With its tightly packed historic buildings and Wildey Theater marquee in the backdrop, Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill., feels like a scene from Back to the Future. While the Edwardsville of 2013 still holds as much small-town 1950s charm as fictional Hill Valley, Calif., its food scene has kept pace with the times. The Land of Goshen Community Market, Fiona’s, 222 Artisan Bakery and Sacred Grounds Cafe are oldies but goodies, while Cleveland-Heath and Craft Chophouse offer the latest in farm-to-table and steakhouse fare. And since Edwardsville is just a half-hour drive from downtown St. Louis, you don’t even need a DeLorean to get there.Â
Northside Dairy Haven
It’s like Ted Drewes with a grill on a gravel parking lot. We’re not ashamed to admit that we love lowbrow – and a good car cruise – especially when that means a concrete in one hand, a Dreamsicle-like vanilla orange twist cone (Northside makes its own sherbet.) in the other and a Charco cheeseburger waiting on the dashboard. What’s up with toasting just the bottom bun of this burger? “It’s just better that way,” responded an employee. It sure is.Â
Northside Dairy Haven, 1902 N. Main St., 618.656.9233, northsidedairyhaven.com
Peel Wood Fired Pizza
Since opening in late 2009, the Peel team has been using its wood-burning oven to turn out pies both traditional and eclectic. The buffalo chicken pizza is a crowd-pleaser, but if you yearn for sweet on savory, pig out on the new maple-bourbon-pork pizza, topped with house-cured bacon. But first, attack the black-truffle risotto cakes with reckless abandon, then wash it all down with one of the two-dozen craft beers on tap.
Peel Wood Fired Pizza, 921 S. Arbor Vitae, 618.659.8561, peelpizza.com
Bin 51 Wine & Spirits
Bin 51 is a wine, liquor and beer shop – and the solution when you can’t snag a reservation at Cleveland-Heath. Try this: Select your bottle of wine, then ask the Bin guys for the Cleveland-Heath menu and call in your order. Kick back at the community table or in one of the leather chairs, and start sipping as you await food from the hippest restaurant to arrive at the door. We raise a glass to partnerships like these.
Bin 51 Wine & Spirits, 200 S. Buchanan St., 618.307.5909, bin51wines.com
Taj Indian Cuisine
Lunch? Buffet, baby. Saag paneer, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala … all your Indian favorites are here and they’re all good. Don’t miss the kadhi pakora, vegetables swimming in a thick, chickpea flour-based gravy made tangy with sour yogurt. Then try dipping the fried pakora (vegetable fritters) in cilantro chutney and tamarind sauce for some fresh-on-syrupy sweet flavor. Dinner? Buffet’s gone. Go for the goat biriyani. Taj Indian Cuisine, 138 N. Main St., 618.655.0586
Sgt. Pepper’s Cafe
This Beatles shrine isn’t open late night – but it should be. Why? Well, Sgt. Pepper’s cheap eats are the drunk man’s best friend and because greasy breakfast fare is available all day at this cafe. If the house-specialty horseshoe – Texas toast topped with your protein of choice (Go for the buffalo chicken.), fries and an oozy, cheese sauce – is too big of a beast for you, species down with the ponyshoe. Pair it with a mint Oreo shake and you’ll be in a state of such bliss, you might break out into a rendition of Hey, Jude. Let it be.
Sgt. Pepper’s Cafe, 218 N. Main St., 618.692.1345, sgtpepperscafe.net
Global Brew Tap House & Lounge
The 50 beer taps at Global are not only global, they’re constantly changing. When we want one of everything, the answer is a flight of five 5-ounce pours – pick from hop ‘n’ berries, IPAs, stouts, local suds or seasonal brews. The wife calling? Pull yourself away from the friends you just made at the bar and get your butt home, but not before you build a to-go pack. Choose six 12-ounce bottles or three large-format ones. If deciding between the approximately 200 bottled brews delays you, just show your better half the 25-percent discount on your receipt and you’re off the hook.
Global Brew Tap House & Lounge, 112 S. Buchanan St. Suite 1, 618.307.5858
Mike Shannon’s Grill
Peel’s new neighbor is a feast for both eyes and appetite. It’s always “game on” at this upscale sports-themed grill and lounge – whether you’re ogling the collection of the former Redbird’s personal memorabilia or watching America’s favorite pastime on one of the monster TVs. Any burger is a winner, but you’ll be thinking about the gyro burger long after you lick the feta cheese-yogurt dressing off your fingers. The homerun entree from chef Ginger Humphrey’s menu of progressive American cuisine: a roast chicken, nesting on a tasty lentil-and-rice pilaf, with a savory mix of sauteed mushrooms, truffle peelings and duck pâté tucked beneath the crispy skin. You can enjoy it with a cold brew or continue your love affair with the bourbon-heavy, smoked-ice-filled High Rise cocktail, birthed at the grill’s STL-based sister restaurant, Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood.
Mike Shannon’s Grill, 871 S. Arbor Vitae, Suite 101, 618.655.9911, mikeshannonsgrill.com
This article appears in May 2013.