Old St. Louis Chop Suey & the St. Paul Sandwich: A Hometown Tradition Worth Tasting
Revised July 12, 2026
What type of cuisine was Old St. Louis Chop Suey known for?
“St. Louis chop suey” means the tradition of small Chinese-American carry-out restaurants across the city, and their signature is the St. Paul sandwich: an egg foo young patty on white bread with mayo, pickle, lettuce, and tomato. Get a great one at Park Chop Suey, Mai Lee, Chinese Express, or Bo Fung.
Keep reading ↓Maybe you grew up with it. A little corner carry-out with a glowing “CHOP SUEY” sign, a bulletproof lazy-susan window, and a paper sack that came back warm with something you’d never find on a menu anywhere else in the country. Or maybe you’ve lived in St. Louis for years and never once ordered the one sandwich that’s pure hometown.
Either way, the old St. Louis chop-suey house — and its signature, the St. Paul sandwich — is one of the most quietly St. Louis things you can eat. It’s cheap, it’s a little strange to outsiders, and it carries a century of city history in a couple slices of white bread. Here’s what it actually is, where it came from, and where you can still get one today — because once you understand the story behind it, that strange little sandwich starts to taste like the city itself.
Where to Get One, at a Glance
| Where to go | Area | The pick |
|---|---|---|
| Park Chop Suey | Near downtown (1321 Chouteau) | Claims the St. Paul’s origin |
| Mai Lee | Brentwood | 40-year institution, six variations |
| Chinese Express | Richmond Heights | Known for a loaded “Special” |
| Lisa’s Chop Suey | Jennings | Big, budget-friendly Special St. Paul |
What the St. Paul Sandwich Actually Is
If you’ve never had one: the St. Paul sandwich is a hot egg foo young patty — egg, bean sprouts, and minced onion, bound with a little flour and fried — served between two slices of plain white bread with mayonnaise, dill pickle, lettuce, and tomato. That’s the classic build. Order it “with meat” and you can add chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef mixed into the patty; a “Special” usually piles on a combination.
It sounds odd written out — a fried egg patty on cold white bread with mayo and pickle — and that’s exactly the point. It’s comfort food invented at the intersection of a Chinese-American kitchen and a Midwestern lunch counter, and it tastes like nowhere else because it exists almost nowhere else.
How you eat one is part of the ritual. It comes wrapped in paper, warm and a little messy, best eaten in the car or straight out of the sack. The contrast is the whole appeal: the hot, savory, fried egg patty against cool mayo, crisp lettuce, and the sharp bite of dill pickle. Most shops let you customize — extra meat, no tomato, hot mustard or soy on the side — and each carry-out’s version is a little different, which is exactly why St. Louisans argue about whose is best.
The name: fact, legend, and a little mystery
Nobody can prove where the “St. Paul” name truly came from, and that’s part of its charm. The most-repeated story ties it to Steven Yuen and his Minnesota hometown. Food writers have floated other ideas over the years — including that the sandwich is a cousin of the egg-based “Denver” or “Western” sandwich, which some historians believe Chinese cooks helped create from egg foo young. There’s even a bit of folklore about a cook aboard a Mississippi steamboat named the St. Paul. Treat all of it as the kind of tale that grows up around a beloved local food: fun to trade, impossible to nail down, and beside the point once the sandwich is in your hands.
A Taste With Deep St. Louis Roots
To understand the St. Paul sandwich, you have to know a little about Hop Alley — St. Louis’s original Chinatown. It sat downtown, roughly bounded by Seventh, Tenth, Walnut, and Chestnut streets. The city’s first Chinese resident, a man recorded as Alla Lee, arrived in 1857, and the community really took shape after 1869, when a wave of roughly 250 immigrants came seeking factory work. By 1900 the neighborhood was home to several hundred people, with laundries, groceries, restaurants, and shops.
Hop Alley didn’t survive the twentieth century. Between the late 1950s and the mid-1960s it was condemned and cleared in the name of urban renewal — the ground was needed for Busch Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1966. The heart of St. Louis’s first Chinatown literally became a stadium and its parking. But the city’s Chinese-American families and their restaurants didn’t disappear; they scattered and put down new roots across the metro, and the neighborhood carry-out — the “chop suey” — became a fixture in working-class neighborhoods all over town.
Over the following decades, the community’s new center of gravity shifted west, to the stretch of Olive Boulevard in University City that St. Louisans now call the “unofficial Chinatown” — today lined with dumpling houses, Cantonese barbecue, and Asian groceries. So the story runs in a straight line: a downtown Chinatown razed for a ballpark, families rebuilding across the region, and a humble egg-foo-young sandwich carrying a piece of that history forward on every corner-store menu. When you bite into a St. Paul, you’re tasting the legacy of a neighborhood that no longer exists.
The sandwich itself came later than Hop Alley. As local legend has it, the St. Paul was created in the early 1940s by a cook named Steven Yuen, who is said to have named it after his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, and put it on the menu at Park Chop Suey. That origin story is repeated everywhere in St. Louis, though it’s passed down as lore rather than hard documented fact — which feels about right for a sandwich this beloved. What’s certain is that by the 1970s and ’80s, nearly every neighborhood chop-suey house in St. Louis had one on the menu.
Why “St. Louis chop suey” means something specific
“St. Louis chop suey” isn’t really one dish — it’s a whole category of small, family-run Chinese-American carry-outs that spread across the city in the mid-twentieth century. These were counter-service spots, often with a spinning bulletproof window, serving Americanized classics: egg foo young, fried rice, egg rolls, crab rangoon, and — the local signature — the St. Paul sandwich. They were cheap, fast, and woven into the daily rhythm of the neighborhoods they served.
What made these places special wasn’t just the food — it was their role in the neighborhood. For decades the corner chop suey was where you grabbed a cheap, filling dinner on the way home, where the same family knew your order, where a five-dollar sandwich fed a hungry kid after practice. They were small businesses in the truest sense: independent, family-run, and stitched into daily life.
Many of the classic old shops have closed over the years as owners retired and neighborhoods changed. But the tradition is far from dead — a handful of beloved spots are still turning out St. Pauls today, and a new order tastes exactly like the ones people remember.
Where to Get a St. Paul Sandwich Today
Park Chop Suey (1321 Chouteau Ave, near downtown) is the sentimental first stop — the spot most often credited with inventing the sandwich. It’s open Monday through Saturday and still serves the St. Paul that (by legend) started it all.
Mai Lee in Brentwood is a St. Louis institution — the region’s first Vietnamese restaurant, open for four decades — and it has served the St. Paul for nearly that entire run, now offering around six variations, from barbecue pork to shrimp. It’s the sit-down way to experience the sandwich.
Chinese Express in Richmond Heights (on Clayton Ave) is known for a loaded “Special” St. Paul topped with an amalgam of chicken, roast pork, and shrimp — a heartier take for a bigger appetite.
Lisa’s Chop Suey in Jennings rounds out the list with a giant, famously affordable Special St. Paul — the kind of old-school neighborhood counter where the value is as memorable as the sandwich.
Half the fun is comparing them. No two St. Pauls are quite alike — the ratio of egg to filling, how much mayo, whether the bread is toasted, how loaded the Special gets — so trying a few around town is a genuinely enjoyable little St. Louis food quest. Ask five locals for their favorite and you’ll get five answers, usually tied to whichever shop they grew up near.
The Ones That Are Gone
Part of what makes the St. Paul feel precious is how many of the old shops have closed. Longtime neighborhood chop-suey houses have quietly shut their windows over the years as families retired — and even recently, spots that served a well-loved St. Paul have gone dark. It’s worth calling ahead before you make a special trip, because this is a tradition kept alive by a shrinking number of small, independent kitchens. Every order you place at one of the survivors is a small vote to keep it going.
Craving more real St. Louis food?
The St. Paul sandwich is one thread in a much bigger, more delicious St. Louis food story. If it’s the authentic, family-run Chinese cooking you’re after, the metro has that too — and you can search St Louis Near Me Directory to find restaurants, carry-outs, and hidden gems across the area, with hours and details, before you head out.
And if you run a restaurant or carry-out anywhere in the St. Louis area, getting found by hungry neighbors is the whole game. Listing your business is how people searching for a local favorite end up at your window instead of driving past.
More St. Louis food & dining guides
- Cate Zone: real Northeastern Chinese in University City
- Where to eat on South Grand: the International District
- The Missouri Baking Co menu on The Hill
- Pop’s Kitchen: fried catfish in Maryland Heights
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a St. Paul sandwich made of?
A St. Paul sandwich is a St. Louis original: a hot egg foo young patty — egg, bean sprouts, and minced onion, fried — served on two slices of plain white bread with mayonnaise, dill pickle, lettuce, and tomato. Order it with chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef, and a “Special” loads on a combination.
Why is it called a St. Paul sandwich?
By local legend, it was created in the early 1940s by a cook named Steven Yuen at Park Chop Suey, who is said to have named it after his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. The story is treated as St. Louis lore rather than documented history, but it has stuck ever since.
What is a St. Paul sandwich in St. Louis?
In St. Louis, the St. Paul sandwich is a beloved hometown specialty found almost exclusively in the city’s Chinese-American carry-outs. It is a hot egg foo young patty on plain white bread with mayonnaise, dill pickle, lettuce, and tomato — comfort food born where a Chinese-American kitchen met a Midwestern lunch counter.
What makes a good St. Paul sandwich?
A good St. Paul sandwich is all about contrast: the hot, savory, fried egg foo young patty against cool mayonnaise, crisp lettuce, and the sharp bite of dill pickle. The balance matters — the ratio of egg to filling, how much mayo, and whether the bread is toasted. Each carry-out’s version differs slightly.
Where can I get a St. Paul sandwich in St. Louis?
You can still get a great one at Park Chop Suey near downtown, Mai Lee in Brentwood (which offers several variations), Chinese Express in Richmond Heights (known for a loaded Special), and Lisa’s Chop Suey in Jennings. Because these are small, independent shops, call ahead to confirm hours before a special trip.
What does “St. Louis chop suey” mean?
It refers to the tradition of small, family-run Chinese-American carry-out restaurants — often marked by a glowing “CHOP SUEY” sign and a spinning window — that spread across St. Louis neighborhoods in the mid-1900s. Their menus feature Americanized classics like egg foo young and fried rice, and their signature item is the St. Paul sandwich.
Was there really a Chinatown in St. Louis?
Yes. St. Louis’s original Chinatown, known as Hop Alley, sat downtown near Seventh through Tenth streets, dating to the mid-1800s and growing after 1869. It was demolished between the late 1950s and mid-1960s to build Busch Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1966, and the community resettled across the metro.
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