Ann Lemons Pollack

  • Brunch: Katie’s Pizza and Pasta

     We're about to begin what I always think of as the brunch season. The weather is warmer and there's a string of weekend-ish things that happen this time of year, not just the vernal holidays, Mother's Day and Father's Day, but weddings and graduations, too. We kicked the first warm Sunday in months off with

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  • Cod Squad 2015, Part 3

     This week's Lenten Fish Fry (LFF) was at St. Gabriel the Archangel on Francis Park in St. Louis Hills. Now that it's still light when approaching an LFF, if one is not too deeply engrossed in the search for a parking spot, it's a chance to looking at architecture. This is a new part of

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  • Ambrosia

    On a quiet stretch of Gravois is the last place I expected to find a Greek restaurant. But there it is, moussaka, salad and all. I wrote about Ambrosia for St. Louis Mag's Dining blog this week.

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  • Cod Squad 2015: Part 2

     Putting together the Lenten fish fries, whether it's in a church or a civic organization, must be a, uh, whale of a lot of work. I speak as someone who didn't grow up in the world of LFFs, as they will henceforth be called, and it amazes me that they manage to feed so many

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  • Flashback: The St. Louis Room at Famous-Barr

    Ah, the tea room at your favorite department store. Lunch with an adult, explaining the niceties of dining out. How to dip a soup spoon. Avoiding making noises with one's soda straw. Discovering that ice cream was almost as tasty without a cone. (Visions of peppermint stick ice cream flash through my head. Did I

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  • Cod Squad 2015

     It's Lent. And that anticipated ice storm drove me from a planned leisurely dinner with friends in the far reaches of the County to a fast run for a fish fry before the precipitation began. Unfortunate, but as my pal put it, there are always more eating adventures in the future. In the meantime, I

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  • Flushing, Queens: A Chinese Chowzter Adventure

     In New York last week, lots of walking, a fair amount of slush, and, as always, chasing down good food (once I replaced snow boots that peeled like a third-degree sunburn). Several good things to report, but the most remarkable came from a trek to the end of the 7 train, the (subway/elevated) line that

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  • The Winslow Boy

    Principles. A man has to have principles. He has to stand up for what is right. He has to be, if you will forgive a dip into the Dr. Phil playbook, a moral leader in his family. Terrence Rattigan's "The Winslow Boy", first produced in 1946, takes place in 1912-14, and at first we feel

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  • Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

     One of the pleasures of theater-going is letting go of past experiences, whether it's with a particular script or an idea or one's own history – and that list could continue for probably an entire page. People familiar with "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" are probably more apt to recall the Mike Nichols ground-breaking film

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  • God of Carnage

     It's easy to get the idea initially that "God of Carnage" isn't a comedy. One couple visits another in their home. They're there to settle a dispute over a fight between their sons that's occurred on a nearby playground. Not surprisingly, there is a veneer of politeness on all concerned – these are, after all,

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