Food & Drink in Granite City

Founded in 1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton, Burger King rapidly expanded from humble beginnings as a lone burger joint to more than 12,400 locations across 79 countries today, making it the second-largest fast-food-hamburger chain in the world. Its signature burger—the Whopper sandwich—consists of flame-broiled, quarter-pound beef patties crowned with a miniature fedora and a fully customizable array of toppings such as tomatoes, onions, and dill pickles. Focused on continual improvement, the chain recently reinvented the fries that accompany each value meal, outfitting the spud slices with a thicker cut of potato for a fluffier texture on the inside and crispier golden-brown exterior. A spread of decadent desserts including dutch apple pie and Hershey pie keeps sweet teeth from elongating into fangs, and made-to-order breakfast sandwiches clasp eggs, american cheese, and bacon, sausage, or ham between two halves of a flaky croissant to round out the speedy menu.

Lenny's menu (click here for St. Louis and here for Webster Groves) is a favorite for its premium deli meats, chicken and tuna salad made from scratch, signature hot pepper relish, and hearty portions. A regular-sized Lenny's club, which costs about $6 (prices vary by location), is 7.5 inches long and has about half a pound of meat and cheese. The large versions (around $9–$10) are 15 inches long and have a pound of proteins. These humongous hoagies are heavy enough to keep your body on the ground during one of St. Louis's many gravity outages.

Discovered in 1953, pizza is the only food to have been eaten on the moon, blessed by a pope, and endorsed by Olympic marathoner Gezahegne Abera—the "triple crown" of food honors. With today's Groupon, $10 gets you $20 worth of pizza, pasta, and more at Joanie's Pizzeria in historic Soulard. Split a savory pie with your pals over beers and catch Joanie's shuttle to sporting events, or prove that opposites attract while you and your sweetie eat vastly different individually sized pizzas. Let the friendly staff of this family restaurant fill your belly full of fresh fare with artistic flair.Follow @Groupon_Says on Twitter.

Patrons head to the heart of St. Louis University's campus to immerse themselves in Pierre Laclede’s plush furnishings, 20 flat-screen televisions, and pub cuisine washed down with freshly poured pints. The menu boasts selections of patron-designed cuisine such as the 14” build-your-own-pizza ($11), a hand tossed New York–style beer crust piled with toppings ($1.75 each). Rather than have Chef Boyardee autograph each piece of pasta, guests can customize their penne by selecting chicken, meatballs, or italian sausage blanketed in liberal doses of cheese, alfredo, or marinara sauce ($6). Among sandwiches, the Reuben packs two slices of marbled rye with hot corned beef, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese ($7), whereas lighter fare such as the taco salad ($6) blankets a fried tortilla in seasoned ground beef, iceberg lettuce, and a choice of cheese or sonnets about cheese.

The Kerry Cottage is St. Louis’ Irish embassy of cultural retail, providing customers with an extensive inventory of blarney-kissed goods. Caps, sweaters, and flags all pay sartorial tribute to the island nation, while Irish teas and soda bread mixes are great to stock up on in order to have something other than green bananas and painted granite ‘joke peanuts’ to serve to house guests. Novelty items like the Irish drinking gloves ($8) keep beer claws cozy, and men’s and women’s apparel make wearable Irish pride comfortable, unlike wearing the Notre Dame mascot outfit to impress an Irish date’s father. Shoppers searching for finely crafted china can browse the Cottage’s Belleek collection, where bowls ($35-$130), vases ($25-50), picture frames ($45-$70) and more form a handmade army of giftable wares.

Family owned and operated for 33 years, Spiro's South serves up a flavorful fusion of Mediterranean and American cuisines in a casually elegant environment. As patrons settle in at their crisply dressed tables in the eatery's airy dining room, fresh-baked bread with butter serves as a prelude to the dinner menu. A culinary circus accompanies each order of the saganaki, or flaming cheese, wherein a daring server joins diners tableside to douse a pyre of blazing goat cheese with brandy, adding fiery pizzazz while eliminating airborne moustaches. Fortifications of fresh veggies and potatoes sidekick entree platters, which range from broiled cuisine such as beef kebobs ($19), to oceanic tastes such as salmon dijon ($18.50) and pan-seared sea scallops ($19.25).