Just ate a late lunch at the <A HREF="http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=2217">Pasta House Pronto</A> in the Old Post Office. As said, great space and the interior decor is good. Huge movie posters in Italian are interesting.



I got just a tinge of the feel I get when at Giordano's (SIC, sorry) in Chicago. If Pronto takes off, it would be nice to see it expand.



During lunch, it dawned on me that St. Louis restauranteurs may not be capitalizing on the city's heritage as a theme to develop for today's market. Where do you go to dine in Ole St. Louis? Is there any place other than World Fair Donuts (the name only) that has developed a theme? Papa Fabare's could be a first.



We're #1 sports city but what few sports bar there are use contemporary themes; and there really aren't any sports restaurants, are there? (NO Ozzie's). How about a place that takes you back to pre-1960 sports? Sounds like fun to me.



Consumers are begging for historically authentic entertainment and ambience. St. Louis has it but doesn't develop the themes.



Jazz and Blues? Jazz at the Bistro isn't fun authentic but rather a dull, stuffy place. There's a corner commerical space at the Joplin House ripe for the picking!



Any themes related to the Mississippi?



How about aviation? NO-94th Aeron Squadron.

Jazz and Blues? Jazz at the Bistro isn't fun authentic but rather a dull, stuffy place. There's a corner commerical space at the Joplin House ripe for the picking!

B.B.'s Jazz Blues and Soups, Broadway St. Oyster Bar, and Beale on Broadway are three great places just south of Busch stadium on broadway that collect this atmosphere. I actually love the idea that they are practically condensed into what is practically a "blues district." I really think the city or somebody needs to advertise this area more.

I love Jazz at the Bistro and BB's, depending on what kind of mood I'm in. I think they've got a lot of personality.



And there's nothing wrong with the Pasta House - their canneloni is the best! That said, if I'm in the mood for some REAL Italian - I hit the hill.



That's what makes St. Louis such an amazing city -- italian food on the Hill, Mexican food on Cherokee, Asian food on South Grand, shopping for veggies at Soulard Farmer's Market on a Saturday morning.

shadrach wrote:
Appertizers:

Toasted Ravs

Crab Rangoon

What is the StL connection here?

shadrach wrote:STL style Ribs

I have seen this on menus while travelling around the country, and the people I'm with always ask me what St. Louis Style Ribs are, and I have to tell them I don't know. I didn't know we did them any different than anyone else.

How about the Brain Sandwich?



From the lowlife guide:

Another more obscure and less popular St. Louis delicacy is the Brain Sandwich, made famous by many south city pubs in the '50s and '60s when St. Louis was a mecca for beef slaughterhouses. Back in the day, any hankering for the white grey matter usually brought you to the "very nice, very good, and very friendly" doors of Dieckmeyer's. Now closed, this restaurant/pub was reputed to have the best brains in town (on your plate, not necessarily behind the bar). Nowadays you basically have two taverns to choose from to get yer brains: The Back Door and Ferguson's Pub

actually - St. Louis style ribs means that the ribs are cut St. Louis style. It has nothing to do with the way that it's cooked.



And let's not forget pork steaks - those can be hard to find outside the St. Louis metro area!

shadrach wrote:

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

shadrach wrote:
Appertizers:

Toasted Ravs

Crab Rangoon

What is the StL connection here?

you would ask that! I've heard that STL has an obsessive fascination with Crab Rangoon versys other cities?something to do with the old Trader Vics. I don't know honestly.

I don't know either. In my 46 years of living here, I've never heard this.

shadrach wrote:
STL-style ribs are chewier and drier, you have to gnaw, bite with your teetha and rib the metat off. Bandana's is STL-style. (who needs a DT location)

I did not know that!

buckethead wrote:How about the Brain Sandwich?



From the lowlife guide:

Another more obscure and less popular St. Louis delicacy is the Brain Sandwich, made famous by many south city pubs in the '50s and '60s when St. Louis was a mecca for beef slaughterhouses. Back in the day, any hankering for the white grey matter usually brought you to the "very nice, very good, and very friendly" doors of Dieckmeyer's. Now closed, this restaurant/pub was reputed to have the best brains in town (on your plate, not necessarily behind the bar). Nowadays you basically have two taverns to choose from to get yer brains: The Back Door and Ferguson's Pub

Is that article current? I was under the impression that they were a thing of the past, given the mad cow scare of the past few years.

what a great link! I didn't know that slingers were a St. Louis thing... that's not somethign to be proud of. Yuck!

I never heard of STL ribs until I left St. Louis. I had to ask people what they were. That was many years ago, so maybe something has changed. In fact, I never thought of St. Louis as a BBQ city. To me, BBQ was something you did in the back yard, not a cuisine, until I lived in KC. But, maybe I missed something.

aimster wrote:what a great link! I didn't know that slingers were a St. Louis thing... that's not somethign to be proud of. Yuck!

I might question whether or not that's a St. Louis original - you can get some variation of a slinger at just about any greasy spoon in the country!

DeBaliviere wrote:I might question whether or not that's a St. Louis original - you can get some variation of a slinger at just about any greasy spoon in the country!

I'd NEVER seen breakfast smothered in chili until I came to Saint Louis. Might be regional, but not national.

Expat wrote:I never heard of STL ribs until I left St. Louis. I had to ask people what they were.

Same here!

not encountering St. Louis-style ribs until you leave St. Louis must also be a St. Louis thing. The first time I heard of them was when I saw them on a menu in San Diego. With due respect to shadrach, it sounds like a marketing term to me.

Gooey Butter Cake. *drool*



And anyone that knocks a slinger has never been drunk at some ungodly hour in the (nighttime) morning, and seen the bright lites of Eat-Rite.

For us, back in college it was Irv's on Vandeventer, which is now a parking lot for the Missouri Botanical Garden.



I loved that place - you walk up, they unlock the doors and let you in, you sit down, they lock the doors behind you.

shadrach wrote:

stl555 wrote:With due respect to shadrach, it sounds like a marketing term to me.

That's fine with me. Anytime St Louis can be nationally promoted is good.



What the hey, I'd like to see Great Clips nationwide offer 'St. Louis-style Haircuts' even if it is just another name for a 'bob'

Or a mullett!

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

shadrach wrote:What the hey, I'd like to see Great Clips nationwide offer 'St. Louis-style Haircuts' even if it is just another name for a 'bob'

Or a mullett!

Funny ... but the mullet is not a St. Louis-specific hairstyle.

^ that's fricken hilarious, can't believe there's a Wikipedia article on that.