Stuff to do: July 2008 • by Byron Kerman
Posted On: 07/01/2008 E-mail This To A Friend!

Exhibit
Discerning Palette: Jerry O. Wilkerson Retrospective
Through Aug. 17, Saint Louis University Museum of Art 314.977.2666, sluma.slu.edu

Jerry Wilkerson was clearly inspired by Andy Warhol's elevation of the humble Campbell's soup can. Wilkerson, a local pop painter who passed away just last year, did Warhol one better. He painted a can of tackier-still Campbell's Pork & Beans. And he didn't stop there. He painted lollipops, ice cream cones, apple pie, muffins, chocolate bunnies, pastries, cannoli and Bazooka gum. He painted pears, bananas, cherries, grapefruit, apples, eggplant, olives and ropes of garlic. He painted milk, soda, orange juice, seltzer, beer, coffee and tea. And lobster, crawfish, oysters, shrimp and escargot. And Chinese food, cans of chili, tacos, cheeseburgers, french fries and ketchup. Oh yeah, he painted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, too. And don't forget his sewn quilts with images of pizza slices and hot dogs. Or his sculptural monolith of Fig Newtons. Wilkerson's command of pointillism and color in service to food, glorious food, was both a celebration of junk culture and a sly grin at the viewer , in the postmodern age, a meticulously rendered still life of leftover fried chicken might as well be a Rembrandt. There's no escaping kitsch.

Special Events

Fried Extravaganza at the St. Charles Riverfest
July 3 , 4 to 11 p.m., July 4 and 5, noon to 11 p.m., Frontier Park, St. Charles
www.stcharlescity.com/fourth_of_july/

You've heard of, probably even tried, fried Twinkies being served at a festival. The idea of taking something as sinful as cake injected with cream filling and then deep-frying it to elicit yet more flavor and sin was surely born in Satan's workshop. Well, Satan has been busy. Buoyed by the popularity of the fried Twinkie, other fried festival foods have risen from the vegetable oil of iniquity to capture and seize up our starch-clotted hearts. I'm talkin' 'bout fried cheesecake. Fried Oreos. And, oh Lordy, fried cookie dough. That last one truly boggles the mind. Why not just pour sugar, butter, eggs and oil directly into the gullet? For those who must dip every dessert into the FryDaddy, just once, all the aforementioned treats will be for sale on the midway at this year's Riverfest Fourth of July Celebration in St. Charles. Other fried items at the vendors' area include bloomin' onions, pork rinds, funnel cakes, potato chips, potato pancakes, fried cheese sticks, Midwestern favorite deep-fried pickles and the humble fried Twinkie, aka the magic bullet.

Wine Country Gardens Theme Dinners
Sat., July 5 and 12 , 7 to 10 p.m., Wine Country Gardens 636.798.2288, www.winecountrygardens.net

Paris , a romantic destination, fer sure. But that famous French haughtiness, and the dollar continuing to weaken against the euro? No, thanks. The Caribbean , another perfect getaway, right? If you can pretend the locals serving tourists lobster are happy to do so, maybe. Perhaps you should consider … Defiance. Yes, Defiance, a town on the Missouri Riviera that's home to Wine Country Gardens, a 42-acre nursery, farm and restaurant. Wine Country Gardens has quietly built a complex of 80,000 perennials and flowering shrubs girded by patios, ponds, waterfalls and display gardens. On theme dinner nights, you're invited to sit by the fire under the pavilion, sample any of 30 different wines and enjoy the creations of former Forest Park Boathouse chef Mark Cook (his real name). The Caribbean Feast and Salsa Night (July 5) is a fun alternative to the standard Fourth of July brouhaha and includes an island buffet and live music by salsa band Clave Soul. An Evening in Paris (July 12) includes French cuisine plus smooth jazz from the Pascal Trio, featuring child prodigy Tito Pascal on the drums.

Sauce Cafe at Live OFF the Levee
July 5, 12, 19, 26 and Aug. 2, two nightly seatings: 6 to 7:45 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m.; Soldier's Memorial, 314.434.3434
www.celebratestlouis.org

The annual Sauce Cafe at Live on the Levee means the chance to enjoy a gourmet three-course meal under the big wicket, outdoors, right by the river , until Mother Nature decides otherwise. Thankfully, a bit of flooding will not stop the party; the rising river simply means this year's event is now Live OFF the Levee, held at the dry, high ground of downtown's Soldier's Memorial. Diners can choose the early seating, which ends right before the 8 p.m. concert, or the later one, during which the concert will be broadcast on plasma-screen TVs within the cafe. July 5 promises the soul singing of Anthony Hamilton and the Southern/soul food of the Skybox Sports Bar and Grill. July 12 means country music from Lonestar and Southern favorites from Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen. July 19 features the old-school world music of WAR with the Italian fusion cuisine of Portabella. July 26 includes pop music by OneRepublic and American originals from Mike Shannon's Steaks and Seafood. Finally, Aug. 2 completes the fest with the mellow, jam-band music of Rusted Root and the Italian delights of LoRusso's Cucina. Reservations, which you can make online, are strongly recommended.

National Ice Cream Day
July 20 , noon to 9 p.m., Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream, 314.962.2700, www.serendipity-icecream.com

Did you know that about 9 percent of all the milk produced in the U.S. is used to make ice cream? Did you know that if you eat ice cream fast enough, you can get a brainfreeze, and if you get five brainfreezes in a row, you can talk directly to God? Try it! Even better, try it on the third Sunday in July, which has been designated , oh my , National Ice Cream Day. Over at Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream (where they answer the phone with a Serendipity , what's the scoop?), they're planning hourly specials, a Hula-Hoop contest, games of Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream Cone, a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament, live music and a visit from Silly Jilly the balloon artist. The Webster Groves cool spot offers some interesting ice cream flavors on its rotating schedule, too, including cake batter, chocolate almond Swiss, cantaloupe and chocolate orange.


Classes and Tastings

Kitchen Conservatory Classes
Kitchen Conservatory, 314.862.2665
www.kitchenconservatory.com

A new season of cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory means more proof that not every pun is a bad pun. July's cleverly named lineup includes Wok on the Wild Side, Grills Gone Wild, Obi Wan Cannoli and Bastille My Heart. Other intriguing July classes include five-hour Day in the Kitchen intensives. One focuses on fish and seafood (July 12 , 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), the other on barbecue (July 26 , 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). The former includes a morning field trip to Bob's Seafood for a primer on working with your fishmonger; the latter is taught by Terry Black of St. Louis success story Super Smokers. Pastry chef Christy Augustin of Sidney Street Cafe teaches a Sweet Surprise class (July 28 , 6 to 8:30 p.m.) that combines fresh herbs and desserts for a counterintuitive zing. She'll demonstrate how to create Mojito sorbet, bay leaf-poached peaches, lavender-rosemary crème anglaise, pistachio-olive oil pound cake and summer berries with sweet basil. Finally, July's Novel Cuisine book club features a tell-all in the spirit of Tony Bourdain's irresistible Kitchen Confidential. Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter tells tales from Thomas Keller's posh NYC eatery Per Se. Book-clubbers will dish on the book and dish out Per Se specialties salmon cornets, parsnip soup, poached shrimp on mac 'n' cheese and carrot cake with cinnamon ice cream (July 20 , 1 to 3:30 p.m.).

Tastings at Friar Tuck Wine, Spirits & Beverages
Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m., 314.918.9230
www.friartuckonline.com

Apparently, Friar Tuck was more than the bald, bibulous bon vivant who toddled after Robin Hood in the tales of legend. He was also something of a rebel. In some versions of the apocryphal story, the monk was expelled from his order for questioning authority, which then made him an appropriate addition to the Band of Merrye Men. So too, Friar Tuck Wine, Spirits & Beverages bucks authority. It is a small chain of stores, numbering only five, occupying the tenuous ground between corner bodega and corporate mega-chain. The new Crestwood shop is also the only Friar Tuck in Missouri, the other four being in central Illinois. The complimentary Saturday sampling typically includes three to five wines, a beer and something harder, and they're often beverages new to our burg. Among other concoctions, the St. Louis Friar Tuck boasts more than 600 beers. Store manager Jim McAvoy calls it a candy store for adults.

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• Stuff to do: October 2008 (10/01/2008)
  
• Stuff to do: September 2008 (09/01/2008)
  
• Stuff to do: August 2008 (08/01/2008)
  
• Stuff to do: June 2008 (06/01/2008)
  
• Stuff to do: May 2008 (05/01/2008)