Looking for an affordable lunch to tame your grumbling tummy and fill you with some STL pride? Turn to the Chicken Salad Sandwich at Local Harvest Grocery & Cafe’s new Kirkwood location. Chunks of pasture-raised chicken cooked to tasty perfection and crunchy celery and onions cling to creamy mayo scented with dill and tangy Dijon. It’s only fitting at this locavore’s pit stop that the meaty filling gets piled onto a Companion pretzel roll. And that bag of Billy Goat chips that comes with the hefty sandwich? It’s the kicker that’ll have you doing a fist pump for local food.

Local Harvest Grocery & Cafe, 12309 Old Big Bend Road, Kirkwood, 314.966.6566, localharvestgrocery.com/kirkwood

— photo by Kristi Schiffman

Want more food and dining recommendations from the Sauce staff? All you had to do was ask.

Tomorrow, we will be launching Edible Weekend, a free weekly culinary e-newsletter that will provide you with everything you need to have a food-filled weekend. Each week, we’ll cull through hundreds of dining and drinking events to provide you with the best of what’s happening in food and drink around town.

We’ll share which new restaurants and bars are worth the buzz and tell you about new must-try dishes and cocktails. We’ll alert you to fun food festivals and events and reveal where you can find new-to-the-market beer, wine and spirits. We’ll tell you which cooking classes and celebrity chef visits are worth your time and why you should stop by a local shop for a quick spree. And, in our Saucy fashion, we will always provide you with a great recipe that will inspire you to spend some time in the kitchen.

Consider it a personal recommendation from the Sauce staff for a weekend of what we do best: dining and drinking well. If you’re a current subscriber to our Daily Sauce e-mails, you need not do anything: Edible Weekend will start arriving in your inbox every Wednesday. If you’re not, click here to sign up – it’s easy and free!

Haven’t had time to get away for a nice dinner lately? Is there a great restaurant you’ve been hoping to try but can’t justify shelling out the extra cash? Or, as the temperature drops, are you just stuck in a take-out rut? Well, fret not: Clayton Restaurant Week is returning for a little bit of culinary salvation.

Just like last year, diners can show up to several Clayton restaurants from Jan. 24 to 30, to enjoy a three-course meal for just $25. The list of restaurants this year is at 19, with a smorgasbord of cuisines available. Grab shrimp gyoza and the Erik Johnson Roll (filled with crab, cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, tuna, salmon, eel sauce, house-made creamy wasabi sauce and special seasoning) at Tani Sushi Bistro, enjoy lobster bisque and scallop of pork loin Zingara at the legendary Chez Leon or get a taste of Italy with  house-made gnocchi, lamb ragout and lemon-herb ricotta at Luciano’s Trattoria. Salivating yet?

Even better: Sip on a Pearl Vodka cocktail or a glass of Casa Lapostolle wine at a special restaurant week price. Not sure what to with all that cash you’ll be saving? Put it to good use by adding a few bucks to your bill for KidSmart, a charity which provides school supplies and educational resources to thousands of local students each week.

Here’s the full list of restaurants participating this year: Alexander’s, Araka, Bar Napoli, Barcelona, Bar Napoli, Cardwell’s, Chez Leon, J. Buck’s, Jimmy’s On The Park, Luciano’s Trattoria, Mazara, Mosaic Bistro Market, Oceano Bistro, Portabella, Remy’s Kitchen & Wine Bar, Roxanne, Ruth’s Chris, Tani Sushi Bistro, The Crossing and The Grill at The Ritz-Carlton.

With such a great deal available to all hungry St. Louisans, reservations are highly recommended. For more information, or just to drool over the slated menus, click here.

Zach Oldham has opened his third Planet Sub shop. The newest oven-baked subs in the St. Louis galaxy are being made in Maplewood at 1805 Maplewood Commons Drive, next to San Sai Japanese Grill. Why did Oldham select Maplewood as the sister site to locales in the Central West End and downtown? “Because it’s a high-traffic area and a really nice, small, clean city,” said Oldham. “We wanted to give it a shot out here.”

The menu is identical at all three Planet Sub locations, but the Maplewood shop offers a couple deals unavailable at the other stores. Mondays is Kids Eat Free day – purchase an adult meal and get up to two free kid’s meals. On Turkey Tuesdays, customers can purchase a six-inch turkey sandwich for $2.50 or a foot-long sub for $5.

If the 25th anniversary is celebrated with silver and the 50th anniversary is golden, it only seems appropriate that Gioia’s Deli on The Hill is celebrating 92 years in business with what it does best — the toasty, meaty sandwich that made it famous. This Friday, Gioia’s, located at 1934 Macklind Ave., is marking its notable tenure serving the St. Louis area by offering its signature Hot Salami sandwich for only $5 (that’s $2 less than usual).

Originally served by Challie Gioia back in 1918 as Salam de Testa, the deli’s homemade sausage quickly became a favorite for hungry St. Louisans. The sandwich was added to the menu years later when Steve and Johnnie Gioia began serving the bustling lunch crowd, and it has truly withstood the test of time here in the Lou.

So if you’re looking for a little taste of history this Friday, stop by Gioia’s Deli between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for a hot and cheesy delight that is sure to keep your wallet fat and your stomach happy. The limit’s two per person, and the special will only go on while supplies last – so go on, get celebrating.

- Stacy Schultz

The Market Pub House launched its Sunday brunch menu last weekend, as planned since it opened early in May – and The Loop restaurant’s already upgraded that menu.

“We’re offering all-you-can-eat [baby back] ribs for $10, which is a big item,” executive chef Shawn Isbel told us yesterday morning over two orders of the restaurant’s sinful Cheesecake Lollipops. “We’re gonna switch that up monthly – I think next month we might do prime rib.” Servers there will deliver the initial platters, he explained, and then replenish all-you-can-eat items as desired by the customer.

The regular brunch menu, to which the all-you-can-eat deal was an 11th-hour brainstorm addition, features the restaurant’s take on standard items like buttermilk flapjacks and omelets. It also includes surprises like the daunting Pub House Hangover Slinger, a dish hearty enough to feed two. From the brunch menu, Isbel himself expressed fondness for the corned beef hash, prepared with house-made meat. “Our Mama’s Coconut Focaccia French Toast is going really well,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of good feedback on that.”

The Market Pub House serves Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you’re a Jim Fiala devotee – that is, you make The Crossing, Liluma, Acero and The Terrace View part of your dining circuit – you’re going to love the deal that the chef-restaurateur is offering throughout the month of April at all four of his restaurants: a four-course dinner for $25. While the menu will vary at each eatery, the offer includes a soup or salad, an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert and is available evenings, Monday through Saturday.

The occasion for this buck-saving, fine-dining experience? Fiala is celebrating the 12th anniversary of The Crossing in Clayton, the third anniversary of Acero in Maplewood and the first spring at The Terrace View perched in Citygarden downtown. We can’t think of a tastier, more affordable way to observe these merry milestones.

– Ligaya Figueras

Photo by Carmen Troesser

Everyone savors a sizzlin’ deal – and now, get set to fire up your spring with one from us: HOT Sauce. Starting in April, you’ll have the chance to sign up online to be e-mailed daily about not just a single deal but a trio of deals.

What sorts of deals? Glad you asked! HOT Sauce will include offers from St. Louis restaurants. Among its many benefits, HOT Sauce will cost those restaurants less than other, out-of-town offers – which means they’ll be able to pass along their savings to customers who use HOT Sauce coupons. Further, HOT Sauce will be more flexible than those other offers – you’ll be able to buy HOT Sauce deals till 4 p.m. and use them the evening of the purchase, for instance.

And the icing on the cake? Each month, a different local charity will receive 10 percent of all HOT Sauce proceeds. So while you’re enjoying a deal at your favorite bistro, say, you’ll also be giving back to the community.

Want more details? Then click saucyhotdeals.com.

Ernesto’s Winebar in Benton Park has announced a supper club to be held the last Sunday of each month.

“It’s gonna be comfortable, it’s gonna be affordable, it’s gonna be food that you recognize but that is done really well,” executive chef Cassandra Vires told us.

Meals for the supper club will cost $35, which includes wine. However, potential diners need not belong to the club to enjoy its meals, Vires said. “Membership gives you added benefits, but you are still more than welcome to call and make reservations regardless of membership status.”

The club debuts March 28 with a family-style Italian menu: bay scallop risotto with Meyer lemon; braised veal chops with thyme, honey and grapes; crispy rosemary potatoes; balsamic and lemon roasted vegetables; and roasted fruit with sweet polenta cake and zabaglione.

“It’s gonna be a different menu every month, based on whatever I feel like making,” Vires said. “I’ve got a whole list of ideas, pretty much through the end of the year. But I’m a pretty fickle person, and it’s pretty likely that something else will spark my interest.”

For June, for example, Vires plans a farm-to-table focus. “In August we’re talking about doing ‘St. Louis originals’ and doing my version of toasted raviolis and gooey butter cake and pork steak,” Vires added. “I’m not from St. Louis, so that’ll be really comical for a lot of people.”

Other potential menus for the supper club will involve “perfect pairs” for September and Thanksgiving for November, Vires said. She also noted that items served at the club may be added to Ernesto’s regular menu, depending on their reception.

Just in time for holiday entertaining, Dierbergs School of Cooking has published Appetizers, the latest addition to its growing line of cookbooks. Gracing the book’s cover is a close-up of a tomato bacon mini tart, and the loveliness of that puff-pastry blossom instantly made us want to commence our end-of-year noshing and tippling.

Appetizers features chapters on cheese, seafood and meat, veggies and fruit, dips and nibbles, beverages and desserts. The 64 individual recipes range from baked Manchego to fillo-wrapped shrimp with Jack Daniel’s sauce, from mini Greek strudels to strawberry daiquiri cupcakes. Accompanying each of the recipes in Appetizers is nutrition information, including a given recipe’s cardiac healthiness (in accordance with the Eat Hearty program co-sponsored by Missouri Baptist Medical Center and Dierbergs Markets).

The cookbook’s 18 contributors, incidentally, include chef Coby Arzola from (um, duh) Chuy Arzola’s; he provides a recipe for chipotle glazed pecans that sounds as if it would go great with the customary seasonal re-viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life.

The 96-page, 8.5-inch-square full-color hardcover, which went on sale this week, includes an index and retails for $12.95.