WHERE TO EAT The best Toasted Ravioli in the world (according to food experts)

"Damn near every restaurant serves the dipping wonders, but the Hill's casual Gitto's totally nails it with a pile of itty bitty cheese/beef/spinach-filled pasta served with a side of special sauce."

"Countless restaurants in town serve rather pedestrian versions of the dish, tossing frozen ravioli into a bread crumb mixture and then deep-frying them, but Lombardo’s does things a little differently, making the ravioli by hand, from scratch. These big ravioli are filled with beef, cheese, and spinach, fried until golden, and served with fresh marinara sauce and grated romano cheese."

"The toasted raviolis served with homemade marinara dipping sauce and topped with Romano cheese impressed Guy."

"At this barbecue spot, fine-dining-chef-turned-pitmaster Tom Schmidt elevates his hometown’s comfort food classics by adding innovative tweaks to traditional recipes. Michael Symon feasts on Schmidt’s addictive toasted ravioli, which come stuffed with a mixture of burnt ends, mirepoix and cheddar cheese. This combo proves to be irresistible."

"Hicks calls this crunchy St. Louis appetizer the greatest ravioli dish on the planet. Mama’s claims to have invented the meat-filled snack in the 1940s, and stills serves them with homemade marinara sauce."

"Of course, reading about Zia’s on our list means they also make some exceptional toasted raviolis. Here you can try the traditional toasted raviolis with parmigiana and marinara sauce or go for the toasted seafood ravioli."

"They are fried only lightly, and you can still taste the flavor of the fresh pasta dough used to make them. These raviolis are stuffed to the brim with a blend of beef, veal, pork, spinach, onions, carrots and spices. This special combination gives them a rich and hearty flavor."

"The recipe for the raviolis at Kemoll’s Italian Restaurant has been passed down for generations, and you can bet their toasted raviolis are exceptional. Sprinkled with fresh herbs in addition to Parmesan cheese, the genius behind these little masterpieces has been the 80-something year-old Kemoll’s former employee, Marella Grigsby."

"So the menu reads like an Italian-American retrospective: toasted ravioli, chicken vesuvio, plus a hefty selection of steaks and chops. When the kitchen is on, you can taste these dishes and understand why they became so popular in the first place."

"Whether you're from St. Louis or not, you're getting the fried ravioli with marinara sauce."