The 32 Essential St. Louis Restaurants

"Affable chef/owner Kurt Bellon putters about town in a little Japanese firetruck, inspiring smiles and rumbling tummies wherever he goes. The truck introduced St. Louis to the culture of konbini (abbreviated from konbiniensu sutoru), Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores that sell prepared and packaged food. Bellon crafts sweet sandos of fruit and cream along with savory katsu options, all served on ethereal slices of milk bread. The mobile shop also carries other popular Japanese drinks and snacks, like triangles of onigiri folded into cellophane wrappers with nori just dry enough to maintain a tense snap with each bite of rice. It’s the kind of operation that’s only possible in St. Louis. “I just wouldn’t have the same opportunity to open my business in a city like San Francisco, where you have to know a highborn or kill a duke or something to open a restaurant,” Bellon says." - Holly Fann