The Icing on the Cake: Don’t rush through baking’s best embellishments
Remember those wonderfully decorated confections nearly everyone’s grandmother used to make? The brownies with fudge drizzled across them, or the sugar- and butter-cookie cutouts with icings colored specially for the holidays? They’re not as difficult to make as you might think. “Home baking” is increasingly becoming a matter of buying an iced brownie kit or…
Opera takes to the ‘Street;’ dance dives into the river
Opera skeptics may change their tune after ‘Street Scene’ I wonder if even the most voracious theatergoer has the same fear of opera that I seem to have developed over the years. The idea of sitting for a couple of hours while someone belted out an aria in Italian never really appealed to me. That…
Discover the ’80s for the first (or second) time
Since this column is certainly surfing on the nostalgic tip, we’ll give a nod to the calendar of the old Bernard Pub. On it, each month, promoter John Green would note the club’s slogan: “Everything old is new again.” That was true in the 1980s and is true again today, with those very 1980s as…
Keillor’s role keeps Hollywood under control in ‘Prairie Home Companion’
I don’t recall exactly how old I was the first time I heard “A Prairie Home Companion” on the radio. It strikes me as one of those things my family just fell into, so familiar that it seemed as though it had always been on the air, and we’d always been listening to it. Perhaps…
Hold Everything: Food allergies can make dining out a chore
When Valencia Tims’ co-workers take an impromptu lunch at a nearby restaurant, the 29-year-old has to politely decline. Before she dares to venture to a new dining spot, she has to call the manager, or even the corporate office, to get a detailed list of every ingredient on the menu. If Tims takes one tiny…
Review: Wild Country in Collinsville
GUY’S PERSPECTIVE My appreciation of country music peaked in 1977 when Big and Little Enos offered the Bandit $80,000 to bootleg a truckload of Coors across county lines in less than 28 hours. Jerry Reed sang it right: “We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there. I’m eastbound, just…
Review: Tango Argentina Food in St. Peters
To this day, when the word “tango” appears, the first thing I think of is Catherine Zeta-Jones dancing in “The Mask of Zorro.” I am not usually a fan of dancing interludes in my action flicks, but she breathed fire into that scene until there was nothing left but smoldering lumps of my heart. The…
From San Fran to St. Louie, Michael Roberts’ biggest leap was into Atlas
When Atlas Restaurant first opened in 2003, chef and co-owner Michael Roberts’ only goal was to succeed at serving great food at reasonable prices. “We weren’t into that ‘get bigger as fast as you can,'” Roberts said. “We were just hoping to succeed. Once that happened, we looked around and said, ‘Hey, wait a minute!…
Asian alcohol accounts for more than just sake shots
Ever since I heard it caused less of a hangover, vodka has been my spirit of choice. But that might change now that I’ve been introduced to two distilled Asian liquors: Japanese shochu and Korean soju. Yes, the names sound a lot alike. They both have a similar, crystal-clear appearance and smooth taste. For both,…
Follow That Dish! What happens to your entrée after you place your order?
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at your favorite restaurant? Why your food takes so long, or how they get it cooked so quickly? When everything goes well, dining out is a wonderful experience, but restaurant work is challenging and not quite as easy as it appears. Time to make the donuts Very…
The complex world of viticultural areas is rife with wine-geek trivia
Trivia is one of the fun games that wine geeks like to play with each other. For many years, I had a great time when wine visitors would come to town, and I would ask them if they knew what the United States’ first American Viticultural Area was. For many years, very few knew the…
A second-career farmer finds his calling in the secret life of beets
The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish admittedly is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. ? Tom Robbins in “Jitterbug Perfume” I…
Mélange’s brunch medley really sings
As its melodious name suggests, Mélange offers a medley of menu items to suit nearly every taste. Whether you’re craving huevos rancheros or country-fried steak, Benedicts or omelets, French toast or griddle cakes, sandwiches or burgers, Mélange has you covered – and does it with fresh food that’s well-prepared. Occupying a former auto showroom on…
