Cuisine of St. Louis

The cuisine of St. Louis is largely influenced by the city’s German, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese immigrant population and African Americans who migrated from the Southern United States.

The cuisine is prevalent in St. Louis, and extends to other areas in Missouri and Illinois.

Food associated with St. Louis
A number of foods are specific to or known to have originated in St. Louis.

Frozen custard concrete
Ted Drewes developed a “malt shake” with frozen custard so thick that it can be turned upside down without falling out of its cup. Dubbed a "concrete", it was later imitated by a local franchisee of Dairy Queen, who blended soft serve with candy and cookies and developed the product known today as a Blizzard.

Gerber sandwich
A Gerber sandwich is a toasted, open-faced sandwich made from halved Italian or French bread, spread with garlic butter, topped with ham and Provel cheese.

Gooey butter cake
Gooey butter cake is a type of cake supposedly invented by a German-American baker in St. Louis. It’s buttery and sweet, and relatively short and dense compared to other cakes.

Mayfair salad dressing
Mayfair salad dressing was created by chef Fred Bangerter and head waiter Harry Amos at The Mayfair Room, Missouri's first five-star restaurant in the Mayfair Hotel in downtown St. Louis. While the original recipe is lost, several versions are still served in St. Louis.

Provel cheese
Provel cheese is white processed cheese, made from cheddar, Swiss, and provolone.

One claim to its origin is that it was invented on the Hill, specifically for pizza, from Wisconsin’s Hoffman Dairy and Tony Costa, a local St. Louis restaurateur. Ed Imo bought Costa’s Grocery, which gave Imo’s Pizza the exclusive rights to sell Provel cheese in the area. Provel is manufactured by a Kraft Heinz subsidiary.

St. Louis-style barbecue
St. Louis-style barbecue typically refers to grilled spare ribs, which is notably faster than cooking over indirect heat. The ribs are heavily sauced with a tomato-based sweet and vinegary barbecue sauce.

Pork steaks are cut from pork shoulder and are well-known in St. Louis, but did not originate in the city.

St. Louis-style pizza
St. Louis-style pizza is a type of pizza made with Provel cheese, sweet tomato sauce, and a very thin crust. It’s often square-cut. St. Louis-style pizza is served at many local restaurants and chains such as Imo's Pizza.

St. Paul sandwich
A St. Paul sandwich is a type of sandwich served at American Chinese takeout restaurants in St. Louis. It consists of an egg foo young patty (mung bean sprouts, minced white onions) served with dill pickle, white onion, mayonnaise, and lettuce, between two slices of white bread.

Steven Yuen is said to have invented the sandwich in the 1940s for his restaurant Park Chop Suey.

Slinger
A slinger is a late-night diner specialty made from two eggs, hash browns, and a ground beef patty, covered in chili con carne, and topped with cheese and onions.

Toasted ravioli
Toasted ravioli is an appetizer made of breaded deep-fried ravioli, dusted with parmesan cheese, and served with marinara sauce. Generally, beef ravioli is breaded and deep fried until the pasta shell becomes crispy. It’s commonly served at Italian-American restaurants in the city.