New Hotel Saint Louis

A Reason To Go Downtown

There has been a lot of well deserved press regarding a new hotel in downtown St. Louis. The Hotel Saint Louis, at 705 Olive street is a $68 million dollar renovation of the historic Union Trust building. It was designed by Louis Sullivan and constructed in 1893. Sullivan is Considered the creator of the modern skyscraper, he is credited with the modernist credo, "form ever follows function.".

In the early 1970's I worked for HFC, now HSBC Bank. Their central collections office was in this building and I spent a number of months working in that facility. When we were asked to review items from Hotel Saint Louis' restaurant at a pre-opening tasting, I jumped at the opportunity!

The Hotel Saint Louis is the first Marriott Autograph Collections hotel in St. Louis. This description is based upon the fact that the hotel features many things that are unique to the St. Louis area. Everything from carpet design to food items have a local, St. Louis touch. Including their Chef.

Chef Birk is a native St. Louisan. I have known Chef Birk since he was flipping burgers at Maplewood's Cousin Hugo's. Since then his culinary journey has taken him to a number of prestigious hotels, Disney Cruise lines, his own restaurant in Jamaica and more. His philosophy at the Saint Louis Hotel's Union 30 restaurant is to serve you gourmet comfort food with a St. Louis flair at a reasonable price. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner service.

Appetizers include their version of Famous Barr's French Onion Soup, and Mama's Chicken and dumplings. Salads include Al Baker's Chop Salad and the Mayfair's grilled Caesar Salad.

There is a daily special from the smoker which includes, St. Louis Pork steaks, Ribs, chops, Busch's Grove Cottage Fries, Collinsville Horse radish sauce and more.

Sue had the Classic Hill Fettuccine with Blackened Chicken, Parmesan and fresh cracked pepper. I had the Cold Smoked Strip Loin that is custom cut and grilled to the temperature you like. This was served with Creme Fraiche Mashed Potatoes and grilled Brussel Sprouts. Each item was excellent!

For dessert we decided to split the Union 30 Bread Pudding, a wonderful assemblage of bread pudding topped with smoked maple, bourbon ice cream topped with a bourbon caramel sauce and crispy bacon bits! Of course there is also St. Louis gooey Butter Cake if you want to go traditional.

A pleasant surprise ending to our meal was a salute to another piece of St. Louis history. We were presented with a miniature ice cream cone, which was invented at the St. Louis world's Fair.

The menu for each meal service includes a large number of delectable items with a St. Louis flair, all at a reasonable price. There is definitely something for everyone at Union 30 in the Saint Louis hotel.

A very well lighted parking lot is located behind the hotel for your convenience. There will also be food service available at the roof-top bar and pool area.

For more information go to hotelsaintlouis.com or call 314-241-4300.

I think we will be spending a lot more time downtown from now on!