Aimee Levitt

Pevely Dairy Site: What Will Happen to Historic Sign Sitting On Top of SLU Building? (PHOTOS)

One of the biggest St. Louis stories this week is news that Father Lawrence Biondi, president of Saint Louis University, will be stepping down after months of faculty and student protest. One controversial component of Biondi's leadership is his record on land acquisition and development -- with som ... More >>

Pevely Dairy Site: After Long Fight, Why Doesn't Saint Louis University Have a Plan? (PHOTOS)

What's going on with the Pevely Dairy complex? Not a whole lot, it seems, much to the frustration of preservationists and other groups that fought to stop Saint Louis University from demolishing the landmark complex on South Grand Boulevard. Several university spokespeople did not respond to Daily ... More >>

Daily RFT Wants YOU To Help Us Nominate the Official Missouri State Dog!

It has recently come to Daily RFT's attention that while Missouri has, among many other symbols, a state bird (bluebird), state game bird (bobwhite quail), state invertebrate (crayfish), state animal (the Missouri mule), state American folk dance (the square dance) and will soon, pending approval by ... More >>

MetroNixed: Metromix ends its local coverage

Bob Cassilly And City Museum's Impact On St. Louis Music

Jennifer Silverberg​Bob Cassilly, the artist whose seemingly impossible visions included the City Museum, died yesterday while working on his most ambitious creation: Cementland. For a look at his life, his work and his famously enormous personality, read Aimee Levitt's obituary on Daily RFT. ... More >>

At Last, a Tracking Device That Will Find Your Loved One in 30 Minutes Or Less

Aimee LevittPresenting the EmSeeQ, the device that can find your cognitively-impaired loved one in 30 minutes or less.​It costs between $5,000 and $50,000 for a sheriff's department to locate a missing person, depending on whether the search takes hours or days. That includes overtime pay for ... More >>

Vincent Price's Bran Fudge Squares

Kholood Eid​In honor of Vincentennial, the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the actor Vincent Price, Gut Check decided to honor Price by cooking something. Price, you see, was a noted gourmand. In 1965, he and his second wife Mary collaborated on a cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recip ... More >>

Exclusive: Stream Unheard Ray Charles Performances

In Aimee Levitt's profile on Marci Soto, who wrote a memoir about her relationship with Ray Charles titled Ray & Me, she noted that Soto taped a lot of her correspondence and casual times with the music legend. The author was kind enough to share some of these tapes with A to Z. Below, please ta ... More >>

Max Starkloff: A Remembrance

Jennifer SilverbergMax Starkloff and his beloved wife and business partner, Colleen​As I began researching my recent feature story about the twentieth anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, I heard the same thing from person after person: "You have to be sure to interview Max and Coll ... More >>

In Memoir, Antonia Fraser Implies St. Louisans Are Baseball-Loving Philistines

Antonia Fraser and Harold Pinter: They were in love, God bless 'em.​Unless you're living under a rock, you've undoubtedly heard about Lady Antonia Fraser's new memoir -- the one about her life with playwright Harold Pinter. These two commenced an affair back in 1975 London, when she was a well-kno ... More >>

Hanukkah Music to Cook By

image via​Can we just agree that Hanukkah food kicks all sorts of ass over Hanukkah music? Yes, yes, yes, there's "The Hanukkah Song." Let me tell you about "The Hanukkah Song." It's the Hanukkah version of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer": amusing the first time you hear it, exponentiall ... More >>

Hanukkah Tunes: The Remix, Courtesy of Anander Mol, Anander Veig

image via​Can we just agree that Hanukkah food kicks all sorts of ass over Hanukkah music? Yes, yes, yes, there's "The Hanukkah Song". Let me tell you about "The Hanukkah Song." It's the Hanukkah version of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer": amusing the first time you hear it, exponentially ... More >>

Jonathan Franzen Deserves the Freedom Hype

Every writer hates a winner. And so with Jonathan Franzen's new novel earning raves from just about everybody who matters in American letters, we've been subjected to the predictable envious backlash about how Franzen is overrated (and annoying), how middle-aged white guys get preferential treatment ... More >>

Write On: Readers point out other authors we should have included on our literary tour of the city

Freddie Holland of Match Foods, Inc.

This is part one of Robin Wheeler's Chef's Choice profile of Freddie Holland of Match Foods, Inc., maker of Match Meats. Part two, a Q&A with Holland, will be posted tomorrow, and part three, a recipe, follows on Friday. Robin Wheeler​"I was raised on a farm. We raised our cows with bottles, ... More >>

The End of Cooking for My Cat

Aimee Levitt​About two years ago, my cat Bess and I embarked on a culinary adventure. One boring afternoon as we sat together on the couch reading Jeffrey Steingarten's essay "The Man Who Cooked for His Dog," Bess shot me a pointed look from her big green eyes, and the message she had been try ... More >>

City Officials Blame Rev. Larry Rice for "Hopeville" Homeless Camp, Detail Eviction Procedures

Just received an e-mail from Mayor Slay spokeswoman Kara Bowlin detailing the city's plan to evict dozens of homeless people from a makeshift encampment under Tucker Boulevard to make way for a $34 million construction project.Aimee Levitt posted about the Hopeville conflict yesterday on Daily RFT, ... More >>

Sporting News: Mixed martial arts proves the end is near, and Pujols isn't going anywhere

Well Red: Readers debate the effectiveness of traffic-light cameras and the fate of taggers

Readers defend their right to defer health care, enjoy "bad" Christmas music, and shoot home invaders graveyard dead

Wash. U. turns its grease into gas, the Cards make a deal, and Lambert dumbs down its signage

RFT readers rush to Sarah Palin's defense, and they're not ready to kiss off Jerry Berger, either

Readers rave about Leonard Cohen's magical concert and rant about Andrew Schlafly's re-edit of the Bible

Over the Weekend: Leonard Cohen at the Fox Theatre and Son Volt at the Pageant

A great weekend to be outside and that's what how many of us spent it -- but on Friday and Saturday night there were two great shows to check out, if you could get a ticket. Here's a recap of our weekend coverage:Son Volt at the PageantSun Volt played the Pageant on Friday night. Read the concert re ... More >>

Readers express concern over Rush's bid for the Rams, loony democrats and gun-toting drunks

RFT talks with the St. Louis nurse who kept Saddam healthy until it was time for him to hang

St. Louisans feed on the city's inferiority complex, ex-pats feed on Gardenburgers

The Best of Gut Check: Cooking for Your Cat

Since July, 2008, RFT staff writer Aimee Levitt and her cat, Bess, have been embarked on a culinary adventure.While Gut Check is on vacation this week, check out some of Aimee's (and Bess') best work:Sardine Heaven (July 28, 2008):My cat Bess is a magnificent animal. Others may not agree, but they ... More >>

An ode to Michael Jackson; plus, NeighborhoodScout tells us who's bad

Readers mull Monsanto and Mexico

Cooking For Your Cat: Cat Birthday Cake

RFT staff writer Aimee Levitt and her cat, Bess, continue their culinary adventure.Today is Bess' birthday. She is ten. That's a pretty long time to have been around. The day I turned ten (which was longer ago than I care to reveal here), I received a red ten-speed bike from my grandma, got mugged f ... More >>

Write or wrong: Readers debate the firing of reporter Todd Smith, who was shot at Kirkwood City Hall

RFT readers are worked up over Sylvester Brown's ouster as Post-Dispatch columnist and the Final Exit Network

Cooking For Your Cat: Country Captain

RFT staff writer Aimee Levitt and her cat, Bess, continue their culinary adventure.Like many people who are obsessed with both food and news, I am a regular reader of the New York Times' Dining & Wine section. At first I was just a passive consumer of food lore, but gradually over the past year, ... More >>

Dumb and Dumbo: Readers spout off about watered-down curriculum and the plight of the pachyderm

FoodWire: La Dolce Via Closed for Winter (But That's Good News)

La Dolce Via (4470 Arco Avenue), the Forest Park Southeast cafe that has the best baked goods, Sunday brunch and scones in the city, and also serves weekend dinners that remain the best-kept secret in the St. Louis dining scene, has closed up shop for the months of January and February. But this is ... More >>

Fangs are bared among RFT readers over Laurell K. Hamilton's vampire novels

RFT readers love Laurell K. Hamilton's vampire stories, Albert Pujols, and foodie trivia

Eat Like Obama!

www.amazon.com The election of Barack Obama has apparently turned us into a nation of twelve-year-old girls, with Newsweek, the New York Times and 60 Minutes our Tiger Beat, YM and TRL (RIP). Here at Gut Check, we follow the reports on the new cabinet with interest -- OMG, is he really g ... More >>

Film's Rolling: The St. Louis International Film Festival celebrates its seventeenth year

You'll Find No Sympathy for the Northsiders Here

RFT reader wishes the Cubs 100 more years of failure

Cooking for Your Cat: Trident Alaskan Salmon Burger

Showcase Short Cuts

Readers stand tall for Sheryl Grossman, a woman who has a rare genetic disorder

Radio coup: An RFT reader envisions ways to oust Patty Wente from KWMU

True Story: Columbia's True/False Film Fest hits the half-decade mark

Seriously, Folks, Brunch Ain't Gonna Eat Itself

Bookplates: Starbucked

Leave Greenberg's Art Alone

Hey America: Stop it with your eminent domain and wimpiness, already!