St. Louis Eats and Drinks With Joe and Ann Pollack

Shlemiel the First

"Schlemiel the First" would be worth seeing for some of us if only for hearing Joanna Elkanna-Hale sing "Yenta's Blintzes". Elkanna-Hale, playing the rabbi's wife in this tale of the mystical town of Chelm, can be appreciated by both the Opera Theatre crowd and the James Beard Award crowd for firmly letting her husband know what she thinks of his complaining about her cooking. Her treatment of the song is a potential show-stopper.

But Schlemiel is about far more than blintzes. Director Ed Coffield has pulled together a group of fine comedic actors, headed by the marvelous Terry Meddows, who's the schlemiel in question. He's the beadle at his synagogue, a sort of handyman/gopher/janitor who helps Todd Schaefer, the aforementioned rabbi. While the rabbi and the town's leading wise men, who include a couple of sock puppets, think the rabbi really smart, we know otherwise - who wouldn't like those blintzes? Schaefer, the glistening I'm-so-swell, and Meddows, the woebegone, make for a wonderful contrast.

The rabbi and his wise guys decide to send Schlemiel out on a world tour touting the rabbi's wisdom. Mrs. Schlemiel, played by Emily Baker, is none too happy about this - not that he's that great a husband, but still.... Need I say hilarity ensues?

Baker heads up the rest of the cast, as an island of calm in the midst of farce. Antonio Rodriguez moustache-twirls, metaphorically speaking, as Rascal. And watch for Mike Dowdy, who, like several of the cast, has multiple roles. His tricycle-riding kid is fine, but he peaks as a skipping, dancing wife in the village.

This is, of course, a musical, klezmer music, the clarinet-laced stuff that, to the untrained ear, still shows how it influenced people like George Gershwin. Henry Palkes, the music director, does right by the score and his musicians, with riffs off into other familiar tunes. A little choreography is fine and casual-seeming, just right for the setting, but extra points for Schaefer's exuberant prancing.

A fine night, even for those who didn't get exposed to the Borscht-Belt comedians of late-night television (and thus Yiddish) in the Fifties.

 

The New Jewish Theatre

Jewish Community Center

www.newjewishtheatre.org

through June 9

The Market at The Cheshire

The Market at The Cheshire is, clearly, a charming place to enter, casual and interesting, with food to eat there or to carry out after you're ordered at the counter. Other things to buy, both edible and not, while you wait for your name to be called are arranged in one of the low-ceilinged pair of rooms at the east end of the complex.

It's breakfast and lunch and early dinner, closing at 8, focusing mainly on sandwiches and casual baked goods, cookies, muffins, that sort of thing. Some beverages are in a cooler, some come from behind a counter, and coffee, except the espresso-based drinks, is serve-yourself. Stroll around and inspect the oils and vinegars, ceramics and cleaing products and alcoholic beverages available. I pondered a beautiful teak salad bowl for an upcoming wedding present - are they $135 friends? Or perhaps a St. Louis-based cookbook.

The best thing I ate was a breakfast sandwich of bacon, egg, pepperjack cheese and avocado. It was on a multigrain toast, the whole thing a fabulous combination of crunchy and creamy. Alas, they've turned it into a wrap. Maybe if you ask. But that bacon was The Best Ever, thick and smoky, crunchy here and chewy there, quite distinctive. A steak and egg sandwich sounded promising, but the roasted chuck steak was, essentially pot roast meat, tender enough to have been shredded rather than sliced., with a fried egg white and cheddar cheese on some ciabatta. I'm a big fan of pot roast, but the meat lacked savor and the sandwich was lackluster. Technical execution was good, but it needed pizaaz. Horseradish? Harissa? Even salt and pepper?

Lunch sandwiches come with Billy Goat chips or fresh fruit, and credit must go to the quality of at least the apples, fresh, polished, crisp and unbruised. Tarragona chicken, described as having an olive tapenade and almonds on it, is on a grilled sourdough. The chicken is shredded coarsely rather than sliced. No almonds, whether nubbles or slices, were apparent, nor olives, although the flavor was intermittently present. It was hard to tell whether the soft pieces of red vegetable were cooked tomato or red pepper. (And there was no flavor of tarragon at all. Perhaps the name refers to the city in Catalonia.) A very moist sandwich, and decent enough but not what was expected. A cheese danish serving as dessert was lightly sweet, fresh and with an interesting, almost fluffy filling.

Serious coffee, bottled soft drinks, newspapers to read, especially at the long table on the breakfast side of the market, which is on your left as you enter through the red door. And nice morning light there. But not quite up to the mark, at least not yet.

Parking? There's been plenty of discussion about that since the restaurants at The Cheshire opened. Enter from that little block of Clayton Avenue that goes by the Hi-Pointe Theatre. No valets to be seen.

 

The Market at The Cheshire

7036 Clayton Ave.

314-932-7840

http://www.market-stl.com

Breakfast, Lunch and early Dinner

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Tight

Smoking: No

Sandwiches: $6-$9

Schoemehl's South Side Grill

By now, we've all gotten used to seeing buildings that once were fast-food spots recycled into something like Wing-a-Ding-Ding or Mamma's House of Hummus. In a world with not enough places like that and too many fast food joints, that's a good thing. But sometimes that same sort of process works differently, and an old, yea, even ancient place sheds its skin and emerges the same but not quite the same.

In old Carondelet, now re-styled the Patch, at the corner where Michigan turns into Ivory sits Schoemehl's South Side Grill. It's a corner tavern, the decor updated some but not obnoxiously we're-so-hip so. The sun pours in through large windows, but the bar somehow still has that tantalizing dark air of quiet noonday drinking. And they've begun to refer to the area in the back as the beer garden rather than the patio, a fine touch of The Real Thing.

Still, in the old days, the taverns that operated here wouldn't have had salads beyond perhaps potato salad, or, in later years, slaw. And they surely wouldn't have had a house dressing made of avocados. It adorns the Signature Salad, a tower of greens, chicken, a bit of black bean-corn relish and a little tomato, and absolutely charms with its jade-green mysteries.

Then there are the wings. It was a surprise to see a casual place like this with an actual Presentation of chicken wings.  And then we thought, "Eight bucks for four wings?" But they're huge and they're delicious. Smoked a little and then flash-fried and glazed, they look almost lacquered in their glossiness. Still moist despite all this attention, they're faintly sweet, and a drizzle of what seems to be Asian chile sauce, spicy but not dangerous, just offers a little bit of contrast. They're not Buffalo wings at all, but they're darn good. The dill-laced dip is unnecessary, but hold onto it if there are house-made chips or fries coming, because it's pretty darn tasty, too.

The only sub-par thing we tried was the South of the Border burger, with queso jack cheese (their phrase) and pickled jalapenos. Ordered medium-rare, it was cooked beyond pink all the way through. Still, it was pretty juicy and cheese and jalapenos pump up almost anything this side of sponge cake.

Amiable service appropriate to a spot with plenty of televisions, which means casual but not distracted. That beer garden is looking pretty good once the rain stops. And, oh, yes, there's live music sometimes.

 

Schoemehl's South Side Grill

7529 Michigan Ave.

314-932-7774

www.southsidegrillstl.com

Lunch Tues.-Sun,  Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: No

Sandwiches: $7-$9

That's A Winner: Jilly''s Two-peat

By now, much, if not all, of the St. Louis food community, both professionals and happy amateurs, has learned that Jilly's Cupcake Bar has won Cupcake Wars - again. And the winners deserved it. The winning collection is carefully focused, the flavors choreographed to go together with leaps and flourishes and pirouettes and even a little tap-dancing here and there. The last set of winners were nice. This group is outstanding.

Because the competition was held at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami, Miami became the theme for the cupcakes. The winning entry's four cupcakes were Cuban Coffee, Miami Spice, Cruising Down Collins (Avenue, a main drag in South Beach) and SOBE Wine Fest. (You can see them on Jilly's website.)

 

I'm hard pressed to choose a favorite, but Miami Spice, a passionfruit cake with raspberry jam filling, and a frosting of mango whipped cream, a bite of passionfruit candy, and a hit of ghost chile salt certainly pushed all the right buttons for those of us who love a little heat in unexpected places. Cruising Down Collins is a tropical cocktail in a fluted paper cup, so to speak, coconut, rum, pineapple, orange and tangelo flavors doing a rhumba. Cuban Coffee is happily, seriously coffee, between the cake, the buttercream, andthe coffee syrup to add at the last moment, plus a toffee dulce de leche filling. And the SOBE Wine Fest has cabernet in the chocolate cake, a zinfandel chocolate ganache and more cab in the buttercream grapes and vine. What a group.l

Yes, they're sweet. If that's a problem, move along, nothing to see here. They're cupcakes, they're going to be sweet. (Actually, the judges allowed for the possibility of savory ones, but the single entry, one with shrimp, didn't make it to the next round.)

Do not even attempt to eat these without a cold jug of milk. Not coffee, not with these complex flavors. You need milk, which really ought to be offered along with other end-of-meal beverages like brandies and espresso and port on restaurant menus, come to think of it.

Available through the end of June. Hurry up.

 

Jilly's Cupcake Bar and Cafe

8509 Delmar Blvd., University City

314-993-5455

Jilly's Cupcake Bar a-Go-Go

1131 Colonnade Center, Des Peres

314-821-5455

Olio

If you're waiting for lunch in an old gas station, and they put down a linen napkin and a Laguiole knife as part of your place, it should raise hopes that the food ought to be pretty darn fine. Okay, cynics might say it's a predictor of pretentiousness. But that's way not the case at Olio, Ben Poremba's ying to his Elaia's yang, Elais being just behind and above Olio.

This is a beautiful place. Elaia is dark and its decor seems very simple, but Olio with its huge west and south windows allows guests to appreciate its aesthetics far more. The old, beat up tile, the wild light fixture, the interesting chairs - the whole look is deeply contemporary without being spare.

It's essentially, a bar, one with an excellent wine list and an extensive array of aperitifs and liqueurs. And its food is noshing food, small plates, sharable platters and sandwiches.

When I ordered the chickpea, edamame and octopus salad, I didn't realize quite how much it had been written about locally. It deserves the ink. It really is much more about the vegetables than the tender bits of cephalopod. And while the chickpeas aren't overcooked and the edamame glisten, even more fascinating is the dressing, a drizzle of olive oil, brilliant in color and flavor, and seasoned yogurt, tart and mysterious. I wonder if perhaps Poremba hasn't punched it up a bit with some zataar, the Middle Eastern spice mixture, or perhaps just some sumac, one of zataar's usual ingredients, to make it tarter yet. Wonderful stuff.

This is - at this writing - a menu with both a tartine and a bruschetta on it, the latter varying each day. The tartines, inch-thick slices of fresh baguette, are crowned with Grandma's egg salad. Very different from most egg salads around, here they're minced finely and bound with something beyond mayonnaise. Poremba says it's onions browned and pureed. It's mild and soft, slightly sweet abd very comfort food-y, but with the optional marinated white anchovy on top, the added vinegar and salt changed things considerably and brought it into a definitely adult realm.

Sunday brunch, despite the online menu, is mostly lunch-y stuff, sandwiches (including a tempting roast pork left over from Saturday's roast of the day) and such. But a few morning-food choices are evident. The bacon produced by Poremba's Salame Beddu is available, rustic-looking and satisfying. And shakshuka, the eggs-in-tomato-sauce dish found around the Southern half of the Mediterranean coast, is a frequent offering. The kitchen's take on biscuits and gravy, another item that apparently varies from week to week was lamb sausage gravy over slices of baguette, all topped with a pair of very gently poached eggs. The gravy, pink-y orange from the seasoning of the sausage, cumin and red pepper, was savory and rich, a light tracery of that same green olive oil more for the eye than the palate. The dish's solitary flaw was that it was on a cold plate that had chilled everything but the eggs down to room temperature.

 

Staff here ranges from knowledgeable to vigorously charming. One young hostess was on the phone more than ten minutes with someone who was really unfamiliar with the restaurant and unsure of whether it was the right choice for the evening's meal. No eye rolls, no silent sighs, frequent pleasant repetitions of what she'd explained earlier, reading some of the menu to the person on the other end. Service above and beyond.

No reservations at Olio, outdoor seating as the weather allows, and that fine wine list.

 

Olio

1634 Tower Grove Ave.

314-932-1088

www.oliostl.com

Lunch and Dinner daily, Brunch Sun.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Bar menu:$6-$18

Central Table Food Hall

Central Table Food Hall is landing in my old neighborhood, the lower Central West End, and it's the perfect location for this new outfit. Some people have likened it to Eataly or the Plaza Food Hall in New York City, but I think that's not quite on the money. It's going to be a multifaceted restaurant with a big grab-and-go section. Folks on their way home from BJC or Washington University Med School's labs or classrooms, for instance, can stop by for carryout or sushi or a pizza, or just stop and have dinner. Once lunch service starts, I'm sure the be-scrubbed (as I was for many years) will be rushing in and out to fetch something different for sustenance during their shifts.

They open Wednesday, May 1, for dinner, but there's been action for the past few nights as guests culled from their Facebook followers have gone in by reservation for soft-opening dinners. I dropped by on one of those nights at the invitation of Matt McGuire, who's running things. Matt was at the helm of the much-missed King Louie's on Chouteau, and, in the interests of full disclosure, his father John, the late Post-Dispatch writer, and my late husband Joe were close friends. Joe knew Matt and his brothers from infancy.

As at Louie's, it's easy to eat at the large bar, often a really good idea for solo diners. I nibbled around and had a glass of lambrusco. Wait, wait, it's not the sweet stuff of our misspent youths. This is dry and fruity and with maybe just a hint of fizz, very nice and works with lots of different foods. The star of the evening was gnocchi with bacon and clams and tomato. They've brought in some guys from Roberta's, a restaurant in Brooklyn, and one of them is their pasta and pizza maker. The gnocchi are amazingly light. One can't really talk about a "sauce" with them, just some pan juices, but it was a great dish. Taken alone, the juices are quite salty, but with a bite of the pasta, fabulous.

The single dessert available - remember, these were training nights - was a strawberry soup. Very thick and creamy, like a pudding, really, but calling it strawberry pudding somehow doesn't work to the ear. Topped with a wee scoop of lime granita, rose petals, a dab of cotton candy and three wee meringues that had been toasted, it was excellent. And, by the way, an example of modern dessert construction, with four separate things that required creating before combining them.

Lots of things going on here, sushi, a raw bar, a coffee bar, which will provide morning sustenance even before they open for lunch, and, not surprisingly, a good and interesting wine list. Watch the website or Facebook for the lunch opening day. For now, hang on until Wednesday night.

Valet parking ($4) at night, or a freebie in the Barnes garage just to the west of the building, also only at night. BJC is, after all, the landlord.

 

 

Central Table Food Hall

23 S. Euclid

314-932-5595

www.centraltablestl.com

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Entrees: Not available at this tim

 

Southwest Diner

St. Louis is a better place for having easy access to the glories of a green chile cheeseburger. But not everything is spicy at Southwest Diner, as we discuss here.

Million Dollar Quartet

Do you remember DIG Magazine? The first go-round of ponytails and DAs (the haircuts, not the attorneys), Teen Towns and guys who wanted to look like James Dean? Did you ever hear records referred to as "platters"? Then you need to quickly get yourself to the Fox Theatre to see "Million Dollar Quartet".

Based on the legendary Sun Records in Memphis and its creator Sam Phillips, the musical gives the rousing music of our mostly-sadly-unmisspent youth a fine showcase with performers in the roles of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Unlike other shows is we've seen in recent years that attempt to re-create the music of, for instance, the Rat Pack, this one has scarcely a misstep.

Part of it is due to the respect shown to the music, arrangements close to the original, courtesy of Chuck Mead. But it's the actor-musicians that bring it home. Elvis impersonators, of course, are as common as houseflies, but Cody Slaughter not only looks right, when he opens his mouth, one could almost swear it's the young Elvis. David Elkins plays - and more significantly, sings - Johnny Cash; he, too, is amazingly correct and makes for some satisfying music. James Barry does well as Carl Perkins, and makes the point that "Blue Suede Shoes" was his song, written and recorded by him, before Presley recorded it in what's known as a "cover", and sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show. (Apparently, it took Perkins, perhaps not unreasonably, a long time to get over that.) Do be aware that Slaughter will only play the role through April 28; after that, Billy Woodward takes over.

And then there's Jerry Lee Lewis. He was always a favorite of mine - that piano, that piano! And this was before I saw him actually perform, flailing his arms, legs jerking, hair flying. Then I discovered that he was marrying his 13-year-old cousin, which put a considerable crimp in my adolescent admiration. But the music is irresistible still, and Ben Goddard knows his way around a keyboard, and a piano bench, for that matter. He plays the newcomer to the group, a rascal of a wild child with an ego that could stand up to any of the other three, but not Sam Phillips. Even when backing the others, it's hard to keep your eyes off Goddard's pianna-playin style.

Vince Nappo carries Phillips' strength well; he, too, is due for a replacement after April 28, and it'll be Scott Moreau. The bass player, who was Perkins' brother Jay, is Corey Kaiser, and keep an eye on him as well; Fluke, the drummer, is Billy Shaffer.

No intermission in a show that runs for right at 2 hours. Don't be fooled by the house darkening after the famous photo of the four is taken by Phillips; this is not the end of the show. (We lost at least one couple from our aisle.) There's more to come onstage; the studio in Memphis is replaced by Las Vegas glitz - the show is currently playing there at Harrah's, by the way - and it's still worthwhile. However, once Goddard/Lewis dons the sequined jacket and sits down again at the piano, one notices a certain resemblance to Elton John, but that's probably just the spangles prancing around.

Good lighting, and excellent sound that's loud but not ear-splittingly so, a relief to us all. But a big thumbs-down to the opening night audience who listened to "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and the following conversation about Chuck Berry with nary a handclap after the discussion of his significance to rock and roll.

Rock and roll is here to stay, indeed. But Million Dollar Quartet is not, and if this is your music, by birth or by appreciation of retro, get a move on. It only runs through May 5.

 

Million Dollar Quartet

Fox Theatre

http://www.fabulousfox.com

through May 5

Moroccan Carrot Salad

The salad season is a-coming. Picnics, barbecues, hot summer evenings - salad season, right? I didn't find this carrot salad during salad season. I made it to accompany a couscous with chicken and lamb and while I was putting it together, began to consider its advantages.

It's easy and doesn't require any cooking. It benefits from being made in advance. It's flexible - would you rather make thin carrot coins instead of shredding them? and other options shown in the recipe. No meat, no dairy, no eggs. It's simple enough that it's a good recipe for utilizing your fledgling kitchen elves as they start to learn how to cook. Oh, and it tastes good.

The recipe is from Gil Marks, in his book about vegetarian Jewish cooking Olive Trees and Honey. I include my own seasoning changes and mark them as such.

                                            Moroccan Carrot Salad

1 lb. raw carrots, coarsely grated [Kitchen elves like to peel carrots, you will find. I grated them with my processor's medium shredding blade.]

1/4 c. vegetable or olive oil [I used less.]

3-4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice [I used a little less than 3.]

2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped [I used 2.]

1 tsp. ground cumin or 1/2 tsp ground cumin and 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon [I did the latter but after tasting, add a little more of each.]

1 tsp. sweet [that is to say, not hot] paprika

pinch of salt

1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro [ used about half parsley and cilantro, and more than was called for]

Optional: 1 Tbs. minced green chile, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or 1/2 tsp. harissa, the North African chile paste [I didn't use these but will for a different meal.]

 

Mix together and refrigerate. Serves 5-6.

 

Lots of ways to play with this. Cut thin coins of carrot and blanch them. Use fresh mint with or instead of the parsley and/or cilantro. Orange peel and juice instead of the lemon, and maybe some honey? Yogurt instead of the oil and lemon juice?

The one serious adjustment I did was to add a small packet of Splenda (to equal 2 teaspoons of sugar) about an hour before serving when I did a final check on seasoning. The dish was a perfect match to the warm, spicy comfort-food texture of the couscous.

Hendel's Market Cafe

It's a little surprising that it took this long to make the trip for a visit to Hendel's Market Cafe in Florissant. Somehow, there always seemed to be somewhere else that needed to be investigated. But my pal, soon to move to a home in the Alps, had heard of it and yearned therefor. Excuse provided. Thank you.

The neighborhood clearly goes back to the days before Florissant was a suburb of St. Louis, the streets narrow, the hills a reminder of the rivers' activities over millennia, and many modest homes of a certain age. And while people park on the street in an easy small-town style, there's a parking lot behind the restaurant; the entrance is there, too.

Inside the 19th century store, the windows across the front and the interior decor bring to mind an equivalent establishment in rural Virginia, tasteful and genteel. There's a covered patio, and an open one in the back, centered around an immense tree. It was the first truly warm night of the year, and impossible to resist.

An order of calimari, arriving with a spicy, citrusy aioli, kept us company while we considered entrees. The breading was light and just a little crunchy, with no excessive oiliness. Housemade rolls topped with cheese before they went in the oven arrived warm, giving even more distraction from the task at hand.

Entrees come with a salad or soup, and a house salad wore the signature lemon-poppy seed dressing. Alas, another sugary dressing but the greens were fresh and crisp, although swimming in said dressing. The evening's butternut squash soup was an absolute winner. Very thick, just a little lumpy, piping hot and seasoned with curry, it surprised and pleased.

Cajun carbonara pasta used spaghetti to go with shrimp and andouille sausage, a few chunks of tomato thrown in along the way. On a technical level, there were quibbles - no apparent cheese in the carbonara, way too generously sauced - but the fact is,it tasted really good, the spiciness of the cream sauce vigorous, the shrimp not overcooked.

The same could be said of the salmon. It was cooked all the way through. But the Asian-esque glaze on it was tasty, the asparagus alongside (offered as a substitute when the still-damnably-ubiquitous vegetable medley was declined) was perfectly cooked, and it, too, arrived properly hot. The orzo pasta underneath wasn't overcooked, either.

Four dessert options, including a chocolate cupcake with a ruffle around it, and a cheesecake, which the server pointed out was from de.lish Cheesecake Bakery nearby (and points for that unprompted bit of openness), but it was lemon meringue pie that won. Good crust that had survived what was obviously not more than a few hours in the fridge, tall, elegant meringue, and a illing that was properly tart and at the right point between sloppy and Jello.

Good service from a young but quick-witted guy who didn't blink an eye when his offer of vegetable medley was met with, "Couldn't I get a Beatles medley instead?" (We used to ask for a Cole Porter medley, but got too many blank stares from nextgen servers.) And as we left, up through the tree branches, beyond the roofline, there was a church steeple and the moon. A pretty nice evening.

 

Hendel's Market Cafe

599 St. Denis St., Florissant

314-837-2304

www.hendelsrestaurant.com

Lunch & Dinner Tues.-Sat., Brunch Sun.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Tricky

Smoking: No

Entrees: $11-$30

Famous Szechuan Pavilion

Famous Szechuan Pavilion began in a former coffee drive-thru at Brentwood and Manchester. It's now moved to the strip mall at the northwest corner of Olive, Woodson and McKnight, and holds more than the four-or-so people that could get fed simultaneously at the old spot. Sparse decor. Short menu. And food that, I'm told, is pretty close to The Real Thing.

This review may well turn out to be in chapters. While the menu is, indeed, relatively short, there's plenty of things about which I'm curious. and we've only just begun. So read on and stay tuned.

FSP's reputation in town has been that it's the home of some serious spicing. We ordered medium and didn't find it sending steam out the ears, but close to it. The kitchen uses both red chiles and szechuan peppercorns, the latter producing a sort of buzzy numbness, at least when they reach a certain point. They're in the house spicy noodle, a dish that probably is considered a soup, but the bowl is full of both noodles and broth. "Stir it up," said the server, because the peppercorns sink to the bottom and the red chiles float in their oil on top. The essential broth is quite mildly chicken-y, but seasonings giving the reason for the pleasing.

Yet more noodles with the chicken dandan noodles. Not a whole lot of noodles but slippery, slithery noodles with sesame and chile, seemingly a little less torrid than the other noodle dish, above. Not a great deal of chicken, admittedly

The menu lists "Noodles" first, and that's followed by "Appetizer". The items we had from that section - both $5.99 each - were certainly smaller servings than a main course at the other Asian restaurants up and down the street. But both were very worthwhile. Vegetarian chicken isn't chicken, of course, it's tofu skin. That sounds, uh, sort of strange, right? But it's just slices of firm, tan, slightly chewy tofu that, as is tofu's wont, picks up lots of flavors with the slices of green pepper and some celery, a little ginger, we thought, and quite excellent.

 It was, however, exceeded by the yu shan pork, strips of pork with plenty of green onion, garlic and ginger, all slightly sweet, absolutely delicious.

One of the things that made the food so good was that it was clearly cooked and rushed to the table in blazing fast time. Particularly with the pork, that made a difference. The owner's son waited on us. His English is heavily accented, so be prepared. This place is an adventure.

 

Famous Szechuan Pavilion

8615 Olive Blvd, University City

314-685-0888

Lunch & Dinner Tues.-Sun.

Credit cards: Yes, but cash preferred

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Prices: $4-$15

Bar les Freres

Spring is finally here. And as the weather warms, it's a romantic time. Soon, evenings will be warm enough for dining, or at least sipping, outside. And romantic is just the word for Bar les Freres, romantic and small. Here's the good word on Bar les Freres from the review in St. Louis Magazine.

 

Gypsy

Stray Dog opened "Gypsy" this past weekend, and for a stray, it's clearly a purebred. Once upon a time, probably 90% of the American population had heard one or another of the songs from its wonderful score, whether or not they knew just where the song came from, so popular were they. And the score, with the lyrics that delighted me as a high school kid in a small town, is just as witty. Who knew about Steven Sondheim in those semi-halcyon days of the Eisenhower Administration? Obviously the creators of this show did, thank goodness, foreshadowing much greatness to come.

Led by Deborah Sharn as Rose, Queen of Chutzpah and stage mother of nightmares, the cast sparkles and stumbles, both at the right time. The band, for instance, sounds wonderfully rocky sometimes, just the way a pit band would in a second-rate burlesque house, and deliberately bad choreography works just as it should. Scharn, physically small, seems to enlarge herself with Rose's drive and demands. And who knew she could belt songs so well? If she can make a generation that heard Ethel Merman sing this score forget Merman even for a little while, that's compliment enough.

Herbie, their agent who quickly becomes Rose's boyfriend is played by Ken Haller, giving Herbie strength and warmth and dignity. Rose's put-upon and dragged-around daughters were June, who grew up to be actress June Havoc, and Louise, who became Gypsy Rose Lee, exotic dancer, author, and mother of a son by director Otto Preminger. The younger versions of the girls, played respectively by Lily McDonald and Isabella Koster, are quite good. But it's the women they grow into, despite Rose's self-delusion, that intrigue. Jennifer Theby-Quinn, as Dainty June, even looks a little like Havoc as she simply flees her mother's increasing demands and delusions. Sabra Sellers, who plays Louise, eventually begins to glow as she finds her own strength and way in the world. Her dance number with Tulsa, Zach Wachter, is impressive.

Yes, Rose is at best a pain in the gluteus, and at worst quite bonkers, but Gary Bell's direction shows the sadness and fear behind all this rather than the anger and pain It all works wonderfully. Strong suggestion that tickets be ordered in advance; this is going to be selling very well in quiet south St. Louis. Neighbors will hear folks leaving, whistling the tunes.

 

Gypsy

Stray Dog Theatre

www.straydogtheatre.org 

Tower Grove Abbey

2336 Tennessee Avenue

314-865-1995

Thurs.-Sat. through April 20

Hilltop Inn

Once upon a time, a publication called The Bugle regaled south St. Louis, particularly the Carondelet neighborhood and adjoining areas, with news generously laced with silliness. The advertisers seemed pretty happy with its readership and dotted the pages with messages about their dry-cleaning abilities, banana and Dreft sales and real estate possibilities. Readers might note several taverns that advertised something called Merchant Lunch.

This, of course, was before the proliferation of the drive-through and fast food, and folks who sold washing machines and venetian blinds or answered telephones and used typewriters might need an option besides the brown bag. Thus, the merchant lunch, usually a smallish steam table full of home-style food - this, sometimes, in addition to the burgers and whatnot the saloons might sell later in the day. So it was Swiss steak, liver and onions, chicken and dumplings, that sort of thing. This may have been my introduction to mostaccioli, in fact. Oh, and green beans; I believe there was some sort of city statute that said green beans had to be sold at any steam table in St. Louis.

All this to explain that I had a real throwback moment at lunch at the Hilltop Inn. Just south of the intersection of Morgan Ford and Loughborough Roads, it's an anonymous looking little spot. Parking is in the back, if you're lucky enough to find a spot, and so is the entrance. At night, the focus is on conversation (loud conversation, from reports) and drinking; the Hilltop fits the modern definition of dive bar. (Note: Once upon a time, a dive bar was the place you didn't want your mother's best friend to see you leaving, dirty and sinful and probably scandalous.)

But at lunch, there's lunch. There's always soup, of course, and hamburgers and ham sandwiches, but beyond that, it depends on the day of the week. On this Wednesday, there were breaded pork chops, roast beef and sausage with peppers and onions. The roast top round of beef was cooked through, the kind of stuff that makes me think of open-face beef sandwiches, and alongside were steamed red potatoes, among other things. The BFF went for sausage with onions and peppers, showing a chicken sausage with what we're pretty sure was cheese among the ingredients, which prevented dryness. The seasoning was Italian, including fennel and pepper. Her side dish was some creamed spinach, not what we might have seen on our particular mom's supper tables, but still, a decent, serviceable dish.

And then there was the hamburger. This is, speaking of her, a momburger, very much the home-style fat-ish burger cooked through, but still very juicy, although we acknowledge the cheese and grilled onions added mightily to the pleasure and moisture. They're fairly small in diameter, so an order of two might be called for, but the flavor is marvelous, the kind of thing that causes little grunts of pleasure. A salad, mentioned among the possible sides for the sausage dish, turned out to be a bowl of iceberg lettuce , dressed very much in the Pasta House style, a vinaigrette with garlic and oregano. But the dressing didn't puddle in the bottom, and there wasn't a smidge of browned edges on the lettuce, another mom-ish point.

The single waitress was flying about, so we didn't get a chance to ask who supplied the sausage, but she was pleasant and un-rushed when she got a chance to take our order. Plenty of obvious regulars, tables of working guys and older couples meeting for lunch, and a decor that makes multiple color televisions seem a little startling. Surely the eye expects a slightly fuzzy black-and-white telecast of the Friday night fights and a Stag commercial, or maybe a young Joe Garagiola doing play-by-play for Wrestling at the Chase.

Cash only; there's an ATM. And, yes, no smoking, the REAL proof of what decade we're actually in. And at night, they only serve burgers.

 

Hillton Inn

6902 Morgan Ford Rd.

314-481-9191

Lunch Mon.-Fri., burgers at night., Mon.-Sat.

Credit cards: No

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: No

Entrees: $4-$7

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

The so-called underground dinner groups, which began as almost a form of commando dining - who knew where they would pop up next - have begun taking that pop-up literally, and we have yet another currently working. Entre presents A Good Man Is Hard To Find, a tribute not to Mae West, who reversed the adjectives, but to Flannery O'Connor and her short story. It's in a storefront that's been used successfully as an event space a number of times, so the interior is far smoother than "storefront" would suggest. They've added Spanish moss, photos and a picket fence to make you say y'all with more ease.

There's a fairly elaborate cocktail menu, and a brief wine list. To go with either of these, there's absolutely no excuse to pass up the bread basket. A full basket includes 6 different items. Clear winners are remarkable hush puppies, fluffy angel biscuits and cayenne-enriched cheese sticks, the latter served in a glass. As to the cornbread, my Kentucky-bred pal nodded approvingly. "Real Southern cornbread. Not the sweet stuff." Indeed, it was grannyesque, firm and a little chewy with a good crust. Sorghum butter, apple butter and smoked orange marmalade came alongside.

For those who wonder about country ham, here's a rare chance to explore. A plank holds three hams, sliced and served like prosciutto, but better, showing products from Burger's of Missouri, and Broadbent and Father's of Kentucky, a nice chance to compare and contrast. Simple and wonderful.

Salads didn't work quite as well. The wedge bore great bacon and blue cheese but the dressing was wan. A kale salad with slices of braised, sliced and breaded pig's ear was another chance to try something different. The pig's ear is gelatinously chewy, the sort of texture sometimes found in Chinese cuisine, although cooked farther towards tenderness than might be thought possible. A light dressing on the kale was faintly sweet, the menu mentioning apple butter, although the notes were indiscernible.

A completely new iteration of pork and beans began with a square of pork belly, unctuous on the inside and perfectly crisped on the outside. The beans were Sea Island reds, related to blackeyed peas, small and creamy-rich, and braised greens, which seemed to be a mixture of several kinds, finished things up. And then there was the quail, a bird that has always seems like the ultimate Southern game bird. A light lacquer-glaze of sorghum, not the least bit overcooked, the mild but distinctive flavor waltzing across the tongue. Alongside was rice with the pan juices and some very old-fashioned dried hominy. The hominy cooks up to resemble corn and it's easy to be fooled into thinking it's just chewy corn, but no, not at all. Good stuff and a fine plate of food.

Midwesterners usually don't know much about buckles - basically they're fruit-filled simple one-layer cakes with streusel on top. Made here with plenty of blueberries and served hot in a skillet with a caramel sauce, the flavors were good, but the cake was dry. We should've taken the offered buttermilk ice cream.

Still, a good set of work, with some excellent service and enthusiasm about the food that, happily, was only on display when questions were asked.

Open through May 4. Reservations strongly encouraged.

 

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

360 N. Boyle Ave.

314-632-6754

www.entrestl.com/presents/

Dinner Wed.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Sugarfire Smokehouse

The quality of barbecue in this town has been gathering momentum over the past decade. Now there's another entrant, Sugarfire Smokehouse, with good (f unexpected for barbecue) bloodlines. Here's the good word:

http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine/January-2013/The-Well-Seasoned-Life-Sweet-Success/

The Whipping Man

The Whipping Man is ugly and hard and absolutely stunning. Currently playing at the St. Louis Black Repertory, it's about slavery. Slavery, that is, over many millenia.

It's April of 1865, the Civil War has just ended, of course, and it's Richmond, Virginia. There's the slavery Americans tend to think about, over, at least legally, at last. And here's a Jewish family who have owned slaves for generations, their house barely standing and its denizens scattered.

The son of the house, wounded, drags himself home, a haggard example of the horrors of America's worst war. Two of the former slaves remain on the premises. They, like their parents before them, have been raised as observant Jews, and that, at least, remains unchanged despite their newfound status as freedmen. But the power has shifted dramatically, and how does one treat the person who once owned them the way he owned his hunting dogs?

And in this spring with green shoots of burgeoning hope and dramatic developments comes Passover, the celebration of being delivered from slavery. Yes, that was Egypt and the masters then were pharaonic, but since Moses had there ever been a Passover when the celebration was more vivid and heartfelt - even if the bitter herbs and shank bone were not quite the traditional ones?

Good casting in all three roles, but it's led by the Black Rep's own Ron Himes as Simon, who in prewar days must have carried sufficient gravitas in his household position to make Downton Abbey's Carson look like Woody Allen. The challenges of the war and the emancipation have given him knowledge and strength beyond that role, and Himes shows it all with great control. As the son, Justin Ivan Brown carries off things with the disadvantage of being immobile for nearly the entire show. Ron Conner played Martin Luther King earlier this year in "Mountaintop" on this same stage. It's hard to believe this is the same Ron Conner playing the younger ex-slave, John, the role is so different, but it seems no stretch for him at all.

In the first act, in particular, this is a difficult play for the squeamish. Audible gasps came from a number of audience members the night I saw it. But persevere. This is a carefully lit, tightly directed piece of work with plenty of new, disturbing things to ponder.

 

The Whipping Man

The St. Louis Black Repertory

314-534-3810

through April 13, 2013

Cod Squad 4

After two years of trying, I made it to Soul Food Friday, the annual "extra helping" at St. Alphonsus Liquori "Rock"'s Lenten fish fry. St. Alphonsus - you can see it from the Fox or Powell Hall, just at the northern edge of Grand Center - has about the only lunchtime fish fry I know of at the area's churches, and I'd been once a few years ago. But on one Friday of Lent, they add to their menu macaroni and cheese and greens with cornbread.

The basic menu, though, has a wider choice of fish than most, with jack and catfish fillets, as well as tilapia and buffalo. Dinners include spaghetti and coleslaw, onions pickle, bread and a wee slice of pound cake. The mac and cheese and greens with cornbread are each an extra dollar. (Do it.) No beer, just soda and water.

This is generally a pretty quiet fish fry, but Soul Food Friday is always the busiest of the year. I waited 24 minutes from walking in the door to the nice ladies calling my name saying my fish was ready. The soul food extras are served up at a separate station, so diners can get them and then find seats or find seats and fetch them when the fish arrives. I opted for the former, and was hungry enough that the greens served as a first course.

And I'm glad they did. No matter how long they're cooked a mess of greens will never become spinach-soft, but these were very tender and utterly delicious, probably the best I've ever had. No meat in them, of course, but nevertheless well-seasoned, a little oniony, a judicious amount of vinegar, and hot sauce on the tables if that's your style. I found they didn't need it. The cornbread is the real southern stuff, pale and unsweet, a little coarse, a far cry from the delicate restaurant stuff.

Most St. Louisans don't know buffalo fish. It's certainly a local product, a freshwater fish that's found in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and therefore almost certainly in the Missouri as well. Driving up toward Grafton and beyond, the fish sandwich options nearly always include buffalo. To me, it has more character than catfish, and that's what I chose for lunch. Four large pieces of fish in a cornmeal batter awaited the slow, careful process of eating them. That's because buffalo is extremely bony with long, flexible sewing-pin-sized bones that remain despite the spine and larger bones being removed. Definitely not something to give a rookie eater. (There's a way to make it more-or-less boneless for sandwiches, which can be found in Illinois River taverns and eateries.) Spaghetti wears a tomato sauce with a generous note of green pepper, reminding me of years of potluck dinners, very American homestyle. Coleslaw has a vinegar and oil dressing.

And then there was the remarkable macaroni and cheese. Very cheesy, almost sharp in its cheesiness and nuggets of black pepper bumping things up a notch. Between the greens and the macaroni and cheese, these are the best sides I've found on Cod Squad 2013.

Not expecting the wee slice of pound cake, I'd gotten dessert, and chose a loaf cake, chocolate with a little German-chocolate-style coconut frosting, and then a creamy coconut layer near the bottom of the loaf, very moist. If it's from a commercial bakery, you could have fooled me.

Generous servings - all this and a soda set me back $12. Sorry my Cod Squad partner Martha couldn't join me for this one. She won't be able to do it next year, either. But you should.

 

St. Alphonsus Liquori Roman Catholic Church

1118 North Grand

314-533-0304

www.stalphonsusrock.org

Brunch: The Restaurant at the Cheshire

Once upon a time, the Cheshire was The Place for big-deal brunches in St. Louis. And when I walked into The Restaurant at the Cheshire last week, I suddenly realized it was the first place I ever had a serious brunch. Oh, sure, the Station restaurant at the Clayton/Hanley Schnucks had been an occasional spot for my family, but elegant it wasn't, just tolerant of two small kids who were just beginning to be civilized.

I don't know when or how I ended up in the faux-Tudor building that first time, but I remember the food line and how incredibly dark it was inside. That, of course, added to the drama, the lights on the food line like spotlights on a darkened stage. But I don't remember the food at all except the prime rib being carved and a big pan of scrambled eggs which were, as expected, not at all what I made at home using MFK Fisher's method. (My personal food awakening really hadn't begun then, so I was only slightly better than gastronomically tone-deaf, in all honesty.)

So the return was quite different and yet the same. It's a lot lighter than I recall it being, but it's definitively the same room, despite the immense red light fixtures. And there's no buffet, which makes the morning meal a more relaxed experience.

Good coffee, hooray, and attentive service, including being patient with slow decision-makers when it came to ordering. But while we hummed and hawed, we did get far enough to ask for an order of the beignets. To my mind, beignets should be pillowy in texture, and these little guys were either tough or crisp, depending on who's talking. But they were hot and fresh and came with a marvelous sauce, probably egg-based, deeply apple-flavored with a strong note of cardamom that made my pal, who grew up with a kitchen where it was used with abandon, beam.

The bananas Foster waffle was immense, and omitted the ice cream that traditionally serves as the base for the traditional New Orleans dish. That way the pecan butter and the warm syrup that tasted of pralines and cinnamon could melt in without disturbing the waffle's crispness as much, and allow it to stay hot as long as feasible. The menu says that same syrup is used on the whole-grain pancakes, incidentally.

And then there was the shrimp and butternut squash bread pudding. Savory, of course, not sweet except for the innate sweetness of the chunks of squash, it was moist and complex and fascinating, the sort of dish it's impossible to stop eating. Nestled next to it was some sauteed spinach with a little bacon and a couple of poached eggs, the latter generously sauced with a particularly notable hollandaise. If a hollandaise is good, there is no such thing as too much of it, but this was just generous, enough to perhaps dip a little of the spinach in, as well. Altogether an absolutely first-rate plate of morning food, if not traditional.

One other thing lingers with me, though. The shrimp/butternut squash bread pudding was $15. It represents good value for money to me, and not just because it's tasty. It's interesting, it's complex, and is the product of more labor by the kitchen staff. The waffle, no bacon, and its only garnish a sprig of mint, was $13. That's a fair amount of change for a waffle. This happens, to some degree, all the time on menus; some dishes have a higher profit margin than others. but it somehow seems particularly striking.

Oh, yes, the much-discussed parking. I entered the lot from the east end, near the Hi-Pointe Theatre, and parked myself. There were valets at the door and on this rainy morning, one rushed to greet me with an open umbrella and held the door. No implied guilt, either. They get points for that, as well as the bread pudding.

 

The Restaurant at the Cheshire

7036 Clayton Ave.

314-932-7818

www.restaurant-stl.com 

Dinner Tues.-Sun., Brunch Sun.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Brunch Entrees: $11-$15

Hospital Food

Those of you who know me beyond the world of food know I spent - well, cough, cough, many years working in hospitals and know well the slings and arrows of cafeteria food. I delivered trays to patients, and shared potluck parties with staff on holidays.

 And while I admit to nostalgia for the brownies and warm doughnuts served at the old Barnes cafeteria - and this goes back to the years of bouffant hairdos - it's mostly been not such a great experience. Finally, things are beginning to change. I went out to Mercy Hospital, what most of St. Louis still calls St. John's Mercy, not long ago, ate fish tacos, toured the cafeteria and looked at menus. It's a brave new world.

http://www.stlmag.com/Blogs/Relish/March-2013/Hospital-Food-On-the-Mend/

Cini

Cini? What's that? It's the nickname of arancini, the small fried balls of rice wrapped around fillings. They serve as an appetizer or bar snack in Italy. It's also the name of the Gabriele (Giovanni's, Il Bel Lago) family's new spot just south of the flying saucer building on Grand at I-64. The feel is a combination of fast food and family dining in a slightly edgy modern decor, which will fit right in with their anticipated expansion to Ladue.

Ordering at the counter seems a pretty simple act. But the paper menus at the entrance confuse, needing further explanation of the routine at the restaurant. Cini (say CHEE-nee) are indeed an appetizer, except they won't arrive first, but rather go onto your tray as your order is put together in front of you. The main courses are create-your-own, starting with pasta, salad, and/or a piadina. The latter is a flatbread similar to a large flour tortilla. Then it's mix-and-match on the chosen base, with almost everything displayed on the tray line to ponder.

The results? The cini, about the size of a ping-pong ball, were hot and tasted fresh despite the steam table, but it was hard to tell one filling from another, except the four-cheese with its characteristically stretchy mozzarella. Two orders, asking for one of each of the three fillings, came out garbled, with only one specimen each of the cheese and of the sausage. Of the offered dipping sauces, the tomato was sparkly with flavor, very slightly sweet but with a little zing of heat and acidity; the other, Parmesan, was thin and lacked much cheesiness.

Perfectly al dente penne pasta was almost room temperature on one visit. On the next, most of it came from a bowl on the steam table, and the rest arrived steaming hot from the back. Investigation revealed that the steaming hot portion and the sauce brought things to almost warm enough. Diavolo sauce was as red and spicy as Old Scratch himself. There was also a lot higher sauce-to-pasta ratio than expected, with some of it pooling in the bottom. But wasn't the same sauce with the cini; they're using two different tomato sauces, which is nice. Little meatballs tasted good, firm but not rubbery, a little garlic and lots of beefy taste. Slices of steak were chewy but not impossibly so and had good flavor They were the best of the meats we tried. Don't choose any of the extras offered, unless you're prepared for cold ingredients like mushrooms and onions piled on top of the bowl of pasta.

Piadini are warmed quickly in a closed grill, although not cooked until browned, as they are in Italy. Then the fillings are arranged. Chicken fritti turned out to be chopped fried chicken on top of the piadina, topped with a little more of the diavolo sauce, some fresh baby spinach and a spoonful of a fresh tomato-onion-basil relish. They offered pasta to put it as well, although that seems superfluous. It would have been the equivalent of rice on a burrito, because the whole thing was carefully rolled up and wrapped just like a burrito, although this one was the size of a coed's forearm. The result was nothing more than okay. A side of fried calamari with slices of pepperoncini showed expertise, the breading light and dry, the squid nicely tender.

Dessert cini feature the rice wrapped around a bit of chocolate that's hazelnut-flavored, then rolled into crumbs of vanilla wafers or Oreo cookies before they're deep-fried and showered with powdered sugar. They arrived fairly hot, but the insides were merely warm, and chocolate gooeyness thereby significantly reduced, unfortunately. Done correctly, these could be a signature dish, like Herbie's chocolate fritters, but tinkering is needed.

Employees are remarkably pleasant, and it's nice to see a large refrigerated case of fresh ingredients handsomely arranged behind the kitchen. But attention to details and a clearer explanation of the concept are in order for Cini to grow.

 

Cini

374 S. Grand Ave.

314-531-4433

Lunch and Dinner daily

www.cinichow.com

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Entrees: $6-$9

 

From Stove to Keyboard

"I got a million of 'em," Jimmy Durante used to say. Richard Perry probably does, too, when it comes to stories. But St. Louis' first nationally recognized chef and pioneer of the New American cuisine isn't telling his own stories, but another, in a novel about a chef - of course - who finds himself running a hotel. It's a mystery, it's not finished, but in the meantime, there's a website with some of the work.

You can find it at www.chefalexsleuth.com. It's up to you to see if there's anyone you think you can identify.

Lemon Posset

For many years, one of my usual desserts at supper parties was a lemon mousse. It's a wonderful dish, airy and tart, but it's complicated and slightly tricky to make, and it serves a lot. Leftovers were never a problem (except that they disappeared behind my back), but I'd often wished for something easier and with a small yield.

And then, Food 52, a great foodish website, brought me this. Food historians would probably argue that this isn't technically a posset, which was milk curdled with wine or other fermented beverage in the days of Merrie England. But it's close, and my guess is it's tastier.

In fact, this is wonderful. Despite its elegantly pale color, this is a big-flavor dessert, creamy and tart. Not low calorie, of course, although I often make it with Splenda, calculating how much I need for the equivalent amount of sugar. It works just fine, by the way. Because I like my lemon desserts pretty tart, I tend to put in slightly less than the official amount of sugar, perhaps one or two tablespoons less. Do not, however, try this with anything but the full-fat cream. It doesn't set well. And when you're buying the cream, try to find the kind that is not marked "ultra-pasteurized". It ups the wow factor considerably.

A few berries on top, or perhaps a few grains of cinnamon can be a garnish, or whipped cream with a strip of candied lemon peel. But it'll look fine sitting unadorned in those bright-colored espresso cups you got for a wedding present.

 

                                                LEMON POSSET

 

2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar (or Splenda equivalent see above)

5 Tablespoons lemon juice

Using a small saucepan over high heat, stir together the cream and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Bring the cream to a boil, drop the heat a little so the mixture doesn't boil over, and let it boil or at least cook at a high simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let stand to cool about 5 minutes.

Pour into four ramekins. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until set.

Serves 4.

Elaia

Is there a new star in the St. Louis restaurant sky? It certainly looks like it. Elaia, run and cheffed by Ben Poremba, he of Salume Beddu, on certain levels it makes one think of the legendary Jefferson Avenue Boarding House.

One of the levels is literal. It, too, is on the second floor of an elderly building hidden in an unprepossessing neighborhood. Between I-64 and I-44, the hidden entrance is indicated only by seeing the valet parking sign. The decor is spare, much white and gray and plenty of candles, modern and luxe without being overwhelming.

There's an a la carte menu, but in a moment of weakness, we fortunately succumbed to the tasting menu. It's $100 per person for eleven courses. Wine, a different one with each course, doubles the price. The pairings actually go beyond wine; one course this particular night partnered with a cider, another with Madeira.

Things began promptly with a wee aperitif, a cocktail with Byrrh and a little gin. Byrrh is French, a red wine that's marinated with quinine and herbs, sweet with a nice bitterness, and the combination did pleasantly inflame the appetite. That was followed by crudo, a slice of scallop dressed with sour orange, a dab of meyer lemon granita and just a little hit of Thai chili. The presentation was such that the chili would probably hit only one bite of the dish, allowing for more variety of sensations, and smart that was.

Carpaccio should be cut so thinly one could almost read the menu through it. So it was with the escolar, topped with a gremolata, of white anchovy, mint, preserved lemon and minced Marcona almonds, all chopped together, light and savory, and a fine example of seemingly incongruous ingredients (mint and anchovy?) playing well together. Cross-slices of finger-sized Iranian cucumbers hung out with chickpeas and fava beans, lightly dressed with a blood orange vinaigrette.

And then there were the beets. Among the most memorable of the dishes, it was a few small chunks of roasted beets dressed with a rich yogurt, crumbled feta cheese and nuggets of pistachios - but then, it had been placed on a bed of roasted, dehydrated and crushed beets with a sandy-to-crunchy texture. The flavor was amazing, the concentration of the roasted beet changing and magnifying things. Yes, that texture was part of it, too, perhaps off-putting to some, but if the diner is among those who like their toasted marshmallows slightly burnt at the edges, it's bliss.

Soup of sweet potatoes baked in salt was satisfying, particularly with the creme fraiche dollop somehow rounding things out, but the following dish left it far behind. I'm rather neutral on sweetbreads, they're subtle and inoffensive, but there's often something else on a menu that lures me more. Here they arrived to hang out with potato gnocchi smaller than the first joint on an index finger, cooked tart apple and salsify. Salsify is sometimes known as "oyster plant", because it is said to taste a little like oysters, but there's much argument in the back rooms of Foodie Central over the taste being more like oysters or artichoke hearts. In this presentation, I'd vote for the latter, The combination came together with the deglazing liquid from the sweetbreads, the acidity of the apple providing a nice bounce to the savor of he salsify but not running wildly past the sweetbreads. Excellent, indeed.

And speaking of carbohydrates, it was time to cue the risotto. By now, it was obvious that the menu's announcement of chicken and creamed cabbage was going to be an elaborate understatement, and that, of course, was right. Whoever knew cooked cabbage could be so subtle?

A perfectly seared sea scallop was sided with two pieces of grilled topinambour, or sunchoke, another uncommon vegetable that can evoke an artichoke heart. The texture was a good contrast and the flavor bounced off the mollusc perfectly. And slices of duck breast so exquisitely seasoned and cooked that saucing was superfluous, were accompanied by beluga lentils and a half-handful of shredded raw carrot and tatsoi greens in what seemed like just a little lemon juice.

The official dessert was titled "Chocolate and Coffee", the only quotation marks on the menu. Not, of course, a bonbon and cuppa java. The photo is not entirely accurate; the collection of confection was nibbled on the far side before I remembered the camera. The brownie-looking creation was densely mousse-ish over a firm, dark chocolate base, the ice cream was coffee, and then there were little chocolate-chip-looking bits that turned out to be coffee that had been used to dissolve gelatin to produce wee jujube-like charmers. Coarse salt sprinkled very lightly on top garnished the cake.

Mignardises are the small sweets that close dinners at fine restaurants. An almond macaron, an orange-fennel biscotti, a candied rose petal, and more appeared on the table. Despite the portions being perfectly sized, satiety pulled up a chair and settled in.

Wine? Don't be put off by there not being a by-the-glass list in the large and very interesting wine list. There are a lot of bottles open and they'll pour out of any of them. I began with a Lucien Albrecht cremant rose of pinot noir from Alsace, perhaps not quite cool enough, and that was the evening's sole misstep. But it worked well with the early courses. And then a large, old-fashioned red from Venge Vineyards in Napa, a blend of zinfandel, syrah and charbono took the last three courses on a ride. Plenty of fruit, quite intense, and very rich. It was a 2011, a little tight at first but it relaxed quickly.

Service was darn near flawless, knowledgeable, polite, attentive but relaxed, and not hovering. Knowledgeable is important when a menu changes as often as this one does, and food lovers and fans of dining out appreciate it. And that, plus the innovative food and quiet self-confidence, is what reminds me of the Jefferson Avenue Boarding House.

Expensive? Yes. Think about the labor that went into creating the components of each of the dishes. Worth it? Yes. Think about the pleasure and the tickling of the palate's creative juices.

 

Elaia

1634 Tower Grove Ave.

314-932-1088

www.elaiastl.com

Dinner Tues.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Nope

Smoking: No

Entrees: $26-$30

Prix Fixe: $100

Cod Squad 3

Most folks know about firemen and their enthusiasm for good food. It's a long tradition. So when we saw a gaggle of firemen headed for the chow line at St. Mary Magdalen in Brentwood's fish fry, we nodded and smiled. It's a good sign.

The gymnasium is large, things are organized efficiently, and the traffic flows smoothly. At least it does inside. They're trying drive-thru for the first time this year, with a limited menu, and by the time we left, the parking lot was full, although all the drivers were patient and polite. (The church website has the layout for drive-thru lanes.)

The cod is the star here, big loins carefully breaded with cornmeal and not overcooked. The results are outstanding, tasty and moist. Putting it in one of the tacos is not the best place for it; this is not a lily requiring any gilding. The sides aren't as excellent as the cod; slaw is fresh but nothing exciting. No potato salad on the menu but pasta with a garlicky tomato sauce is nice. The fish and chips here, by the way, mean American chips, not french fries, sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Homemade desserts, things like gooey butter cake, brownies, and a sort of s'mores bar, a layer of brownie, then marshmallow, chocolate chips and a piece of graham cracker. They're included with the dinners, as are water or coffee.

 

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church

2618 Brentwood Blvd. at Manchester, Brentwood

314-961-8400

Menu

Next To Normal

"Next to Normal" played at the Fox several years ago. If you liked it then, return to the former CBC's black box theater to see what New Line Theatre has done with it. This is a play that almost desperately needs a small venue, the better to catch the behavioral details of a story that's mostly about thinking rather than physical gestures.

It's the musical - no, certainly not a musical comedy - about bipolar disease, although the script certainly softens many of the very sharp edges of the diagnosis. Kimi Short, playing Diana, the woman with the diagnosis, is restrained in all but the most over-the-top moments, almost too flat under these conditions. Jeffrey M. Wright, her husband, whose world has surely altered considerably over the years of their marriage because of her illness reminds one of the saying"We marry at the level of our mental health - or lack thereof". Wright carries the weight well. Both psychiatrists fall into the capable hands of Zachary Allen Farmer. The second one, Dr. Madden, described to the couple as a rock star of psychiatrists, calls to mind both Gene Simmons in his KISS persona and MASH's gentle Sidney Freedman, not an easy duo to pair, but Farmer is flawless.

It's a show with a fine score. The voices are good, and the house band has been amped up with a violin and cello to add to the sound. And "amped up" might be a little too accurate; the sound balance, especially in the first act, was off, muffling the words to songs where lyrics are part of the fun, especially in "My Psychopharmacologist and I" which features a long list of psychotropic drugs. But it was difficult, often impossible to make out exactly what was being sung.

How much leeway artistic license can give (or take) with details on something as soul-searing as mental illness was the subject of a considerable amount of post-show discussion. Maybe for some, this is like the folks who don't like a movie because the soldiers are wearing shoulder patches of a unit that was actually stationed on another continent at the time the battle took place. It's an interesting question with no firm answers. But the softening of illness symptoms, the severity of electroconvulsive therapy's sequelae, and perhaps an inference that all this is just due to unresolved grief does require a considerable amount of the old willing suspension of disbelief for many.

Still, a strong cast and a good score win out. Runs through March 23.

 

Next to Normal

New LIne Theater

Washington University South Campus Theatre

314-534-1111

www.newlinetheatre.com

Ocha

What used to be Tachibana has now changed names and menus again, becoming Ocha. (We missed visiting it during the short period it was House of Thai.) They're now Thai/Japanese, an increasingly common commingling these days, not just here but across the country. Perhaps it's because it appeals to groups with both metalmouths and non-metalmouths.

A friend had muttered about the kitchen being over-vigorous with their seasoning, and when this guy says food is too hot, it's hot. That's intriguing. No dampening-down of the seasoning? Time to investigate.

A little sushi to start out, fresh, a generous cut of fish on the yellowtail, some moist eel. And on to the tom kha soup. What the menu calls rich and creamy is a chicken broth with coconut milk, making it opaque, but was really surprisingly light, full of lemongrass flavor and chunky with lots of straw mushrooms, tofu and rings of green onion for color. Spicing was mild to moderate.

Vegetable puffs from the Thai Appetizers section of the menu brought two pastries, crisp and light with a vegetable mixture inside held together, seemingly, with mashed potato. Seasoning was mild, gentle hits of fish sauce, garlic, probably a little galangal, in these fried dumpling-ish charmers.

The only inquiry of "how hot" was for the seafood hot pot, the dish that had astounded my friend. He'd said hot. My order was my usual "somewhere between medium and hot", and that's how it arrived, far calmer than what the pal, who was sitting across the table, had previously tasted. The clear broth was a good temperature, sitting over a small burner, steaming and full of squid, shrimp, mussels, a couple of small clams,some fish and, oh, yes, the near-inevitable faux-krab sticks. The broth was so good it made even the krab taste good, and the seafood wasn't overcooked. The broth showed evidence of the almost licorice-like Thai basil as well as lemongrass and cilantro.

An order of tempura , appetizer sized but used as an entree, brought a shrimp, slices of sweet potato, an onion ring and some broccoli. It had been allowed to cool too much before arriving at the table, and while lightly battered, was greasier than it should have been. But mussels, breaded and fried with a different coating, were excellent, lots of flavor, with bean sprouts for crunch, onion to add sweetness, and a small dish of a sweet and sour sauce that was mostly superfluous.

At the end of the meal on Saturday evenings, something very different can be ordered. Made to order using rice flour, small, round sweets are cooked on a griddle with indentations, much like that used for the Danish ebelskever. Some of them contained a sesame filling, some have the sweet red bean paste are plain. The batter browns here and there, caramelizing the sugars in the batter a little, the rice flour leaving an interior that's a little gooey, a little chewy, very different, quite good.

The nice lady that cooks the little cakes has less English than the waitstaff we had, who were happy to help and mostly very easy to understand.

 

Ocha Thai & Japanese Cuisine

12967 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur

314-434-3455

www.ochastl.com 

Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Entrees: $9 - $17

Sauce on the Side

Baseball season is finally within sight, particularly welcome news after the weather the last week or so. If you're going down for a game, here's Sauce on the Side, a good bet for pre-game nourishment.

http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine/December-2012/In-the-Zone-Sauce-on-the-Side/

Cod Squad 2

Of all the church fish fries in town, there's probably been more media coverage of St. Cecilia's than anywhere else. The parish, at the north edge of the Carondelet neighborhood, covers an area that's contained St. Louisans of Mexican descent for several generations, and still offers Spanish masses several times a week. This influence happily extends to the fish fry, where the chiles relleno are so popular they sometimes run out of them.

Popular is an understatement. This is a big, busy operation that's well organized. Besides the gym, they use two other classrooms for dining, and they're a little quieter, if offering less opportunity for people-watching, our second favorite thing about fish fries. There's a long line, but it moves surprisingly quickly, considering.

Yes, if you have any tolerance for spicy, you do want the chips and pico de gallo available to tide you over between ordering and getting your fish. Even at this time of year with its wan tomatoes, this freshly chopped relish of tomato, onion and pepper, sings. It's not incendiary, but it's definitely hot. One of my dining companions could have eaten it like a cold soup.

The chiles are stuffed with cheese, lightly battered and sit in a thin, spicy sauce that also has a bit of a kick to it. The chiles have clearly been cleaned out to remove much of the seeds and membrane that carry the heat-causing capsaicin, so it's relatively mild. Jack salmon, that old St. Louis standby (newcomers: it's actually whiting), is seasoned and dredged in cornmeal, a tad soggy from the sauce under the chile relleno, unfortunately, but more interesting than many other versions. Cod is in square filets, pretty unremarkable, but a bean tostada was fresh, crisp, and too tasty to be so healthy. Alongside came a little cup of fresh salsa that wasn't quite as spicy as the pico. Slaw is clearly made that day, a mayo-type dressing that's slightly sweet and sour. Macaroni and cheese is good but much like the guys from Kraft.

Dessert appears in the gym on a cart, but it's also sold in one of the small dining/classrooms, the proceeds benefiting the school's athletics. $2 and worth it for the best tres leches cake I've ever had. It's white cake, rather than the more common yellow, and very tender. My dining pals, who had never even heard of the milk-soaked dessert were blown away, too. There are other options, brownies, flan, and various sweet rolls, the latter, I suspect, from one of the Cherokee Street bakeries.

Domestic beer in the gym, Mexican beer in the room with the desserts. And, yes, there are Mexican dancers, including some of the cutest toddlers you've ever seen. Also t-shirts and caps for sale!

 

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

906 Eichelberger

314-351-1318

www.stceciliaparishstl.org

The Book of Mormon

"The Book of Mormon" opened Tuesday night at the Fox. Is there anyone interested in St. Louis theater that doesn't know it's sort of the anti-"Sound of Music"? It's packed to the earlobes with jokes, both verbal and non-, of the sort that will leave almost everyone in the audience thinking, "I can't believed I laughed at that."

Our heroes, Elder Price (the Mitt Romney-jawed Mark Evans) and the delightfully schlubby Elder Cunningham (Christopher John O'Neill) are sent out to do their two-year stint as missionaries. Price, the kind of guy Sweet Polly Purebred would swoon over, has been dreaming of Orlando as a base, since it seems so perfect, just like him. There's an old Yiddish proverb that translates roughly as "Man plans. God laughs." Not only does Price get science-fiction geek Cunningham as a partner, they send him to Uganda. And off we go.

Sly and not so sly references to elsewhere on Broadway slip in - not surprisingly, there's a fair amount of "Lion King", for instance. And bursts of Bob Fosse-style choreography performed by men dressed like managers at Steak 'n Shake is nothing short of fabulous. In fact, the dancing is one of the forgotten highlights of this show.

Alas, another highlight, the lyrics, sometimes succumb to the still occasionally fragile temperament of the sound system at the Fox. Much better than a few years ago, but for a show like this where half the zing is in the zingers, it's a shame.

Don't go if you're easily offended by caricatures and jokes about AIDS, defecation, Starbucks and gloves that don't fit. It's hard to imagine a musical that talks about infundibulation, too. Artists since the beginning of time have set out to make people think, and one of the main ways they do that is to push the boundaries. (How old were you when you learned art wasn't just about what was beautiful?) The creators of "Mormon" are Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the "South Park" dudes, and Robert Lopez, who's a co-creator of "Avenue Q".  Lopez and his wife write songs for Disney musicals - how ironic is that? Whether or not they, particularly Parker and Stone, considered themselves artists early in their career, that's what they've done.

And extra credit to the entire cast who've learned the book well enough not to break up the entire show. I can only imagine what early rehearsals must have been like. I'm not sure if the New York Times was correct in calling it the best musical of the century - come on, we've got a couple of years yet to go - but it's remarkable.

 

The Fox Theatre

www.fabulousfox.com

 

through March 3, 2013

Brunch: Robust Downtown at the MX

Robust, at its new, second location downtown at 7th and Washington, has taken a bold step forward. They've started doing weekend brunch. Clearly, it's something they should have been doing a long time ago at the Webster site, if the food is any indication.

Located in the MX building, with entrances both on Washington and via the lobby of the Embassy Suites on 7th, Robust offers its sit-down brunch on both Saturday and Sunday The menu seems to lean rather more toward lunch than breakfast, until you notice the profusion of eggs, often in spots where they wouldn't have been a few years ago. For example, consider the tartines.

Tartines, when I first visited France - that would have been during the reign of Clovis I, I think - were lengths of bread split, perhaps toasted, and spread with butter or jam or, for a bit of luxury, topped with cheese, served with breakfast coffee at budget-priced establishments. In the last decade or so, they've evolved (over there, too) to open-faced sandwiches that serve as a light entree for lunch. Two of the three tartines on the menu are topped with a fried egg. A lightly grilled slab of sourdough was the base for several thick pieces of moist, beefy brisket, which was topped with caramelized onions, arugula and a fried egg, and to up the ante, the bread had been anointed with some of the meat juices. A hearty knife-and-fork sandwich, it was a great combination, full of flavor and textures.

Forget the cliches about quiche. The spinach and gruyere one was remarkable, even the bottom of the crust crispy-tender, the balance of spinach and cheese in good harmony, a fine specimen of the dish. Alongside, a green salad wore a light tickle of a feta-laced vinaigrette, a good contrast to the creamy quiche.

Still, the star of the table was a side dish. What the menu terms baked potato hash turned out to be a tangle of thick potato shreds, at least partly pan-fried with the resultant occasional browned bits, mixed with a generous amount of more caramelized onions, the whole topped with sour cream, chopped green onions, and bacon - which we requested on the side, as my pal is vegetarian. Yes, good, thick lardons of bacon, but the dish was absolutely complete without them. Finally, breakfast potatoes with enough onions. This plus a couple of fried eggs would be simple and perfect. I can't imagine ever having brunch here without these guys.

Good coffee, reasonably strong and showing evidence that the elves that scour coffee pots have been hard at work. Untried but alluring is a flight of brunch drinks, the way Robust offers flights of wine for trying. In this case, the small servings are of the house bloody Mary and mimosa, and a michelada, a beer cocktail. next time.

Service managed to be both attentive and easy-going, exactly what is needed at brunch.

But be warned: Street parking this close to the Convention Center and Dome is practically nonexistent. The easiest thing to do is to use the valet parking at the Embassy Suites and be sure, emphasis, be absolutely positive to give the restaurant waitstaff your parking ticket. It'll cost $3. If you pay the hotel rates, it's $14. Even with the tip, you're way ahead of the game, especially if you order the potatoes.

 

Robust

635 Washington Ave.

314-287-6300

www.robustwinebar.com

Brunch Sat.-Sun. 

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Entrees:$8-$13

New York City: La Antojeria Popular

Once upon a time, lower Manhattan, say, below 14th Street, had not been Discovered except by the locals and a few arty types. It was a series of real neighborhoods. Many small businesses were located on the first 2 floors of 5- and 6- story buildings, apartments upstairs. The first floor was actually about halfway below ground level, with stairs to go down to the door and the small area across the front of the building where pots of shrubs tried unsuccessfully to hide trash cans. Windows gave a truncated view of life on the street, and ceilings were low - there was a certain feeling of being in a burrow, but that added to the romance of any restaurant in such a setting. And there were plenty of them, cozy dark spots run by families dishing up coq au vin or spaghetti or kebabs, travel posters on the wall and stubby candles here and there. (Fans of old, old movies will immediately recognize the setting; Hollywood always knew romantic.)

So when I saw Antojeria La Popular, walked in the front door and down a few steps, I couldn't help but smile. No travel posters, and a modern bar, but cozy and lit like a scene from one of those old movies. The food is Mexican, but it's like few Mexican restaurants around. They're doing, to mix Spanish metaphors, Mexican tapas. No cliches, including no margaritas, but plenty of interesting cocktails. Sangria, too, red and white, as well as limited wine and beer.

Some of the dishes work well for sharing. Others, well, not so much except for close personal friends. But all of them we tried were delectable. By chance, the only ones that had semi-serious heat were the first two that arrived, which are shown in the picture. (Note the sign on the table.) Four different ceviches are available; our Distrito Federal contained sirloin slices as well as shrimp, tilapia, serrano chile and red onion in a slightly thickened sauce described only as a Triblin sauce. Not particularly handsome but tasty. Alongside was the creamy, warm corn dish Tabasco, named for the state in Mexico, not the sauce. It was almost a pudding in consistency, with strips of roasted poblano in it, giving it a slow-growing kick, but that was partly offset by plenty of Chihuahua cheese.

Continuing, came next tostadas, one called Michoacan, with chicken in a mole sauce topped with lettuce and a toasted sesame crema, and another, Zacatecas, with pieces of sirloin and a green sauce. Tucked into a pita was a combination of shrimp, bacon, avocado, and a little poblano chile, lightly dressed in a smoky mayonnaise, particularly remarkable. And then a real surprise, raw tuna diced with mango, just a little hit of habanero pepper (don't be frightened - this really sings) and again just a little binding with mayo, all on a large, thin slice of jicama to provide crunch. Practically brilliant.

Yes, flan is a cliche of a dessert. But that was what was available. This is probably the best flan I've ever eaten, exquisitely silky and rich but not rubbery, and somehow managing to be delicate. Like the seviche, not remarkably beautiful but worth pursuing.

A few blocks below Houston Street, it's possible for pre-theater dining for some of the tiny off--off Broadway spots, or to finish off a day of shopping in the neighborhood. (And the Spring Street subway station is at the other end of the block for tired feet.) Very small, very cozy, good people-watching. And they offer different kinds of chilaquiles, a sort of scrambled egg with tortilla dish, on weekends,  and of Mexican chocolate, so it's a brunch option, too. Plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free choices are noted on the menu.

 

 La Antojeria Popular

50 Spring Street, New York City

646-476-3567

www lapopularnyc com  

Lunch and Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes 

Wheelchair access: No

Smoking: No

Tapas: $4-$7

Cod Squad

This is what life is like: In less than two weeks, I've eaten at one of Daniel Bolud's restaurants, declined a cricket tostada at another spot, and sat in a church gym at a fish fry in south St. Louis. That's running the gamut.

I'd wanted to do a Friday Lent fish fry for some years. This week, I went to St. Pius V on South Grand. And I had both a good time and a good meal. The slab of fried cob, the macaroni and cheese, the potato salad and the slaw, none of them tasted mass-produced. They were carefully cooked, the fish crisp and not greasy, and the tartar sauce tart. Everything was better-seasoned than the mass-produced stuff put out at many of the so-called "dinner house" chains. And while the chocolate bundt cake may possibly have been one of those pudding-in-the mixes, it was moist and tender.

And it's crazy cheap. $8 for an adult - catfish or cod, three sides, bread and butter, dessert, tea, coffee or water. Beer and soda for an extra charge. (And music for part of the evening.)

It's been decades since I lived south of Highway Farty, in several parts of the south side. I had my share of neighbors complaining I parked in front of their house, and once I even got a nasty anonymous note because I was daring enough to take a fast spin on my 7-year-old son's banana bike. (I was guilty of being undignified.) But this is the epitome of the best of South St. Louis, nice people, pleasant conversation, unaggrieved helpers, just like something out of a movie.

Every Friday through March 22, from 4 p.m. until 7:30, kids' plates and carryout available. Enter on the north side of the building, on Utah.

Go.

 

St. Pius V Roman Catholic Church

3310 S. Grand Ave.

Website

Fig Cake

It's possible that this recipe should be a winter holiday dessert or snack. I originally found it in a Washington Post story on fruitcakes that The World's Greatest Daughter-in-Law saved for me when I visited before Christmas. But instead, it reminds me of the sort of recipe that would have come out of the legendary Moosewood Cookbook, woods-y looking and hearty. The fact that it's vegan went unmentioned in the Post story, and in fact I didn't notice it either until I was nearly finished making it. The nuts provide the recipe's only fat. Not that it's a diet recipe. But it's full of fruit, mostly dried but some fresh.

It can be made in a tube pan, the kind angel food cakes use, or a couple of loaf pans. If you do that, bake it for less time. I lined my tube pan with a circle of parchment paper, just to be careful; use your own judgment on that. The cake begins with making some fig preserves, much thicker than the commercial kind, and the Post warns that commercial ones won't work. You can do that in advance. To me, part of the magic of this cake is the black walnuts with their distinctive notes. Originally, the recipe called for 2 cups of black walnuts or pecans. All I had available was about a cup and a half of the black walnuts and the balance was just right. I also added a heaping teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, a good addition to many spice cakes.

The batter is too thick to use a mixer. Begin with a sturdy wooden spoon and switch to one or both hands when you need to. That's also how you'll put the batter in the pan or pans.

 

ARKANSAS FIG CAKE

 

3 c. (about 14 oz.) dried figs, stemmed and coarsely chopped

6 Tbs. sugar plus 2 c. sugar

2 c. water plus 1 /2 c. water

2 c. peeled and finely chopped apple

15 oz. box raisins

2 c. black walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (see notes above)

4 c. flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking soda

 

Combine the figs, 6 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the figs are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you are losing too much liquid, you can partially cover the pan, but this should be thick.

Remove from the heat and let stand at least 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender or food processor, chop the mixture further, to produce a chunky puree. You will need 2 cups of puree; if you need more liquid, you may stir it in. Set mixture aside.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Use oil-and-flour baking spray to coat a tube pan, preferably one with a removable center, or two standard loaf pans. (If you use paper to line the pans, spray that, too, once it's in the pan.)

Measure 2 cups of the fig puree into a very large mixing bowl. Add the apples, raisins, and nuts and stir to mix well. Extra puree can be refrigerated and used as jam.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and salt, until they're well combined. You'll see bits of the spices evenly distributed through the mixture.

And in a small bowl, mix the baking soda into 1/2 cup water. Stir until dissolved and then stir this into the fruit mixture.

Add the flour and seasonings to the fruit mixture. This will be very dense and heavy, so it may be easier to use your hands. If necessary, you may add another tablespoon or two of water to make sure all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan, pressing it down to fit the pan. Moisten your hands and pat the top of the batter to smooth it out.

Bake for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until a tester inserted near the center of the cake batter comes out clean. Cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan, and if using the 2-piece tube pan, you may leave it on the base as it cools.

Wrap tightly; keeps for at least 2 weeks. Yields at least 12 slices.

 

The Shack Pubgrub

The argument about cursed locations for restaurants went on for a bit when The Shack opened on Laclede near Saint Louis University. But the fact is, the building was originally the motherhouse for the Caleco's group, the folks that made thicker, non-provel pizza easily accessible, and then popular, around town. I spent a fair amount of time there, what with living in LaClede Town, doing evening classes at SLU and working at Barnes. The plentiful plants and stained glass were classic fern bar, and the pizza was good enough that we learned to accept what seemed godawful waits for the pies.

After Caleco's expired, other places, all rather nondescript, came and went. And then the guys from the Tavern on Dougherty Ferry Road decided to open The Shack in that spot. Over the years, the original building expanded, so it's difficult to visualize what it was, but in some areas, the old vibes still murmur. It's large, generously but not excessively televisioned, with several dining rooms, lots of big tables, and, for what comes suspiciously close to a college bar, well and politely staffed. Still, there's a kids' menu, but after 9 p.m., announces a sign at the door, no one under 21 will be admitted.

The menu is large and interesting, although it may be advisable to step carefully around too much lily-gilding. Nachos come with beef or pulled pork toppings. The pulled pork seems like a good idea, with a chipotle barbecue sauce and some green chile salsa, too. A little hit of smokiness in the nacho cheese sauceworks well. But the pork itself is quite sweet, enough that it overwhelms the peppers and demands a good hit of the Cholula sauce at the tables. (Interestingly, the leftovers made for a surprisingly tasty batch of chilaquiles.) On the other hand, the wings flew, so to speak, the 7-spice Buffalo sauce vinegary, hot and laced with wee bits of garlic. (Other options are kung pao and the chipotle barbecue sauces.) And they hadn't been breaded, always a plus.

Burgers, of course, but it seems there's a reason they're not listed until the diner flips over the menu for the reverse side. A Shack burger, flat-grilled style, comes with lettuce, tomato, onion and Shack Sauce, pinkish and slightly sweet-sour. I hope the dryness of the burger was an aberration, because it was so acute the vegetables and sauce didn't save things. Flat-grilled burgers can be great, but this one wasn't.

Where there are burgers, there also shall be fries. And these are absolutely first-rate fries, fresh and hot and clearly hand-cut. That said, here too be cautious with add-ons. There are several offerings of what the menu calls loaded french fries, going well beyond the traditional-ish chili fries. The problem with all these is that they wet down the excellent potatoes, losing their crispness, their heat and their charm. A version called green eggs and ham started off with creamed spinach, added lardons of pork belly, some green onion and a soft-fried egg. Certainly it sounded good, but it was just Too Much Stuff. Fries sans toppings are on the reverse side of the menu.

Tacos? Here? Curious eaters want to know. Well, it's not Cherokee Street, and it's not fair to judge by those standards, but these were surprisingly good. Served on flour tortillas, the fish taco was hot and crisp and topped with the proper cabbage, cilantro and onion. But the pork belly taco, with a pineapple salsa absolutely swung, a great combination of flavors and textures, no need for additional seasoning - its heat was mild but pleasant - and bursting with fun. They really should serve more than one eensy bartender's cut of lime with two tacos, though.

It's not quite within walking distance, at least at night, of the Grand Center attractions. But service is mostly rapid and parking is easy.

  

The Shack Pubgrub

3818 Laclede Ave.

314-533-7000

www.shackstl.com

Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Sandwiches, etc.:$5-$8

New York City: Bar Boulud

The neighborhood of Lincoln Center in Manhattan is full of venues for music, dance and theater, and that means plenty of opportunities for restaurateurs to offer brunch, lunch, dinner and post-performance noshing. And sure enough, the area is teeming with options. One restaurateur with excellent credentials is Daniel Boulud, who first gained major acclaim running the kitchen at Le Cirque. Soon he opened his own restaurant, Daniel, where Joe and I met him one night as we dined with Tim and Nina Zagat. (Apparently, in the kitchen were two guys whose names you might recognize, Jim Fiala and Carey McDowell, who ended up here in St. Louis.)

Daniel Boulud traded his whites for a suit and tie, and now has a group of carefully planned outposts, including three bearing his name across the street from Lincoln Center. One is a bakery/retail/seafood bar, called Epicerie Bolud, flanked to the east by Boulud Sud, which focuses on Mediterranean food, and to the south is Bar Bolud, where I ended up with friends.

In a storefront whose large windows frame the glittering Metropolitan Opera across Dante Park, the arched ceiling somehow manages to hold the noise to a manageable din, notable these days. With only slight effort, we could hear each other across the table. We opted for a series of small bites rather than having entrees, and no one gave us a fish eye over that choice; indeed, service was as good as you'd expect from a high-end New York restaurant that was jumping. And jumping it was; don't try this without a reservation unless you have a secure backup plan.

An amuse of gougeres, still warm, arrived and met with universal acclaim. My pals hadn't come across them before - they're a choux paste dough, what cream puffs are made of, that has cheese beaten into it. No filling required; the interior is soft and slightly chewy, the outside crisp. These were perhaps an inch in diameter, and we could probably have eaten a dozen of them.

The house version of a salade lyonnaise is close to traditional, a lovely tangle of curly, crisp endive, lightly dressed with vinaigrette, thick chunks of bacon, and a perfectly poached egg. What makes it distinctive is not just the sourdough croutons, but quickly sauteed lobes of chicken liver, giving another layer of savory flavor and a creamy texture to the mixture.

Soups should be superb at a restaurant with French bloodlines, and both ours were. The mini-tureens are heavy enough to keep them properly hot, and while a celery and chestnut soup was lush, velvety and as rich as the dress circle across the street at the opera house, its balance of flavors and cream didn't mutter, "Too much, too much." Fish soup featured on the pre-theater menu was a cream version, too, equally smooth and punctuated by brunoise of potato and several mussels barely poached. Brunoise? Beautiful word. It's chef-talk for dice about an eighth of an inch across.

From the charcuterie list came a slice of terrine made with leg of lamb, with some eggplant and sweet potato added in for texture as well as taste, little hits of garlic and pepper and one of the sweet spices singing along. The single letdown in the meal was the beef tartare, good quality beef, to be sure, but topped with what seemed to be a mayonnaise type of sauce, rather than the traditional egg yolk. Who knows if Health Department regulations or a caution in this age of immunodeficiencies and lawsuits helped this come to pass? It seemed to be part of a texture problem that surprised, a gooeyness that was unexpected.

But the dessert....ah, the dessert. Called le lion (and pronounced like the cat, not the city in France), it was held in shape by a shallow cup-shaped chocolate cookie that floated in a cloud of passion fruit- and yuzu-flavored whipped cream. Inside the cup, was a denser chocolate cream, more whipped cream on top, and then a scoop of chocolate-passion fruit ice cream, and yes, those are a few gold flakes on there. Why gild the lily when you can gild chocolate? Sheer bliss. Who knew passion fruit and chocolate could make such wow together?

There's a late-night menu, a pre-theater special, and they do brunch. But call ahead, even if it's only a half-hour's lead time. Restaurants in this neighborhood get very busy, even the so-so ones. And this is far beyond that.

 

Bar Boulud

1900 Broadway, New York City

212-595-0303

Website

Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly, Brunch Sat.-Sun.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Entrees: $28-$40

A Comeback

St. Louis Eats has been...well, let's just say pretty anemic the past couple of months. I apologize. Among other things, there's been a death in the immediate family during that time and that has kept me extremely involved.

But it looks like things are calming down, and I'm thinking we're going to be able to get cranking again with a few days and real-time coverage of St. Louis restaurants within a week or 10 days. So bear with me, and in the meantime, here's the word on Pomme in Clayton:

http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine/November-2012/The-Well-Seasoned-Life-Pomme-Remains-the-Apple-of-Claytons-Eye/

 

Tony's

Happy New Year to my friends and fellow food lovers. Things here have been spotty as life has gotten rather complicated but I'm hoping that 2013 will calm down, and that it will be better for all of us than 2012 has been.

Our old friend, the Old China Hand and the ever-delightful Mrs. Hand have had us join them for New Years Eve at the St. Louis Symphony and then at Tony's for several years, and they continued that invitation this year. I am happy to report it was one of the best meals we've had there in some time, both in terms of food and service. (Hard to imagine in these walls but on a previous visit, a glass of water remained un-refilled for the whole meal, for instance. Glad that's past.)

No photos - I really hadn't thought I'd be writing about it. But good food, like the Prince Edward Island oysters with an icy mignonette sauce, the oysters briny and exquisitely fresh, the mignonette showing more body than usual, from what I think may have been malt vinegar. And pate from duck and chicken livers with a little veal showed more style, creamy and rich but also a little heat, some sweet-tart notes and a surprising use of rosemary that worked well. The pickled red onions alongside were a good idea, too.

Grilled scampi and lobster brought three monster-sized shrimp and a lobster tail split the long way, each grilled but not overcooked. They were dressed with what the menu calls a mustard sauce, but the sauce went well beyond a nice bit of Dijon. Ruddy, the color of a very serious lobster bisque and clearly containing a reduction of seafood stock, perhaps a dab of tomato and definitely that tang of dried mustard, complex and gratifying.

Equally fit for a gala night was the slice of tenderloin grilled with some foie gras and another fine sauce, this one velvety from a fine roux, rich from the pan juice reduction and touched with a bit of a very dry port, the whole thing a rich chestnut brown, and so delectable that bread to mop up the last of it was simply mandatory. Would the house version of creamed spinach be too rich to go with this? Surprisingly, no. Hard to imagine but this is an amazingly light-on-the-tongue version, tasting like the vegetable itself melted almost into unctuousness, a light hit of nutmeg sashaying along.

And was a plate of linguini with lobster and shrimp perhaps a bit mundane on a night of festivities? Well, no, as it turned out. Not surprisingly, plenty of chunks of seafood mixed with the al dente pasta, all swathed in a sauce that was texturally light, consisting of olive oil and seafood broth, but big, big on flavor, lots of shellfishy savor with light notes of garlic and some red pepper, plus some lemon, an absolutely fabulous pasta dish and the sort of thing that lingers in the memory the rest of the year. Leftovers will make a fine fritatta.

Helen Fletcher, the gifted baker who's become the Bommarito family restaurant's in-house dessert chef, has a new book out, European Tarts, whose contents overlap with many of the newer offerings on Tony's menu. A butter tart whose filling may evoke our gooey butter cake, pairs up with a caramel ice cream, the wonderful crust a fine contrast with the slightly chewy filling and the ice cream. The combination of dark chocolate and coconut brings a chocolate-crusted tart with a chocolate ganache filling with coconut in it, and housemade coconut ice cream, again the textures playing against each other, and a good pairing of flavors. Those are both great, but I continue to have a deep soft spot for the chocolate layer cake filled with chocolate mousse and paired with banana ice cream. Both Joe and I always felt this to be one of the area's best desserts, and it continues to reign.

Service attentive, of course, with no loose ends and a little less of the hovering feeling that some folks find overwhelming. (The younger members of the family who we've brought there over the years have been taught that the way to handle this is to imagine they're a prince or princess, remembering that such grand folks are always and forever deeply polite to the people who take care of them. It's worked well, and even the generation that still wants chicken nuggets elsewhere remember happily their visits here.) And frankly, there are few places in town that are better for people watching. Near us were three string players from the symphony, having a particularly fine post-gig meal.

Not cheap and at these prices, to quote Pollack's First Law, restaurants set their standards by the way they price themselves. But a grand meal and well worth it.

 

Tony's

410 Market St.

314-231-7007

www.saucecafe.com/tonys

Dinner Tues.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: via lobby of Equitable Building (entrance for sibling restaurant Anthony's Bar)

Smoking: No

Entrees: $28-$43

On Mince Pies

And so it came to pass that the holidays were upon us, and the foods thereof. In this piece from St. Louis Magazine's food blog Relish, I talk about mince pies and why they're misunderstood. Not making any this year, but maybe in 2014....

Pastaria

Pastaria may turn out to be a learning experience for some folks. At the same time, it may also be some proof that St. Louisans are becoming more accepting of pizza that doesn't conform to what they ate in, say, middle school. The new venture of Gerard Craft (Niche, Brasserie by Niche) a half-block off Hanley in downtown Clayton is a great combination of new and familiar.

Almost unnoticeably connected to its sibling Niche, newly moved in one door west, it luxuriates in a feeling of space, mainly due to its immense two-story ceiling. Somehow, this manages to swallow a surprising amount of din when the place is rocking, as it commonly is. Because Pastaria is hot, no question about it, and not just with the usual gotta-go-to-the-newest-spot crowd. Craft said he wanted it to be family-friendly, and so it is. No, there are no placemats and crayons, but there are high chairs and a children's menu. On a Sunday evening, almost half the tables had junior diners and a remarkably well-contained group they were, too, all sitting in seats, high chairs or laps, having a good time. One young lady carefully held up a looooong piece of macaroni and nibbled from the bottom, several faces bore clear evidence of enjoying the pasta sauces and none of this felt inappropriate, so casual was the atmo. Not a soul the whole evening had a meltdown, not even any adults. Wondrous.

No reservations. Period. But chairs and a bar at which to wait, a chance to watch fresh pasta being made and to inspect the gelato case. And to read the menu, speeding things once seated.

"Sorta close to Italy" is the motto, and that's reasonably accurate. Italian restaurants wouldn't have pasta as their main course at dinner, for instance. The pasta there would not be the consistency of Beef-a-roni, and I promise you Pastaria's certainly isn't. For those who couldn't make sense of al dente pasta, here is the classroom. This is fresh pasta, and it remains a little chewy, no dry core at the center, but definitely something the mouth must concentrate on more than St. Louisans, and most Americans, are accustomed to. These really are dishes that are as much about the pastas as about the sauces.

First courses are plentiful, and it would be easy to make a meal just of them. Crispy risotto balls are small versions of suppli, risotto wrapped around a piece of cheese, breaded and fried. Perhaps the size of a shooter marble, deeply tender and creamy inside, it's hard to decide if the two sauces served with them gild the lily or not. What looks like ranch dressing turns out to be tarragon sauce, absolutely delicious; the other sauce is tomato based, thinnish, and at first a little ho hum. But then there's something unexpected, a little more acidic than ordinary and perhaps a little coolness - have they slipped some mint in it? Good with either sauce, good without, too.

Craft offers kale, the vegetable of the year, in a new guise. It is not quite so thinly sliced as to be called shaved, but the salad with it is carefully shredded to increase its tooth-friendly qualities. He then dresses it in true Caesar-style and tops it with big crumbs of toasted bread and pecorino cheese. Brutus would be green with envy. Kale is so strong-willed it doesn't wilt even after being dressed, meaning the generous serving's leftovers will wait unaffected until tomorrow's smile-inducing lunch.

Bruschetta, slices of grilled bread toasted in the wood-burning oven, is topped with slices of red radishes pan roasted with lemon and garlic. The color is amazing - sitting at the counter by the kitchen, it looked like a pan of sliced strawberries. The crunch is softened considerably, the characteristic sharpness mellowed, but the lemon and garlic round things off nicely.

Pizza, whether for a main or for a shared first course, arrives quickly. That wood-burning oven, so hot that a pizza placed on its metal floor begins to steam immediately, is watched carefully, the pies pivoted this way and that to bake evenly. These are medium-thick, about 10 inches across, a tender but chewy crust. The Roman carries tomato, serious garlic, small chunks of smoky bacon, mozzarella and pecorino cheeses and a little chili oil, a fine melange of contrasts. It was indeed much like what I ate in Rome three months ago, although the crust is thicker. Pizza provincialism is Out. There are lots of ways to make good pizza. Get used to it.

As to the pasta, be prepared for some new shapes. Garganelli, shaped like what we used to call banana curls, shares a bowl with tender wine-braised beef, green olives, and a shower of lemon peel, garlic and parsley. Strozzapreti, which translates as "priest stranglers", referring, apparently, to greedy clerics, SHAPE wears the house Bolognese sauce, a meaty tribute that seems to include some of the red sauce for the risotto balls, and a little cream as well, a common addition in Bologna.

Pappardelle, a wide, flat noodles often used with game and other hearty meats, here pairs up with smoked pork, a little apple and some mascarpone cheese. The effect is almost barbecued, with the smokiness and the sweetness of the apple, and adds up to a dish that makes a (happy) pig of the diner. And then there's the cacio e pepe using a canestri pasta. Canstri are large, ridged and u-shaped, new to me. Cacio e pepe translates as cheese and pepper, an old Roman pasta, and what I had my last night in Rome. The version here, using Grana Padano and pecorino cheeses along with a generous amount of black pepper, is as good as that one was. It's not a handsome dish, the cheese being about the same color as the pasta, with just the flecks of pepper. But it's incredibly satisfying, one of those proofs that good, simple ingredients can blow you away. There are three non-pasta entrees, by the way.

They're making their own gelato, from simple (chocolate from Springfield, MO's Askinosie's chocolate) to elaborate (Meyer lemon curd); our pal's vanilla and chocolate was first-rate. The delightful surprise was the panna cotta, normally a snoozer of a dessert. Made with yogurt that had to be the rich Greek sort, it was nicely unctuous, not at all rubbery, and topped with a tart cherry compote and toasted, salted sliced almonds, a fab combination. The only glitch in things was the dessert just referred to as birthday cake. It looks like fun with sprinkles and meringue "marshmallows". But the yellow cake was overbeaten, making it tough and unappealing despite the generous lashings of frosting. There are plenty of better choices.

Really nice service, warm and casually knowledgeable, especially for folks curious about what they're about to consume. And good value overall. This spot is going to stick around for a while, is my guess.

 

Pastaria

7734 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton

314-862-6603

www.pastariastl.com 

Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Pastas and pizzas: $10-$16

London: Classic British Eats

Tea, fish and chips, and a full English breakfast marked my stopover in London en route to Italy this fall. Herewith, the tale.

Green Beans Braised in Tomatoes

The Thanksgiving menu when I was growing up was pretty much fixed. The two questions were:

Waldorf salad or not? (Yes, if there were guests.) and

What about a green vegetable?

My schoolteacher mother didn't study nutrition in college, but there were small leaflet-like books put out during the Depression to educate citizens on proper nutrition for their children, and my mother dutifully absorbed them, or so she said. Her views were pretty reasonable and accurate given what we now know about such things, her mantra being A Balanced Meal. Thanksgiving did not meet her criteria for ABM, and mostly she didn't try to impose on the menu. But no mashed potatoes. (There's enough starch there," meaning sweet potatoes were a starch and not a yellow vegetable, dressing was certainly a starch, and then the brown 'n serve rolls and blackberry jam, the cranberry sauce and the pumpkin pie.) And there needed to be a green vegetable on the plate. Nothing exciting ever appeared. Canned peas or green beans. Frozen broccoli. Yawn.

Things improved several years after I married and had kids. For a long time, there was a spinach casserole that, mirabile dictu, came from a hospital cafeteria. (Thank you, Shriners!) Hard-cooked egg, a sharp cheese sauce and croutons over a layer of cooked spinach were the answer. And then in the Pollack years, other things came into play. Roasted brussels sprouts had a good run, especially with a little balsamic sprinkled over as they came out of the oven. And then there was this that made a picky 6-year-old diva beg for more. I think it was probably the tarragon.

There are plenty of recipes for similar things all over the internet, most of them more overtly Italian than this. I'm thinking whoever came up with this one, an old New York Times recipe that more or less pre-dates the internet, and probably is from Jack Bishop. Tarragon, unusual in Italian cooking, is mostly found around Siena, which is where the onetime picky eater spent a semester of college and really learned about serious eating.

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 c. chopped or diced canned tomatoes with liquid

1 lb. green beans, ends trimmed (I also break them up)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried tarragon (or 1 Tbs. fresh, added at the end of the cooking)

Freshly ground black pepper

In a large saute pan or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. If it browns a little because you forget to stir, that's okay. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the juices thicken a little, about another 5 minutes.

Add the green beans, salt and a little pepper to the skiller. Crumble the tarragon between your fingers or in the palm of your hand over the pan and add it all. Give the mixture a good stir, drop the heat to medium-low and cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until the beans are tender but still a little resistant to the bite, about 30-35 minutes. You may go longer if you desire. If you're using the fresh tarragon, add it now, and taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper.

Serves 4, perhaps.

 

Lincoln

Regular readers know that our film and theater reviews stopped when Joe passed away in early March. Those well-polished loafers of his are ones I choose not to fill. But sometimes I find things that are too good not to discuss.

There's been a lot of ballyhoo about "Lincoln", as there is about all Steven Spielberg's films. I'd avoided said ballyhoo before I saw a screening of the film; now I find these discussions inadequate. Describing "Lincoln" in a 45-second spot or a 5-minute interview is impossible; the scope is just too large.

Nearly all the film is shot in the drabbed, slightly dusty light that is how we tend to think of the Victorian era. The golden lamp-like glow of many interior shots offsets to some degree the layers of velvet curtains and oceans of fringe and furbelows; that same light, often coming in from the side, lends some shots, particularly of some men in the House of Representatives gallery, the air of a Rembrandt portrait.

It's war time, of course, and we see plenty of the huge toll the Civil War extracted from us. Nevertheless, the focus is Lincoln's efforts to get the representatives to pass the 13th Amendment and how that would affect the end of the war, which is very close in the late winter of 1865. It's about the messiness of the political process, and seeing it just after the nastiness of the recent campaign makes it hit home even more. (The vitriol launched on the House floor during the debates on the amendment exceeds by far the acidity, still accepted, in the British House of Commons.) Tony Kushner's screenplay may at times feel a little too contemporary but it flies along. It should; this is 149 minutes long.

Daniel Day-Lewis , like Meryl Streep, has the ability to dissolve himself into the character, giving us the Lincoln we think we know, his son on his lap, and then a stranger, bellowing at his staff in a moment of supreme frustration. Tommy Lee Jones, playing Thaddeus Stevens, a powerful representative who's known as an outspoken abolitionist, is an absolute romp to watch and listen to.

This is a man's movie - that is to say, it's about men, and Mary Lincoln's role is quite secondary, so Sally Field's job is made more difficult. Her emotional difficulties, well-known, and probably a major depression, accounts for her flatness most of the time. St. Louisans who are theater-goers will recognize Stephen McKinley Henderson, here credited as Stephen Henderson, who appeared at the Rep and directed at the Black Rep. And watch for three "fixers", attempting to convince congressmen to vote for the amendment, guys, A. O. Scott in his New York Times says, who "could have stumbled out of Mark Twain".

The details can be exquisite: Listen to the Jollys of Jefferson City being presented to Lincoln to petition for the return of a toll-road job, for instance, Lincoln's storytelling, from trials in Illinois to Ethan Allen in London to quoting Euclid. And lastly, there's John Williams' score, spot on.

Definitely not just for the history buff.

 

Opens today, November 16 at several theaters.

Southtown Pub

Some of us find it pretty amusing that "dive bar" now means "not a fancy cocktail lounge". The Southtown Pub is described that way by some of those commenting on the online reviewing sites. I know from dive bars. Dive bars were once, well, not a friend, but a nodding acquaintance of mine. And this, my dears, is no dive bar. Yes, it has a nice old-fashioned wooden bar back, sort of Art Deco. But there are too many television sets, the floor isn't sticky and there's no one asleep/passed out at the bar. I acknowledge that on one visit when the Rams game was on, the score was tight and it was in the last couple of minutes, the language from the bar was loud and contained the occasional expletive. But on another visit, a weekday lunch, it was quiet and tables of women, all casually dressed, were having lunch and discussing the various draft beers.

STP, as they sometimes refer to themselves, obviously are proud of their wings. The first thing many will notice is that these aren't Buffalo wings, which have pretty well come to be the expected version hereabouts. They're rubbed and smoked, the rub giving a little heat but not overwhelming. When the menu describes them as "jumbo", it's true. And they can be ordered individually. Very smoky, moist inside, and really not needing the six offered barbecue sauces, they're nicely satisfying.

Yes, six sauces, each in a Schlafly growler jug with a pump on the top, a handsome lineup with plenty of cups (and lids) . Among them are the original sauce, tomato-based and unsweet, "pig dip" that's a vinegar sauce, Carolina mustard, sweet-hot that's also tomato-based, a sweet red sauce that's pineapple-y and particularly unusual, and something called kitchen sink, which has, among its mysteries, a note of cumin.

Actually, there's a seventh, a white Alabama-style barbecue sauce that's mayonnaise based, pleasant and mild, which comes with a pulled chicken sandwich. The meat looks to be mostly white meat, the sandwich topped with bacon made in-house, which only adds, of course, to the smokiness, the whole thing enticing.

Jacked-Up Beef Brisket, said the menu, wears a layer of pepper jack cheese and crispy onions. I am not a devotee of brisket, but this was a remarkable sandwich, juicy, tender, smoky beef that pirouetted on the taste buds, the cheese kicking in just a little more heat. The "crispy onions" seemed to be nothing more than onion-flavored bits of breading, seemingly adding only texture, but could easily be forgiven, so good was the sandwich. Kudos, too, to the buns, which don't fall apart before the diner is half done with the sandwich.

The Taco Tuesday special was pulled pork in a flour tortilla, topped with their creamy slaw, a happily untidy dish, but while I'm generally a pork person, the brisket won this round. The side dishes include, among other options, a vinegar slaw with plenty of celery seeds and their angry beans, which aren't as fiery as expected, but more of a sweet-hot combination.

It's hard to resist the idea of a bacon chocolate bread pudding. The bacon is crumbled and used in a brown sugar sauce over the top of a dense bread pudding with chocolate chunks in it. Between the sauce, which is surprisingly light on sweetness, and the semisweet chocolate, they've cut back on the sugar in the pudding itself, so the vanilla bean ice cream alongside is a good idea. The bacon flavor is almost nonexistent, especially after the smokiness of the main courses. This is a good concept, but the execution lacks zing; a little reworking, beginning with larger pieces of bacon sprinkled atop things rather than made soggy in a sauce, could yield good results.

Good service, although on game day it was slightly disorganized. And how pleasant to go to a spot like this where the only smoke is from the barbecue. A good spot for a long, late weekday lunch to catch up with pals. And please note the online menu is currently out of date.

 

Southtown Pub

3707 S. Kingshighway

314-832-9009

www.southtownpub.com

 

Lunch and Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: No

Sandwiches and Entrees: $7-$20

Sump Coffee

I may have found one of St. Louis' greatest spots for playing hookey.

I went to Sump Coffee the other morning. It was quiet. Big front windows in the old building at Jefferson and Winnebago allow plenty of light if that's what you're in need of. The decor is minimalist, bare brick walls, interesting tables made of old soda crates, a gently curved bar - except for a matched red velvet chairs in full Victorian flower.

This is Serious Coffee. Just coffee. No scones, no soy--milk half-decaf pumpkin vanilla thingies with fake whipped cream on top. Not even any dry toast. Variations on espresso depending on how much milk goes into it; I had a cortado, the very speaking of the word takes me back to a counter in Barcelona. Cortados have two ounces of milk and a double shot. (And is this the only place in town with a flat white, so beloved of Aussie coffee fiends?)

I settled in with part of the New York Times, which sat on a shelf. The few other customers mostly utilized the wi-fi, although I heard a conversation regarding the differences in the biochemistry and immunology departments and the vagaries of stem cells. (Please note: This is not within walking distance of either med school.) The coffee arrived quietly but with a distinctly proud flourish.

And it was grand, smooth and strong and only slightly acidic, some chocolate and tobacco notes in it, too good to knock back standing up the way I did in Barcelona.

Just be aware, this is high-octane stuff. Once upon a time, in another life, I worked up the street. If Sump had been there then, I would have flown through a shift. But this was a sweet, short escape.

 

Sump Coffee

3700 S. Jefferson Ave.

www.sumpcoffee.com

Closed Monday

Brunch: Bristol Seafood Grill

A while back, my associates at St. Louis Magazine chose Bristol Seafood Grill as having the best buffet-style restaurant brunch. While there were plenty of categories (you can read the whole story here), it did remind me that it had been years since I'd been there.

The interior is dark, perfect for nursing any headaches or malaise from previous indulging, and lush-feeling, a sort of luxury that's reminiscent of Reagan-era fur coats and Gordon Gekko wannabes. The heavy carpeting, plus alcoves and semipartitions, keep the noise level down. The crowd is varied; next to me, a couple told the waiter it was their 51st anniversary, and across the room, a middle-schooler in a wheelchair had both a leg and an arm in casts from a skateboarding accident.

The food is in a sunken area mid-restaurant, and I am sorry to report that the middle-schooler couldn't get to it for lack of accessibility to that part of the restaurant. (There certainly wasn't any room for a temporary ramp, but in this day and age of increased awareness, it would appear some re-thinking is called for.) This evoked some pleasant and uncondescending attention from a manager type, but service overall was pleasant but distant. This is a brunch buffet; I don't expect to be fawned over but it took a while for an initial server's visit. I got no water, no one offered a cocktail, and coffee refills had to be sought out. But the warm cinnamon biscuits brought around were offered more than once, which was nice and a happy temptation; it would be easy to fill up on them.

On the cold seafood table, it was nice to be greeted by some smoked mackerel, salty and clean-tasting without marked oiliness. And seared, blackened tuna was also a winner, the coldness calming the spicy exterior. Even the spiced peel-and-eat shrimp were better than average, good-sized guys not overcooked, the seasoning noticeable but not off-putting to the reluctant taster. (Plenty of horseradish was right at hand for others.) Lots of oysters sitting on ice and carefully arranged, but at a slant, like a raked stage - and thus none of their juice, or oyster liquor, was retained. They hadn't dried out, but they were mildly disappointing, with their very mild flavor, lacking the oh-wow feeling that oyster indulgence should provide.

The same biscuit dough, minus the cinnamon and sugar, provided the drop-style biscuits for the biscuits and gravy that led the hot food line. Crumbly and rich, they're an easy base for a tasty gravy with plenty of sausage in it, a far cry from the wallpaper-paste stuff that sometimes is found. Link sausage was finely ground, the soft, tender interior a contrast to the firm casing. Bacon, whose smell greeted me when I emerged from my car, was first rate, thick and smoky, not burnt but tender-chewy, and a nice surprise in this house of seafood. Skip the overcooked scrambled eggs, generally a good idea on any buffet and still true here. Potatoes are lightly fried cubes with good seasoning, a little onion and pepper scatted among them.

Lobster macaroni and cheese didn't give a lot of visual proof of its headlining ingredient, but it was abundantly clear in the flavor. Beef tenderloin resides at the far end of the table, and chicken piccata waits in a carving dish, but it was fish I was after. Mesquite-grilled salmon turned out to be much better than chafing-dish life usually creates, full-flavored and moist, not dried out. Chipotle-grilled shrimp enchiladas did pretty well in that same environment, staying moist, a light smokiness, plenty of cumin and just a little heat to the spiciness making for a good time and a gustatory change of pace. And speaking of change of pace, Thai chicken wings, small drumettes and flaps crisply deep-fried after being seasoned with garlic, ginger and probably some lemongrass, were a bonus. I'm surprised they're not on the bar menu.

Carrot cake, lots of cookies that don't look like everyone else's (hey, I can't try everything), several kinds of tea breads and mini-tarts, including a fine lemon version are around the centerpiece of the dessert corner, which is a double chafing dish. In that were doughnut holes, crunchy and warm, but a little oily, and a simple bread pudding with a crunchy top. Warm, thick chocolate sauce for the doughnut holes and a rum-laced custard sauce for the bread pudding sit nearby, with higher marks for the bread pudding and its sauce.

When I went to the Bristol website, they say there's an omelet station and Belgian waffles. If there were, no one mentioned them and they were not in sight, so be prepared. But basically, aside from the clunky service, this was pretty good value for $22 per adult.

 

Bristol Seafood Grill

11801 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur

314-567-0272

www.bristolseafoodgrill.com

Brunch Sunday

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Yes, but see above

Smoking: No

Brunch: $22 for adults

Five Star Burgers

St. Louis' Year of the Hamburger is drawing to a close. Arguing about hamburgers may be like arguing about pizza or barbecue. I've finally come to the conclusion that if it tastes good, there's no one way to do it "right". It's much about individual preference, thick versus thin, beef versus pork. Taste, whether you mean flavor or choices, aside, there's no reason why a thick hamburger (or pizza crust) is innately superior to a thin one or a tomato-based sauce less correct than a vinegar-based one.

So a hamburger must stand on its own. This is why critics are at best ambivalent at "Best of" lists. We're happy enough to say something is good or even great, but choosing The Best is difficult. (The other side of the ambivalence is a chance to give kudos to some deserving but relatively unknown dish or restaurant.)

All this is a roundabout lead into Five Star Burgers, Steve Gontram's new spot in Clayton. It's a far cry from Harvest, the bastion of Modern American Farmouse cuisine that Gontram opened, owned and shepherded until a couple of years ago. And it's actually part of a small chain begun in Taos by Steve's dad Bob.

Don't go thinking McDonald's. If I had to choose something similar, it would be Shake Shack, but with the addition of sit-down service. Located on Clayton's west side, it draws lunchers from the tie-and-suspenders crowd, but manages to be kid-friendly as well. Every time I've visited, there were kids, from toddlers to middle-schoolers and even the wee ones were well-behaved and quiet. And that may be due to the speed of food arriving. Even in the evening, burgers arrived before salads were finished.

And the burgers? All-natural, hormone-free Angus beef, say the Gontrams. There are also bison, turkey, lamb and vegetable burgers, plus a portabella-wich, for those avoiding beef. Of the three I tried, the basic 5 Star burger was the least successful. The order for medium rare brought meat that was only pink in a few spots, the burger patty looked almost painfully pre-formed and the flavor was deeply unremarkable. They're served with ketchup on the side; mustard must be requested.

Interestingly, that burger was the only major misstep. The Gateway burger wore cheddar, and lots of crumbled bacon plus four very good onion rings, unfortunately not sold separately (hint, hint) and a side of a sweet barbecue sauce. This one was perfectly cooked, juicy and beautifully bovine in its flavor. And a lamb burger was so good I almost gasped, with tapenade, the black olive spread, and some tzatziki on it, extremely moist and happily messy to eat.

Speaking of messy, this is a good place for me to point out that the buns are brioche. Traditionally brioche dough is a little sweet, and buns made of it seem, to me, to be antithetical to burgerdom. No noticeable sweetness in these guys, though, and they're sturdy enough to stand up to just about anything a two-fisted burger eater can do to them. French fries are arrive hot, in a paper-lined mini-fryer basket with seasoning a little peppery, which is what sets them apart. Sweet potato fries come with what looks like mayonnaise, but is described as maple cream, a fine complement to them. Both are available as half-orders, too.

The restaurants' New Mexican roots are shown in the crispy green chiles, available during happy hour and as a topping for the burgers. These are Hatch chiles (a city in New Mexico), seeded and roasted, then coated in a light cornmeal batter. Deee-lightful, especially with a cold beverage, and I suspect they could be had as a side. Not frantically hot, just a little tingle.

Wine, of course, and plenty of draft beer, plus tasty fountain sodas from an outfit called Maine Root, plus shakes, floats and mini-ice cream cones with ice cream from Serendipity in Webster Groves. But beware: what Serendipity calls salted caramel is actually butterscotch. They're NOT the same thing. It's annoying to expect one flavor and get another one.

Mostly zippy service, although there are occasional episodes of neck-craning to find assistance, this on busy evenings. No reservations - this is, Gontram or not, a burger place, after all.

 

Five Star Burgers

8125 Maryland Ave., Clayton

314-720-4350

www.fivestarburgersstl.com 

Lunch and dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: No

Sandwiches: $8-$12

Started Thanksgiving Prep Yet? Turkey Stock

I didn't grow up in a gravy family except for milk gravy for fried chicken and pork chops. So the Thanksgiving demand for gravy when I became the sub-matriarch and chief cook in the Pollack family in 1994 left me surprised and coming up a little short, at least in my own assessment. (The family gravy maker, the middle daughter, had her own family - far away - by then.)

Over the years I've tried various things using the pan juices, some of which worked out reasonably well but all of which were too salty for many of the diners. My matriarchal line was notorious for having a horror of too-dry dressing for the bird, and I can just hear my grandmother sniffing, "No wonder they have to have gravy. That dressing was so dry they'd choke on it." Consequently my dressing is, more or less, a moist, savory bread pudding. (Neither family did mashed potatoes for the meal Both Joe's parents and mine were public school teachers; perhaps too many cafeteria meals had killed their appetite for them, even though that was long before the instant kind.)

After a couple of years of not having Thanksgiving here, I'm back in the saddle again, at least in a somewhat abbreviated form. And I think I may have the answer to the problem. This comes from Food & Wine magazine some years ago, and produces a rich, flavorful broth that's amazingly good even freshly cooked and unseasoned beyond what went into the stock pot. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter, both by choice and accident, but the results are worth the effort, which frankly isn't much, especially if you're doing this a couple of weeks beforehand.

 

                                                        TURKEY STOCK

 

a couple of turkey drumsticks and some necks and/or wings to total 4-6 lbs.

large onion

2 garlic cloves

a stick of celery

(they added a carrot at this point; I forgot)

several stalks of parsley

a bay leaf

 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a pan you can put over a burner later, roast the turkey parts for about an hour, until they're browned. Transfer the turkey to a stock pot. Slice the onion and garlic, chunk up the celery, and toss in the parsley and bay leaf. Take a cup or so of water, add it to the roasting pan, and warm the pan and stir so that the wrming liquid helps loosen the browned bits. When the bits are loose and the liquid is bubbling, add it to the stockpot. Add more liquid to the stockpot to cover the solid ingredients - this will probably be about 10 cups. Please note there's no salt added. Season the gravy when you're close to serving it.

Bring to a boil, drop the heat to let the contents of the pan simmer gently and partially cover the pan. Let it cook for about 2 1/2 hours. Strain the stock, discard the solids (or save the turkey for the cat) and chill the stock. Remove the solidified fat and freeze the liquid.

This should yield about 2 quarts, and, of course, can be supplemented with the juices from the roasted turkey. 

Zoya's

It's gonna get cold tonight. And it's going to stay that way for a while. Hey, it's almost November, maybe the glummest month of the year. Time for soup. You can even gently croon, "Soup of the evening, beautiful soup," as the Mock Turtle did, when you stop at Zoya's, where soup's the thing, although, happily, not the only thing. You can read about it here.

Eating in Italy

More pictures of food in Italy and a link to a story about it.

Here's an antipasto table, something often greeting guests on entering restaurants.

And a food market in Rome, this one in the Campo di Fiori:

Finally, a patient would-be diner awaiting lunch opening at a small restaurant in the Trastevere
neighborhood in Rome: