ST. LOUIS — Sado and Pavilion are No. 1 on the STL 100, my list of the best restaurants in St. Louis, for the second consecutive year.
The decision to keep them there was easy. What chef Nick Bognar, his family and an exceptional team of cooks, bartenders and front of house staff accomplish at these interconnected restaurants on the Hill is a miracle.
Pavilion is Bognar’s showcase, an omakase (chef-directed) dinner through 18 courses, each modest in size but not in flavor, cumulatively unforgettable. It is also a splurge. Expect to pay more than $200 per person, possibly more than $300, for dinner, service and drinks. Expect to receive appropriately luxurious bites of fatty tuna and A5 wagyu beef from Japan.
Where Pavilion excels, though, isn’t its excess. Instead Bognar and his team showcase how aging a fish draws out deeper flavors and more interesting textures, like a piece of nodoguro (rosy-throat sea perch) aged seven days that melts like sweet butter on your tongue.
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Other dishes they summon from the precise alchemy of season and inspiration. Tennen buri (winter yellowtail) smoked with hay, touched with the fish’s own bone marrow and a dash of sour cherry jam. Cured sardines on toasted brioche with shiso, fried leeks and butternut squash.
A torch is used to char a piece of AS wagyu, with tiger cry glaze, as prepared by Pavilion, photographed on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Pavilion is an omakase experience restaurant located behind Sado in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.
As exclusive as Pavilion is, the vibe is laid-back, more dinner party than church service. Bognar and his team chat and joke with diners between courses. They sear dishes with a blowtorch decorated with a dinosaur head.
Sado, meanwhile, is the block party, buzzing with happy chatter as tables dig into sushi as exquisite as Pavilion’s jewels. Sado’s range is exceptional. Beyond nigiri sushi, sashimi and sushi rolls, you will find composed dishes like a salmon aguachile with cool, crisp apple and searing jalapeño; a chophouse-worthy lamb chop from the yakitori grill; crab Rangoon to honor his mother Ann Bognar’s former Ballwin-area restaurant, Nippon Tei.
A box of sushi prepared to serve guests during a dinner service at Pavilion, photographed on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Pavilion is an omakase experience restaurant located behind Sado in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.
Bognar grew up in Nippon Tei. In 2015, he launched his first, fledging restaurant, Ramen Tei, in one of its dining rooms. After a few years outside St. Louis, he returned home to become Nippon Tei’s chef and took the restaurant to the top of the St. Louis sushi scene.
In 2019, Bognar debuted his first proper restaurant, Indo in Botanical Heights. It was a revelation, featuring a broader and more technically accomplished selection of sushi than what he had served at Nippon Tei alongside new dishes that celebrated his Thai heritage.
Even after Bognar opened Sado in 2023 as his yet more ambitious flagship, Indo has remained an essential St. Louis restaurant, No. 11 in this year’s STL 100.
This is a tribute to the staffs Bognar has hired and continues to nurture. This year, Bognar himself was absent from my dinner at Pavilion. His lieutenant, Reed Joern, led the meal just as capably, with chef Gaston Pastore by his side. I didn’t see Bognar when I was at Sado either. It didn’t matter. This is a team restaurant — team restaurants — and in 2026 they are at the top of their game.
WHERE: Sado, 5201 Shaw Ave. MORE INFO: 314-390-2883; HOURS: Dinner Tuesday-Sunday (closed Monday) PRICING: $$$-$$$$
WHERE: Pavilion, 5201 Shaw Ave. MORE INFO: 314-390-2883; HOURS: Dinner Friday-Saturday (pre-paid reservations only) PRICING: $$$$
What, exactly, has changed this decade? Where have so many diners gone? What do they want from a restaurant in 2026?
