Known as the Gateway City, St. Louis boasts a number of noteworthy happenings in 2021, just in time for Missouri’s bicentennial. On the food front, Casa Don Alfonso, the first stateside outpost of Michelin-star Italian restaurateur Mario Iaccarino, debuted at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, featuring traditional dishes from the Mediterranean. The mixed-use City Foundry STL is the area’s first true food hall, serving everything from Argentine empanadas to dosas and Bombay sliders. A duo of flashy hotel openings—Le Méridien St. Louis Downtown, featuring an open-air pool deck, and 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, offering art-exhibition space in addition to its 173 rooms—are set to expand the city’s hospitality options. Other ongoing transformations include the Brickline Greenway, connecting pedestrians and cyclists to city parks, and Laclede’s Landing, a strip of former warehouses renovated into a trendy restaurant and nightclub district on the Mississippi riverfront. Also coming: the new St. Louis City SC soccer stadium will be home to the city’s first MLS team when it debuts in a revitalized section of downtown, not far from the landmark Gateway Arch National Park. —Katy Spratte Joyce
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