stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Babies, and Art, and Food, Oh My!

Jul 22, 2010 St. Louis, chefs, events, farming, missouri, restaurants, sustainable agriculture

Whew! After nine months (the final few weeks of which were filled with anxiety revolving around questions like, “What the hell am I going to do with a baby?), I now have a daughter, Quinn Reese Burge.  Definitely meaning to brag, Ellie did it 100% natural for both her health physically and mentally and the babies.  It was amazing, but more than that, they are amazing.

Bragging about my wife and daughter out of the way, in the few moments of spare time I’ve had this week, I’ve been tracking down chefs to belatedly nail down this year’s Slow Food St. Louis Art of Food menu.  It’s not quite assembled 100% (come on guys!), but I just wanted to let you know one thing:

If you’re in town this Saturday, and you haven’t got anything planned, and you care a lick about local food, you need to get your butt down there. It’s Slow Food St. Louis’s biggest fundraiser of the year and it’s the reason we’ve been able to give over $12,000 to ten small farms over the last two years to increase the biodiversity of what’s available to us locally.

And if that’s not reason enough for you to go, know this: whatever excuse you have can’t possibly top the fact that I’ll be there and I’ll have a 7 day old daughter, and Josh Galliano will be there and he will have a 13 day old daughter.  (we are of course hoping this means stellar birthday parties!)

Here’s the menu thus far if you’re wavering, and I hope to see you there…

Annie Gunn’s – Lou Rook III

Roasted Viking Village Sea Scallop with Annie Gunn’s Bacon and Ratatouille.

Companion – Josh Allen

1. Panzanella “Bread Salad”  – Companion Roasted Garlic Fougasse w/ local heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers (working to identify farmer this week)

2. Grilled Bread Station with assorted pestos & tapenades

Five – Anthony Devoti

Benne’s Farm Pork confit, sesame cracker, tomato jam and pickled Claverach Farm baby carrots.

Harvest – Stephen Gontram

Harvest Bread Pudding

Kakao Chocolate – Brian Pelletier

1:Bacon Caramels Made with bacon from Hinkebein Hills Farms and local honey.

2: Chocolate Dipped Double-Layer Pates de Fruits

Local Harvest Café – Clara Moore

Horseradish Pickled Heirloom Tomato Relish on a Prairie Breeze Cheese Biscuit

Monarch – Josh Galliano

Prairie Grass Farms Goat Terrine, eggplant tapenade, Greek yogurt, fennel mostarda

Niche – Gerard Craft

white gazpacho, smoked grape sorbet

Sidney Street Café

Rabbit bratwurst with Companion brioche and house made sauerkraut

Winslow’s Home

Winslow’s Farm Cucumbers and Heirloom Tomatoes with pulled Prairie Grass Farm Lamb

and dishes still to come from…

Bailey’s Chocolate Bar, Farmhaus, Franco

Tags: Annie Gunn's, Anthony-Devoti, Art of Food, Bailey's Chocolate Bar, Brian Pelletier, Cary McDowell, Clara Moore, Claverach, Companion Bakery, David Bailey, Farmhaus, Five, Franco, Gerard Craft, Harvest, Hinkebein Hills Farm, Josh Galliano, Kakao Chocolate, Kevin Nashan, Local Harvest Cafe, Lou Rook III, Mad Art Gallery, Matt Abeshouse, Monarch, Niche, Rooster, Sidney Street Cafe, Slow Food St. Louis, Stephen Gontram, sustainable agriculture, The Bridge, Winslow's Home

Taking the Edge off E-Ville

May 5, 2010 Illinois, chefs, restaurants

It’s not my style to alert you to all deals because some deals are at places I wouldn’t want you to eat at in the first place.  With a definite amount of bias, however, I’d like to point out that although Kevin Willmann has moved on to great new things at Farmhaus, Edwardsville’s Erato on Main is still chugging along.  With the same great wine and beer list they’ve always had (and really that was part of the reason many of you drove to E-Ville anyway), the restaurant is still worth the trek.  Doubly so because you’ll get to sample  Jonathan Olson’s evolving menus as he finds his personal cooking style. Triply so because if you’re on the fence about the visit, today only you can turn $10 into $22 with the new Hot Sauce Deals of the Day website.

As an added bonus, 10% of all Hot Sauce proceeds will be donated to help fund important programs and services at Children’s Hospital.

For a taste of what’s in store, check out the new Erato on Main website.  Menus are updated each Friday so you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’re in store for.

Full disclosure: As always, please keep in mind that while I believe my opinion to be correct, there are some establishments where my opinion is personally biased. This is one. Jonny “Style” Olson and other members of the Erato staff have become friends of mine because of my regularity in the restaurant.  Heck, Jon even guest-blogged once.

Tags: Edwardsville, Erato on Main, Jonathan Olson

A Farmhaus Dinner Menu

Apr 2, 2010 St. Louis, missouri, restaurants

If you’re thinking of going out for dinner this weekend, and you’re jonesing for a little taste of Spring, and you’re not yet sure where it is you should go, may I suggest you head to Farmhaus to order the beautiful bowl-of-Spring they’re calling: Pappardelle w/ local baby bok choy, Missouri pecans, black garlic, sous vide pearl onions, local sorrel and herbs.

Where most of the time you see black garlic as big, whole clove chunks, in this dish the black garlic is mixed in meaning that if you’re like me, and you forgot exactly what you ordered, it might leave you wondering, “what the heck is that unusual but delicious flavor?”  That’s black garlic my friend, and you need to go eat it before it’s gone.

Tags: Farmhaus, Pappardelle, St. Louis

#stl Twits

Feb 11, 2010 St. Louis, foodster, general food, groceries, missouri, restaurants

For weeks I’ve scoured many of your Twitter feeds.  Sometimes I found the St. Louis restaurants, chefs, and other food-related accounts I hoped to. But then I also found things that would make for a bizarre demographic study of St. Louis foodsters.  Like, apparently, a lot of you are LeVar Burton fans.  At first I wondered, are you Reading Rainbow fans or Trekkies? And then I looked at LeVar Burton’s Twitter feed and along with learning that he felt The Who’s halftime show sucked and if you call him during Lost he will hurt your feelings, he has 1,607,229 followers.

But why the research?  Because Twitter blessed us with lists so that we can create organized feeds of people we don’t actually want to follow personally.  And that gave me the opportunity to waste my time assembling four lists that encompass every restaurant, chef, grocer and coffee shop located in St. Louis currently on Twitter. Word Up!

Click the links above and if I missed any, let me know @stlbites.

Tags: levar burton, Twitter

From the Vault: Flaco’s Tacos

Feb 9, 2010 St. Louis, menus, missouri, restaurants

Although I’ve slacked a bit in recent years, for the meals outside of St. Louis, I have the vast majority of every restaurant menu I’ve ever eaten from over about the last 12 years.  Or at least that’s what I thought.  As it turns out, that must be a recent thing because I apparently used to keep them from St. Louis too.  Tonight’s find amongst a stack of assorted menus from the mid to late nineties, filed next to a two-year run of clipped Post Dispatch Patricia Corrigan reviews in which you can read again and again that quantity apparently trumps quality, I spotted the Holy Grail of shuttered St. Louis restaurant menus: Flaco’s Taco

Three shots at glory are yours, after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Flaco's Tacos

From the Vault: Arthur Clay’s

Feb 9, 2010 St. Louis, missouri, restaurants

A mailer from 2003/2004 (or so) for a free martini in March at the always missed Arthur Clay’s Bistro in Maplewood, MO.

Tags: Arthur-Clays

Buckle Up For Caffeine Insanity*

Jan 31, 2010 St. Louis, coffee, missouri, restaurants

Pi’s 2-group Linea w/ PID rebuilt by Barry Jarrett–formerly of Riley’s.

Due to the unfortunate closing of the Central West End location of Companion Bake House, today was to mark the opening of Chris Sommers’ new Pi Coffee Bar–located under the loft of Pi’s new Central West End location.  Teaming up with Matt Herren and Debbie Sultan of Edwardsville’s Goshen Coffee and 222 Artisan Bakery, the plan was to begin carrying a full line of Goshen’s coffee and teas as well as Sultan’s award winning pastries.

Of course, to run a great coffee bar, you need a great manager and barista, and when the topic of who to run the bar came up last Thursday, Herren told Sommers there was only one choice: Alex Brooks.  In a whirlwind of a day, the call went out, and an offer was made, mulled over, and accepted by Brooks.

For St. Louis coffee fans, this is great news.  A more passionate coffee professional you will rarely find.  It does, however, mean that the opening has been delayed as Sommers feels it wouldn’t be right to open without Brooks at the helm.  Sommers is, after all,  hoping to raise the level of what coffee can be in the Central West End saying about the Brooks acquisition, “I can’t afford him, but I can’t afford not too.”

Speaking with Brooks last week, he is currently putting the finishing touches on his employment in Portland and is excited for the opportunity to be back amongst his friends putting his mark on St. Louis coffee.

At this time, the plans are to now open Monday, February 8, with the hours being Monday-Saturday 6-11AM.  Be sure to stop in to welcome Alex home.

Full Disclosure: Alex Brooks, Matt Herren, Chris Sommers, and Debbie Sultan are all friends of mine.

* The title is lifted from a text message Sommers sent to me.

Tags: 222 Artisan Bakery, Alex Brooks, Chris Sommers, coffee, Debbie Sultan, Goshen Coffee, Matt Herren, Pi

Just How is That Burger at O’Connell’s Pub?

Jan 27, 2010 St. Louis, missouri, restaurants

It’s been years since I’ve had a burger at O’Connell’s Pub, so I can’t personally weigh in with an opinion, but The Burger Busters review of O’Connell’s is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while.

A highlight quote from another review:

“Overview: If you eat this burger, the terrorists win. “

Tags: O'Connell's Pub, The Burger Busters

WHERE IS THE REAL BEST BURGER IN STL???????????

Jan 26, 2010 St. Louis, foodster, general food, missouri, restaurants

On any food-related message board, in any given city, at any given time, the debate of “who has the best hamburger?” always arises.  That’s because American’s love hamburgers—to the tune of 14 billion burgers consumed per year!

Many of you have been debating this very question over the last few years, but the debate took on a new fervor last year when Mayer Slay’s staff posed the question on mayorslay.com at approximately the same time Alex Csank brought it up once again on the stlbites.com forum.  Still, there was no unanimous winner.  The question remained unanswered.  To truly answer the question it was clear some capable man or woman would have to step up and consume all these burgers because you can’t say the Newstead burger is better than the O’Connell’s burger if you’ve never had the O’Connell’s burger.

And that’s where Andrew Mark Veety comes in. He has risen to the challenge and, in twelve months time, you will have your answer.  Sort of.

Taking votes to establish St. Louisian’s top picks via twitter and his website, Veety has tabulated the data and narrowed things down to the top 12 contenders.  In reverse order, one Sunday a month, he’ll be consuming each of the burgers to lay the question to rest in what has been dubbed, The Church of Burgers.  

First up: Contender #1.

Full Disclosure: I’d never met Veety in person until he invited along a small entourage of St. Louis Foodsters to partake in the consumption of contender #1.  Via the power of the internet he always seemed like a cool guy and I jumped at the chance to put down my  keyboard and cell phone and have some bonified social interaction.  I’m happy to report he is, in fact, a cool guy and as hilarious as I figured he’d be based upon his online persona.  Plus, I obviously like hamBURGErs.

Tags: Andrew Mark Veety, hamburger, hamburgers, J. Pollack Photography, St. Louis

Doing Good at The Good Pie

Jan 19, 2010 St. Louis, chefs, missouri, restaurants

If I’d compiled a list of what I felt were the best things to happen to St. Louis food in the aughts, somewhere near the top of that list, you’d have found pizza.  From Pi, to La Pizza, to Ohio-native Dewey’s, the stylistic selection of pizzas in St. Louis has become somewhat staggering.  But as much as I love the pizza from many of the newcomers, it’s my love for what goes down at The Good Pie that’s without parallel.  The taste of their chewy crust, slightly burnt, and with just the right touch of salt, is one of the few things I’m confident I could consume nightly.  And that’s not to say I dislike other pizzas–far from it–it’s just that to me, pizza is a lot like barbecue: everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect pie, and my perfect pie is found at The Good Pie.

I mention it, belatedly, because while today many restaurants in St. Louis are generously raising money for the people of Haiti—and in turn sending every blogger in town an email hoping we’d mention it–I was shocked to find that Good Pie owner, Mike Randolph, isn’t just donating a percentage of the restaurant’s profits from this evening to Mercy Corps, but literally 100% of the profit.  That’s a huge thing for such a small business to do, and while it might not ultimately equal the same amount of money as a larger business, I wanted to single them out and publicly commend it.  For a business I was worried about finding its niche not all that long ago, to be able to do this means, I hope, that things are looking good and a steady stream of great pies will continue to fill my belly for years to come.

For other restaurants donating money to a host of worthy charities in support of Haiti tonight (1/19/2010), head over to Gut Check as Ian has done a far better job keeping up with them than anyone else I’ve seen.

Full Disclosure: I eat in The Good Pie often and am terribly biased because the thought of never again being able to consume the broccoli raab and Salume Beddu topped pizza is shear horror.

Tags: Haiti Earthquake, Mercy Corps, Mike Randolph, The Good Pie