St. Louis Eats and Drinks

Rich LoRusso

A real loss to all of St. Louis. We knew it was coming, but still very sad. 

https://www.stlmag.com/dining/remembering-restaurateur-rich-lorusso/ 

Football and food?

Why, yes, and we're not talking about Super Bowl snacks. The SEC Network (that's the South East Conference for athletics, to which Mizzou belongs) has a food show with serious cred. John T. Edge, noted author on the topic of Southern food and founding director of Southern Foodways Alliance, in conjunction with the New York Times, has created TrueSouth, a show about food and the South and the changing perceptions of both. He describes St. Louis as "on the cusp of the South", and brought his crew to town to film an episode about, as Joe Holleman would say, our fair burg. Read more about it here: 

https://www.stlmag.com/dining/true-south-espn-sec-network-st-louis/

Food and Music: The Fourth Installment Features a St. Louis Classic

It’s a classic: Gooey butter cake is at the heart of the fourth and final Cooking, Carols & Cocktails video from the Rep. Who can say no?

Chris Phillips of Perfectly Pastry brings us along as she creates a sheet-pan-sized batch in the kitchen of Urban Eats. If the name Urban Eats doesn’t ring a bell, it’s new. The food hall, shared kitchen and incubator in Dutchtown where Perfectly Pastry shares space with several other spots businesses is at the corner of Meramec and Virginia, about a block from St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.

Video personality Pascal hosts this episode – one of his projects is a series called “The Art of Conversation” and he certainly creates an easy atmosphere talking to Chris Phillips about her background, how gooey butter cake came to be, and lending a hand as she puts together the GBC.

Yes, that’s quite a big cake, larger than the home version, but the recipe is similar to the easier versions of it, the ones that utilize cake mix, and the tips for making it are equally applicable. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to see things like how the large sheet pans, whose sides are only about an inch tall, become vehicles for the much taller gooey butter cake. (There’s a rectangular frame called an extender that’s put in place and greased like the rest of the pan – works just fine!) The recipe for the larger version is included, if you’re preparing to feed a mob – it includes 40 ounces of cake mix, which is a little less than three standard boxes of dry cake mix.

The interaction between Chris and Pascal is relaxed and comfortable, just a conversation – see what I just did there? - between a couple of professionals.

Music in this episode is from Fresh Heir, here operating as a 4-person group (the number varies, depending on the gig), with music that pulls together jazz, funk, soul and pop, along with, in this case a little traditional with a swell version of “Go Tell It on the Mountain”.

And in this final episode, we not only get a hotty toddy from mixologist Heather Sharpe, we get the back story on Big O Ginger Liqueur from the St. Louis couple who created it, and it’s pretty charming.

All four of these shows featuring local restaurants and their chef-proprietors are now available online, and will be until the end of January. Access is $15 for one show, $60 for all four. There are details at http://www.repstl.org/events/detail/cooking-carols-and-cocktails.

 

Food and Music: Onward to the Third Installment

The third of the Rep’s series Cooking, Carols & Cocktails arrived on Christmas Day, a casual, chatty visit with Cathy Jenkins of Cathy’s Kitchen in Ferguson.

Tonina, who provided the music in the first episode, hosts this episode, and it’s obvious that both women are having a good time. Jenkins’ first dish is jambalaya, one of several New Orleans-inspired choices on the eclectic menu she serves – takeout only these days, of course. She even dishes up two batches of the jambalaya, one shrimp-only because that’s what Tonina preferred. Jambalaya fans will also be interested to learn that this is a version that could happily offer a home to leftover rice from another meal, using cooked rice rather than raw. (So: faster!) Along the way, we learn a lot about Cathy, and how she and her husband came here from Gary, Indiana, and turned what started as a catering business in her home into the restaurant.. The second recipe is for her chicken wings. There’s a good discussion, with recipe, about battering and deep-frying; it utilizes her sweet and spicy sauce, which is available at Schnucks or on her website.

Music in this segment is from Joe Mancuso, a great deal of fun. Of particular note beyond Joe’s vocal stylings is the organ work from Robert Row. Jazz organ isn’t heard as much any more, and Row is clearly in the groove with his work.

The week’s cocktail from Heather Sharpe and Big O is a carefully crafted Manhattan, utilizing, of course Big O’s ginger note.

This is the third in a series of four. They’re available by subscription, and it’s easy to catch up with the past episodes, too. New Year’s Day the last one, all about pastry with the family that runs Perfect Pastry, will be released. All of them will be on line until the end of January, and you’ll have access to the recipes not only onscreen in the videos but at a separate site. Tickets available from the Rep at this website.

 

Food and Music: The Second Installment.

The second installment of The Rep’s series Cooking, Carols & Cocktails is now available, and it’s highly enticing. Where else, for instance, are you going to find “Jingle Bells” with some scat singing? Paige Alyssa gives it up in great style, a real smile-maker.

On the menu in this episode is a dish that’s traditionally very festive, paella. The affable Frank Schmitz, owner of Barcelona restaurant, a Clayton favorite, leads us through the dish; his son Karl, who created the HOMS clothing line and who worked at the restaurant as he was growing up, is the host for the cooking segment.

It’s a particularly spectacular dish to make done in the original style, which is to say over an open flame – although they aren’t doing it outdoors right now, as the purists might insist is necessary. But there’s a large grill, which Frank hauls outside every Wednesday for paella-ing at Barcelona when the weather is clement, and an equally large paella pan. We learn a little about the history of the dish as Frank tosses in three kinds of Spanish sausage, chicken, fish, and shellfish as well as the requisite rice and saffron-laced broth. It’s quite a show, good enough to just for a moment leave the viewer thinking they’re really smelling the wonderful aroma. In between there’s chat about family turkey memories and other background.

Purists who check on the written recipe need to know that it’s not exactly what he’s tossing in the pan here – he’s using Spanish bomba rice, for instance, whereas the recipe calls for arborio, but that’s a perfectly reasonable substitute (unless, perhaps, you’re Spanish, a discussion I’m side-stepping) and he calls only for Spanish chorizo instead of the three he uses, which are more difficult to locate. And I’d add that you don’t need a paella pan, a large skillet will substitute nicely.

Another fascinating cocktail, the Vesper, named for one of James Bond’s female friends, comes to us with a hit of Big O ginger liqueur and mixologist Heather Sharpe, to wind things up.

Good fun, and very appetizing.

There are details at http://www.repstl.org/events/detail/cooking-carols-and-cocktails. One ticket allows for two viewings of your chosen show for $15, or all four shows cost $60, and include recipe cards. Rep subscribers can redeem a flexpass for access to all four shows. All shows will be viewable on line until the end of January.

The third in the series of four will be available starting Christmas Day, and features Cathy’s Kitchen with Cathy Jenkins, and music from Joe Mancuso.

A Little Escapism

I'm so grateful in this year of staying home that a couple of years ago I got to do one of my long-time travel goals, Christmas markets in Europe. (Christmas is a very underrated time of year to travel. Fascinating stuff to see and experience, even in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, which wouldn't seem very Christmas-y on first thought.) Here's a video of Strasbourg and two other Alsatian cities. Strasbourg in particular makes a big deal of its markets, and, yes, that's plural. The year I was there, there were seven different ones, all in walking distance of the city center. Of course, there's a map available for first-timers the way I was. 

No markets this year, of course. But still worth thinking about. (Lots of umbrellas in this, but that's not the usual weather, if that's a question.)

 

Iconic Restaurants of St. Louis

It’s time. More accurately, it’s almost time. Iconic Restaurants of St. Louis will be released November 2, two weeks from today.

To my immense delight, none of the restaurants in there have, the last time I checked, succumbed to the COVID virus. Many of them are small, nearly all are family-owned, and those are the ones at highest risk.

It’ll be in independent bookstores first. It turns out that the big chains buy the books but they sit in warehouses until they get shelved, which is not, unless you’re a major author with a major publisher, the day of release. So it may be a little while before it’s at Barnes and Noble. (Feel free to persistently ask them about it.) Yes, it will be on Amazon.

I also have them for sale myself, and will be happy to sign and personalize them and drop them off at a mutually agreeable location, wearing a mask. (Hey, once a nurse, always a nurse.) It turns out they make nice gifts for clients and customers. I also have some copies of 2018’s Lost Restaurants of St. Louis, and if you don’t have that, or your gift recipient doesn’t, we can add it in at a discounted price.

There’s a socially distanced kickoff party and signing at the Novel Neighbor, 7905 Big Bend, on Thursday, November 5. Lots of talk about food and St. Louis restaurants! Please consider this an invitation to join us. 

Update on Media History Move

What many of us knew (and loved) as the St. Louis Journalism Review, and not just because the board (Joe was a member) met downstairs at the old Balaban's for Sunday brunch and long, interesting discussions, is now the Gateway Journalism Review. Herewith a link to their story about SLMHF's move to Grand Center. And you can sign up for their newsletter there, too. http://gatewayjr.org/st-louis-media-foundation-archives-to-reopen-to-public-after-devastating-fire/

 

Throwback Thursday, Indeed!

A lovely piece by Paul Schankman for HEC about the St. Louis Media History Foundation. Lots of nostalgic bits of radio voices and television personalities, nearly all local. Plus some discussion of what we do. Here's the link to it: 

https://hecmedia.org/posts/schankmans-st-louis-a-trip-down-media-lane

And if you want to know more about the MHF, we can be found here, although not ALL the stuff is in the new location yet. We're still getting things organized - and part of my basement is still occupied with some of the collection after the disastrous fire at the Karpeles Museum over a year ago. 

https://www.stlmediahistory.org/

Thanks to Paul and to our Founding Father Frank Absher and all the board, plus Kerry Manderbach, our curator. And especially to the Kranzberg Foundation, who has rented us space at the Marcelle. 

 

Gastronomic Diplomacy

An interesting piece found, of all places in the University of Nebraska alumni publication. So sorry all we can do now is virtual travel, but this is heartening to read. 

https://www.huskeralum.org/s/1620/magazine/interior.aspx?sid=1620&gid=1&pgid=2302

Another Giant is Gone

I am sorry to report that we have lost Jack Parker, the publican of O'Connell's. Though less seen in recent times, Jack was a master of the trade, almost Zen-like. Here's what I wrote for St. Louis Magazine. 

https://www.stlmag.com/dining/remembering-jack-parker-owner-of-o-connell-s-pub-died-june-19-2020/

Awards!

Finally, we have news about the St. Louis Critics Circle Awards for 2020. We will be livestreaming the awards on HEC TV on April 7, at 7 p.m. We will be practicing social distancing so we won't be hanging out in the studio reading and laughing and celebrating, but we are, with the help of HEC, having the ceremony, in a somewhat altered format. 

Take a look at your television guide to see what channel HEC is on for you, stock up on the wine, and prepare to hear the scoop!

 

Awards!

Finally, we have news about the St. Louis Critics Circle Awards for 2020. We will be livestreaming the awards on HEC TV on April 7, at 7 p.m. We will be practicing social distancing so we won't be hanging out in the studio reading and laughing and celebrating, but we are, with the help of HEC, having the ceremony, in a somewhat altered format. 

Take a look at your television guide to see what channel HEC is on for you, stock up on the wine, and prepare to hear the scoop!

 

Jim Held

Jim Held, of Stone Hill Winery, has died. I remember him with considerable affection. 

https://www.stlmag.com/dining/remembering-stone-hill-winerys-jim-held-1933-2019/

Big news from the Muny

St. Louis times 2! The Muny has just announced that their production of "Matilda" will be "inspired by" our own Mary Engelbreit. She's collaborating on the look and feel of the show. A great combination, for sure!

How Much Did That Beer Cost?

St. Louisans never seemed to begrudge Gussie Busch his luxuries. There was seemingly even a quiet pride in them, especially when they involved taking good care of the baseball team. Then the Belzilians came and we all think differently now. 

Here's a story where some of their profits are going. Has anyone you know been there?

Just a Local Quirk? Not!

Fish fries in Lent? Of course. They've even spread to areas outside St. Louis that have proportionately fewer Catholics than the metropolitan area. But are they just a St. Louis thing? Well, no. Just liike the question, "Where did you go to high school?", they pop up in New Orleans as well. And probably other places, of course, but the list published in The Times-Picayune is just too fascinating to pass up. 

You can read about it here, and the link is in there.

An Update

You may have noticed there's been less action - quite a bit less action - around here recently. There are two things going on. More of my food writing is going into St. Louis Magazine, both online and in print, for one thing. 

And for another, I'm writing a book. I was approached by a publisher looking to do a book on old St. Louis restaurants now closed. As I've been writing about them at SLM for several years, this seemed to be a natural. I'm excited, I'm enjoying it (mostly), and I'm working on it a lot. So bear with me. We hope to have it out in the autumn. (Think holiday presents.) 

 

Agnes Wilcox

I first met Agnes Wilcox as one of the coterie of friends that were one of my husband’s inadvertent wedding gifts to me. She, too, was married to a theatre critic, Bob Wilcox, but in addition was running The New Theatre Company, which she’d founded. This meant, theoretically, that she was someone about whom I was to remain neutral.

As anyone who knew her will attest, that proved to be impossible. Agnes shimmered. Yes, she was physically attractive, but that wasn’t the thing – energy radiated from her, and enthusiasm as well. She wasn’t one of those hyperactive types – at least not when she was off duty, which is where I knew her – but she was interested in pretty much everything, not just theatre.

It’s not fair to say she collected interesting people. That makes it sound like deliberate, curated choices. People from many backgrounds, not just the arts, were drawn to her, and, more significantly, gathered in by her. The people at their house came from all over the globe and represented all sorts of occupations. One of her great skills was that she was an asker of superb questions, no matter the age of the person on the receiving end. And she would listen carefully and grasp the answer, allowing the other person to expound at any length needed. Only occasionally was a tactful diversion ever needed. This made her a fine hostess, and an exceptionally good friend.

Memories of everything from running into her at a resale shop – the source, she said, of much of her elegantly boho wardrobe – to hearing her guffaw at a ribald story told in her kitchen as we broke the set after a party run through my brain.

Dear God, what a hole she leaves.

 

Evangeline's

This is not a review. It was going to be, but things happened. I had brunch with four friends at Evangeline’s Bistro and Music House. I’ve had brunch there before, and was happy with the food, the service, and of course the music. I wrote about that here.

But:

Our food arrived 90 minutes after our reservation time, 85 minutes after we sat down. Our table of five did get beverages during that time, and we saw a two-top seated after us eat and leave before our food arrived. The inside was full, and the outside was busy also. It wasn’t the servers’ fault; they were flying around constantly. My friends remarked that this had happened to them on their last visit a couple of months earlier but that they’d thought it was a one-time glitch.

The bananas Foster stuffed French toast could have benefited from a longer bath in the egg batter to soften up the bread’s crust, but otherwise was quite tasty. The glazed bacon is thick and high-quality, chewy rather than crisp. And the coffee was passable.

It turned out to be a gobble ‘n run meal for me, so no tasting around (except from some nicely-seasoned Brabant potatoes). But that wait was completely unacceptable. It was the crowning touch after the manager’s thousand-mile stare as he avoided the hostess-less hostess, people lining up out the door waiting for the empty tables, plus his insistence that it was impossible that the host of our group had made a reservation with a specification like inside/outside or table/booth, because they never accepted such restrictions.

If this had been a one-off, well, everyone has shifts from hell. But if it’s a recurrent problem – and asking around after this experience, I heard more stories – then it’s not respecting the people who are paying for everything in the restaurant and who hope for a good experience. There are places who think that customers will come anyway. I surely hope Evangeline’s isn’t going to turn into that kind of a place. It has too much going for it otherwise.

Dim Sum Tips: How to Eat

Regular readers know that, on the whole, I don't post links except to my own work. But I just came across this video from Tasting Table. It's from the third generation of the family that owns the Nom Wah Tea Parlor in New York. Nom Wah has been operating just shy of a hundred years; they opened in 1920. Wilson Tang has been upgrading their media and remodeled the kitchen when he took over. The front of the house remains pretty much unchanged. It's a traditional menu, with things like shrimp dumplings and char siu bao, my favorite. They're those fluffy steamed buns filled with barbecue pork. But here he is talking about how to eat dim sum. Very interesting, things like chopsticks or fingers, soy sauce or not, and how to pronounce things. 

 

Maybe for this weekend?

 

Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis: The Food

As the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis goes on in high gear, there are a couple of ways to participate that involve food. Both occur on Sunday.

There are still tables available at the jazz brunch The Dark Room at the Grandel is doing. If you’re going on to a matinee and show your tickets, you’ll get a free mimosa, too. It kicks off at 11 a.m., and you can learn more about it here. 

Later in the day, Slide Piece food truck will be parked at the .ZACK. If that’s a venue that’s new to you, it’s at 3224 Locust, the location for several of the festival events. In addition to their regular menu, which you can see here 

they’ll have sliders named in honor of Williams’ works. They’ll be operating 2:30-5 p.m.

And don’t forget, two of the plays in the Williams Festival, Small Craft Warnings and Will Mr. Meriwether Return from Memphis, will run beyond this weekend.

BRIEFS

Speaking of reminders of coming events, please don’t forget that the sixth and final BRIEFS Festival of Short LGBTQ plays is coming up. It’s at the new .ZACK Performing Arts Center, which is at 3224 Locust, just east of Grand Center, on March 9-11. Evenings at 8, plus a Saturday matinee at 4 p.m.

The festival is also raising money and donating it to the International Institute of St. Louis and the Islamic Foundation of St. Louis as a gesture of solidarity among minority communities. An amusing evening, and with Pearl Vodka as a sponsor, you can be sure there's a bar. 

For tickets, go to http://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/briefs. They’re $20 per person.

The St. Louis Theater Circle Awards 2017

It's getting on to that time again. The annual St. Louis Theater Circle awards are coming up on March 20. Again this year, we're holding it at the Viragh Center at Chaminade College Preparatory School at 425 South LIndbergh between Olive and I-64, a great venue with lots of room. This isn’t just for people who work in theatre. Here's a chance for theatre-lovers to chat with the people who appear on local stages, to find out just who it is that creates those great sets or directs the plays that always create conversations

It's all very comfortable-feeling, although many of us use this as an excuse to dress up a little, just for the fun of it. The evening is preceded by an optional and very tasty buffet, and there is - gasp - a bar open as well. (The buffet, from With Love Catering, includes two drink tickets.)The buffet opens at 5.30 p.m., and the ceremony begins at 7 p.m. It's a great party, and, yes, it's a cliche but everyone really is welcome. 

Here's the link to buy tickets, although they can be bought at the door, with cash or check - no credit cards at the door. 

And here's the link to preorder the buffet, or you can call 636-529-1664. That must be done beforehand, and it usually sells out. 

See you all there!

 

Mixing the Arts

Mixing the arts together is always an interesting idea, and mostly it’s a good one. Opera Theatre of St. Louis is indulging in just that with a series of get-togethers at venues throughout the area, mixing food, drink and music.

It’s not quite “dinner and a show”, but almost. It’s (probably heavy) appetizers and some beverages, plus four young singers with work that ranges across the history of opera. And the price is very reasonable, from $20 to $25 a head. The gatherings begin January 25 and run through the following Monday. And as for the venues - well, here's your chance to mix it up and hear opera in the National Blues Museum, for one site.

Five nights, four venues, and varying times. More details here.

Coming on Monday: The Every 28 Hours Plays

Just a reminder that The Every 28 Hours Plays will have what seems to be its final appearance in St. Louis Monday night. Developed in conjunction with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, it’s a series of one-minute plays from many authors. It was created in the aftermath of Ferguson.

This October, the plays are being staged in a number of significant venues, including the Long Wharf Theatre In New Haven, CT, and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

It’s on the Mainstage at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts at Webster University, where Repertory Theatre St. Louis works, at 8 p.m. Monday, October 24. There is no admission; this is a labor of love to engage communities in dialogue between law enforcement – who had voices in the making of these plays – and the public.

 

The Every 28 Hours Plays

October 24

Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts

Webster University

www.every28hoursplays.org

Leon Bierbaum

It was saddening to learn of the death of Leon Bierbaum, restaurateur, Francophile, and elegant dresser. 

Read more here on St. Louis Mag's blog.

St. Louis Food History

Good news. The St. Louis Media History Foundation’s new exhibit at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum is now open. And it’s about food. We – I’m on the board of the Foundation and I helped curate this exhibit – are showing off some fascinating and sometimes quite handsome stuff from the Foundation’s collection.

Most of what we have is advertising from local companies, some forgotten and some still very much with us. We’ve got a loop playing of a cooking program from the early days of St. Louis radio. There are some restaurant ads, some blowups of newspaper stories and covers of magazines.

It’s a lovely building, although, alas, not wheelchair-accessible. The room that the Karpeles has given the Foundation is air conditioned, another plus.

 

St. Louis Media History Foundation Room

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

3524 Russell Blvd

314-292-0234

Website

Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

La Patisserie Chouquette

I had lunch with a friend from Kansas City today, and took her into La Patisserie Chouquette afterwards. Simone Faure's work is always dazzling, of course. Just take a look at the cakes she's doing for Mothers' Day. Alas, they just stopped taking orders for them as we stood at the caisse ready to pay for the armload my pal was taking on the westward trek home. But as Toni was signing for her goodies, I spotted this. And, yes, it is a cake. 

There's a sitdown area and beverages available to go with individual servings of her treats.

 

La Patisserie Chouquette

1626 Tower Grove Avenue

314-932-7935

www.simonefaure.com/

Tues.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: Of course not

 

Tennessee Williams: These Foodish Things Remind Me...

On Sunday, May 15, the last day of the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis, Slide Piece Food Truck is making a guest appearance. From 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. they'll be near Strauss Park in Grand Center, offering sustenance to theater-goers. That's a busy afternoon, with four different matinee performances, a couple of lectures, a final 6 p.m. play and, for a perfect closing day, the Stella Shouting Contest (sponsored appropriately enough by Stella Artois), which will be in Strauss Park at 2 p.m.

Besides some items from their usual menu, which is available here. they'll be serving festival-themed sandwiches like "A Slider Named Desire", "Lamb on a Hot Tin Roof" and the enticing-sounding "Summer and Smoke", which is a pork steak with goat cheese sriracha, pickled vegetables and cilantro.

Pork steak and goat cheese sriracha...Tennessee Williams wouldn't recognize us these days, would he?

The full Festival calendar is available here.