Ann Lemons Pollack
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FIVE Bistro
Five, born in the Grove, is growing up on the Hill. But its focus remains, reflecting the Italian heritage of the neighborhood and its owners, the Devoti family. Son Anthony dances lead in the kitchen, as he has for its lifetime. Five is roomier than it was, and seems quieter, even on a busy evening
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This Week’s Wine, August 25, 2009
The Wines of Texas Are Upon Us In my sports writing days, I traveled to Texas a lot, covering college and professional football, which is the state religion of Texas. Basically, Texas was legally dry in those days, but people who could get into the Dallas Press Club could get a drink. So could members
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Last Train To Nibroc
The small towns of Kentucky are not common sites for plays with even a little sophistication, but with an apparent goal of some easy laughs, it’s not difficult for playwright Arlene Hutton to appeal to a different audience, the kind that laughs at bad grammar, ignorance, religiously uptight attitudes, people who might be termed hoosiers,
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Anna Blair: Inside Story
Fran Landesman would be pleased and proud today. Anna Blair, who first met and sang with her last October, formed a cabaret evening of selections from Landesman’s great songs and poems and performed it with style and grace last night at Jazz at the Bistro. She repeats tonight at 8. Blair, a veteran local actress
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Something’s Afoot
The first song I heard about a dinghy was "He’s Got the Cutest Little Dinghy in the Navy," and is was sung by Ruth Wallis, who made a specialty of lyrics with sex-laden double entendres during and after World War II, though she continued singing the same songs long enough to show up in St.
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Streetballers
Talk about a busy man! That’s Matt Krentz, who wrote, produced, directed and stars in "Streetballers," a feature film debut that opens here today, showing considerable style and talent, shot on locations ranging from our streets, parks and playgrounds to St. Louis Community College at Forest Park to Dogtown in time for the St. Patrick’s
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Seraphine
An artist without training, driven by an a fierce religious zeal, Seraphine Louis scrounged blood from the local butcher and candle wax from her church to help create the colors and textures of her paintings, and the semi-documentary, "Seraphine," that tells her life story, is a small masterpiece. It opens here today with a track
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Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino is entitled to march to his own drummer when he directs movies, but when he rewrites history in an ineffective attempt to be funny, or just for his own cute concerns, he goes too far for my taste. That’s my problem with "Inglourious Basterds," which opens today, where he stretches the truth like
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Five Guys Burgers and Fries
We’ve heard much talk in some quarters over the local arrival of the Five Guys Burgers and Fries chain, which began in suburban Washington, DC. We’d tried it once in that neighborhood as we visited the family group we’ve dubbed our Washington bureau, and were curious to see if things had changed with the group’s
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Mary Poppins
It will come as no surprise to learn that banker George Banks’ salary is about to be quadrupled -he’s a banker, after all-but it’s a new and different thrill because the taxpayers will not be stuck for the bill – at least not yet.That news, however, is strictly beside the point in "Mary Poppins," the