Walk east from Kingsland toward the MetroLink station on a Thursday evening this August and the sidewalk sounds different than it did two summers ago. The bass line from Blueberry Hill is still there. So is the marquee glow off The Pageant at 6161 Delmar. What's new is the smell coming out of half a dozen storefronts between roughly 6100 and 6400 Delmar, and the fact that the crowd waiting for tables is spilling in both directions instead of clustering at the west end.
The short version: the Loop has quietly rotated toward Asian cuisine in the last six months, and the free Sunday concerts at Phillip Lucier Park have become the connective tissue that lets a resident spend a whole evening here without touching a car.
The east block is now a noodle corridor
For years, the dining reputation of the Loop rested on a handful of legacy anchors near Skinker: Blueberry Hill, Fitz's at 6605 Delmar with its bottling line and root beer floats, Salt + Smoke. Those places are still doing what they've always done. The shift is happening a few blocks east.
Fox 2 counted five new restaurants opening in the Loop over roughly six months earlier this year, and the through-line is unmistakable. Dumplings Plus, Kishimoto Mendō, Sumo Sushi, OME Cafe, and Zhanglala Beef Noodles have all arrived, adding a variety of Asian cuisines to the Loop's growing dining scene. MOTW Coffee & Pastries, known for its Yemeni-inspired drinks and pastries, and Pho Now are both preparing to open Loop locations in the coming months.
Kishimoto Mendō is the one to know if you haven't been in a few weeks. Slated to open in late April at 6394 Delmar, it comes from Menya Rui chef-owner Steven Pursley and features the same handmade noodles he has honed over the years at his South City restaurant. Yelp reviewers have already started calling it out for the visible hand-pulling behind the counter, and it now shares a shortlist with Corner 17 and Noodle Story as the neighborhood ramen and hand-pulled options within a five-minute walk of one another.
Here is what has landed on Delmar in 2026, roughly in order of arrival:
| Restaurant | Address | Cuisine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kishimoto Mendō | 6394 Delmar | Japanese, handmade noodles | Sequel to Menya Rui |
| Jekyll & Hyde | 6100 Delmar | Contemporary American | Took over the former Prime 55 space |
| HopCat | 6315 Delmar | Brewpub | Debuted with 80 Missouri craft beers on tap |
| Dumplings Plus | Delmar Loop | Chinese, dumplings | Part of the 2026 wave |
| Sumo Sushi | Delmar Loop | Japanese, sushi | Part of the 2026 wave |
| OME Cafe | Delmar Loop | Asian cafe | Part of the 2026 wave |
| Zhanglala Beef Noodles | Delmar Loop | Chinese, beef noodle | Part of the 2026 wave |
Jekyll & Hyde is the outlier and the most talked-about of the group. It opened at the corner of 6100 Delmar in the space previously held by Prime 55, and it comes from the hospitality group behind Amigo Sole. Diners have propelled it to a 4.9-star Google rating backed by more than 100 customer reviews, which is unusual consistency for an early-stage operation. If you have not been, go on a weeknight. The weekend rush from the Pageant crowd is real.
HopCat is the other one worth flagging for anyone who has been avoiding the eastern block. HopCat opened at 6315 Delmar Boulevard, making its long-awaited Loop debut during St. Louis Craft Beer Week with 80 Missouri-made craft beers on tap. The tap list rotates, but the volume of local pours has stuck.
One curiosity worth mentioning because it keeps drawing lines out the door: at Nudo House at 6105 Delmar, the Sonic The Hedgehog Speed Café pop-up has been extended another month, given its popularity. If you have kids or nieces or nephews visiting, that is your Saturday afternoon.
What Sunday afternoons at Lucier Park actually do
The dining shift is the loud story. The quieter one is what has happened to Phillip Lucier Park at 5501 Delmar.
The Levitt Concert Series has been running there since May, and it doesn't wrap until late September. The series runs from May 10 through September 27, at Phillip Lucier Park, 5501 Delmar Blvd. Free, outdoor, on grass, with a pavilion. That is the whole pitch.
What it changes for residents: the park is now a legitimate pre-dinner destination on Sunday afternoons through the end of the month. You show up at three, catch an hour of music, walk east to any of the new spots, and eat before the after-concert traffic from The Pageant hits. It is the only stretch of the year where the Loop has a scheduled, free, weekly outdoor anchor. Once September 27 passes, the same walk gets colder and quieter fast.
If you have not built it into your rotation yet, this is the month.
The August calendar at The Pageant and Delmar Hall
Concert traffic is the other reason the sidewalks feel dense in August. A few dates worth noting if you plan your dinner reservations around the crowds:
- Psychedelic Furs with Living Colour, The Pageant, August 5
- Please Don't Destroy live, The Pageant, August 8
- Jack Harlow on the Monica Tour, The Pageant, August 9
- Mighty Pines for Mighty Oakes benefit concert, Delmar Hall, August 21
- Jesse Welles on the Red Tour, The Pageant, August 21 (currently sold out)
- Taylor Made: A Tribute to Taylor Swift, Delmar Hall, August 22
- Fooz Fighters, Delmar Hall, August 29
The Pageant and Delmar Hall box offices open two hours prior to the scheduled event door time, and the Pageant box office is also open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you're a resident who books dinner nearby, the practical trick is to sit down before doors open or after the show starts. Between those two windows, the wait at anywhere within a block of The Pageant will double.
Why the block feels denser this year
If it feels busier on foot, that is not your imagination. There is a building reason.
One of the largest projects underway is LOCAL on Delmar, a five-story mixed-use project that will add 259 apartments and townhomes to the district. That is a meaningful number for a corridor that historically drew its evening foot traffic from Washington University and destination diners rather than residents in walking distance. The Loop has welcomed five new restaurants over the past six months as new apartment developments continue to bring more residents and visitors to the area, and the recent openings reflect ongoing investment in the area.
The takeaway for someone who already lives in U City: the operator class opening on Delmar right now is betting on captive walk-up demand from new residents, not on tourism. That is why the newer restaurants skew smaller, faster, and cuisine-specific rather than the broad American menus that used to define the strip. If you have been feeling like the Loop finally has weekday energy, this is the mechanism.
A walk-only Friday, mapped
For anyone who wants to test the new shape of the block without moving the car, here is an honest sequence that fits between roughly 5:30 and 10:30 p.m.:
- Park once, near Lucier Park at 5501 Delmar, or take MetroLink to the Delmar Loop station.
- Grab an early drink at HopCat, 6315 Delmar, and order from the Missouri tap list.
- Walk two blocks east for dinner at Kishimoto Mendō, 6394 Delmar. Go before 7 or plan to wait.
- If Kishimoto is full, backtrack to Jekyll & Hyde at 6100 Delmar, or duck into Nudo House at 6105.
- Coffee or dessert at one of the new cafe openings before the Pageant crowd lets out.
- If there is a show, time your last stop for after 9 p.m. to avoid the exit surge from 6161 Delmar.
- Walk back to Lucier Park. Ten-minute stroll, all lit, all on Delmar.
That routine did not exist in this form a year ago. Two of those stops opened in 2026.
What this means if you're paying attention
Neighborhoods don't change all at once. They change on one block at a time, and usually the change is invisible until a resident who has lived there for a decade suddenly realizes the pattern. The pattern this year is straightforward: the Loop's dining center of gravity has moved a few hundred feet east, the cuisine mix has tilted, and the residential base is thickening under it.
None of that requires any real estate decision on your part. It does mean that if you have out-of-town guests coming in September, the walking tour you gave them two summers ago is out of date. Rebuild it around the east block, book something before 7, and end the night at Lucier Park while the Levitt series still has weekends left.
If you're the kind of resident who tracks the block-by-block shifts because you eventually plan to buy, sell, or refer a friend who is doing either, The Krummenacher Team keeps a running read on what University City looks like at the street level. Reach out when you want that read in more detail, or request access to our private listings when you're ready to see what is quietly on the market before it hits the portals.
