breathed fresh air into Nippon Tei, his mother Ann Bognar’s West County restaurant. His first solo venture, Indo in Botanical Heights, topped our 2019 Best New Restaurants list, blending a unique combination of signature Thai flavors and classic Japanese techniques with a wild sense of fun. Nods from the James Beard Foundation, Food & Wine, GQ and Esquire followed.

Enter Sado. Bognar’s restaurant on the Hill opened a few weeks after the final service at Nippon Tei, which the Bognar family shuttered at the end of February 2023. Less of a move or expansion and more of a Pokemon-style evolution to the next level, Sado serves as a highlight reel of Bognar’s career thus far. Familiar favorites like crab Rangoon and California rolls have made the cut from Nippon Tei’s comfortable Japanese-American menu. There’s a welcome cameo from Indo’s signature dish, the isaan hamachi. This irresistible sashimi dish is dressed with coconut naam pla, Thai kosho and candied garlic. Even the mural from local artist Jessica Bremehr calls back to the beloved Indo bathroom – and yes, we do mean beloved. What other restaurant’s bathroom has its own Instagram account?

Although Sado’s full menu features delightful, delicately fried tempura and mouth-watering A5 Wagyu beef, fish is the main attraction. To that end, the restaurant is best experienced at the eight-seat sushi bar in the front of the space. Diners can feel overwhelmed in the thundering back dining room, but cozier vibes abound in the front room, where you can watch magic happening behind the counter.

Sado’s facilities for dry-aging are more expansive than anything Bognar has had at his disposal at either Nippon Tei or Indo, and the restaurant’s frequently updated fish market menu includes rare cuts like American farm-raised unagi. Consequently, Sado is unrivaled either in its selection or presentation of fish. Each piece of nigiri is treated as a unique dish, popping with bright flavors and sweet-savory balance. You can’t help but think, “Oh, this is what sushi is supposed to taste like?” The robata yaki section of the menu highlights the dry-aged selections like Japanese seabream and Atlantic salmon, grilled to crisp perfection on the binchotan grill using only Japanese oak charcoal.

We can scarcely think of another restaurateur that has elevated the culture and palates of St. Louis diners more than Bognar. His approach is refreshingly bold and unapologetic in everything from technique to flavor and service, but he deserves a special accolade for introducing diners to chawanmushi, an irresistibly creamy dashi custard that Sado tops with king crab and blue crab meat and a shellfish bisque with a dash of truffle oil.

For all its many virtues, Sado still feels more like a chapter in an unwinding tale rather than a standalone story. It doesn’t quite feel like the peak of what Nick Bognar has to offer as a restaurateur – and that’s the most exciting part.

Choose your own adventure at Pieces Board Game Bar & Café​ in Soulard

At Pieces Board Game Bar & Café, you can emerge from your basement game room and still feel like you’re in your safe space. With over 800 different games, 23 signature cocktails, expansive dinner and brunch menus, plus weekly events, it can be overwhelming to figure out the best strategy for your ideal night out. We’ve got the cheat codes for a winning visit any day of the week.

Closed Monday
Game over – try again!

Tuesday
Pieces charges a $5 library fee to access their impressive collection of games (the fee is reduced by one dollar for every food or drink item you order). Every Tuesday is free play, so it’s the best choice if gaming is more your vibe than imbibing. Visit their website for a meticulously updated list of their current game inventory, including five different versions of the popular Ticket to Ride, an adventure game in which players collect and play matching train cards to build railway routes.

Wednesday
Geeks Who Drink hosts trivia night on Wednesdays beginning at 7 p.m. Round up a table of friends and make a night of it. Their quesadillas are irresistible and we especially love the Meeple, a big, toasty pocket of onions, peppers, cheddar and your choice of protein, served with salsa and sour cream. 

Thursday
Pieces boasts happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Hit up the bar after work for $4 wines, draft beers, you-call-it cocktails and appetizers. Happy hour is the perfect time for social card games like Obama Llama, a rhyming charade game where you act out, describe and mime hundreds of celebrity rhymes to your team.

Friday
If you can’t make it early for happy hour, be prepared for a wait once Friday night hits. You can get on the waitlist ahead of time on Yelp, but beware: When folks are sitting down to play, wait times can get unpredictable. We love posting up at the bar and getting competitive; the MVP of the shots menu is the Loser Shot, a truly horrifying punishment for coming in last place: either a bartender’s surprise concoction or good ol’ Malort.

Saturday and Sunday
On weekends, the pro tip is brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Try the Fork + Knife ham and swiss sandwich, their take on a croque madame with thick, toasted bread from Bridge Bread topped with a gooey fried egg. With almost 100 family-friendly game options, this is a perfect time to include the kiddos. Indulge them by playing the Frozen edition of Hands Down!, a fun spin and slam card game, or push them to relive your childhood with 13 Dead End Drive, a classic Millennial bluffing game where you move pieces around the over-the-top, three-dimensional board full of traps and tricks.

Pieces Board Game Bar & Café, 1535 S. Eighth St., St. Louis, 314.230.5184, stlpieces.com

11 reasons we love Pink Galleon Billiards and Games in Creve Coeur

What if Pirates of the Caribbean was a Miami Vice nightclub? What if you took a hit of acid and went to a beachside dive bar in Cocoa Beach, Florida? What if an airbrushed T-shirt was a physical place? The possible analogies are endless and still, you cannot possibly overstate just how wild it is inside the Pink Galleon in Creve Coeur.

1. The space is a feast for the eyes with rock-n-roll artist Rick “Fitz” Fitzpatrick’s hand-painted pirate- and mermaid-themed murals as far as the eye can see.

2. Pink pool tables!

3. $10 domestic pitchers served with frosty mugs; or get them for $8 during happy hour, 4 to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and all day Sunday.

4. Take this as a compliment or a warning: Pink Galleon is a smoker’s paradise. You can even find ashtrays in the bathrooms.

5. The gigantic, 20 foot shark suspended from the ceiling, clutching an eight ball in its mouth. Really.

6. Get 10 or more friends together for the Famous $8 Party Package. $8 per person gets you unlimited free pool, table tennis, darts, a round of drinks and a nacho bar.

7. Put your name on the list two doors down at Wudon BBQ Korean Restaurant and pass the time people-watching with a pitcher of beer; it’s a perfect Saturday night combo.

8. Pool is free all night on Mondays and Wednesdays.

9. In what can only be described as an art installation, a life-size flock of seagulls dot the ceiling overhead.

10. We prefer to celebrate our shuffleboard wins with hot baskets of crispy onion rings. The kitchen serves a long list of bar food’s greatest hits until midnight Monday through Saturday and until 10:30 p.m. on Sundays.

11.Take home a strip from the classic photo booth as a souvenir. For only $3, who could resist?

Pink Galleon Billiards and Games, 1243 Castillons Arcade Plaza, Creve Coeur, 314.514.0100, pinkgalleon.com