Comments (0) Best Power Lunch - 2006
The Cedars at St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral
One high-ranking city official who asked not to be named in print describes the Cedars at St. Raymond's during its weekly lunch (which it has been offering for 39 years) like this: "It's definitely the place to be seen on Wednesdays if you're in political circles. I don't go over there much anymore, because when I do everyone wants to do business, and I just want to eat lunch." The scene is cinematic: politicos proffering opinions over meat and spinach pies, committeemen stuffing dolmas into their pie holes. One insider recalls a 2003 meeting at St. Ray's between St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and then-wannabe Congressman Jeff Smith in which the former praised the latter, and even gave him a symbolic kiss on the cheek. The rest is history. What's best? The most expensive thing on the menu is $3.75—perfect for a civil servant's salary.
