Top Restaurants with Outdoor Seating and Patios in St. Louis, Missouri

I guess you’d have to drink a lot of imported beer to be able to play bottle caps anymore. I’m told that the twist-off caps just don’t have the same aerodynamics that the old ones that required a bottle opener did. Time was, all you needed was a friendly bar owner and a handle from an old broken mop to play the game. Forget about the radio DJ’s that tell you that warshers, (that’s right, washers has an r in it in St. Louis), is THE Saturday afternoon backyard game in the ‘Lou. Maybe it was for these guys, growing up in West County and everything, but in the back alleys and behind the corner taverns in the city, bottle caps was the game. Warshers is a game where you sail a metal washer through the air and try to land it either in a box or a ring, something like that, as I’ve never really played it.

Bottle caps is sort of like cork ball: you hold the bottle cap between your thumb and index finger and let it fly towards the guy who is holding the mop or broom handle. A point is scored if he makes contact with the bottle cap. Sounds simple, but incredibly hard to do. It’s like swatting a fly with a chopstick. The tavern owner would save up a week’s worth of bottle caps and put them in a cardboard box for you. The ones that were really bent were the best as far as pitching. They wobbled like a knuckle ball and were even harder to hit. You got a group of guys together and usually played either in the beer garden behind the bar, or out in the alley, before the bar’s regular operating hours. It was pre-arranged that there would be a large tin container of ice and beer ready to go when you arrived. It also served as your emergency supply of bottle caps in case you ran out.

Unfortunately there aren’t many bar and restaurant patios in St. Louis where you can play bottle caps on a Saturday or Sunday morning anymore, but here are a few places where you can enjoy the great outdoors and get great food and drink as well:

John D. McGurk’s Irish Pub at 1200 Russell has long been a favorite place to get some homemade chips and a cold Guinness. The patio has always been attractive with a roomy bar and a nice fountain. (I guess the gurgling water makes you thirstier) Now they have expanded to seat almost 250 people, and you have plenty of room to enjoy your meal without being elbow to elbow with the other patrons.

Another nice outside dining area is at Norton’s Café at 808 Geyer Avenue down in Soulard. The patio area is fairly spacious with about 25-30 tables that are enclosed by a nice wooden fence and lots and lots of shade trees to keep you cool in the summer. The specialty here is Creole and Cajun and the jambalaya is excellent. You can also just get the sausage by itself on a bun slathered with relish, onions, and mustard. A little bit of hot sauce never hurt either.

Right down the street is the Soulard Coffee Garden at 910 Geyer. The Garden serves a good light breakfast and lunch fare with a nice selection of salads and coffee drinks. The inside of this little coffee shop is tastefully decorated with art that is rotated on a regular basis. The booths and tables are unique and hand-painted with flower designs. The exposed brick and fireplace make this a great interior space, but the reason it is called the Coffee Garden is because of the wonderful green garden space that is behind it. It almost feels like you are lounging around at the Botanical Gardens sipping your Latté with all of the variety of plants here.

Other places with great outdoor seating include Tucker’s Place, Bar Italia, and Molly’s. But for the experience that probably comes closest to the old days of bottle caps is playing Bocce ball at Milo’s Tavern on the Hill. After polishing off some of the best Italian food around, you can roll a few in a place that definitely reminds you of Little Italy. One small note of caution though; don’t wear black because things can get a little dusty with the Bocce balls. I’ll even bet if you asked a few of the old timers there, they could tell you all about bottle caps too.