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Our cheap deal to Saint Louis got us out of La Guardia at 6 am, and landed us in Memphis at 8:30 local time. During a quick pit stop at an airport barbeque place, starved D devoured a delicious country-ctyle sandwich filled with slaw and turkey. On we ran to our 8:59 flight which brought us to the glass doors of Gateway to the West at around 10:15. Aside from me having a vitamin B-induced allergy attack within the first hour of our visit, which brought minute terror over the house, a great time was had by all.

We managed to see Chihuly at the Botanical Garden, eat pasta at Cunetto on the Hill, go to a trendy Chocolate martini bar, visit the town’s world-famous child – Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and eat a Route 66-worthy Ted Drews concrete. We also saw Colin’s soccer team “the Dragons” take on errr some team with a snake name. Obviously Colin’s team won. And of course we got to cook, eat, drink, laugh, and spend lots of quality time with cute as a button Carter.

Last century’s city of working-class immigrants from Western Europe, Saint Louis still prides itself on having some of the country’s best old-world Italian restaurants. Cunetto on the Hill, Saint Louis’s oldest Italian-American neighborhood, doesn’t call itself a “house of pasta” out of sheer grandeur. The palace of pasta, more likely, the place serves simple and delicious Italian pasta favorites. My asparagus linguini in cream sauce was an absolute winner, and the portion lasted for another meal. The minestrone soup was also tasty and, reportedly, so was the restaurant’s attempt at a healthy meal – a dish of baked bass.

Address
5453 Magnolia Ave
St Louis, MO 63139
Map

D’s sister Lisa, one of my favorite Saint Louisians and definitely my most favorite mom, took us to this place in St Loui’s newly restored Lafayette Square. The city’s oldest historic district, with some houses and mansions dating back to the Civil War, Lafayette Square is a tour guide’s delight by day, and by night a hang out spot for herds of enlightened city dwellers. Read more…

As a self-claimed snooty beer lover, I have been snubbing Budweiser for years of living in the US. So the brewery tour to me was an event of pure investigative significance. Who knew that at the end of the tour two beer samples would be offered to us for free! Impatient, we listened the guide’s shrill remarks on the factory’s origins and magnificence.

Taken over from a small Saint Louis operation by a German immigrant Eberhard Anheuser around 1852, the plant roots the rise of Anheuser-Busch – now the world’s third largest beer brewer. Anheuser’s son in law, Adolphus Busch, soon joined the business and the two decided to christen their beer “Budweiser” because it was well-pronounced by Germans and native English speakers alike. Read more…

Pride of Saint Louis, Ted Drews is the self-made god of unique upside-down custards. The concretes, as they are also known, are made so thick that the cup can easily turned upside-down without spilling a precious drop of ice cream. Fascinating indeed, especially since this is always demonstrated by the staff before they hand you the cup. In the winter, Ted Drews sells Christmas trees, making this year-round ice cream/tree business an ongoing Saint Louis tradition. My Tart Cherry concrete beat D’s Dutchman on all accounts!

Address
6726 Chippewa
St. Louis, MO 63109
Map

Three weeks ago Lydia and I took a road trip to the tiny islands off the coast of Maryland and Virginia with the intriguing names of Chincoteague and Assateague. Apparently infamous for their wild pony population, the islands not only played up to our immigration-induced love for untamed animals, but also presented an opportunity to escape the City of the Yellow Devil. Improper Gorky scholars, Lydia and I were far from anti-capitalism when we got into the freshly vacuumed, Budget-leased Ford Taurus. Heading west on Bay Parkway we were prepared for whatever fate had in store for us. One Cinnabon-smelling bathroom and a hundred miles of New Jersey Turnpike later, fate landed us in Baltimore, Maryland, outside of my first-ever place of full-time employment. Read more…