Charismatic actors boil, but the plot barely simmers
When you’re dining out, how important is the presentation of your meal? Quality of plating usually is in direct relation to a restaurant’s prices. Dine at a high-end bistro and your plate looks like a work of art. Grab a sack from a fast-food joint and you’ll be lucky if what you unwrap has even…
Berry Delicious: Pies sweeten these summer days
There are many things to love about summer: fireworks, fireflies, barbecues, even the hot weather. And is there any better way to finish a picnic on a sultry summer day than with a freshly baked pie filled with glorious summer fruit? As long as local restaurants continue to lure us with innovative recipes and farm…
Slips, Storms and Shrapnel: Restaurateurs formulate ways to protect their customers and themselves
On any given day or night, a restaurant weathers a barrage of mini-crises. Yet sometimes an eatery has to deal with more than just wrinkles in the service or mishaps in the kitchen. The windstorms of last July, for example, pitched a tricky bundle of troubles onto restaurateurs’ plates – both on the nights-of and…
Citrus-Tarragon Sole En Papillote
2 4-ounce servings
Review: Bailey’s Chocolate Bar in St. Louis
Guy’s perspective Even the most exquisite fine-dining restaurant has a limited number of sensory-pleasing dishes and libations to keep patrons around for more than three hours. Similarly, even the most skilled Lothario has a limited number of saccharine compliments and charming yarns to woo his date into a second rendezvous. Hence, the perfect nightcap locale…
Review: Franco in St. Louis
Recently I had the good fortune to meet Dee Ryan, the illustrious author of the monthly food quiz on Sauce’s Web site. And let me tell you, not only does she write a mean and challenging quiz that keeps me on my toes and scouring all sorts of food writing, but she is super-fun to…
Favorite winery: Mount Pleasant’s wines excel across the spectrum
Being the most popular of the more than 100 wineries in the bistate region is no simple achievement. Many wineries have a beautiful patio, a panoramic view, music and grilled bratwurst. For the third consecutive year, Mount Pleasant Winery has topped the readers’ choice poll, and I believe what gets this Augusta winery the votes…
Favorite diner: Here’s to a cooked-from-scratch breakfast anytime
When I told my friends I was planning to have a meatloaf omelet for dinner, the look of horror on their faces was priceless. But that’s the beauty of diner food – classic or crazy, the combinations are comfort food for someone. Whether you’re craving a burger, fries and shake for lunch, a meatloaf omelet…
Favorite international market: Jay offers far-off worlds in every aisle
Jay International Food Co. is the adventure park of grocery stores. A souk for the spicy, the hot, the bitter and the sweet. A bazaar where each crowded aisle speaks of cultures and countries far from St. Louis. It’s the world at your shopping cart. The produce section alone is a seasonal shopper’s portal to…
Chef of the year: At Niche, Gerard Craft cooks what he’s feeling
When did you decide that you wanted to be a chef? I dropped out of college and I took a job washing cars in the morning, and that wasn’t really doin’ it for me, so I took a job also washing dishes at a pool hall, bar-and-grill-type place. And they let me cook. I got…
Favorite place to see and be seen: Experimentation is on view at Busch’s Grove
Busch’s Grove has been around in one form or another since 1890, but with its showstopping décor and sophisticated menu, it is the definition of modernity – a fitting atmosphere for this year’s favorite place to see and be seen. The large bar, centered squarely in the middle of the room, cries out for sexy…
This easy technique is a nearly foolproof way to cook fish
Fish steamed en papillote (in a sealed parcel of parchment paper) may sound all puffed up – and, indeed, looks that way as the inflated pouch emerges from the oven – but it is one of the most approachable and reliable ways to prepare fish. Granted, the presentation is showy, but I assure you, the…
Creative Campfire Cooking: There’s more to cooking in the great outdoors than s’mores
This time of year, Missouri’s many rivers and campgrounds are teeming with floaters, river rats and campers who don’t seem to mind the mud, mosquitoes and mugginess of Ozark summers. When the majority of these outdoor enthusiasts gather around the campfire at mealtime, they’re probably feasting on a traditional menu of hot dogs, pork ‘n’…
