5 new places to try in St. Louis this month

Beets & Bones
Beets & Bones joins a growing number of nutrition-focused restaurants in St. Louis. The avocado toast on chewy sourdough from The Edgewood Baker is one of the best in town with roasted corn and poblano peppers, feta, marinated tomato and micro herbs. The smoky, slightly spicy Texicano Bowl is a hearty and savory salad with spiced walnut “taco meat,” sweet potato, vegetables like kale and red bell pepper, black beans and candied jalapenos. We love the wide assortment of fresh, cold-pressed fruit and veggie juices with fun names like New Age Gatorade, a blend of celery, apple, lemon and limes juices flavored with ginger, cilantro and turmeric.
8401 Maryland Ave., Clayton, 314.925.8722, beetsbonesjuice.com

Wild Crush Wine Barn
Wild Crush Wine Barn gives upscale barn energy to diners’ delight. A wine preservation and dispensing system called WineStation is your bartender, housing 24 bottles of wine. Load up a card with $25 or more and use it to select and dispense your wine. With 2-ounce, 4-ounce and 6-ounce pours, you can commit to a full glass of a wine you’re familiar with, sample a couple or just dip your toe with an expensive bottle by getting a taste. The food menu is pared down with a simple meat and cheese charcuterie board, a veggie board or a selection of flatbreads. The manchego and artichoke flatbread was a perfect cheesy bite with a glass of zinfandel.
13360 Clayton Road, Town & Country, 314.392.9594, wildcrushstl.com

Pipers Tea & Coffee
The first St. Louis location of the Paducah, Kentucky-based business features the company’s single-origin and blended teas and coffees. The hushed, light-filled space feels miles away from the traffic of Kingshighway Boulevard zipping just outside the storefront windows. Espresso drinks can be ordered plain or enhanced with house-made syrups in flavors like butter-caramel and honey-cinnamon; tea-based drinks like matcha lemonade and chai lattes are also available. Currently, food options are mostly sweets – La Beaume macarons, pastries by Whisk and gluten-free baker Mason Cooksey – but in mid-January, the menu will expand to include avocado toast, ricotta toast and more.
3701 S. Kingshighway Blvd., St. Louis, cupofpipers.com

Platypus
Platypus is a new cocktail concept from two of St. Louis’ most revered bartenders, Meredith Barry and Tony Saputo. Occupying the former U.R.B. space in the Grove, Platypus offers a concise list of rotating cocktails, a solid beer list and all the tools to make whatever classic drinks you desire. The Dude! Where’s My Shirt?, which features scotch, mezcal, barrel-aged gin, honey, bitters and lime cordial, is smoky and bright, a perfect cold-evening sip. Bar food classics like crispy tofu and popcorn chicken (both served atop toasted bread and delicious pickles) and Fuddruckers-reminiscent (in a good way) hand-cut French fries make it a place you’ll want to hang out for a while; an array of spectacular sauces, like agave mustard and sweet chile, will have you searching for more things to dip.
4501 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314.359.2293, drinkplatypus.com

Bowood by Niche
Niche Food Group is at it again, this time in the quaint yet upscale former home of Cafe Osage, sharing a space with Bowood Farms. The avocado toast brings a bold mix of flavors with pickled sweet chile, fresh mint and parsley, and a dry spice blend with parsley, thyme, nutritional yeast and citrus zests. The dry aged burger is juicy and flavorful with Marcoot Farms’ Tipsy Cheddar, pickled shallot and a savory-sweet caramelized onion aioli on a well-buttered bun served alongside perfectly crispy battered fries. And the seasonal gimlet with spiced pear, lime and gin truly tastes like the holidays.
4605 Olive St., St. Louis, 314.454.6868, bowoodbyniche.com