STL Culinary Tours fills appetites with St. Louis-area walking tours

Can you imagine being called the best in your field? That would take a lot of determination, effort, and a little bit of luck. For Beth Heidrich, it’s a welcome acknowledgement of the work she’s put in her walking food tour company – StL Culinary Tours. “Wine Enthusiast Magazine” named her company as the No. 1 walking food tour in the United States.

The St. Louis Culinary Tours’ goal is to unite food enthusiasts with some of the best food and drink in The St. Louis area. Beth’s goal is to introduce guests to some of the best chefs in the United States, who just happen to call St. Louis home.

We met Beth during a recent trip to St. Louis. She asked us to meet at one of her favorite places – The Restaurant at the Cheshire – in Clayton. Some of her walking tours kick off at The Restaurant. Beth and Lisa each sampled wine, while I stuck to the non-alcoholic stuff. I love wine’s fragrance, but lost the taste for it long ago.

Beth has long been a “foodie.” She studied abroad during college. In 1995, she managed events and parties for fund-raisers and celebrities at the Mobil 5-star The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Her career has also seen her manage public relations and represent famous chefs, such as Julia Child, Dean Fearing and Jacques Pepin.

In 2003, she returned to St. Louis, where she managed The Grill and the Cigar Club at the Ritz-Carlton. She also worked as public relations director at the culinary school L’Ecole Culinaire in St. Louis.

She created StL Culinary Tours in 2012. Within a year, the company had gained national attention.

STL Culinary Tours offers a variety of walking tours. Each, of course, is related to food and drink. The tours are small – capping off at about 10 people. The tours are about $175 per person. Mind you, for this amount, you are getting to enjoy wine and other drinks along with your meal at some of the best restaurants St. Louis has to offer.

The tours include some historical areas of St. Louis, including a World’s Fair tour and supper. Beth organized stops with history experts. They were able to pinpoint where some of the countries’ exhibits were located when St. Louis hosted the 1904 World’s Fair. Each stop had a dish from that country.

StL Culinary tours start at noon and usually last four hours. Neighborhoods included are Maplewood, Clayton, Demun, Market Street and downtown St. Louis.  There are many more that they offer, but these are admittedly some of Beth’s favorites.

Some of the eateries they visit include Cielo (heaven in Italian), Three Sixty, Vom Fass, Water Street, Blood & Sand, Tony’s Restaurant, Still 630, Mike Shannon’s, I Fratellini, Demun Oyster Bar and The Cheshire, in addition to The Restaurant.

The Demun tour brought us to The Restaurant. Chef Rex Hale is among the best chefs in the region, if not the country. He has more than 25 years of culinary experience, including working in the Caribbean. In addition to be the chef at The Restaurant, he is the Executive Chef at 360, a popular rooftop restaurant at the Hilton St. Louis. The restaurant gives visitors a great view of the St. Louis skyline (and the famous Arch), including Busch Stadium during Cardinals baseball games.

Chef Rex created an amazing menu for us to sample during our visit. It was basically a mini-food tour for us.

We started with a warm sea cucumber smoked pork belly small plate. The pork belly was delicious. The ingredients worked well together and featured Thai chile coriander and sesame dressing.

Lisa enjoyed some scrumptious scallops.

We sampled a salad featuring locally grown tomatoes and goat cheese. The dish was amazing! The tomatoes were fresh. The goat cheese added to the dish. We both liked it.  Many of the dishes are locally inspired and sourced. The tomatoes came from  Rain Crow Ranch in Doniphan, Missouri as well as the pork belly from an earlier dish.  Baetje Farms in Bloomsdale, Missouri produced the award-winning goat cheese that we dined on.

A spit roasted heritage chicken dish was an excellent choice. It featured spring greens and smoked bacon.

We closed the “tour” with delicious short rib dish, featuring mashed potatoes and vegetables.

In addition to an outstanding menu, The Restaurant offers guests a fantastic wine selection. I had the opportunity to check out the wine area.

The Restaurant has a beautiful decor.

We may not have been to take a full tour with STL Culinary Tours, but we definitely had a great time sampling the menu at The Restaurant. We would love to take a full tour on a future trip to St. Louis.

If you‘re planning a trip to St. Louis or already live in the area, check out the website for public tours (Beth hosts a lot of private tours) – www.stlculinarytours.com.

For more information on The Restaurant at The Cheshire, please visit www.restaurant-stl.com.