Are you a vodka fanatic or a vodka skeptic? Whichever side you sit on, Battle of the Bartenders, taking place this evening at Three Sixty rooftop lounge, should interest you. If you snub your nose at vodka, the cocktails being concocted by some talented area bartenders might just change your mind. And if you’re already a vodka die-hard, you’ll be all over those complimentary samples and drink specials featuring Salute American vodka.

Tonight marks the final round of the cocktail contest hosted by the St. Louis-based vodka brand. Over the course of the last few weeks, Salute American has held preliminary rounds, challenging local bartenders to mix a great tasting drink using its vodka with no more than four other ingredients.

The field has been narrowed to eight finalists who will wage war with a glass this evening in hopes of walking away with a $1,000 grand prize. The participants (and their affiliations) are: Andy Brown (Lucas Park Grille), Chantel Davis (Side Pockets), Alli Hull (Sub Zero Vodka Bar), Brandon Love (Three Sixty), Elliott Mellow (BBQ ASAP), Tim Rabior (Salt), Justin Sampson (Boogaloo) and Chris Wheeler (Three Sixty).

A panel of judges, including Sauce’s publisher Allyson Mace, will assess the drinks on taste, presentation and name, which should reflect a Salute American theme.

The event begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

With its tightly packed historic buildings and Wildey Theater marquee in the backdrop, Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill., feels like a scene from Back to the Future. While the Edwardsville of 2013 still holds as much small-town 1950s charm as fictional Hill Valley, Calif., its food scene has kept pace with the times. The Land of Goshen Community Market, Fiona’s, 222 Artisan Bakery and Sacred Grounds Cafe are oldies but goodies, while Cleveland-Heath and Craft Chophouse offer the latest in farm-to-table and steakhouse fare. And since Edwardsville is just a half-hour drive from downtown St. Louis, you don’t even need a DeLorean to get there.

For more information on this vanilla orange twist cone, found at Northside Dairy Haven, along with the rest of our tour of Edwardsville, click here.

— photo by Jonathan Gayman

In honor of spring’s arrival, husband-and-wife chef team Wil and Lisa Fernandez-Cruz are hosting their first annual Calçotada Festival on Sunday, May 19th at Starr’s, located at 1135 S. Big Bend Blvd., in Richmond Heights. Calçotada is an idea borrowed from a yearly traditional festival bearing the same name that originated in the town of Valls, situated in Catalonia, Spain.

After a long winter, the festival celebrates the advent of spring and the fresh food that comes with it. This is achieved by wood roasting calçots (spring onions native to Valls), sausage and lamb, and dipping them (without utensils) into an earthy romesco sauce (all while drinking porróns of free-flowing rosé). Lisa was first introduced to the festival while working at Savoy in New York City, which celebrated Calçotada for nearly 20 years. When Savoy closed, Lisa moved to its sister restaurant Back 40, which also celebrated the festival. “We would bring in loads and loads of people – it’s just the most fun event ever. It’s like everyone coming out from under their rock in order to celebrate spring with so much food and wine,” Lisa said.

The Fernandez-Cruz’ moved to St. Louis from NYC late last summer to be closer to Lisa’s family and to open The Restaurant at the Cheshire, where the two worked as executive chef and executive pastry chef. Weeks ago, Lisa realized that this spring was going to be the first in many years that she didn’t celebrate Calçotada. “One of my friends suggested I throw the party here, and I wanted to, but I knew our house wasn’t big enough.” That’s when she and Wil decided, why throw a party just for their friends when they could throw an event big enough so that the community could come, too.

After six months working for The Cheshire, both Lisa and Wil left their posts, with Wil now running the kitchen at Washington U.’s fine-dining campus restaurant Ibby’s. “Our first six months here were pretty much nonstop work, and we didn’t have a chance to meet anyone in our community,” Lisa explained, adding how both she and Wil were raised in big families where food was always a communal celebration. “We just figured the St. Louis community would enjoy doing the same thing. It’s kind of something I want to pass on. Maybe people will feel inspired and throw their own Calçotada parties next year.”

This inaugural event starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. The Fernandez-Cruz’ don’t have an end time in mind – perhaps when the rosé runs dry. Tickets are $50 and include food and all-you-can-drink rosé. Seating is communal, both indoors and outdoors, but if groups want to sit together, they can indicate so on the ticket order, available here.

— photo by Ashley Gieseking

One day while waiting to order a slab of Bogart’s famed ribs, we were bestowed with a free sample of smoked chicken wings. Turns out the Soulard smokehouse’s ’cue crew hands these little gems out for free to patient patrons when the line gets long. Two bites, and we didn’t care how long we had to wait; we just wanted another … and another. We’re helpless against the temptation of a smoked wing, but these charred beauties are truly special: tender, meaty and packed with smoky flavor. By the time we got to the front of the line, our order had changed. When it comes to barbecue, pork may reign supreme; but don’t be surprised if these wings convert you.

Bogart’s Smokehouse, 1627 S. Ninth St., St. Louis, 314.621.3107, bogartssmokehouse.com

For more from The List 2013: The people, places, dishes and drinks we love, click here.

— photo by Carmen Troesser

The vast majority of the American food industry is comprised of just a few corporations that function on a mass-production basis. Consequently, many farmers are faced with the likelihood of having to merge with, for example, Tyson, in order to alleviate the financial burdens of self-run marketing and management. Thankfully, many individuals and organizations have sought ways to support independently-owned, local farms. And recently, through the creation of the online platform Farmplicity.com, a group of students at Washington University have made it their goal to make the process even easier.

Jolijt Tamanaha, sophomore and CEO (pictured, middle, left), along with fellow Wash U. students, Drew Koch (right), Lauren Ortwein (middle, right) and Andrew Lin (left), have created the website Farmplicity.com that aims to simplify the interaction between St. Louis restaurants and local farmers within a 150-mile radius of the city. The website will officially launch next Tuesday, April 16, but those who are interested in the organization can join the website’s email list here.

Many restaurants around town already embrace the local food movement; however, finding where to locally source each ingredient can take a prohibitive amount of time. By using Farmplicity.com, restaurants will be able to minimize bills and clerical procedures, thus bolstering both profit for the business and meaningful bonds with the farmers.

Despite the impact this project will have on St. Louis restaurant-goers and chefs, the more significant goal for Tamanaha and team is to support the small-scale farmers who make this movement possible. “We’re acting as the facilitator to increase efficiency,” Tamanaha explained. “I’m interested in tackling the public issues that politics or policy, alone, cannot solve.” While Farmplicity isn’t a free-trade organization, Tamanaha believes that the website, “deals with the mechanical part of the movement so that chefs and farmers can spend more time together.”

Farmplicity is already working with a number of farms such as Rensing Farm, Hammer’s Farm, Leafy Green Farms and Price Farms, as well as Andy Ayers of Eat Here St. Louis, who will also be selling his locally sourced products through Farmplicity.

“It’s about the people that spend their lives harvesting the ingredients,” Tamanaha said. “We want to make that as accessible as possible.”

For years now, Michael Pollan has been acting as a collective food-conscience of sorts. Globally, through his award-winning books such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food and The Botany of Desire, he has been, slowly but surely, changing the way people think about food. Named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2010, Pollan is an advocate for change in food policy (And believe it or not, he knows a thing or two about how to make good food!).

Sauce Magazine and Left Bank Books couldn’t be more excited to have Pollan as our guest for our next Sauce Celebrity Chef Series event held on Thursday, May 9. From noon to 2 p.m. at Moulin event space, Pollan will chat with us over lunch about his latest book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. Pollan will also sign copies of the book and answer questions from the audience.

Tickets are $55 and include lunch and a copy of Cooked. Buy tickets here.

Food enthusiasts, mark your calendars! Cochon and the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour are both coming to St. Louis this year. This marks the first time that the pork-tacular Cochon will hit the Gateway City, and the second time in two years that St. Louis has landed on the Celebrity Chef Tour circuit.

Founded in 2008, Cochon is a national event series focused around heritage breed hogs. Cochon brings the public in conversation with top chefs, farmers and others in the food community who support a more sustainable food system.

Cochon-St. Louis will be held Sunday, August 25, at the Four Seasons, St. Louis and hosted by Cochon founder Brady Lowe. Participating chefs include: Fabrizio Schenardi (executive chef of the Four Seasons, St. Louis), Kevin Nashan (chef-owner of Sidney Street Cafe), Kevin Willmann (chef-owner of Farmhaus), Gerard Craft (chef-owner of Niche, Brasserie, Taste and Pastaria), and a mystery guest – a celebrated chef from outside of St. Louis – whose identity will be revealed at a later date. A total of 550 tickets will be available for this event. ***Update: Tickets are now available for purchase and cost $125 for general admission and $200 for VIP. Find them here.***

Looking for a more intimate Cochon experience? On Saturday, August 24, the Four Seasons is hosting a special meet and greet dinner at the hotel’s fine dining restaurant Cielo, which will feature dishes prepared by Lowe, Schenardi and the mystery chef. The four-course, all-inclusive meal costs $85 a person. To nab one of the 100 seats available for this event, make a reservation at Cielo.

The Celebrity Chef Tour is an on-the-road version of a dinner at the James Beard House, which is the “perfomance space” in New York City for visiting chefs. Last year, the event took place at Sidney Street Cafe. This year, the Four Seasons will host the event, slated for Thursday, September 19. Although the lineup of the seven or eight participating chefs is still being finalized, the following chefs are confirmed: Fabrizio Schenardi, Kevin Nashan, Kevin Willmann, Lou Rook (chef of Annie Gunn’s), Mark Richardson (executive chef for the Four Seasons, San Francisco and former chef of the now defunct Aujourd’hui in Boston) and Jeffrey Wurtz (executive pastry chef at Le Cirque in New York City). Tickets for the all-inclusive dinner cost $160 a person and will be available for purchase here. Approximately 170 tickets, which go on sale in late April, are available for the event.

An added bonus will be a cocktail reception held Wednesday, September 18, on the terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel. Tickets are $65 a person and include an evening of cocktails, wine and appetizers while you mingle with the participating celebrity chefs. A total of 125 tickets are available for the event. Reserve yours now by calling Cielo.

In January, The Scoop reported that Strange Donuts was opening at 2709 Sutton Blvd., in Maplewood. Co-owners Corey Smale and Tyler Fenwick are moving ahead with their plans to offer “new and wild and creative” doughnuts (as well as oldies but goodies) to St. Louisans. Smale and Fenwick hope to open doors by May 1, but if you can’t wait that long, they’re giving locals a taste of what’s to come when they hold a doughnut tasting – and pog invitational – this Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. at The Post Sports Bar & Grill in Maplewood. Doughnut flavors will be maple bacon, Crunch Berries and chocolate peanut butter. The event is free and open to the public. Doughnuts will be free; drinks will be available for purchase.

Along with the merits of Cap’n Crunch, while you’re there, you can chat with Smale and Fenwick about the Kickstarter campaign that they launched today.

At Sauce, we love to eat (obviously), but we also love to read! This Saturday, local CBL Malls (Chesterfield Mall, Mid Rivers Mall, St. Clair Square, South County Center and West County Center) are helping to celebrate Read Across America with local celebrity storytellers. The staff at Sauce has been honored with an invitation! Tomorrow, find four of our editorial staff reading to the little ones at Chesterfield Mall in the children’s play area from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. If this time or place doesn’t work for you, other area storytellers will be reading from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at all five malls in either the play area or the food court. The first 50 kids who donate a new book at the event will receive a Dr. Seuss hat. Hope to see you there!

It’s hard to imagine readying our gardens when it’s snowing outside, but perhaps now is the time for some magical thinking. This Saturday from noon to 3 p.m., Drop. Swap. Grow., in partnership with Slow Food, is hosting its 3rd Annual Seed and Tool Swap. The event, held in the basement of The Word at Shaw, located at 4265 Shaw Blvd., is free, but you must register in advance to participate. Per the organization’s request, don’t bring expired seeds. Both store-bought seeds and those harvested from your garden are welcome, but organic and heirloom seeds will surely make you a hit. If you have any new or gently-used tools, bring those for swapping as well.

In addition to the swap, several speakers will share their wisdom, including Jenny Murphy from Perennial. Murphy will show attendants how to creatively reuse household items in the garden. For more information about the event, click here.