Ann Lemons Pollack
-
Underneath the Lintel
There will come a time, I fear, when a librarian will not be a familiar character in the lives of much of an audience. But for now, "Underneath the Lintel", a one-woman show about a librarian, will ring familiar for most of us. At least at first, that is. Opening this week at The New
-
Nami Ramen
If last year was the Year of the Chicken in St. Louis, 2016 may well prove to be the Year of the Ramen. Two restaurants featuring the noodles have opened in town, and I suspect more noodleology to come. Now, I claim no long, nostalgic history with the cheapo ramen noodle packets. They arrived on
-
Gus’s Fried Chicken
Sometimes the internet chatter can be right. It's not that there was unanaimous agreement on Gus's Fried Chicken. But it has a rabid following and the opening of it in Maplewood was the subject of heated discussion in the local food world. 2015, after all, was the Year of the Fried Chicken in these parts,
-
Newsies
It's hard for me to be totally unbiased about "Newsies". The Disney musical tells the tale, with lots of literary license, of a union being organized at Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper in 1899. It's a story of the little guys, in this case, newspaper street vendors, against the establishment and trying to give
-
RIP Herb Weitman
Another of the Great Eaters has left us. Herb Weitman passed away earlier this week. Herb was known to long-time readers of Pollack food writing (from long before I joined the team) as the Old China Hand. He and Joe met when they both worked for the St. Louis football Cardinals, Joe as their PR
-
Above all, trust no one. It shouldn't take you long to figure that out after the beginning of "The Lion In Winter", James Goldman's play on which the film of the same name is based. Henry II and his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, are together at a castle in France to celebrate Christmas. Estranged
-
Memory Lane: Zinnia
Ah, me, those duck tacos. And the painting – maybe by Theresa Disney? – of the corgis. The back porch was fun, too. I'm talking about Zinnia, the lavender palace that began lots of evenings at the opera and the theater for our family and lots of other folks, too. It's this month short wander
-
December Eating
Back from a road trip to Switzerland, France and Norway for a little business and a lot of visiting friends and family, including the fifth generation of Pollacks with whom I've shared a table. The photo is taken at a little street market in Switzerland, where these partly-split logs are apparently a combination hand-warmer and
-
Petit Paree
When you live forty miles from a metropolitan center, fairly serious dining out can be a challenge. In Jefferson County, just to our south, Petit Paree Restaurant & Lounge has been taking up the challenge since 1960. Back then, the Twin Cities of Festus and Crystal City, the latter the home of a high school