Ian Froeb’s STL 100: The best St. Louis restaurants of 2025
St. Louis Post-Dispatch | April 11, 2025
The O’Fallon, Illinois, mansion built in 1857 by August Wastfield is almost too picturesque for fine dining. What else could fill its tree-framed, red-brick façade but a safe, fusty menu of steaks, chops and potatoes? At August the Mansion, first-time restaurateurs Candice and Justin Mills don’t avoid familiar pleasures, but chef Jessica Hickman distinguishes the restaurant’s upscale fare with her fresh, seasonal approach. Her touch can be as slight as the local smoked gouda gilding the burger, as electric as the Peruvian chicken thighs’ aji verde, as sweet as last summer’s peach-Champagne glaze on the whopping pork rib chop. Amid these heartier dishes, Hickman’s signature might be an appetizer of Brussels sprouts with accents both expected (bacon) and wonderfully surprising (cranberry, pistachio and feta).