Meet St. Louis

Last November, we visited Vintage Vinyl, a staple for St. Louis music lovers.

Two years ago, we visited Kate of Katie's Pizza & Pasta. Now, having just opened a new location Downtown, we are revisiting our original interview.

Last year we visited Pharaoh's Donuts for a conversation outside their busy Downtown location. In this listener favorite, we revisit one of St. Louis' favorite donut shops.

Some people in the food world might scoff at the term fusion – but for Kurt Eller, it's about a collection of memories from different places. That’s the vision behind the tacos at his incredibly popular spot – Taco Buddha. The University City location has seen major success over the years and this summer, they opened a second location in Kirkwood. Serving up tacos inspired from Kurt’s upbringing i...

Located in the heart of Webster Groves sits a bookshop beloved by locals. But online Novel Neighbor’s reach goes even farther, garnering a huge social media presence thanks in part to BookTok, a social media community passionate about reading. In a time when the internet is having a negative impact on our locally owned bookstores, shops like Novel Neighbor are using it to reach new audiences, audi...

St. Louis is in the midst of a bagel boom – one we’ve all been waiting on for years. One of the best places to debut in town this year is Bagel Union in Webster Groves. From the owners of beloved sandwich shop Union Loafers and the makers of arguably some of the best bread in town, Bagel Union was born. It opened to long lines earlier this year, and the growth continues. We sat down with head bake...

Earlier this year, the Meet St. Louis Podcast visited Sugarwitch. It was one of our most listened-to episodes, so before summer ends, we thought it would be only fitting to revisit the South City ice cream shop that was started by Sophie Mendelson and Martha Bass.

Two years ago, the Foundry opened its doors in Midtown. The food hall had big plans to help revitalize this part of St. Louis City, and step onto the 15-acre property, and you can see they’re succeeding. In addition to the sprawling food hall with more than a dozen local spots, there’s retail, offices, Alamo Drafthouse movie theatre, Puttshack, City Winery and more. It’s 85 percent occupied, with...

Family owned and family grown. That’s the motto at Noboleis Winery in Augusta. We headed out to Missouri Wine Country to meet the sisters running the vineyard. Their mom and dad purchased the land in 2005, and together as a family, it's grown into a business producing 30 wines and expanding into new markets. Angie Geis and Chris Newbold share their family’s story, the trials and errors and what it...

Autumn Sij and Dave Blum might not strike you as your typical farmers. And they’ll be the first to admit it. That’s also because they never planned to become farmers; the idea happened organically back in 2011. Such and Such Farm came about with no experience, just a desire to try living a better way of life. But the couple has a way with people, and by building connections, specifically in the re...

Music, BBQ, Bourbon – it's all the makings of a pretty fun weekend in St. Louis. That’s exactly what the producers behind Evolution Festival hope to bring to Forest Park this August. It’s the first year for a brand new two-day music festival. We sat down with Joe Litvag, from Contemporary Productions, to dive deep into building a festival from the ground up… starting with the location, the grounds...

Chef Matt Daughaday has worked in some of the best kitchens in St. Louis, from Niche to Taste to opening his own restaurant Reeds American Table. But his newest endeavor is making a splash in the St. Louis dining scene. He is now the executive chef for 21c Hotel in Downtown St. Louis, a brand new hotel in the former YMCA building on Locust. The main restaurant Idol Wolf is now open, bringing a tap...

Tyler Garcia grew up watching his parents create a restaurant that drew people in for its authentic flavors and a sense of home. His parents opened La Tejana in Bridgeton, connected to their grocery store in 2010. Tyler branched out with his food truck, eventually naming it Locoz Tacoz. The goal was to bring that same delicious food out into the community. Now he has a new brick-and-mortar restaur...

Owning a restaurant is not an easy feat – we talked about it in last week’s 5-year anniversary episode with restauranteur Gerard Craft. If you haven’t listened, make sure to hit play after you listen to this brand-new episode. This week we talk to longtime St. Louis restaurant owner Michael Ly. Michael grew up in the restaurant business. His family owned a Chinese restaurant in West St. Louis Coun...

Five years ago we sat down at the Four Seasons Hotel, the construction was underway at Cinder House, the latest endeavor from Chef and Restaurateur Gerard Craft. It was the very first episode of The Meet St. Louis Podcast. Five years later, we’ve shared more than 240 episodes, introducing you to hundreds of chefs, brewers and small business owners. It has been so much fun to share their stories, t...

Meet me at The Muny…if you grew up in St. Louis you can probably finish the jingle that goes along with that saying. For more than 100 years, The Muny has been a summer tradition in our city in Forest Park. This season is underway and we’re getting the behind the scenes scoop from Mike Isaacson, the Artistic Director and Executive Producer. The Tony Award winning producer is now in his 12th season...

Josi and Zamir Jahic are serving up the food of their homeland in a shopping plaza in South St. Louis County. The Mediterranean spot with a focus on Bosnian cuisine gets busy fast, before the doors even open they have a long line of pre-order tickets. Zamir is the heart in the kitchen at J’s Pitaria but Josi is the brains behind the business. The two were born in the same town in Bosnia but didn’t...

For 15 years, the staff at Amsterdam Tavern have opened the doors at 6 a.m. weekend after weekend. Providing one of the few spots in town to show soccer matches from around the world. Located on Morganford in Tower Grove South, they’re known as THE spot to watch soccer, something that’s become all the more popular with the incredible success of St. Louis CITY SC’s inaugural season. The TVs are sho...

This week, we’re meeting under the Big Top. It’s a St. Louis tradition dating back to the mid-80s and Circus Flora continues to entertain the next generation of families. The season kicked off June 1 and goes through June 25. We sat down with Executive Director Jack Marsh to talk about this year’s show and the legacy of the circus in St. Louis. Jack grew up in the circus, his mother has been with...

Heidi Hamamura owns Taberu a catering company creating works of art made with sushi. Heidi started in the restaurant business early, growing up in her father’s kitchens. With a fine dining experience and a love for visually beautiful food, her sushi platters and sushi cakes take social media by storm. Instagram is where she runs most of her business and she shares how her dreams of owning a restau...

Ashley and Archie Harmon opened a business during one of the toughest times – March 2020. The pandemic closed their doors just as they opened Chillax, a craft beer bar and bottle shop, before they could really get started. But the St. Charles community didn’t let them fail. In fact, they found so much demand they opened their second location this spring. The Wentzville bar is more intimate, but th...

It’s the season to get outside. The St. Louis summer heat hasn’t fully arrived and the local and state parks are lush with green. But Juno Musonda wants to make sure you feel comfortable getting into the outdoors and look the part as well! He started Ope Outdoors in his bedroom and what started as a t-shirt company has evolved into a community of people enthusiastic about being outside. His t-shir...

Located inside a historic home in a neighborhood in Webster Groves sits a little oasis. A cafe and garden shop all in one. Maypop opened five years ago on Mother’s Day weekend. It’s the busiest time of year for a plant store and the staff wants to help you feel like whatever your gardening level is, you can plant something and keep it thriving. We sat down with McKenzie Leek to talk about everythi...

St. Louis is catching the eye of the art world, not just locally, but nationally. They are all paying attention to Counterpublic, a civic exhibition that weaves contemporary art through the City of St. Louis. It only happens for three months every three years. On this week’s podcast, we’re giving you the backstory and a deeper explanation of why this is much bigger than art. Cofounder Lee Broughto...

Located inside the former Carondelet Bakery in South St Louis City is where the magic happens. It’s now the home of Sugarwitch, an incredibly popular ice cream sandwich business started by Sophie Mendelson and Martha Bass. They first created the idea in Columbia, turning to nostalgic flavors but with a creative spin. And the creativity continues with the names, each sandwich named for a witch. The...