RFT's Best of St. Louis

The Riverfront Times has released another installment of its staggeringly expansive "Best of St. Louis" listing. What surprises you? And who knew Soulard Farmer's Market wasn't the best in town?

10 Questions with...

Joe and Ann Pollack, St. Louis' most experienced food writers, run the excellent St. Louis Eats and Drinks blog. They are well-traveled and spend a lot of time in my old haunt, Washington, D.C. So I'm partial. Anyway, they were nice enough to take the time and answer ten questions for us.

SME: There's been a lot of talk about eating locally over the past couple of years. What are you seeing along these lines in St. Louis?

J&AP: For several years, some places have been working with local producers. Larry Forgione of An American Place, says he thinks Prairie Grass Farms' lamb is the best American lamb he's ever tasted, and AAP uses local suppliers and credits them on the menu, something which surprised a bunch of California winemakers when we had dinner with them a couple of years ago. (And we were surprised at that.)

But before AAP opened, Andy Ayers of Riddle's Penultimate was doing the same thing, and continues to scour the area for sources. The late, lamented King Louie's featured local food suppliers, and so does Cary McDowell at Revival, which is in the same space as Louie's. Other restaurants do the same thing from time to time on a single item or a daily special, but the trend seems to be growing; some of the farmers make note of the fact at their booths at local farmers' markets.

SME: J. Viviano's or Volpi?

J&AP: Both good, but Volpi's prosciutto and salami are the great reason for its fame, and the majority of its stock, whereas Viviano's has a wider selection. And don't forget DiGregorio's, whose expansion has helped a lot. At all three stores, you may need to peer into corners or on bottom shelves to find the obscure stuff, but that's part of the adventure. Also worth a visit is Bertarelli Cutlery, www.bertarellicutlery.com, which moved to the Hill and is another fascinating spot for foodies. It's not just knives.


SME: What has happened to Rigazzi's? Where should we be eating on The Hill?

J&AP: Well, neither of us ever was wild about Rigazzi's, so we can't address much on its decline. The two Hill places we usually suggest to folks who want a short answer are Gian-Tony's for traditional Italian, where you should try the eggplant rolatini and pray they have osso bucco as a special, and Lorenzo's Trattoria, for a more modern take on Italian.


SME: What's the most interesting area/neighborhood for food in St. Louis right now?

J&AP: Hmmm. Good question. Kirkwood may be becoming the new Clayton, with moderate-to-slightly-upscale restaurants opening there, and South Grand is clearly the new University City Loop, with increasing numbers of ethnic restaurants. Manchester Avenue in Maplewood has some interesting bars and restaurants, and farther east on Manchester (roughly from Vandeventer to Newstead) there are an increasing number of eating places in an area called the Grove. And then there's Olive Boulevard in University City, with lots of Asian restaurants and grocery stores.


SME: When you get to Columbia, where do you eat?

J&AP: Booche's, of course, and Ernie's for breakfast. Used to be (when Joe was at Mizzou) that one went to Ernie's on Sunday morning to see how many folks we knew had spent Saturday night together.


SME: Which of these two premises do more restaurants violate? A) Pick one thing and do it well, or b) quantity over quality?

J&AP: B. St. Louis servings are so large they shock visitors from either coast. As someone once said, lauding a restaurant, "The food's not real good, but you sure do get a lot of it." Not a good philosophy.


SME: You're at Busch Stadium and it's hot. Is it a Bud Light in your hand or a Shock Top?

J&AP: Neither. Schlafly, thanks, preferably a Hefeweizen.


SME: Food-wise, what would you like to see more of in St. Louis? Less of?

J&AP: Less of is really easy: Chain restaurants, which pull traffic away from our local businesses. It's scandalous that Olive Garden, for example, prospers in a town with so many far better Italian restaurants at all price points. And by the way, we'd point out that one of our "insider secrets" is how good the pasta is at many of the more upscale Italian restaurants in town. People seem to think they ought to order a hunk of veal or swordfish, but the pastas are often downright thrilling. We've never had the feeling that servers are disdainful of such orders; usually they smile knowingly. And chefs and proprietors are thrilled when guests enthuse over the pappardelle with game sauce or pasta carbonara. (Often, the response from the worker is, "I had that for dinner last night.")

More of? Imaginative breakfast menus. Customers who don't think having a restaurant surrounded by a parking lot is the most important factor in their choice. More restaurants open for meals after concerts or baseball games or the theater. And more places for dessert in the same time frame.


SME: Washington, D.C. has seen an explosion of development and restaurant excellence downtown in its Penn Quarter area north to the Convention Center. Do you see anything like that happening in downtown St. Louis?

J&AP: Not yet. You're right; Penn Quarter is a beehive, and we'd point out that it's not just restaurants, it's theaters, too, as well as the Verizon Center. Things are coming along, but what's going to be vital is a change in St. Louisans' attitude about venturing into downtown.


SME: It's 9:15 am Sunday morning and we had one too many at Llywelyn's. Do we go to Rooster or Uncle Bill's?

J&AP: Rooster, no question. See remark about imaginative breakfast menus. But the buckwheat pancakes at Uncle Bill's are tasty. Besides, with a hangover, who wants to wait in line with a bunch of yakking people and, uh, active children?

St. Louis Miscellany

Other St. Louis eats:

Rooster:
I tracked down this north-downtown place on Chowhound.com and wasn't disappointed. Specializing in crepes, Rooster has the vibe of a slightly upscale coffee/sandwich shop. The orange juice was freshly squeezed, the coffee nice and black and the space not too crowded when we got there. The 4 year-old enjoyed his raspberries and cream crepe and I the "breakfast burrito," which was, essentially, a crepe as well. Mrs. Show Me Eats' "Rooster Slinger" promising andouille, fried eggs and potatoes over toast was let down by the clearly burnt gravy (which the wife smartly had ordered on the side). No attempt was made by the waitress to rectify the situation, though admittedly it was probably the whole batch that had been burned. Otherwise, very tasty, very fresh, and well-recommended. It gets really, really packed after 9am though, so beware.

Amighetti's:
Ignoring all sense - and other, more highly recommended places on The Hill - I ventured into Amighetti's for their famous Amighetti Special sandwich. It was a fine sandwich that might have been made better with some real deli meat. This was piled with Oscar Meyer-quality cold cuts and a single lonely pepperocini. The sammich, while decent, was ultimately disappointing (and outclassed by at least four Columbia sandwiches). The absurd "classic" salad of tired, chopped iceburg lettuce and bad tomatoes didn't help matters. The place was packed with other easy marks.

Mosaic:
From time to time you set out into the city in search of food with kids and no plan - and get lucky. We happened into Mosaic, a "modern tapas fusion" restaurant about two blocks from our hotel. We were looking for noise to drown out whatever moods the kids might settle into. The hostess sized us up suspiciously (I would too...really? Two kids - one only a year old - on Friday night?) and initially said there'd be a wait before showing us to a handsome banquette in the bar area of the restaurant. The high chair was already taken, so little Ms. SME got to experience the full range of booth-athletics.

To their credit, a most understanding waitress appeared and put us at ease. We ordered five tapas and drinks, which came out promptly. My wine was excellent, Finca Antigua Tempranillo, and was perfect for a number of the invariably delicious tapas. The kids loved the North African Hummus and potstickers while we were partial to the Patagonian toothfish Chilean seabass and Duroc pork. Only the lamb saltimbocca failed to stand out, as the flavorful crust of the lamb chops yielded to a plain, flavorless interior.

Capri:
Had the breakfast buffet a the - gulp - hotel restaurant. My crepe was fine, as was the kid's Fruit Loops. Enough said.

Fortel's Pizza Den:
Came up with this courtesy of the Garmin and again, I'd say we lucked out. Medium-thin crust, chewy mozzarella cheese and generous toppings made for an altogether enjoyable pie.

A Weekend in St. Louis

J. Viviano
Volpi
Zoo
Cardinals game
Adriana's
Ted Drewe's
Rooster
Soulard Farmer's Market
Crown Candy Kitchen

Four outta nine ain't bad.

J. Viviano, an Italian market on Shaw, was a highlight, and proved more fun than in years past. When I worked in St. Louis in 2000 I was a little intimidated by the staggering variety of foodstuffs available. I no more knew what to do with a jar of capers than I would stepping in to run the kitchen at Babbo. Now, while I still have stated purpose for the capers I bought, I know enough to ask about - and to try - everything I can.

Saturday afternoon I found myself (along with Mrs. Show Me Eats and the munchkins) at the venerable store on Shaw Avenue on The Hill, staring at a dry erase marker board hung some ten feet in the air. It listed dozens of imported and homemade cheese and cured meats as well as an array of olives. I was there for cacciocavallo cheese, real Italian sausage and the king of all Italian cured meats (okay, after prosciutto but my own personal favorite), capocollo. Viviano's does a mild and spicy version. I asked for a pound of the hot stuff.

Then things got a little, um, crazy. Everytime I caught sight of Mrs. Show Me she had loaded more dried, housemade pasta, orzo, breadsticks and couscous into the stroller. Eventually the one year old had to be carried to make room for the bounty. I was caught up in the rush too. Three balls of fresh mozzarella? Nah, make it four. How about some semolina flour? At $1.25 a pound, we grabbed the three pounder. Then a pound of salami, some gnocchi and angel hair pasta hurdled into the stroller, now groaning under the burden. When we were done we'd dropped more than $80, mostly on items (pasta and meats, especially) that were priced well below Hy-Vee levels. We staggered back to the simmering car like drunken sailors, wondering how my little freezer-bag would hold the cold stuff.

Then we went back to the hotel and slept off our food-drunk. We awoke sober, but hungry, and tore into the cheese, capocollo and salami with our bare hands, crunching on Stella d'Oro breadsticks just to break things up. Our pregame meal on the floor of our tiny hotel room was better than anything else we had this weekend. Then we stepped out into the soupy afternoon and walked to Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals lose another close one.

(Update: My dad and sister went to the ballgame last night and stayed in town with friends. I had him stop off at Viviano's this morning. We need more capocollo.)