Edition: Favorite 30 Restaurants

Kurt Warner's St. Louis

Author: Roger Slavens

Editor's Note: Kurt Warner has become beloved in St. Louis not only for leading the Rams to a Super Bowl victory, but also because he's a consummate, charismatic professional devoted to his team, his city, and his family.  Kurt's story is of the Cinderella variety, emerging from an early career in Arena League football to become one of the best at his position in the NFL.  But such success hasn't tarnished his old-fashioned Midwestern values of his faith in God, and he feels himself truly blessed for his good fortune - especially for his wife, Brenda, and his four kids (and a fifth on the way!).  It's no wonder that when Concierge Preferred asked him to share his favorite places to eat, see, and do in St. Louis, Kurt put his family's favorites first.

St. Louis is a great place to play football, and a great place to raise a family.  The people here, whether they're fans, friends or both, have that easy-going Midwestern way about them that always makes you feel at home.  Just engage them in a little conversation and you know that they really love life.  I wouldn't want to play or live anywhere else.  Speaking of that, why don't I share with you what I'd consider a perfect day in St. Louis.

7:00 a.m.  Usually I like to get a workout in early, but some days I'm ambushed by my kids and I just can't say no to them.  I treasure every moment we have together.  Many mornings we'll watch cartoons or just play around the house.  It's also important for us to spend some time reading The bible and praying.

8:15 a.m.  If my wife and I can get everyone moving, we often like to go out to eat breakfast.  It's my favorite meal, and one of my favorite places to go is First Watch (120 Hilltown Village, 636-530-1401).  I'll order a skillet breakfast with turkey and all the veggies that aren't green (the waiters there know just what I want), and top it off with two eggs over easy.  My kids love the pancakes and French toast.  My wife...well, she really isn't the breakfast type, but she still indulges us. 

9:30 a.m.  The Saint Louis Zoo (Forest Park, 314-781-0900) never ceases to amaze us with all its exhibits and incredible animals.  Even more amazing is that it's free.  In particular, we love to watch the polar bears and all the water animals.  I'm kind of an animal freak and am awed by how all God's creatures look and act so differently.  Another great city attraction is the Saint Louis Science Center (Forest Park, 800-456-7577).  My 14-year-old son is legally blind and we like to do all the hands-on, interactive activities and experiments throughout the place.  We also love to catch the different IMAX movies that come through; that giant screen is just so cool.

11:45 a.m.  Lunch time.  Here's where I usually get outvoted.  Give my kids their choice and they'll almost always pick Red Robin (17308 Chesterfield Airport Rd., 636-733-0066) where they serve up a wide variety of burgers and all-you-can-eat fries.  Me?  I personally like to change it up; there's jus so many great restaurants all around the St. Louis area.   One casual place I like is Penn Station East Coast Subs which has great sandwiches.

 1:30 p.m.  Afternoons we like to spend just goofing off and hanging out.  There's a great little recreation center called The Infield (Ballwin, 636-458-1144) in our neck of the woods where they have go-karts, putt-putt golf, batting cages, and more.  My kids are all over it.  Dave & Buster's (13857 Riverport, 314-209-8015) is a favorite place to play the latest video games.  We're also big into going to the movies, especially when it's too hot out to do anything else.  I think I've seen every kids' movie that's come out this year.

3:00 p.m.  Okay, if it were really game day I wouldn't be doing all this stuff; I'd instead be getting as much sleep as I could.  But on any "tour" of this town I have to recommend catching a little NFL action at the Edward Jones Dome where my favorite football team, the St. Louis Rams (Edward Jones Dome, 314-241-1888) plays several regular and exhibition games each season.  Game time is absolutely electric, with the fans turning up the volume to incredible levels as they cheer us on.  The team is very excited about this season, and we hope to make it back to the playoffs and hopefully another Super Bowl.  Check with your concierge to get tickets.

6:15 p.m.  Assuming we can get someone to watch the kids, my wife and I like to go out and be by ourselves once in awhile to enjoya nice dinner and maybe catch a show.  One of our favorite places to eat is Yia Yia's Eurocafe (15601 Olive Street Rd., 636-537-9991)  They have a great selection of appetizers and we'll try a few of those before moving on to an entree, probably some fresh fish which they prepare very nicely.  Most important, it's a quiet spot where we can talk and act romantic.  If I'm more in a meat-and-potatoes mood, then we may opt for Annie Gunn's (16806 Chesterfield Airport Rd., 636-532-7684) for their terrific steaks or something like that.

8:00 p.m.  We really enjoy live theatre and St. Louis has two very good venues that rival what we've seen in New York City (a favorite vacation spot of ours).  The Fox Theatre (527 Grand, 314-534-1678) is a stunning restored locaiton that brings in top shows of all varieties.  Another place we like to go to is The Muny (Forest Park, 31 4-361-1900) which I think is the largest outdoor theatre in the country.  We're especially partial to it because our daughter has performed there with its youth theatre group. 

10:45 p.m.  It's been a long day.  But we've covered some of the best places I feel St. Louis has to offer both families and adults.  On a night like this, I might even go straight to bed instead of watching ESPN for the sports scores and news like I usually do.