5 dessert shops to try around St. Louis this spring
We’re always on the lookout for something sweet, and St. Louis never fails to deliver on that front. If you’re looking to get your sweet fix somewhere new this season, here are four relatively new places you can check out today, along with an ice cream shop that is set to open in the near future.
A Spoonful of Sugar
Elijah Jabari scoops 12 ice cream flavors in this newly opened Benton Park shop, based out of the old Cones + Cups space. Flavors include classic vanilla, milk chocolate and brownie batter, but there are also a number of options inspired by candy bars like Snickers, Butterfinger and Twix. Flavors may change according to the seasons. Jabari also serves floats, shakes and malts with assistance from his mom, DeVonshae Person (Ali), and his younger brother, Joshua Person. Four-legged patrons are also looked after with dog treats made with yogurt, peanut butter and bananas. A Spoonful of Sugar can seat 12 inside and 18 on its patio, and opens from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
2800 McNair Ave., St. Louis, 314.328.1048, spoonful-stl.com
Cafe Ganadara
The croffle, a croissant-waffle hybrid that can be topped with your pick of sweet or savory toppings, is this Korean restaurant’s major contribution to the local dessert scene. The chocolate creme croffle, topped with chocolate chips, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, holds its crisp admirably, while the hotteok croffle is a riff on the Korean street food pancake, adapting the hotteok’s traditional nutty, brown sugar filling to serve as a topping. There’s also bingsu (shaved ice dessert), boba tea, fruit tea and coffee. Opened in spring 2023, this Korean dessert shop on the southern end of Hampton Avenue was the sister restaurant to the recently shuttered Chicken Seven, but we think Ganadara’s fried chicken chi-bap (boneless fried chicken served over rice with housemade slaw and corn) eclipses its forerunner’s fried chicken. Their savory menu also includes gimbap “burritos” that feature a variety of fillings wrapped in rice and sheets of seaweed.
6413 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, 314.802.7044, Facebook: Café Ganadara
Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Ice Cream
Clementine’s original Lafayette Square shop will reopen with a celebration on May 15, six months after a burst pipe forced the temporary closure of the storefront at 1637 S. 18th St. Formerly known as Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Creamery, the ice cream shop offers indulgently creamy dairy-based desserts, as well as equally tasty vegan ice creams made from a coconut base. Their booze-infused “naughty” ice creams are a special treat for the adults. Customers who visit Lafayette Square for the grand reopening event on May 15 can hang on to their receipts and redeem for a free cone with a purchase at any of the eight St. Louis area Clementine's locations from May 17 to 19.
Multiple locations, clementinescreamery.com
Spoonful Desserts
Bingsu, a Korean shaved ice dessert, is the signature at this Korean dessert cafe, which opened an Edwardsville location in January 2024 on top of its original West County shop. The shaved ice is made from a sweetened milk base that owner Monica Lee compares to melted vanilla ice cream. The base mixture is poured into an imported bingsu machine which makes incredibly fine ice crystals that are delicate, soft like snow and resemble shaved, dried coconut. The shaved ice is mounded high in a cup like a snow cone and topped with various sweet ingredients like mango or strawberries. The Matcha-matic bingsu contains layers of shaved ice, earthy-but-sweet matcha powder, and Korean mochi tossed in roasted soybean powder, and comes topped with whipped cream and a dollop of sweet red bean paste. Definitely opt for the sweetened condensed milk on the side. The cafe also offers taiyaki (a fish-shaped mochi waffle cake with your choice of red bean paste, Nutella or apple cinnamon filling), boba tea and coffee drinks made with Blueprint Coffee to taiyaki (a small cake filled with Nutella or red bean paste).
12943 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, 314.485.1757; 1063 IL-157, Suite 11-12, Edwardsville, Illinois, 618.514.8020, spoonfuldesserts.com
Sylvie Dee’s
Coming soon to Webster Groves, this ice cream shop will serve “ice cream confections, soda, nostalgic candy and coffee” out of a cute, newly renovated space with a tiny artificial grass patio installed in the narrow gap between Sylvie Dee’s and an adjacent store.
8721 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314.918.5472, sylviedees.com
