Meet St. Louis

Episode 112: Big Heart Tea Co. by Meet St. Louis

For “Big Muddy” Mike Clark, the rivers have always fascinated him, but it was his first ‘source to sea’ trip that made him realize it was something he could do for a living. In 2002, he founded Big Muddy Adventures, the first professional guide company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers. Mike joined us on the podcast to talk about exploring the...

Lux is a radio host on 105.7 The Point but most importantly, she is a cheerleader of her hometown. On this week’s episode, we chat about how she got into radio, how she uses her platform to raise awareness of causes from- rescue animals to suicide awareness- and why she’s so passionate about St. Louis. Lux doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff, and shares how she finds light in the darkness; often...

The custom embroidery shop by Abbey Eilermann started with a love for color and the idea that every day should be a party. Daily Disco grew from Abbey’s parents' basement into a shop in The Hill neighborhood to an independent shop turning out custom jean jackets, patches, and now masks that are sought out by people all across the country. Abbey joined us on the podcast to talk about inspiration, c...

Coffeestamp is a mircoroastery on Jefferson in the Fox Park neighborhood of St. Louis. Brothers Patrick and Spencer Clapp have been roasting beans from their home country of Honduras since 2018. They started as a vendor at the Soulard farmers market and now they’ve opened up their own brick and mortar cafe. Patrick joined us on the podcast to talk about hand-crafting their labels and starting a co...

StilL 630 is hidden in plain sight in Downtown St. Louis. The craft distillery is housed inside a former fast-food restaurant, but when you open the doors you're greeted by the team creating some of the best spirits in the entire country. Owner and founder David Weglarz started Still 630 in 2012 and since then has won award after award for their whiskeys, gins, and rums. Weglarz joined us on the p...

Rick and Meredith Schaper were known in their Dogtown neighborhood for their pizza parties. One day, they started freezing and selling the pizzas crafted in their kitchen. Now, more than a decade later, they’ve upgraded to a much larger space, creating more than 65,000 pizzas a month, all still by hand. Rick joined us in the podcast to talk about what makes a pizza St. Louis style, the perks of wo...

Started in 1966, Butler's Pantry set out to provide the most creative and innovative catering solutions to the community in which they lived, worked, and loved. When Rick Nix took over from his parents. he wanted to change what the company provided, from the food to the décor to the venue. Many industries have taken a massive hit thanks to COVID-19, and the hospitality industry is no exception. Wh...

This week is Midwest Black Restaurant Week, a week dedicated to highlighting and promoting the many amazing black-owned businesses across the Midwest and St. Louis. Among the participating restaurants: Gourmet Soul, Prime 55, Kitchen 4AM and Steve’s Hot Dogs. This week we are replaying our interview with Steve Ewing, owner of Steve’s Hot Dogs form February 2019. A lot has changed since this interv...

Episode 103: Perennial Artisan Ales by Meet St. Louis

Spread across two acres, 9 Mile Garden is the first designated food truck garden in St. Louis. Located in Affton, it features space for food trucks, a stage for live music, a big screen for movies, and plenty of space to sit down and eat from dozens of the city’s best food trucks. One of the trucks is Doggie Mac’s. Bryan Scott, also known as Chef B, serves up all-beef hotdogs topped with things li...

St. Louis is a city filled with the old and the new, and at Firecracker Press on Cherokee, they work to capture both. The letterpress design studio combines antique printing technology with modern design to create everything from invitations to concert posters. For Eric Woods, the business started with one of those conversations of ‘what would you do if you won the lottery?’ Instead of waiting on...

100 episodes! We'd like to thank you all for listening these last two years, and we thought there was no better way to celebrate our 100th episode than to feature one of the biggest names in St. Louis. Pappy's was founded in 2008 by John Matthews and Mike Emmerson, and since then they have become not just a local mainstay, but nationally famous. The Food Network named their ribs the best in Americ...

10 stories. 600,000 square feet. Part playground, part adult funhouse, part architectural marvel. City Museum, created by artist Bob Cassilly, opening in downtown St. Louis in 1997, and hasn't stopped changing since. After steadily growing in national attention over the years, the museum has inspired legends, myths, and mysteries, and continues to astonish visitors who find new nooks and hidden sp...

As a music producer for two decades, Orlando Watson saw a void in the St. Louis restaurant scene: an upscale, sexy restaurant in the likes of those found in Miami and LA. In May 2019 he and longtime friend Tony Davis opened the doors to Prime 55 in the Delmar Loop. The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in both the restaurant business and the music business and Watson says it will take creativity fr...

After starting in the St. Louis dining scene in the early 1990s, David Kirkland took his turntable talents to the west coast as a DJ in San Fransisco. Even as a member of the Bay-area music scene, he never lost his passion for the kitchen. After cooking for family and friends for years, he moved back to St. Louis to return to being a professional chef. After helming Cafe Osage for nearly a decade,...

Opening almost a dozen restaurants in less than two decades will teach you a thing or two. But nothing could have prepared Paul and Wendy Hamilton for the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The two operate restaurants like Vin de Set, Eleven Eleven Mississippi, PW Pizza, Hamilton Urban Steakhouse and more under their restaurant group Hamilton Hospitality. You can walk to all of their businesses i...

Like many good things, Mollie Anderson got the idea for her company over a beer. Twinkle Brews Candle company started over the love of craft beer and the desire to capture the taste and smell, even after the beer is gone. Fast forward and you can find her candles in shops around St. Louis, even the gift shop at the new St. Louis Aquarium. But festivals, craft fairs and markets are where she does a...

In true St. Louis fashion, chefs, bartenders, and food lovers are collaborating to help those in the hospitality industry. Small Circle Recipes, a local cookbook publisher teamed up with Feast Magazine to create ‘Extra Helping,’ a community cookbook filled with recipes from some of St. Louis' best chefs. From Nick Bognar of iNDO to Rick Lewis of Grace Meat + Three to Evy Swoboda at The Last Kitche...

Episode 93: The Red and Black Brass Band by Meet St. Louis

Crispy Edge is a pot sticker-themed restaurant in Tower Grove South. You’ll find the traditional potstickers, but owner David Dresner says the sky’s the limit when it comes to flavors. He started the business in his kitchen and now they’re churning out more potstickers than they could have imagined thanks to a partnership with Schnucks; something Dresner said was years of hard work paying off. Sch...

We are living through a moment in history and the Missouri History Museum wants to hear your stories of the pandemic. Angie Dietz, the director digital initiatives for the museum, joins us on the podcast to talk about collecting history. It’s hard to imagine your photos and handmade face masks might be in a museum one day, but historians, students and teachers will look to those as primary sources...

It’s not the sandwich or the coffee, but the meaning behind donated food. For those working in healthcare like Dr. Tiffany Osborne, a trauma surgeon at Barnes Jewish Hospital, the community support helps them push through even the hardest days during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are dozens of restaurants donating food to hospitals, but two groups, Meals for Meds [https://www.mealsformeds.info/] an...

After weeks of staying at home, everyone is missing their favorite restaurants and bars. The escape of a cocktail or an expertly-cooked meal feels like a distant luxury currently, but our favorite chefs and mixologists are trying to bring those experiences back. In this episode, we talk to the people who are trying to turn your kitchen into your favorite restaurant, and your living room into your...

There are so many questions facing St. Louis business owners during the Coronavirus outbreak. Whether to stay open and continue carry out and delivery or close up all together. What bills to pay. How the federal stimulus package may help or harm small businesses. And more importantly, if they will come out on the other side of the pandemic. This week on the podcast we spoke with Qui Tran, owner of...