urbanSTL

I can't believe no one has mentioned Seamus McDaniel's yet.

^ I haven't been to Seamus in ages, as I used to go often when a friend of mine lived just over the city-county line in Richmond Heights and Seamus was our default choice as the place to imbibe at the time, but it's always been one of my favorites anyway.

friendlys is my favorite neighborhood bar in town - HUGE range of ages in there and a massive beergarden.

i think of places like the silverleaf lounge, rileys, or tonys in north st. louis...e.g. most people either walked or drove probably not more than 6-8 blocks. not seeing college bars neighborhoodly i guess. rosies on laclede is something more along the lines of what im thinking-perhaps the line between dive bars and neighborhood bars blurs a little.

warwickland wrote:friendlys is my favorite neighborhood bar in town - HUGE range of ages in there and a massive beergarden.

cosign...out of all the bars in my hood, this is my favorite. The manager there even got the Big Ten Network for me, even though I am pretty much the only Illini fan that goes there. The prices are good and the food is good too, especially when they have the $1 burgers during home team games.

warwickland wrote:i think of places like the silverleaf lounge, rileys, or tonys in north st. louis...e.g. most people either walked or drove probably not more than 6-8 blocks. not seeing college bars neighborhoodly i guess. rosies on laclede is something more along the lines of what im thinking-perhaps the line between dive bars and neighborhood bars blurs a little.

Riley's is a truly great neighborhood bar, but not much of a "grill." All they've got for food is stl-style pizza, though it is tasty.

I'd also second the Three Monkeys and the Tin Can and mention the Tip Top in Soulard.

I know of a place that definitely falls into the dive category- Ferguson's Pub at Mount Pleasant Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.



Talk about an old-school bar- I'm guessing things haven't changed much in the last 20 if not 30 years. I went last week to pick up a carryout order as the jukebox segued from the Beastie Boys' 'Brass Monkey' to some Bob Seger tune that I can't remember since all Bob Seger songs sound the same to me. The crowd is as old-school as the place itself- very blue collar- very Southside. Other than a current Blues schedule, not much has changed on the walls. One wall features a Budweiser clock complete with a model of the Clydesdales and a wagon full o' beer. Meanwhile, a pair of Spuds Mackenzies watch over the bar. You don't need a tricked-out DeLorean- this place is its own time machine.



I know it's got typical bar food, but the attraction for me is the fried chicken special. I'm sure a lot of you stay away from fried chicken completely, but for me it's a guilty pleasure, one that I'd give up all other culinary guilty pleasures to savor. Not only is the chicken delicious, they practically give it away. You can get 1/2 fried chicken with a variety of sides- and on Wednesdays they sell it for $5.95. (I don't know what full price is, but I'm sure it's still a steal.)

ThreeOneFour wrote:I know it's got typical bar food, but the attraction for me is the fried chicken special. I'm sure a lot of you stay away from fried chicken completely, but for me it's a guilty pleasure, one that I'd give up all other culinary guilty pleasures to savor. Not only is the chicken delicious, they practically give it away. You can get 1/2 fried chicken with a variety of sides- and on Wednesdays they sell it for $5.95. (I don't know what full price is, but I'm sure it's still a steal.)

Fried Chicken? Actually, thats a pretty big deal in the old school SStL bar scene. How about the brain sandwich (another SStL fav)?

^ You're right about chicken- I know that not far from Ferguson's, you can also get some great chicken at Crusoe's (Osceola @ Compton) and Skip's (South Broadway @ Osceola). I've never tried a brain sandwich, and I'm not sure that I ever will even though I have a sense of adventure about food, but I'm sure there must be some bars in the city that still serve them. I know there's a bar in South County that has them on the menu, but I cannot recall the name of the place.

^^^agreed. I also consider myself a rather adventurous gourmand and I will never eat a brain sandwich. My old man, however, loves them. Personally, the organ meat that I actually enjoy the taste of, and not eat for novelty purposes, is sweetbreads. Very good.



Back to the Fried Chicken thing. There is varying POV's on this but I'm convinced the South City Fried Chicken phenomena is German in origin. Freeburg, IL and it's surrounding farming communities are both heavily German (Alsace-Lorraine) and very, very big on Fried Chicken.



I'll call my dad and get then names of the bars that serve the brain sandwich. I recall one or two in Dutchtown and one on Broadway south of Soulard.

ttricamo wrote:Back to the Fried Chicken thing. There is varying POV's on this but I'm convinced the South City Fried Chicken phenomena is German in origin. Freeburg, IL and it's surrounding farming communities are both heavily German (Alsace-Lorraine) and very, very big on Fried Chicken.

That makes perfect sense- we went to the Millstadt Homecoming this past summer and had some excellent fried chicken there.

Friendlys is about the best South City 'sports bar' I have been to in a long time. It is like a mini Dave & Busters. They have a wide array of bar games including pool, darts etc..but they also have skee ball, a boxing game, some electronic poker game, free popcorn(popcorn maker), a wall of flat screen TVs and shuffle board. They also have a young, cool crowd. Not your typical south city pub. Highly recommend.



Black Thorn for pizza before that (right up the street) would get the night off to a great start.

^ Not gonna lie. That post kind of makes it seem like you have a drinking problem...