Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant

Atsede Wondem and Henok Gerbi have run this South Grand Boulevard dining room since 2007. Ian Froeb's STL 100 in the Post-Dispatch calls it a South Grand staple that feeds meat eaters and vegetarians alike, pointing to raw kitfo, berbere-seasoned tibs wat and the dried beef of kwanta firfir. Sauce Magazine's Liz Wolfson works the seven-dish vegetarian platter instead: tikil gomen cabbage with carrots, garlic, ginger and curry, braised gomen wat collards, and the mild yellow lentil stew miser alecha. Order the vegetarian combination platter, or the Meskerem Combo to get beef and vegetables on one injera.

Picks from Sauce Magazine and St. Louis Post-Dispatch