Ann Lemons Pollack

  • News: Union Square Cafe

     Just in from New York: Danny Meyer's first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, which was unable to reach agreement on extending its lease into 2016, and had said it would close at the end of December, has found a new home. Only  two blocks north of Union Square, they'll be at East 19th Street and Park

    read more

  • Old Standard

     For all the hullabaloo over Old Standard when it first opened, it's shockingly quiet at a weekday lunch. The long, handsome and deceptively rustic room has a welcoming golden glow to it. The bar near the door features bourbon, a fine thing for those of us who are fans of it. Old Standard, if you're

    read more

  • Eats Along The River

    Okay, so it's hot. Maybe some river breezes? Maybe a road trip with plenty of air-conditioned options? It's July – you really don't want to stay inside.  So here's some places to eat along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. It's a survey piece of an area I used to drive multiple, multiple times a year.

    read more

  • LaBute New Theater Festival, part 1

     The first half of St. Louis Actors' Studio's LaBute New Theater Festival is afoot – or, more accurately, astage. Six short plays, the opener being LaBute's "Kahdahar", all interesting in various ways. "Kandahar" is a monologue about a man who seems to be being interrogated. He's clearly Done Something, and when we first hear the

    read more

  • Paris: Musee des Arts Decoratif

    Here's the last bit from the trip to Paris last autumn. The Musee des Arts Decoratifs isn't for everyone, and it probably isn't a must-do on your first visit to Paris. It's a branch of the Louvre with fascinating functional art – furniture, jewelry, toys. I wrote about it for the Ladue News and you can

    read more

  • New York: Untitled

    What's more important? New York's  Whitney Museum Of American Art has moved to a new Renzo Piano building in the Meatpacking District or Danny Meyer has completely rebooted his restaurant, called Untitled, at the Whitney?  Discriminating eaters know it's the latter, of course. I visited both of them last month, and I wrote about the restaurant

    read more

  • St. Nicholas/The Good Thief

     Joe Hanrahan is at it again. The St. Louis actor who revels in one-man plays is offering what is almost a double header at Herbie's Vintage 72. Yes, that's the restaurant. He's using the lower level as the venue for two plays he's done in the past, both by Irish author Conor McPherson. The plays

    read more

  • The Killing Of Sister George

      "The Killing Of Sister George" is one of those truly wicked comedies, funny and yet deeply uncomfortable to watch. Max & Louie Productions has it on the boards at the Wool Theatre of the Jewish Community Center in Creve Coeur. It's the tale of an actress in a BBC soap opera. Sister George –

    read more

  • First Look: Southern

     In this, the Year Of Fried Chicken, attention must be paid to such things. Consequently, a fast lunchtime run to Southern, the new hot chicken spot next door to Pappy's, seemed a must. This is a first look, and not a comprehensive one. We didn't try the sandwiches, or the desserts, which are brought in

    read more

  • Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn

     Sometimes gimmicks are overrated. Sometimes all you need are solid music, a semi-lucid story and the people to carry it off. That's what the Muny is giving us this week in "Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn". It's a new musical – this is only its second staging, the first being at the lovely little Goodspeed Opera

    read more