The Columbia Playbook

Equal parts New World butcher shop and Old World deli. Chef-owner Ben Parks breaks down whole animals from area farms — Sullivan, Patchwork — into a Southern-meets-Spanish-and-Italian menu. The bar is so deep it needs a ladder to reach the top shelf.

Reservations: Reserve by phone; book 1-2 weeks ahead for game weekends

A reclaiming of 'flyover country' as a compliment. Shareable plates built around a wood-fired stone oven and a daily-changing menu, sourced from named local farms — Three Creeks, With the Wild, The Sage Garden, Patchwork. Plates arrive as they're ready; the room is built for grazing.

Reservations: Reserve online; book ahead for game weekends

Columbia's white-tablecloth steakhouse — the spot locals book for the anniversary, the closing, the special Saturday. The Shrimp Atascadero shows up in every 'best appetizer in town' argument.

Reservations: Reserve by phone; well ahead for game weekends

A New Orleans-leaning kitchen tucked into the historic Tiger Hotel — chandeliers, walls of wine, and a menu that wanders from Cajun roots to Southern comfort. Close with bread pudding under house-made whiskey sauce.

Reservations: Reserve online; book ahead on game weekends

'New York attitude, Missouri sensibility.' Brooklyn-style pies, Roman pizza al taglio, and handmade pasta inside a 1901 building that was Columbia's first City Hall — later the firehouse, and once the jail. Slices when the kitchen closes.

Reservations: Walk-in; reservations for dinner service

Open since 1884 — pouring beers and grilling burgers when people still arrived by horse and buggy. A billiard hall first, with original hexagonal-tile floors, snooker tables, and Mizzou memorabilia on every wall. Cash only, no fries (chips only), and a Boone County Hall of Fame plaque to its name.

Reservations: Walk-in only — first come, first served

Slinging pies across from campus since June 1973, with the pink (sauce-proof, reusable) cloth napkins and a crispy crust generations of Tigers grew up on. Torn down and faithfully rebuilt on the same corner in 2016, reusing the old materials. Marching Mizzou still rehearses in the park around the block.

Reservations: Walk-in; open late (Fri-Sat to 1 AM)

A Columbia favorite for decades, where live jazz, an unpretentious room, and a kitchen that quietly overdelivers have built a fan base that drives across town for it. Routinely lands at the top of any 'best restaurant in Columbia' conversation.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in (expect a wait on weekends)

Columbia's oldest full-service restaurant, open since 1934 — founded by Ernie Lewis with a 'Date Steak' on the menu for courting couples. A fading Art Deco storefront with pedestal counter seating and a 50s-diner feel; breakfast served all day, every day.

Reservations: Walk-in; seat yourself (short waits move fast on game mornings)

The effortlessly-cool brunch heart of the North Village Arts District — quirky, art-filled, and packed on warm mornings when the patio fills. The kind of place that feels like Columbia's creative class decided to open a breakfast spot.

Reservations: Walk-in; patio fills fast on weekends

A homegrown Columbia roaster and café right beside Ernie's — the kind of bright, unhurried room built for a slow Sunday before the drive home. Local beans, careful coffee, no rush.

Reservations: Walk-in

Mizzou's iconic bar since 1971, opened by Dennis Harper months after he graduated and named for his fraternity nickname. Six bars, an all-season rooftop, 30-plus TVs, and the basement nightclub '10 Below.' When Mizzou upset No. 1 Oklahoma in 2010, fans carried the goalposts here chanting 'HAARP-OHHHH'S.'

Wall-to-wall on game day — students, alumni, and visiting fans, loud and celebratory from late morning on. The rooftop is the move when the weather cooperates.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in

A campus-edge institution that predates most of the Ninth Street scene — one of the handful of bars old Columbia hands name alongside Booches. Burgers, beer, and a porch built for watching the pregame crowd flow toward the stadium.

Equal parts students and returning alumni; an easy beer-and-a-burger pregame energy rather than a nightclub.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in

Columbia's craft distillery on the Fay Street strip, a short walk from Logboat, making small-batch vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, and tequila on site. Serious about the spirits, relaxed about everything else — tours, tastings, and seasonal cocktails in a modern tasting room.

Modern and upscale tasting room — a grown-up cocktail stop, not a shot bar.

Reservations: Walk-in; check hours

Set inside a former downtown bank — soaring ceilings, rotating local art on the walls, and a long bar where the tellers once stood. A handsome, central spot for a cocktail before or after dinner.

Lively but dressed-up; date-night and after-work more than rowdy.

Reservations: Walk-in; reservations for dinner

A sleeker downtown lounge that pulls double duty as restaurant and late bar — the place for a quieter drink and a DJ-and-cocktails night when you want a step up from the college bars.

Lounge-y, a little more polished; later-night energy.

Reservations: Reservations for dining; walk-in for the bar

Columbia's flagship craft brewery, in a reclaimed-wood industrial space a short walk from downtown with a big grassy beer garden (the 'Human Dog Park'), picnic tables, and live music. The porter has won national gold, and a Centennial Pale Ale ties into 100 years of Boone County history.

Laid-back, dog- and family-friendly by day, social and loose by night. The lawn is the whole point.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in

Columbia's original craft brewery and brewpub, hand-making beer since 1994 — an upscale-industrial room with a sprawling, beloved patio that regularly gets voted the best overall spot in town. The place that proved CoMo would drink local long before it was a trend.

All ages, all crowds — families early, a fuller bar late. The patio is the seat to want.

Reservations: Walk-in; large parties may call ahead

Downtown Columbia's wildly-decorated alternative dive since 1997 — the kind of room you'd expect in a much bigger city's hip neighborhood, where the walls are a running 'where did you get that?' conversation. Home to downtown's longest-running karaoke night and a Tuesday amateur comedy night.

Quirky, low-lit, locals-and-regulars; the antidote to the Ninth Street nightclub crush.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in

A semi-upscale, modern-meets-vintage cocktail bar a half-block off 9th and Broadway, built on a rotating menu of specialty cocktails alongside the classics and a curated domestic-and-craft beer list. 'Cold beer and fast cocktails' is the house line — an unfussy little room that's a different gear from the Ninth Street nightclub crush.

Intimate and design-forward but low-key; the after-dinner cocktail counterpoint to the dives and the strip.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in

A Columbia rite of passage: walk-up frozen daiquiris in a wall of flavors, swirled to order, that generations of Tigers have grabbed on the way to or from a game. Pure CoMo, and you won't find it anywhere else.

Casual, fast, to-go energy; a stop, not a destination.

Reservations: Walk-up

A year-round marina, campground, and outdoor music venue on the banks of the Missouri River, right on the Katy Trail — voted the best place in Columbia to hear live music three years running. Roots, blues, folk, jazz, and country on the outdoor stage; bikes and boats both pull up.

Eclectic and easygoing — riverside, sunset, an all-ages crowd that arrives by car, bike, and boat. The most 'this is Missouri' place on the list.

Reservations: No reservations; walk-in