The Scoop: Bobby Wasabi heads to Steven Becker Fine Dining
Josh Norris, former executive chef at the now-defunct Kitchen K, is now wearing chef whites with Steven Becker Fine Dining. As executive sous chef for the catering company, Norris, known professionally as Bobby Wasabi, will manage recipe development and menu design for catering, banquets at the Coronado Ballroom and both Nadoz Euro Bakery and Cafe…
The Scoop: Sarah’s Café and Bakery Relocates
Sarah’s Café and Bakery has moved from Wildwood to Chesterfield. The relocation is just one aspect of reorganization efforts by owner Jill Umbarger – the company has also changed names to Sarah’s Cake Shop and Catering Co. and has done away with the café business that it operated for six years from its location at…
Get it while you can
Listen up Monarch fans: After Saturday night’s service, you’ll be without your Monarch fix for six weeks, so anyone wanting a taste of Josh Galliano’s fare to tide them over till the renovation’s done should be sure to stop in the Maplewood restaurant this weekend. An added bonus: Galliano will feature five of the dishes…
National urban farming organization breaks ground in STL
National home farming nonprofit Urban Farming has broken ground on a new project in St. Louis. Two weeks ago, Urban Farming founder and executive director Taja Seville, representatives from Mayor Slay’s office and corporate sponsor Triscuit were on hand to begin transforming a 20-foot-by-20-foot space at The Computer Training Village in north St. Louis into…
Kakao brings brittle bliss
Because few joys in life can match that of well-made brittle, fans of that confection should squeal with delight at a new offering from Kakao Chocolate, aptly called The Big Squeal. Brian Pelletier, Kakao’s owner and chief chocolatier, gave us the lowdown on the seductively buttery bacon-pecan brittle. “We just started making it last week,”…
A wee preview of changes at Monarch
Attendees at Taste of Maplewood this past Saturday had a chance to savor a dish debuting at Monarch Restaurant & Wine Bar a little later this year. At the festival, executive chef Josh Galliano was serving a poor-boy made with house-smoked andouille and pulled pork, topped with the obligatory coleslaw and nestled in a splendidly…
IceKitchen hosts first-year bash tonight
A Saucy congrats to IceKitchen Continental Fusion Restaurant & Lounge, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary today with a birthday bash that will run from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the West Port Plaza establishment. Among other attractions, it will feature food and vodka samples, specials, attendance prizes, live music and, later in the…
Nature reserve offers class on wildflowers
If our May feature on culinary uses of flowers piqued your interest in that subject, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve is offering a class just for you during the next few months: Wildflower ID and Ecology. Designed for beginners and more experienced amateur naturalists alike, the class “will focus on identification, relationships and…
The Scoop: Mike Nicoletti Adds No. 2
Mike Nicoletti, owner of Nicoletti’s Steak and Pasta in Ballwin, will be opening a second restaurant in a matter of weeks. Located at 2951 Dougherty Ferry Road near Big Bend Boulevard, Café Nicoletti will be a full-service restaurant offering pastas, hot and cold sandwiches, pizza, salads and subs. On the beverage side, specialty coffee drinks…
Ciao, Porky!
Kiss the pig goodbye. Yesterday evening, as we were … um … doing research at Taste by Niche, chef and owner Gerard Craft entered clutching a foot-long bronze T in one hand and a matching A in the other. Those letters and the accompanying STE, he announced, signaled the end for the Benton Park restaurant’s…
MOINK Balls – a carnivore’s dream nosh
What is a MOINK Ball? Well, moo + oink = MOINK. The moo comes from a meatball, and the oink from the bacon wrapped around it. June 5 is National MOINK Ball Day, when carnivores around the world are encouraged to whip up bacon-wrapped meatballs. The main MOINKer is Larry Gaian, proprietor of noted barbecue…
Ernesto’s hosts pig roast tonight
Ernesto’s Winebar and Salume Beddu are certainly starting the week in style – with a pig roast. The rain-or-shine event takes place on the patio of the Benton Park restaurant at 7 p.m. today. Its menu sounds fabulous: bruschetta with fava bean purée, guanciale and mint; a salad made with shaved beets, radishes and fennel,…
The Scoop: Mr. Harry’s Carnival Foods Now Open
Every day is like a day at the circus at the recently opened Mr. Harry’s Carnival Foods in Ballwin. It’s got funnel cakes, cotton candy, shaved ice, hot pretzels, ice cream, chili pie, classic animal crackers in the circus box – all those sugar-laden and salty treats you looked forward to as a kid when…
O’Fallon hosts tastings of new brew
Fans of O’Fallon Brewery’s seasonal Wheach and other beers should make room on their schedules today or tomorrow – or perhaps both – to sample its new bottled product, Hemp Hop Rye, at tastings in five locations. For a short time earlier this year, O’Fallon had offered the brew only as a draft at a…
The Scoop: Wicked Fresh Subs to reopen as Pour House
Back in March, the owners of Wicked Fresh Subs closed the sandwich shop at the corner of Washington Avenue and 20th Street. Since then, they’ve been readying the space to reopen it as Pour House. The new concept, according to lead partner Matt Snyder, is for the establishment to be a “fun neighborhood bar and…
Stalking the squash blossom
“What does that thing taste like?” Some readers may find themselves murmuring that question on encountering our May issue, which features not only an artful close-up of a squash blossom by photographer Carmen Troesser, but also Heavy Petal, an article by writer Caleb Melchior focusing on culinary uses for it and other flowers. To experience…
Oceano supports oil-spill fund
Locavore leanings go only so far, especially for seafood-based restaurants in the Midwest. (Not a whole lot of bluefin tuna being raised hereabouts.) As a result, Oceano Bistro will be donating its lunch and dinner profits today to the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, as it did yesterday. Although the Gulf…
The Scoop: CWE bakery/restaurant nears June opening
Michael Jaber is getting closer to opening Central Café, a Mediterranean bakery and restaurant that is slated to open June 15 in the Terrace Building on Euclid Avenue next to Golden Grocer. Open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Central Café will provide CWE regulars with a morning stop for croissants and…
The Scoop: Zupanci opens Township Grocer
Fans of Fond now have another reason to celebrate: Amy Zupanci, the chef and owner of that acclaimed Edwardsville restaurant, just launched Township Grocer, an adjoining grocery store. The new venture, at 102 N. Main St., expands Zupanci’s devotion to locally grown, seasonal foodstuff, noted Fond maitre d’ Stephen Cox, who helped her open Township…
Short List: Shrimp and grits
Crustaceans and corn porridge might strike some diners as an odd combination, but Southerners, especially Carolinians, have long loved shrimp and grits. At a number of restaurants here, St. Louisans, too, can enjoy the dish, whether plated as an entrée or an appetizer. In fact, for all but the most militant anti-grits types, it can…
The Scoop: The Haus Pizzeria and Bar now open in Chesterfield
Partners Dave McDonald, Pascal Beauboeuf and Stephan Beauboeuf recently opened The Haus Pizzeria and Bar in Chesterfield. By day, the restaurant that occupies the old Starbucks space at the corner of Baxter and Clayton roads features pizza, pasta, sandwiches and salads. By night, the 65-seat joint with full bar gets hopping with musical entertainment that…
Trujillo joins Clayton Farmer’s Market
The Clayton Farmer’s Market opens its 10th season in roughly two weeks – and new market master A.J. Trujillo is jazzed about that. “You wouldn’t think that the difference between a head of lettuce that’s local and organic and maybe a generic piece of produce would be so dramatic, but it really is,” she told…
New java for a better cup of joe
That regular morning cup of java isn’t giving you the jump-start you need? Time to ditch those beans and try a few newbies that just hit the local market. This week, Foundation Grounds released a homemade blend of 100 percent organic coffee created by St. Louis roasting company Goshen Coffee. “Foundation Grounds has never had…
Niche, Zingerman’s have St. Louis in bacon daze
Gerard Craft devotees are well aware that the chef has an affinity for bacon. So, too, does Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Ann Arbor, Mich., institution Zingerman’s Delicatessen and author of Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. Pair the pork paramours, and you can understand why the bacon dinner held last night at Niche sold out within…
The lady who gave us the cocktail party
Her given name, thank you very much, appears to have been Clara. A 2007 Wall Street Journal story by Eric Felten credited a “Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis” as the originator of the cocktail party. In preparing our April issue, which included a special guide to hosting such a party, we couldn’t…
The Scoop: Neukomm sells Augusta Brewing Company, wins silver medal
Steve Neukomm, owner of Square One Brewery and Distillery, has sold his other beer operation, Augusta Brewing Company & Beer Garden. The Augusta, Mo., properties have been purchased by Terry and Jeri Heisler, owners of John G’s Bier Deck in nearby Washington, Mo., and longtime Augusta Brewing Company customers. Neukomm told Sauce that he sold…
The Scoop: Brennan’s finds room to breathe
Ever since Brennan’s opened back in 2003, folks have found this CWE shop to be a great place to grab a bottle of wine, order a boozy cocktail and smoke a stogie. Only problem was the quarters were awfully tight. Not so any more. Owner Kevin Brennan has done an interior switcharoo that gives some…
Cinco de Mayo gets rockin’ with Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Tequila
We can only imagine the raging Cinco bash that Sammy Hagar, founder of Cabo Wabo Tequila, will throw at his tequila bar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to celebrate the cantina’s 20th anniversary. Want in on the act? Get rockin’ with these modern tequila cocktails, and leave the classic Marg thing to Buffett’s Parrotheads. Tequila…
Lemongrass & Limes – and the national limelight
“I honestly didn’t know who all was going to be interviewed for the book – I feel even more humbled and touched to be amongst the restaurant giants,” local cooking instructor and cookbook author Naam Pruitt told us. She was discussing Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride’s Culinary Careers, which Clarkson Potter is releasing today.…
Breaking: Beard award eludes Craft
Local restaurant boosters should sigh with collective disappointment: St. Louis’ Gerard Craft didn’t win the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Midwest. Instead, Alexander Roberts of Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis landed that honor, the foundation just announced from New York’s Lincoln Center. Craft, of course, helms Niche Restaurant and Taste by Niche in Benton…
The Scoop: Racanelli’s pizza retains its U. City roots
We’re excited for the Market Pub House, the newest offering by the Racanelli family, but one of our first questions to John Racanelli at the opening of his $5-$6-$7 gastro pub that replaced Racanelli’s Cucina and Racanelli’s Express was whether we’d see Racanelli’s New York-style pizza in the Loop again, especially considering that the restaurant…
Market Pub House debuts
Before Mother Nature took the area by storm this past Friday, the Market Pub House did likewise with a well-attended soft opening that evening. John Racanelli’s latest venture occupies 6655 Delmar Blvd., formerly the site of his Racanelli’s Cucina. As noted here earlier, almost all of its appetizers, soups and salads, wraps, wings, and burgers…
At River City Casino, William Gideon cooks to impress
During his 30-year career, chef William “Bill” Gideon has worked for the Four Seasons in Chicago, Philadelphia, the West Indies and Beverly Hills, garnering a James Beard hotel chef nomination along the way. He’s also run his own establishments, including Gideon’s Fine Dining in North Adams, Mass., where he earned three stars from AAA and…
Review: Foam Coffee and Beer in St. Louis
When it comes to bars and/or restaurants, I’ve always been an advocate for simplicity. Choose a concept and go with it. Find the one or two concoctions you can serve up exceptionally well and stick with them. Don’t gum up the works by offering a myriad of choices and trying to be all things to…
Review: Lola in St. Louis
Like the subject of The Kinks song of the same name, your first impression of Lola, the new downtown hot spot filling the void after Crepes in the City suddenly vanished last fall, may not be exactly what you expected. From the bike rack outside made from recycled bike parts to the loft-like interior, the…
How to Use Fresh, Local Radishes This Month
Radishes – round, long, pointed, skinny or plumply ovoid – what a controversial vegetable they’ve proven to be. Turns out, they’re almost as universally ignored or disliked as turnips. Imagine that. So many people told me they don’t eat radishes, I began to fret: Would folks read this column? First, a disclaimer. I like radishes…
Recipe: Terrene’s Tofu Tacos
Terrene’s creative tofu dishes have kept it at the forefront of local vegetarian dining since the Central West End restaurant opened in 2005. Though the beloved tofu on a stick is no more, the restaurant’s tofu tacos, now back on the menu, are a worthy substitute, mingling silky tofu with crunchy pepitas and punching up…
Tofu Tacos
10 tacos
Tropical Fruit and Black Bean Salsa
6 servings
Pan Sautéed Radishes
6 servings
Heavy Petal: Flavor blooms with fresh florals
Flowers are for looking at. Flowers are for smelling. But flowers for eating? Yes. Chef Tim Grandinetti of Clarksville Station at Overlook Farm in Clarksville discovered the potential of edible flowers as a child of 6 or 7 in an Italian neighborhood in New York. “I picked a few of those large, golden squash blossoms,”…
Rabbit on the Rise: Local chefs hop on the bunny bandwagon
Looney Tunes – or was it Merrie Melodies? Whichever. With macabre glee, Keith Brockman immediately dropped a Bugs Bunny reference in a discussion about rabbit: “Well, the braised bayou bunny bordelaise à la Antoine is a simple recipe,” he said. Then he launched into a machine-gun description of the braised rabbit dish at Sherlock’s Steak…
K.C. Cocktailians to Shake it Up in St. Louis
Make a trek to Kansas City, and cocktail cultists will tell you that you must go to Manifesto, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in downtown K.C. But even if a westward journey on I-70 isn’t in your immediate future, you can still taste Manifesto’s drinks, because this month, the bar’s mixologists are making a special trip…
Lola’s Lively List
I love a restaurant that proves interesting multiple areas, and Lola certainly does that, with a pleasant wine list, a range of specialty cocktails and plenty of beer offerings. About half of Lola’s wine list is available by the glass; a modest selection of a couple of dozen wines by the bottle, mostly French, gives…
Steaks are Supreme at Citizen Kane’s
Many a steakhouse will try to win you over with sleek and sexy surroundings or a snazzy and innovative menu. But Citizen Kane’s Steak House, located in an old Victorian house in Kirkwood, takes a traditional approach, and simple surroundings are what make it stand out. The restaurant, owned by Frank Kane, opened in 1993…
Atypical Aquatics: Local chefs fall for unusual fish hook, line and sinker
So trout doesn’t feel like a treat anymore, and you’re tired of eating the same old river catfish, breaded and fried. Thankfully, there are loads of weird schools of the finny tribe, and some chefs in town are hooked on a different wave of deep-sea catches, bringing a unique taste of the seacoast right here…
