Yaqui's on Cherokee specializes in two things: wine and wood-fired pizza. The latter is owner Francis Rodriguez's own take on the Neapolitan pizza a supple, rich crust topped with an anchovy-based tomato sauce and cheese, then baked until crispy yet toothsome at a scorching 800 degrees. Pair one of these fourteen-inch wonders with one of the bar's thirty wines, and you have a recipe for a charming night on Cherokee Street. Yaqui's livens up a classic 120-year-old building, imbuing its brick walls with a casual yet cozy and classy ambiance.
Eccentric haven Venice Café provides a bright, colorful spot to take in live music and enjoy Caribbean fare - Rasta kabobs (available with jerk chicken, beef or veggie), Red Stripe Porker (pork tenderloin) and fried plantains are among the options. Venice Café's drinks include standard beer and liquor choices, and happy hour specials run Monday through Saturday.
A true taste of N'awlins awaits you at this party-time Cajun/Creole dive, housed in a 150-year-old historic building in the shadows of Busch Stadium and downtown. Order up a mess of crawfish, fried alligator, jambalaya or gumbo (the house recipe, known as Gumbo Ya Ya, is mixed with shrimp, chicken and andouille sausage), or go for one of the five grinders or five varieties of oysters on the half-shell. The Big Easy ain't just found in the flavors, though: Broadway Oyster Bar is also a great place to see national jazz, blues and zydeco acts seven days a week. Nowhere else in town can you eat gator meat and oysters and hear live music. The regulars know it, and they pack the bar so full it makes you wonder if N'awlins natives aren't coming up here for a slice o' blues, St. Louis-style. Laissez le bon temps rouler, indeed.
On the ground floor of the Hampton Inn downtown lies Irish pub Tigín. The pub, decked in wood, includes several small, separate rooms for diners and football fans. The modest beer selection includes the usual suspects at Irish pubs (Harp, Guinness), while the whiskey menu offers standards and a few higher-end choices (Middleton Very Rare). The menu highlights Irish fare, from the Irish breakfast (served all day) - which includes Irish sausages, rashers, black and white pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes and pan-fried potato bread - to corned beef and cabbage, and even has some unexpected choices (the boxty quesadilla, an Irish twist on the Mexican classic, with potato pancakes serving as the tortilla).