Restaurants in Missouri

Food Culture & Dining Scene in Missouri

Missouri is a state with two great food cities pulling in different directions. Kansas City is synonymous with slow-smoked barbecue, where burnt ends, ribs, and brisket from institutions like Arthur Bryant's, Gates, Q39, and Joe's Kansas City define the city's identity. St. Louis has its own culinary personality, with toasted ravioli, thin-crust Provel-cheese pizza, pork steaks grilled and sauced, and gooey butter cake as the city's signature contributions to American food. The Hill, St. Louis's Italian neighborhood, has produced generations of restaurants serving red-gravy classics alongside more contemporary Italian cuisine. Kansas City's Crossroads and Westport districts have added craft cocktail bars and globally influenced restaurants to the BBQ-dominant food scene. Columbia, the university town between the two cities, offers diverse dining for a city its size. Springfield, in the Ozarks, claims to have invented cashew chicken, a Chinese-American dish unique to the region. Missouri's central location means its food culture borrows from Southern, Midwestern, and Plains traditions, resulting in a generous, meat-centric dining landscape across roughly 11,800 restaurants.