St. Louis Magazine

Café Amalia, known for its authentic Mediterranean fare and detailed interior design, is combining art and hospitality by serving as the gallery space for St. Louis–based artist Julie Enstall’s first solo exhibition, What Lies Beneath, opening October 22. Enstall’s art—striking oil paintings with unusual depth and texture—is perfect for Café Amalia’s hand-selected tapestry of an interior, says owner Amy Pappas Loli.

While the reader acknowledged that South County has plenty of restaurants, what’s often missing are new, independent places. Restaurateurs considering the metro area study demographics, but its layout also matters: Busy roads lined with shopping centers, separated by residential neighborhoods, favor restaurants that diners drive to for a specific meal.

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer is trying to get ahead of a question that seems to pop up regularly in the city: When to clear a homeless encampment. She met with a few reporters yesterday to share the 17-page draft set of guidelines that she says will give staffers the tools to assess and, if necessary, disband, a camp. “The idea is to standardize the approach here,” said Spencer.

One year and five months after finding itself in the path of a deadly tornado, the Boo Cat Club is looking sharp. Last weekend, staffers hosted the first event on site—a wedding—since 100-mph winds sent a giant sycamore crashing through the front of the building, ripping through brick like a pair of powerful scissors. Looking at it now, you’d never know just how badly the 119-year-old building had been damaged.

Four years ago, Dmytro Hrynchyshyn, his wife Taisiia, and their three-year-old son fled Ukraine and wound up in St. Louis. He had three master’s degrees—in law, economics, and engineering, he says. But those degrees didn’t mean in Missouri what they had in Europe, and so Dmytro worked a factory job and as the couple worked to open up a bakery. Today Svoi Patisserie is a destination in the Central West End, with Taisiia’s macarons and artisan breads enjoying a big following.

How closely do you follow St. Louis news? We’re testing your knowledge of the stories we covered this week in the St. Louis Daily newsletter—the good, the bad, and the goofy. Submit your name at the end for a chance to be featured in The Daily among each week’s top scorers, and for the chance to win prizes. Please, no Googling your way to the top! “What True in the Lou?” is featured in the St. Louis Daily newsletter from Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull. Subscribe to keep up with the latest.

October is Filipino American History Month, and if you’ve never explored Filipino food in St. Louis, there’s no better time to start. Filipino cuisine is a reflection of the Philippines’ complicated history, blending Indigenous traditions with Chinese, Spanish, Malay, and American influences. The food is often salty, sour, sweet, garlicky, and deeply comforting.

Games / Where in St Charles 10/9/2026 How well do you know St. Charles? Play the game to find out. by Henry Coen October 8, 2026 at 3:02 PM August 14, 2026 Photo by Molly Levine and Allison Schmidt Let’s see how well you know St. Charles. Put a pin on the map based on where you think the photograph above was taken; the closer you are, the more points you earn. Enter your email to begin, and click “lock in my guess” once you’re ready to see the answer and get your score.

“Bright” is the word that perhaps best describes good Middle Eastern fare. There’s a freshness, a mélange of acid-sharp vinegar flavors, bits of preserved lemon, cumin and sumac-laced aromatics, and crispy vegetable textures that snap and crunch as if they were harvested only moments ago. All of it gives so much character to the cuisine. It’s bright. Byte recently joined several other local places in presenting the specialties of the Levant.

For six or seven years, Andrea Loeffler and Trish Schultz have spent a lot of time together on cold bleachers. The longtime friends and Kirkwood moms have six boys between them, and youth sports have become less of a Saturday morning activity and more of a way of life. There are weeknight practices, weekend tournaments, travel, team brunches and dinners, and plenty of time spent in hockey rinks, gyms, and on sidelines. It’s a lifestyle they are grateful for, Schultz says.