Show those tacos who’s boss
You can almost hear the music. It’s something majestic and triumphant, like Carmina Burana, or the theme from 2001 – the sort of music that fills you with reverence, and a chest-puffing sense of valor and righteousness. It is the stirring anthem that should be played as a hero saves a baby, a young god…
The Scoop: Bienvenue, Brasserie
Niche Restaurant’s Gerard Craft is expanding his brand into the Central West End with Brasserie by Niche, a casual restaurant that will serve traditional French bistro fare. The Brasserie is set to open its doors at 4580 Laclede Ave., home to Chez Léon, as early as mid-October. Craft (pictured) has hired friend Perry Hendrix, who…
Crust lust
A Saucy congrats to local baker extraordinaire Helen Fletcher, owner of Truffes Inc., who made the pages of Midwest Living Magazine. The October issue includes Fletcher’s pie crust as part of a feature titled My My This American Pie. Click here to see some of her tips and recipes from the magazine. – Matt Sorrell…
The Scoop: (Wood-) Fired up in E’ville
Patrick Thirion is just back from California, where he was getting to know a Mugnaini wood-burning pizza oven that’s headed to the East Side. Thirion (pictured) and business partner Brandon Case are getting ready to open 800? Wood-Fired Pizza, an 80-seat restaurant in the Park at Plum Creek development in Edwardsville. In addition to traditionally…
Get your red hots
For a limited time, Local Harvest Grocery is selling locally grown ghost peppers – the hottest peppers in the world. With a rating of over 1 million units on the Scoville scale, the red capsicums promise to turn you white as a ghost. Come on, we dare ya. – Ligaya Figueras
Saturday Night Live: What chefs do when you dine
Shop, chop and roll. It’s Saturday night at three different spots: Tony’s Restaurant and Bobo Noodle House in St. Louis, and Erato on Main in Edwardsville. Our photographers – click, click, click – captured the action. Hang out for one night in the back of the house to see if you can stand the heat.
Classic comeback
Elusive spirits crème de violette and Batavia-Arrack van Oosten have just become available in Missouri, giving pre-Prohibition cocktails a second wind. Crème de violette is a delicate elixir that has the flavor, aroma and color of violets. The version in circulation locally is made with wildflowers from the Austrian Alps. Look for crème de violette…
Multitaskmaster: Tony Saballa blends his skills to make beer and wine in Ste. Gen
For most guys the choices are pretty clear. You’re either a Cards fan or a Cubs fan. On a desert island, you’d choose either Ginger or Mary Ann. You’re either a wine guy or a beer guy. Unless, you’re a guy named Tony Saballa, then you’re both. Both a wine guy and a beer guy,…
The Scoop: Order up in Midtown, downtown
We’re sure it happens to everyone: You’re at the Fox, enjoying the show, when in the middle of the third act you’re hit with a mad craving for a couple of deadeyes and a shingle with a shimmy and a shake (poached eggs and buttered toast with jelly). Or, two pages into that 10-page paper…
Norton by Riedel
In an effort to further promote Missouri’s state grape, the Missouri Wine and Grape Board has enlisted Riedel, the celebrated Austrian glassware company, to create a glass specifically for Norton wines. As part of Mount Pleasant Winery’s 150th anniversary, Georg Riedel (pictured here and the 10th generation of Riedels to run the company) recently conducted…
Full-Tilt Tasting: Beer buffs break out the best for a night of pizza, pork and pinball
CP Pinball in South Roxana, Ill., is BYOB – and for followers of Mike Sweeney’s beer blog STLHops.com, that means bring your own homebrews and craft beers. “Let’s crack this open,” said Jim Leabig, fondling a bottle of Russian River Blind Pig IPA, a smooth, moderately hoppy pick rarely spotted in these parts. All told,…
Bartenders unite
If your business is booze, mark Sept. 21 on your calendar. Master mixologist Ted Kilgore of Niche Taste Bar and T.J. Vytlacil are launching a local chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild. By networking nationally, local beverage professionals will be able to raise the bar for cocktails around town. The first meeting and membership…
Book your lunch with Ruth Reichl
Sauce is pleased to bring St. Louis foodies a lunch with Ruth Reichl, editor in chief of Gourmet Magazine, best-selling author and former restaurant critic for The New York Times. The four-course lunch is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 9, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Monarch Restaurant in Maplewood. The menu will be based on…
Mmm, ice cream and Pi
Some sweet news about the second Pi, set to open next month in Kirkwood: The pizzeria will include a milkshake bar with shakes, sundaes and other treats created by Mathew Rice of Niche Restaurant, who consulted on the project. “There will be lots of familiar combos that people will know from Niche, like s’mores, malted…
The Heat of the Summer: It’s high time for hot peppers and harissa
Maybe you picked your peck of chile peppers early this summer and strung them prettily to dry in the kitchen window. Or maybe you’ll oven-dry the anchos and habaneros, the ones that you’ll frantically gather under a cold moon just hours before the first frost arrives. Perhaps you simply couldn’t resist the sudden bounty of…
Swap your homegrown produce
Are you ready to become an ultralocavore? If you already support the local food movement by shopping at farmers’ markets and you’ve even joined a CSA or tend your own vegetable plot, veggietrader.com takes you one step closer to more superfresh, great-tasting, locally grown food. Veggietrader.com is a new online listing service where you can…
The Scoop: Green ice cream in Des Peres
As we speak, the team at Dottie’s Ice Cream Parlor is taste-tasting products for its eco-friendly shop, set to open in the next two weeks at 11656 Manchester Road in Des Peres. Along with soft-serve and hard-pack ice cream, Dottie’s other focus is green: biodegradable, corn-based containers and straws; booths and counters made from recycled…
Review: Niche Taste Bar in St. Louis
What does a wildly successful restaurant do when it’s up to its rafters in rave reviews and national recognition and so damn popular it’s nearly impossible to get a reservation? Serve cocktails. And small plates of terribly creative snacks all made on the premises. That’s the idea behind Niche Taste Bar, a tiny square of…
Take Advantage of Missouri-Grown Asian Pears This Month
Hallelujah. Asian pears, grown right here in Missouri, will be at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market from Eureka’s Claverach Farm late summer and early fall. Imagine the sweet taste of apple blended with the flavor of a buttery pear. The juicy white flesh crunches, the texture similar to water chestnut, with a slight, not unpleasant grittiness.…
Recipe: Eleven Eleven Mississippi’s Pear and Fig Pizza
Forget plain ol’ pepperoni. As summer sidles into fall, straddle the seasons with fruit and cheese instead. Lafayette Square eatery Eleven Eleven Mississippi’s poached pear and fig pizza cuts the fruits’ mellow sweetness with tart, creamy Gorgonzola and layers on flavor with caramelized onions and crème fraîche. At once light and rich, it’s the perfect…
Review: Cielo Sky Terrace at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis
Normally I’m reluctant to lay down $13 for a single beverage (a sum that, during my undergrad days, could have funded an entire booze-fueled night out), but for a Dirty CEO martini at the Cielo Sky Terrace, I’m willing to make an exception. The sublime blend of Belvedere Vodka, olive juice and a hint of…
Harissa
1 cup
Asian Pear Chutney
2 cups
São Paolo Sage
• Put all the ingredients into a mixing glass with lots of ice. • Shake it hard for at least 20 seconds, then pour over fresh ice into a highball glass. • For garnish, take 2 big sage leaves, slap them against each other and lay on top of the drink in an “X” formation.…
The Royale’s Subcontinental
1 serving
Pear & Fig Pizza
1 pizza
Short List: French fries
To know them is to love them. How often do you hear people say, “I hate french fries”? We’d guess never. Really, cold french fries are the only pariahs, though we also steer away from any fry so thick or so soft that it begs to be eaten with a knife and fork. Give us…
The Subcontinental
Quick, find a spot on the patio. The Subcontinental at South City’s The Royale Food & Spirits is as cool as a cucumber – and it tastes like one too. Every Sunday, this green stroke of genius sells for a five spot, saving you $2.50 toward another round. You’re halfway there. 1 oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin…
A fourth for Fiala
Jim Fiala may have scored the hottest restaurant space in recent St. Louis history. Since its debut in July, Citygarden has been packed full of people, and Fiala’s new restaurant, The Terrace View, sits squarely in Citygarden’s scenic setting, beaconing county-dwelling business lunchers and art-loving urbanites alike. “They did such a great job putting the…
São Paolo Sage
2 oz. cachaça 4 to 5 fresh sage leaves 1 oz. simple syrup* ¾ oz. pineapple juice ¼ oz. lime juice • Put all the ingredients into a mixing glass with lots of ice. • Shake it hard for at least 20 seconds, then pour over fresh ice into a highball glass. • For garnish,…
Clayton’s counter culture
If you ever find yourself in downtown Clayton needing a unique housewarming gift, a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat, a prescription refill, organic face wash or a ginger-pear phosphate, we suggest a visit to Jennifer’s Pharmacy. Set up like an old-fashioned lunch counter with stools and mirrors and a popcorn machine, this joint is…
Gazpacho Goes Green – and Purple and White
In the heat of late summer, a cold soup made from juicy vine-ripened tomatoes sure can refresh. Add garden-fresh sweet peppers, crunchy cukes and bulbous onions, thicken with breadcrumbs, thin with a splash of delicate oil and vinegar, and you’ve got the makings of a classic Spanish gazpacho. We love traditional gazpacho andaluz, but after…
Frybread power
The doctors said my father’s carotid artery must have been closing up for years before he had a stroke that should have killed him. He was living in Phoenix at the time, and we had been somewhat estranged, but eight months earlier, we had patched things up over turkey and his special stuffing and a…
Spirited herbs
According to both Ted Kilgore, master mixologist at Niche Taste Bar in Benton Park, and Chris Sommers, owner of Pi in the East Loop and Kirkwood and the upcoming c/d bar in the Central West End, using fresh herbs in cocktails is a flourishing trend in St. Louis. “It’s really about bringing the kitchen to…
Eggplant overload? Sweet
Moussaka, caponata, baba ghanoush – what else to do with all that eggplant? Bring out the deep fryer for a preparation you won’t soon forget: sweet eggplant crisps from the Yucatán. I was visiting the gardens at Bowood Farms recently when horticultural manager Ellen Barredo mentioned her Yucatecan mother-in-law’s berenjena, sprinked with sugar. Now everyone…
Roasted Red Pepper-Curry Dip
6 to 8
