Gourmet & Healthy in University City

The sausage recipe didn’t start with Helmut and Henry Wanninger, but they were the ones to bring it across the Atlantic in 1965. Sons of a sausage meister, Helmut and Henry left their home in Bavaria and set up shop in St. Louis, where they began spicing, grinding, and casing sausages to the delight of the city’s southern neighborhoods, home to many German immigrants. The popularity of their encased meats continues today, though cousins Bob and Gerhard are now the master meatsmiths. These Wanninger descendants prepare more than 30 different Bavarian-style sausages, including multiple types of bratwurst, specialty sausages such as bockwurst and smoked liverwurst, and Landjager beef sticks. These specialties grace venues all over St. Louis, from Grant’s Farm to Gus’ Pretzels to the Egypt-themed alternate reality that exists on the other side of the Arch.

Bob and Gerhard also apply their expertise to other styles of encased meats, such as andouille and chorizo, and they happily process deer for hunters. In addition to manning the meat counter, the duo stocks the shelves with German goods such as Lowensenf mustards and breads from local bakeries.

Most butcher shops cut your meat for you, but few give you the skills to cut it yourself. For the experts at John’s Butcher Shoppee, sharing their skills is just a part of serving their community, something they’ve been doing for more than 38 years. The expert butchers set up shop at local Cabela’s locations, where they lead sessions on how to process deer into steaks, sausages, and ground meat. Back at their two locations, customers load up on homemade sausage, tender pork chops, and exotic meats such as elk, bison, and ostrich. The owners of the family business are often behind the counter, and take the time to cut or karate-chop a steak or pork chop to a customer’s desired size for no extra charge. Regular customers also take note of the butcher’s weekly meat raffle, dubbed Meat-O, wherein one lucky customer wins $25 in free meat to be served or bathed in however they see fit.

At Max Muscle Sports Nutrition, rows of shelves and neatly stacked displays flaunt energy bars, diet and energy supplements, and massive jars of protein powder. The vast arsenal of dietary boosters work hand in hand with exercise routines, supplying the body with natural amino acids or tasty, protein-packed blends that help muscles grow strong and healthy enough to lead fulfilling lives full of flexing. Diet capsules help athletes slim down and prevent unnecessary weight gain, and a wide range of herbal and wellness supplements promotes healthy lifestyles by providing essential fatty acids, detoxifying bodies, and strengthening joints.

Onesto is Italian for "honest," so it's no surprise the owners of Onesto Pizza & Trattoria strive for transparency when it comes to their food. They proudly showcase the list of more than 10 local farms from which they gather their menu's organic and seasonal fruit and antibiotic- and hormone-free meat. They even reveal the secrets behind their wild-mushroom- and Gulf-shrimp-topped pizzas by letting diners watch as each pie is hand-tossed. Pasta, from the housemade fettuccine to the macaroni and cheese served with lobster in a cast-iron skillet, joins elaborate seasonal entrees such as pan-seared wild striped bass, accompanied by a pumpernickel-crusted saffron risotto cake and sautéed spinach and apples in a lemongrass-butter broth. In addition to sourcing its ingredients locally, Onesto strives to reduce its carbon footprint by recycling, serving to-go orders in compostable containers, and asking diners to take off their carbon shoes at the door so as not to leave a footprint.

The gourmet ingredients and eco-friendly attitude seem to overshadow the restaurant's decor, which the Riverfront Times describes as "unassuming … with no obvious flash or flair." But subdued is sometimes best, as the paper named Onesto's "simple" patio as Best Outdoor Dining of 2010, hailing it as "an escape from the hustle and bustle of other St. Louis restaurant patios."

What began as Yemina Mata's passion for healthier living through a natural-food- and supplement-based diet resulted in La Buena Salud, a grocery store stocking only natural and organic products. Opened in 1997 in the Soulard farmers' market, La Buena Salud today lures visitors to its current storefront—tucked away just off Washington Avenue—with an impressive array of locally grown meats, eggs, and produce, vitamins, and supplements. Yemina gregariously shares health food and natural-healing wisdom as patrons meander aisles of organic teas from Tulsi and Traditional Medicinals, specialty items, such as piloncillo cane sugar, and natural-health and diet books, all of which earned the store praise from Feast magazine and a polite thank-you note from Mother Nature.

When Terry Yake found his way off his family's farm to pursue a career as a professional hockey player, he didn't dream that it would lead him back. During his time with the St. Louis Blues, Terry would return from every trip back home to Manitoba, Canada, with a care package under his arm, packed with the farm's fresh, free-range beef. His teammates got a taste at a backyard barbecue and began clamoring for more beef like a carnivorous pack of parrots. When Terry returned to the St. Louis area, so did the demand for his family's meat. He began running a bare-bones operation out of his garage, which eventually grew into a retail outlet that allows Terry to share the fruit of his family's labor with the community he now, happily, calls home.

All of T-Bones Natural Meats's beef comes from cows that graze freely, without the effects of hormones, steroids, or antibiotics. The same can be said for the free-range poultry, pork, and bison that the team procures from area farms. The animals eat what they would in nature, which Terry believes results in a better taste, a better conscience, and better nutrition—as studies have shown. Their sausages are made from pigs that have been raised equally kindly; the meat is wrapped in natural casings with all-natural add-ons, such as fresh mushrooms, just-chopped apples, and pure maple syrup. All the meat is flash-frozen, a more eco-friendly way of salting it and storing it in an ice palace.