It’s been a long time since the Boston Tea Party, and since then, coffee has taken hold of Americans’ hearts. But tea is making a comeback almost as big as Barbie’s after Greta Gerwig got a hold of her. We imported $508 million worth of tea in 2023, more than double what we bought 30 years ago. Tea shops are opening all over the country, and coffee shops are expanding their tea menus to satisfy customer demand.

While boba shops are fabulous, Asian teas are a worthwhile addition to your tea collection at home. These teas are available for sale at international markets in St. Louis. If you’ve never tried Asian teas at home, a good place to start are with these three: oolong, hojicha, and Korean honey citron tea. 

Oolong tea can be bitter, so splurge for the expensive brands and follow the brewing directions exactly to get the correct flavor. It has a slightly creamy taste, making it the perfect base for sweet tea lattes and milky boba drinks. This pictured version is from China, and it’s a loose tea that requires a tea strainer.

Hojicha is a Japanese tea that you can find served with your meal at many restaurants in Japan. It has a mild nutty flavor with a delicious toasty smell. It’s perfect as is without any sweetener or additions. 

Korean honey tea is usually citron-based and comes in a glass jar. It’s got a jam-like consistency, and you stir a spoonful of it into your mug of hot water. This ginger version comes in little packs of dried powder that dissolve instantly, and the ginger is helpful for tummy aches. 

These teas and more like them are for sale at international grocers in Greater St. Louis. 

Check out the tea selection at these shops:

Jay’s International Foods 3172 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, Instagram: @jaysinternationalfoods 

Pan-Asia Supermarket 14246 Manchester Road, Manchester, Instagram: @panasiastlouis

Olive Supermarket 8041 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, Instagram: @supermarketolive 

The post 3 St. Louis spots to buy Asian teas to brew at home  appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.

A sign proclaiming “Straws Suck!” greets patrons entering The Crow’s Nest in Maplewood.

“500 million straws are used and discarded every day in the United States alone,” the sign continues. “Single-use plastics like straws are used once, for a few minutes, then last hundreds of years. By 2050, plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean. Plastic to-go orders is the source of 200,000 tons of plastic pollution in our waterways and oceans.”

The owners of the ’90s grunge-themed restaurant, Eliza Coriell and Kenny Snarzyk, put the sign up four months ago to explain why they would now only give plastic straws only to diners who ask for one – and they aren’t the only ones.

The #StopSucking, #BeStrawFree, #TheLastPlasticStraw, #NoStrawPlease and other campaigns aimed at reducing Americans’ plastic straw usage have hit St. Louis in a big way. The Green Dining Alliance reports dozens of local establishments now offer straws only upon request.

It’s easier to rack up the single-use plastics count than you might think. At a popular burger spot in town, my husband and I received two waters and two teas at the start of our meal, and each came with a straw. Refills came with new straws, too. We ended up using seven straws between the two of us by the end of our meal (my husband drinks a lot of sweet tea).

Though some quibble over the exact number of plastic straws used each year, the National Restaurant Association and the U.S. National Park Service both back the claim. The Crow’s Nest kitchen manager Robert Marsh said his customers have barely noticed the change to the straw policy. “It’s so bizarre how easy it was to make that transition without any real push back,” he says.

Olivia Edwards is the manager at Pin-Up Bowl in The Loop, and she said her customers think the new straw policy is awesome.

“If people ask why we only give straws on request, I tell them it’s a more environmentally conscious decision we’re making,” she said. “We’re trying to save those little baby turtles. People are like, ‘We fully support that.'”

Some of St. Louis’s fine-dining restaurants are also part of the no-straw movement, too. Eleven Eleven Mississippi partner Jason Arnold said his team has been providing straws only upon request for three years. When a customer does need a straw, the restaurant uses compostable straws, not paper. “You don’t even notice a difference in their mouth feel,” Arnold said.

While restaurants are cutting back on straw use, disability advocate organizations stress the necessity of straws for some diners. Dr. Melanie Kozak specializes in physical therapy and volunteers with Special Olympics.

“Some people with disabilities have difficulties with efficiently picking up a cup or controlling the ascent of the cup up to their mouth,” she said. “In those situations, leaning down into a straw is a necessity for them to access the drink.”

Diners looking to cut back on single-use plastic can order drinks at any establishment without a straw, and customers who need or want straws can also bring their own. Final Straw is a metal straw that collapses into a case that fits on a key chain.

“You should be able to save the environment and still help people,” Kozak said. “That’s the best-of-both-worlds option.”

Shannon Cothran is a freelance journalist in St. Louis. 

The post Stop Sucking: St. Louis restaurants join no-straw movement appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.

Last month, the Jewish Community Relations Council invited their Muslim neighbors to an interfaith iftar dinner at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center. While the diners may have different beliefs, everyone had their fill of fried dough, samosas and tabbouleh  – all kosher and made by Akram Ali-Hassan, a Palestinian Muslim who has worked for Kohn’s Kosher Meat & Deli Restaurant for 20 years. Here, he shares his family recipe for maqluba, a lamb and rice dish that’s inverted before serving.

Maqluba (Upside Down)
Courtesy of Akram Ali-Hassan
8 to 10 servings

2 lbs. eggplant
2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1½ pounds lamb stew meat, bone-in or boneless
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 cups water
2 cups olive oil, for frying
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
3 cups uncooked white rice
1 Tbsp. allspice

• Peel the eggplant and cut into 1-inch slices. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and set aside.

• In a large stockpot over medium heat, saute the onion and lamb and saute until the meat is browned on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes.

• Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer 25 minutes.

• Drain the liquid into another large pot and set aside. Leave the meat in the bottom of the pot and set aside.

• Meanwhile, drizzle a fry pan with a layer of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry the eggplant until golden-brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes. Place the eggplant on top of the meat in stockpot, then add the tomatoes and rice. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, adding more oil as needed.

• Add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and the allspice to broth, then slowly pour it over the rice. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer 20 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the water. Remove from heat.

• Remove the lid. Place a large serving dish over the pot and carefully invert and set the serving dish on the counter. Let rest 5 minutes, then remove the pot and serve.

Shannon Cothran is a contributing writer for Sauce Magazine. 

The post Extra Sauce Recipe: Maqluba (Upside Down Lamb and Rice) appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.

The sweating water cups on each table taunted every Muslim in the room. It was Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims during which they fast through daylight hours and focus on doing good works. They hadn’t had a sip of water since sunrise, and it was 8:27 p.m., three minutes away from sunset.

Newlyweds Mariam Hashimi and Fardin Mohammadi kept their eyes on each other instead of their water glasses. “It’s a reflex to drink a glass of water that’s in front of you,” Hashimi said. “But you get used to catching yourself just before you grab the cup.”

The St. Louis Jewish Community Center isn’t the first place that springs to mind when picturing an iftar, the meal Muslims eat to break the fast. But that night, the Jewish Community Relations Council had invited their Muslim neighbors to the JCC for an interfaith iftar dinner.

“There are a lot of Jews and Muslims in the world, and what you hear about is strife. We have to remember that’s not everybody,” said Rabbi Hyim Shafner. “This meal is an opportunity to appreciate our commonality. We have so much in common! And no matter how holy we are, we all eat.”

Imam Dr. Helal Ekramuddin began the prayer, during which Hashimi and Mohammadi grabbed two dates and drained their waters. Paul Kravitz, a Jewish man seated next to them, followed their lead. After the prayer, Hashimi and Kravitz fell into conversation about how fasting is a part of most religions.

While the diners may have different beliefs, everyone had their fill of fried dough, samosas, tabbouleh and maqluba (get the recipe here) – all kosher and made by Akram Ali-Hassan, a Palestinian Muslim who has worked for Kohn’s Kosher Meat & Deli Restaurant for 20 years.

“Maqluba is upside-down lamb and rice, the most traditional dish in kitchens in Palestine,” he said. “My father brought this recipe with him when he and his family became refugees of Palestine in 1948.”

These two cultures united in spite of – or maybe because of – their sometimes tangled, volatile history. “Seeing the human face of each other makes it difficult for bigots to bring divisions and demonize ‘the other,'” said Dr. Bahar Bastani, a professor at Saint Louis University.

Hashimi and Kravitz passed plates of nut-and-honey filled fried dough called ataif as Mohammadi joked about having to work the grill in his family’s restaurant while fasting during Ramadan. Around the room, Muslims and Jews shared dessert, stories and old family recipes.

“People of different Abrahamic faiths have much more in common than differences,” said Ghazala Hayat, public relations committee chair of the Islamic Foundation of St. Louis. “The basics of celebrations are the same: gratitude, family and friends. Sharing bread makes us part of the same community.”

Shannon Cothran is a contributing writer for Sauce Magazine. 

Editor’s Note: This piece originally said Imam Asif Umar led the prayer. Also, a paraphrase was incorrectly attributed to Bahar Bastani. It was updated at 3:15 p.m. to correct these errors. 

The post Area Muslim and Jewish communities gather at iftar appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.

The post Seoul Food: Eat your way through these 9 Korean restaurants appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.

Korean dramas, or K-dramas, do one thing in particular better than American television: food. Extravagant, voyeuristic scenes show actors devouring perfectly styled dishes of sushi-like kimbap rolls filled with meat, vegetables and rice. When characters move to a new home, they eat platters of jjajangmyun noodles. Simmering stews are shown surrounded by endless tiny saucers of banchan side dishes. Hallyu, the wave of Korean culture, is still sweeping the globe, and it’s brought a craving for Korean food along with hunger-inducing K-dramas and catchy K-pop music. Fusion restaurants like Seoul Taco, Kimcheese and Kalbi Taco Shack have proliferated, but if you want to start with more traditional dishes worthy of a steamy K-drama close-up, try these nine places to hop on the Korean wave in St. Louis.

Asian Kitchen
8423 Olive Blvd., University City, 314.989.9377, asiankitchenstl.com

One meal in this unassuming strip mall gem and your favorite part of Korean food will become banchan. An army of tiny dishes, banchan are like Korean condiments meant to flavor rice and aid digestion. There are hundreds of varieties, but you can get a good sampling at Asian Kitchen, which serves around 15 with each meal. Look for little dishes of the standard seaweed salad, sweet pickled daikon, fresh bean sprouts, ever-popular fish cakes and, of course, a variety of cabbage, radish and cucumber kimchi. A small scoop of potato salad is perfect for cooling your palate after a few bites of tempting gochujang zucchini. Black beans in a sweet syrup are extra crunchy, and cold slivers of fried seafood pancake have just the right balance of crispiness and chewiness.

Support your banchan habit with tteokguk, a filling, warming soup traditionally served at the new year. It’s made with a light, white broth full of chewy rice cake slices, thin strips of beef and green onions. Asian Kitchen’s reliable version offers deep flavor without strong spice. Or order the samgyeopsal (pork belly), which comes with house-made ssamjang, a marinated soybean paste dipping sauce. It looks like gray matter, but tastes like you died and went to umami heaven. Most Korean places serve ssamjang, but few prepare it as well as Asian Kitchen. The jap chae, a dish of glass noodles with marinated vegetables and beef in a sweet, light brown sauce offers a nice approachable option for kids or those unfamiliar with Korean flavors.

Wudon BBQ Korean Restaurant
1261 Castillons Arcade Plaza, Creve Coeur, 314.628.1010, Facebook: Wudon BBQ Korean Restaurant

Wudon’s interior is slick and modern with classic diner chairs and a chalkboard-style barbecue mural spanning one wall. Barbecue at Wudon means fresh cuts you grill at the table, not rubbed and smoked for hours. Try the small beef and pork combo, and bring your friends – the menu claims this feeds two to three, but it’s closer to four. The meal comes with four different high-end cuts, along with fluffy and smooth scrambled steamed eggs, jjigae (choose between the tofu or soybean paste versions of the Korean stew), a savory seafood pancake (lightly fried with a perfect balance of fish and flour), plus the usual rice and banchan. The banchan are made daily and change often; cross your fingers that the crisp, fresh squash-like chayote that comes in a cold, sweet broth lands on your table.

Cook your meat by type, one at a time, to enjoy the full effect of the different flavors, like the soft, melt-in-your-mouth pork jowls. The beef marinade is sweetened with fruit juices instead of sugar or corn syrup, making for a clear, clean taste. After grilling, dip the meat into an accompanying sauce, wrap in a lettuce leaf with rice and enjoy. Owner Mun Kyeong Kim recommended pairing the beef with salted sesame oil and the pork with the ssamjang sauce.

Beyond barbecue, Wudon offers two Korean dishes that are hard to find in St. Louis: yangnyum chicken (aka Korean fried chicken) and gungjung tteokbokki. The other KFC is a ubiquitous trend elsewhere, but Wudon is one of the few places to try an authentic version of the gochujang-spiced, cornstarch-battered wings around town. Where the more typical tteokbokki consists of savory cylinders of smashed short-grain rice cakes smothered in a very spicy sauce, gungjung tteokbokki’s sauce is made with soy sauce instead of chile paste for a sweeter, savory version of the Korean street food favorite.

U-City Grill
6696 Enright Ave., University City, 314.721.3073

U-City Grill is famous for three things: perfectly fried eggs, tasty gochujang-laden Korean food at rock-bottom prices and brisk, no-nonsense service. The tiny, old-school diner is a one-man show with owner Hyo Bae taking orders, cooking, filling drinks and cashing out customers practically at the same time – which means he doesn’t have time for pleasantries. But that’s part of U-City Grill’s charm. Bae’s back may be turned as you pull up a stool and order your bulgogi bibimbap bowl from the short menu of Korean classics, but he makes every dish to order with fresh ingredients and flawless flattop timing.

Joo Joo Restaurant & Karaoke
12937 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, 314.469.1999, Facebook: Joo Joo Restaurant & Karaoke

This quirky mom-and-pop eatery with affordable, private karaoke rooms in the back is practically a shrine to Korean Cardinals player Seung Hwan Oh. Joo Joo’s somber owner, Sang Yim, is arguably Oh’s biggest fan, and he decked out his restaurant with framed fan art. You’ll find him sitting behind the front desk, watching baseball even while cashing out customers.

The crowning glory of Joo Joo’s menu is the kori gom tang, a savory bone marrow soup with flavor so dense it’s like liquid steak. The soup comes brimming with glass noodles, juicy chunks of beef and green onions in the rich traditional broth made with oxtail.

Other home runs are the odeng fish cake soup (a salty broth with rich ocean flavor stocked with chewy fish cakes); the omurice (a fried rice omelet called “egg cover beef fried rice” on the menu); and the tteokbokki, which comes swimming in a sweet, spicy, salty, peppery, herbal, kick-in-the-face sauce with hard-boiled eggs and fish cakes.

To experience the full gamut of Korean cuisine, try patbingsu, one of Seoul’s most popular desserts. The shaved-ice treat comes stuffed with sweet red beans and topped with fruit and mochi. The sweet smashed adzuki beans start off creamy but have a rough finish on the tongue that pairs well with the fluffy shaved ice.

Seoul Garden
10678 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann, 314.429.4255, Facebook: Seoul Garden Korean Restaurant

Inside Seoul Garden, wooden panels and blinds block the outside world, and the air smells enticingly of pork and fermented bean paste.

Order the soy bean soup made from doenjang, a fermented soybean paste, that includes big chunks of tofu, zucchini and onions. Doenjang is like a cross between stinky cheese and miso soup; when melted into broth it becomes an addictive, comforting flavor. It arrives in a flash in a hot clay bowl on a wooden platter. Wait for the soup to stop boiling before digging in. Dip small spoonfuls of rice into the liquid and be sure to take gigantic bites. Korean foods often require you look like a chipmunk as you chew, since there are so many ingredients to include in each mouthful for the right balance of flavors. Or, try the intriguing cold buckwheat noodle soup with Asian pears – long, chewy homemade noodles in a cold, spicy broth topped with sweet, crisp fruit slivers. Immensely popular in Korea, it’s only available in the warmer months.

Not feeling soup? Get the pork jjajangmyun, a noodle dish that Seoul Garden does right with a deliciously salty, thick sauce made from black bean paste and a nice balance of ground pork and tiny cubes of zucchini and onions.

K-Bop
314.884.8767, kbopstl.com, Twitter: @kbopstl

With a little help from an adorable rice bowl logo, this Korean street food truck has found success in St. Louis. K-Bop’s enormous paper cups come overflowing with your choice of chicken, beef, pork or tofu cooked in various ways and served over a hodgepodge of Korean goodness including both rice and jap chae noodles. The tofu katsu bop is a gastric delight: thick cubes of firm breaded tofu are flash-fried to order and smothered with sweet and spicy sauces. Add fried egg rolls, veggie spring rolls or mandu (fried Korean pot stickers) only if you skipped breakfast.

Oriental Spoon
229 Harvard Drive, Edwardsville, 618.655.9633, orientalspoon.net

There is a special reason to make the drive to Edwardsville: Oriental Spoon’s pork donkatsu on curry. Korean curries aren’t like Thai or Indian varieties – they’re more like a gravy. This one is golden, savory, thick and chock-full of potatoes and carrots. It’s topped with heavy, juicy cutlets of breaded and fried pork. Finishing the plate will leave you feeling as though you just ate Thanksgiving dinner – incredibly satisfied and incapable of walking.

Yori
1637 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield, 636.536.7778, Facebook: Yori Korean Restaurant

Yori is part of a suburban sprawl mini-mall in Chesterfield popular with daytime crowds. On a menu full of traditional favorites, the cheese kimchi stone bowl is a real standout. This jumbo dish of bibimbap is filled with sizzling, sticky white rice topped with stir-fried kimchi, mozzarella, a few greens drizzled with French dressing and a fried egg. It’s served with gochujang, but the kimchi provides enough heat to set you back a few Tums.

Kim’s Bakery
13357 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, 314.523.1332, kimsbakerystl.com

Korean bakeries are special places. Pillowy-soft pastries are individually wrapped and displayed for you to peruse while you fill a basket with your favorites. Korean pastries are airy and not as sweet as most American baked goods. The bread, however, tastes like they used all they sugar they didn’t put in the pastries. Do not leave this world without trying Kim’s peanut butter cream pastry. Inside the soft, doughy hot dog bun-shaped shell floats a light, whipped, nutty buttercream-peanut butter filling. Korean bakeries also excel at the adorable factor, and Kim’s is no exception. Their teddy bear cakes and Hello Kitty cookies are almost too cute to eat. Almost.

The post Seoul Food: Eat your way through these 9 Korean restaurants appeared first on Sauce Magazine: Intelligent Content For The Food Fascinated.