Food & Drink in Granite City

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Nothing too terrifying lurks inside Ye Olde Haunt, even though the bar's decor—a macabre mix of skulls, grim reaper dolls, and horror posters—resembles a haunted house. That ghoulish humor continues on a menu whose cheekily named dishes include Vampire Repellent—a garlic-covered french roll—and The Texas Chainsaw, a bacon- and barbecue-sauce-topped burger on texas toast.

Besides pairing well with meals, beers such as Turbodog and Guinness Black can calm diners during the horror films that the bar screens nightly. Ye Olde Haunt's entertainment isn't limited to thrills and chills; on Fridays and Saturdays, for instance, local bands take the stage for scare-free nights of rocking.

Bigg Daddy's Fried Ribs sears soul food and sates hunger in a cozy 20-seat eatery. Tuck in to a deep-fried or smoked rib dinner ($8.95) or sandwich ($5.95), dressed in homespun barbecue sauce ($8.95) and accessorized with two sides, including homemade mac 'n' cheese, baked beans, potato salad, and coleslaw. On Sunday, Southern favorites such as sweet potatoes, cornbread, and greens join the side-order sock hop. Old fashioned peach cobbler transports taste buds back to a simpler time when pies cooled on window sills and robotic cops were nothing more than science fiction ($2.95). Pie-shunning patrons can swap dessert for a glass of sweet tea or homemade lemonade ($2.50 each).

Like the restaurant's brand-new menu, House of Savoy's Chef Paola Bugli is a relocated native of Florence—Tuscany's regional capital and leader in savory dining. Begin your repast with antipasto toscano—assorted cured Tuscan meats and cheeses with roasted peppers and marinated olives ($15)—before opening the gates to your gut with a savory secondi of pasta such as the lasagna matta (baked crazy-lasagna with bolognese meat-sauce and béchamel, topped with parmesan and mozzarella, $15). A grill entree such as the 12-ounce prime-choice, dry-aged beef tenderloin fillet ($32) and a side of Tuscan cannellini beans ($5) connects meaty Midwest traditions with Tuscan artistry, much like an oil painting depicting a naked Mike Ditka atop a clam-shell, while a salsiccia pizza flattens appetites with tomato sauce, spicy sausage, sweet red-peppers, caramelized onions, and mozzarella ($10). For dessert, head to the Cascade Bar and finish the feast with $10 worth of post-prandial potion.

If you follow the right cobblestones on the Landing, you'll end up in front of Jake's Steaks, an eatery known for serving steaks, barbecue, and burgers within a T-bone's throw of Sidewinders Saloon. As the name implies, the focus is on steak. The culinary crew collects wet-aged Angus beef to create artistic interpretations of meat—cowboy rib eyes with perfect marbling, for instance, and Kansas City strip steaks topped with house butter. Their magnum opus is The Bull, a 25-ounce bone-in fillet that, if finished, earns the eater a spot on the Wall of Fame and a new accomplishment to include on their Viking resumé. The kitchen also churns out dry-rubbed barbecue ribs and pulled-pork sandwiches made from meat infused with flavors from the steak house's own round-the-clock smokers.

Jake's stands just in front of Sidewinders Saloon, a bar that dispenses a bevy of tequila and beer. Throughout the week, the bar hosts theme nights with live music and karaoke, and on select nights holds the doors open until 3 a.m. The building's close proximity to Busch Stadium and The Arch make it a prime spot for postgame celebrations or steak-tossing competitions on the banks of the Mississippi.

The scent of garlic, chilies, cilantro, and other quintessential Tex-Mex flavors waft through Diablo Southwest Grill’s two stories, where waiters ferry bowls of rich chicken enchilada soup. The menu also includes Cowboy nachos with chili and bacon, hamburgers topped with guacamole, and the Socorro steak sandwich with chopped chilies, blue cheese, and whiskey-onion sauce. Bartenders pair drinks with each dish, from classic margaritas and manhattans to the Mexican beers on tap.

Joe Sanfilippo got his start in the food industry at age 11 when his Uncle Agostino recruited him to bus tables at his St. Louis restaurant on a particularly busy New Year’s night, according to St. Louis Magazine. Two years later, he returned to his hometown of Palermo to study and to attend culinary school at night, which ignited his passion for cooking and spurred him to open his own eatery at the tender age of 24. Today, the owner and executive chef of J.F. Sanfilippo’s Restaurant mingles his southern-Italian training with northern-Italian influences in a menu of pastas with tomato- or cream-based sauces, sautéed chicken and veal, and broiled steaks. In a recent KSDK 5 interview centering on the opening of his second location in Chesterfield, Joe confided that his 80-year-old mother still bakes the restaurant’s bread each day and divulged plans to bottle and sell J.F.’s popular vodka sauce, then ship it to Neptune.