Lona's Lil Eats

We were super excited to try Lona's Lil Eats in Tower Grove.  Voted best new restaurant in St. Louis and home of the Original Giant Rice Paper Wrap!  It definitely lived up to the hype.  The line was to the door, but it went fast.  There were some cute picnic tables outside to eat on, so it would be a great place to grab lunch in the summertime.  You get up to the counter and order, and then they bring everything to your table.  I would recommend tipping when you place your order, because they did have workers walking around and filling up your water and delivering your food and cleaning up after you.

Let's start with the Appetizers.  They only have two:  Spring Rolls and Dumplings.  Both were good.  The Grilled Chicken Spring Rolls were really fresh and showcased their famous rice paper wrap.  However, if I had to choose a winner between the two, I'd choose the Steak and Mushroom Dumplings.  They were wonderful.

Grilled Chicken Spring Rolls

Steak and Mushroom Dumplings

Now for the wrap:  You can choose the wrap (Rice paper - DUH!), the protein (chicken, shrimp, beef, tofu, turkey), the staple (rice or noodles), and the sauce (all looked good).  I think part of the fun was standing in line and discussing with each other which options to choose.  I chose rice paper, chicken, with the stir-fried glass noodles and spicy sesame sauce.  It was a home run.  I am in love with the stir-fried glass noodles (which Jessie even thought were a bit spicy).  Definitely get the noodles over rice.  Someone else in our group got Shrimp as their protein and they loved it.  Next time I'll be trying the shrimp.

Josie's Wrap - Rice Paper, Chicken, Stir-Fried Glass Noodles, Spicy Sesame Sauce

I think Jessie described it best, it's like Chipotle for Asian food.  Except everything in a Lona's wrap was so much fresher and lighter.  Plus it didn't make my stomach want to hurt me an hour later.  It was amazing and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Note:  there were also a bunch of side options to go along with the wrap, but I really don't feel like going into too much depth with them.  There are pretty much a bunch of veggie sides you can try.  Nothing too special.