With its historic count of James Beard semifinalists, this is a food city that punches far above its weight. Getty/Spencer Pernikoff Shannon Weber Shannon Weber is a St. Louis, Missouri-based freelance writer with a lifelong passion for food, drink, and the arts. She served as managing editor of Feast Magazine , a publication covering regional food culture, before launching her current project, A Periodic Table on Substack. There, she writes about the people and places that define St. Louis as one of the great restaurant and bar cities, and the individuals whose work continues to shape and evolve it. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to describe St. Louis to the uninitiated without discussing our dining scene—this city is one of the best places to eat in the entire country, trust me. Being born and raised in St.…