St. Louis Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Ian Froeb provides an overview of the numerous restaurants that have opened just in the past two months, including Balaban’s and Lazy Tiger in the Central West End.

Balaban’s

Balaban’s has returned to the Central West End — sort of. New owner Karen Halper plans to reopen the iconic restaurant, which under its previous owners had operated for several years in Chesterfield, across the street from its original location.

For now, Balaban’s chef Phil Stemmler is offering curbside pickup and, via the Central West End’s Streetery outdoor-dining program, limited patio dining using the kitchen of another of Halper’s businesses, Patty Long Catering.

Lazy Tiger

Lazy Tiger is a new cocktail bar from Travis Howard and Tim Wiggins, the team behind the Central West End restaurants Retreat Gastropub and Yellowbelly.

The bar showcases a relatively small number of bottles, with an emphasis on agave spirits (tequila, mezcal and raicilla), gin, rum and whiskey alongside fortified wines and amaro and other liqueurs.

Read the full article on St. Louis Post-Dispatch.