Fav Wav Food Spots #6 The Gramophone — The Grove

The Gramophone brings together two things St. Louis does particularly well: music culture and seriously good sandwiches. Located at 4243 Manchester Avenue in The Grove, the restaurant began in March 2008 as an intimate concert venue. After hosting more than 1,500 shows over seven years, it shifted direction in 2015 and reinvented itself as a sandwich pub—although live music and DJs remain part of its identity.

Today, the oversized, creatively constructed sandwiches are the attraction. The Mississippi Nights Club stacks roast beef, turkey, bacon and pepper jack with vegetables, pepper mayo, spicy red-pepper spread and Billy Goat Kicker chips. Another favorite, the Alcatraz, combines slow-roasted beef with Swiss, Provel, caramelized onions and Boss sauce on garlic-buttered sourdough. Even the mac and cheese gets a distinctly St. Louis touch, combining Gouda, white cheddar, Provel and Cheez Whiz before being topped with crushed Old Vienna Red Hot Riplets.

The Gramophone’s popularity also comes from its atmosphere. Craft beer, late-night food, a pool table, pinball, live entertainment and a dog-friendly patio preserve some of the personality of its former life as a music club.

For a list celebrating restaurants that help define modern St. Louis dining, The Gramophone represents the city’s more casual and unconventional side—a neighborhood hangout that successfully transformed itself from concert club to destination sandwich shop without abandoning its musical roots.

What to try: Mississippi Nights Club, Alcatraz, Buffalo Soldier, homemade mac and cheese or two different half-sandwiches if you can’t settle on just one..

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