Ann Lemons Pollack
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Brunch: Local Harvest and Brio Tuscan Grille
One weekend. Two brunches, direct opposites in so many ways. And yet both totally satisfying. Local Harvest Café is on Morganford Road, the thriving main street of the thriving Tower Grove South neighborhood. (The café’s website says at least half its ingredients come from within 150 miles of St. Louis, thus the name.) The feel
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Kirby’s Sandwich Shop, Sikeston, MO
Urban areas aren’t the only places that carry the burden of franchise food. It’s taken a toll on small towns, too. Oh, yes, a couple of generations ago, most folks were quite pleased when a McDonald’s finally came within the county line, proving that they, too, were part of the "modern world." But even more
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Harvest
Harvest has morphed from a Hot New Thing into a consistently reliable favorite with St. Louis diners and with lots of visitors, too. We never stop by for a meal or a late-night dessert that we don’t see at least one table of local business folks, others holding out-of-towners and always celebrants, often Washington U.
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Mammer Jammer
WHACK. WHACK. Whackwhackwhackwhack, whackwhackwhackwhack. The rhythmic chopping is metal on metal, a complicated beat sounding like it’s pounded on a drum kit’s cow bell. We were at Mammer Jammer, once a regular stop for night-owls at the triangular intersection where Olive Street and Lindell Boulevard split, now a denizen of a small strip mall on
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This Week’s Wine February 15, 2009
What’s a pair of innocent wine-and-food writers to do? We recently journeyed to Wines of Wildwood, a shop we like even if it is in an area only a couple of miles from where we once thought dragons stuck their heads up over the edge of the earth and scouted for dinner. We were there
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Saleem’s
Salim Hanna has been satisfying St. Louisans with Lebanese cuisine for 35 years, beginning on South Grand boulevard and leading the neighborhood into its position as the core of St. Louis’ ethnic diversity in terms of dining. He changed the name of his eponymous restaurant from Salim’s to Saleem’s to make it easier for St.
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Hunt’s Seafood, Panama City
There’s something very satisfying about finding a truly local restaurant in a highly-touristed area. A recent visit to Panama City, Fla., turned up an absolute find, the sort of place we’d head for if we had only one night in town. Hunt’s Oyster Bar is deeply casual; t-shirts and cutoffs are the norm. It’s a
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Niche
No restaurant in town has received as much press in the last year and a half as Niche. Named by Food & Wine magazine as one of 2008’s Best New Chefs, Gerard Craft and his crew have lightened up the Benton Park neighborhood with their urbane little bistro. Cozy but not crowded (which is the
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On Oysters
The Chinese calendar may proclaim what’s just ahead as the Year of the Ox, but for me, it’s beginning to be the Year of the Oyster. I’ve been a fan of succulent bivalves – both oysters and clams — since I was a small boy, barely able to reach the raw bar counter at Lundy’s
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Starnes Barbecue, Paducah
No ribs. No chicken. And immaculate. This is a barbecue spot? You bet, honey. In a cinder block building painted what once was called wintergreen, we found lunch in Paducah, KY. A couple of booths, a big U-shaped counter and plenty of regulars mark the interior of Starnes. On the wall, a spaghetti-board menu