Each year during Bear Beginnings, our first-year student orientation, Chancellor Martin and I lead a group of incoming first-year students on a tour of some of the many amazing restaurants in the St. Louis area. This year, we stopped by a few of downtown Clayton’s yummiest spots, including Crushed Red and 5 Star Burgers.
Crushed Red opened its first location in Clayton in 2012, serving up salads, pizza and soups. Since then, they’ve opened three more locations in the area and one in Kansas. Their specialty is a focus on healthy options and sustainability but with all the convenience of fast food.
The students, Chancellor Martin and I tried the Queen Margherita and Mushroom, Pepperoni & Sausage pizzas and the Chipotle BBQ Chicken salad. The pizzas were amazing! The toppings were flavorful and the crusts were just the right amount of crispy. The tomato slices on the margherita pizza were sweet and added a lot of good flavor.
The salad was full of fresh ingredients — chicken breast, corn, black beans, pepper jack, cilantro, strips of tortilla and greens with ranch dressing. It was refreshing and tasty and it made for a great pairing with the pizzas.
If you’re looking for a convenient and delicious lunch, Crushed Red is perfectly suited to it and you can feel good about eating healthy and sustainable food!
Five Star Burgers also opened in 2012 in downtown Clayton. They offer several types of burgers, sandwiches, sides, drinks and even a monthly burger special. For our food tour, we tried a few of their sliders, including the veggie slider, and some fries.
Everyone agreed that the sandwiches were delicious. The buns were soft, and the patties were juicy and tasted excellent. The black angus burger was perfectly cooked and a good blend of smokey and meaty. The veggie slider, made of lentils and whole grains, was also really good, served with mushrooms and onions on top.
The fries were crispy, salty and warm, and were a very popular side with all of us! Five Star Burgers was an excellent place to hang out, talk and share some good food with some great friends.
I’ve always been impressed with the variety of food options the St. Louis area has, and this definitely holds true for downtown Clayton! Both of these options are close to campus and only a short walk from the Forsyth or Clayton MetroLink stops.
Crushed Red is at 8007 Maryland Ave. and is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the week. Five Star Burgers is just down the street at 8125 Maryland Ave. and is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week except Sunday when it closes at 8:30 p.m.