Mike Shannon

St. Louis Restaurant Openings & Closings: March 2013

Relocation was the theme in March, with four St. Louis restaurants announcing their closures to move to new digs. Among them was Adam and Jason Tilford's Clayton excellent Clayton pub and soccer-watching hotspot Barrister's, which is moving to another Clayton location, the former home of Mazara at 7 ... More >>

Six New Flavors Old Vienna Ought to Invent

Earlier this month, when Gut Check got wind of the impending arrival of the three new limited-time-only Lay's potato-chip flavors, our first thought was: Where can we get us some Chicken & Waffle?! See also: - Lay's New Limited-Time Flavors Now Available in St. Louis Grocery Stores - Taste Test: La ... More >>

Need Last Minute New Year's Eve Plans? These 15 St. Louis Restaurants Have You Covered.

At face value December 31 is a day like any other day. Nothing changes at Midnight except for the calendar year, but sentiment and tradition say otherwise. New Year's Eve, the official name of otherwise average December 31, demands recognition, review, revelry and resolutions, and really, that's ask ... More >>

Ten Surprises in the Upcoming Tony La Russa Memoir

In case you haven't heard, good news, everyone! Tony La Russa has written a memoir, called "One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season" that will be released on the 25th of September. It's already getting some serious awards buzz, most nota ... More >>

Restaurants Set for Downtown Restaurant Week 2012

Assuming that St. Louis hasn't melted into a pool of molten steel and Provel before then, the eighth annual Downtown Restaurant Week will run from Monday, August 20, through Sunday, August 26. Surely, you know the drill by now: Twenty downtown restaurants will offer a three-course dinner for $25 per ... More >>

Wine Spectator 2012 Awards Promotes One, Omits Three St. Louis Restaurants

We learned last week that Wine Spectator magazine's 2012 awards for restaurant wine lists would promote Balaban's Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar (1772 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield; 636-449-6700) from its first-tier "Award of Excellence" to the grammatically knotty second-tier "Best of Award of Excellence." ... More >>

Your 2012 Kentucky Derby Party Soundtrack And Geography

Now is the time for all good cultured TV-owners with new apartments to show off to hold 2012 Kentucky Derby parties and try to remember to call it, while sipping what they hope to be a mint julep, the 138th renewal. In fact, it might be a little late--no doubt Mike Shannon is already "on assignment. ... More >>

El Borracho Announces Closure

Jennifer SilverbergInside El Borracho, now closed​El Borracho (2001 Locust Street; 314-588-0055) announced via Twitter this weekend that yesterday, October 30, would be its final night of operation.This concludes a three-year run for the Mexican restaurant and bar, which was opened by the teams be ... More >>

Balaban's -- Along With 3,700 Other Restaurants -- Wins 2011 Wine Spectator Award

Jennifer SilverbergA view of Balaban's award-winning wine selection.​When we first heard that Balaban's Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar (1772 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield; 636-449-6700) took home one of Wine Spectator's awards of excellence, we were happy for the restaurant. We still are. Open for just ... More >>

An Affair to Remember

Telling It Like It Was — and Is

Gut Check's New Year's Eve Recommendations

Image viaRaise a glass (or three) to 2011.​This is a sticky post. The latest Gut Check post follows this one.While Gut Check prefers to spend New Year's Eve nursing a bottle of whiskey and another twelve months' worth of accumulated regrets, I suspect more than a few of you plan to ring in 2011 wi ... More >>

Taste of the NFL Benefit Tonight!

From the Don't Blame Us (For Once), We Just Got the Press Release Today Department of Late Notices:Tonight the St. Louis Rams host Taste of the NFL 2010 to benefit the St. Louis Area Foodbank and the St. Louis Sports Commission. You can sample food and wine from such area restaurants as Ruth's Chris ... More >>

Wine Spectator Hands Out 2010 Restaurant Awards

Image via​Wine Spectator has announced its annual Restaurant Awards, honoring exemplary wine lists around the world.(Actually, the magazine might have announced these a few weeks ago. Gut Check's subscription lapsed a year back -- though I do prop up my monitor on a stack of 2008 issues.)This year ... More >>

So, What Should Be in the Missouri Version of Katy Perry's "California Gurls"?

Have you heard Katy Perry's "California Gurls"? Dumb question; of course you have. The song is everywhere this summer. Of course, the parodies are already rolling in, including this one called "Pennsylvania Guys" by Sloppy Secondz. Even if you're not from the state, it's pretty funny. (Sample lyrics ... More >>

Cardinals "Stand for Stan" Campaign: Please Stop Calling it "Grass Roots"

​So, if you haven't heard by now, the Cardinals have launched a campaign to get baseball legend Stan Musial the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest distinction a U.S. citizen can receive. The so-called Stand for Stan campaign is a virtual social-media blitzkrieg with the Cardinals crafting ... More >>

No Extra Credit for the Pomegranate Concrete at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

Ian FroebJohn Rooney lied to you.​Welcome to When Bad Dishes Happen to Good Restaurants, a new feature in which Gut Check writers, their hearts heavy, note when favorite local establishments have gone astray.If you listen to Cardinals broadcasts on KTRS, the Big 550, you've probably heard Mike Sha ... More >>

Photos: City Museum Welders Forge Shopping Cart Worthy of Mad Max

Downtown St. Louis has been the setting for at least one post-apocalyptic movie, but on Saturday, fans of another end-of-days flick took the top award at the Idiotarod shopping-cart race for their wheels.Employees of the City Museum fashioned their shopping cart in the spirit of Mad Max: Beyond the ... More >>

St. Louis' Top 10 New Year's Eve Parties Under $75 for 2009

​The $75-and-under category for New Year's Eve parties this year seems to have grown a great deal since last year. From special-menus being offered at restaurants to expanded party packages at night clubs, there are more than a dozen nightlife options to choose from if you've got the scratch. - He ... More >>

St. Louis Food Blog Digest: 12.5-12.11

Gut Check dishes on our favorite St. Louis food blogs.Sounding My Barbaric Gulp: Kelly's blogging every day in December. Highlights include favorite food gifts, Quinoa Pilaf, Sables, Hot Buttered Rum, Creamy Tomato Soup, and Momofuku Pork Belly Buns. One Hot Stove: Nupur continued her 40-recipe m ... More >>

Shhh! It's A Sneak Peek of Up In the Air

www.screendaily.com​ The first local press screening of the Jason Reitman/George Clooney film Up In the Air -- perhaps the most eagerly anticipated movie in St. Louis since that flick about the World's Fair -- happened this morning at the Tivoli in the Delmar Loop.While we've been asked by the PR ... More >>

Love It or Hate It, Cardinals "Six is a Serious Number" Promo is a Serious Ear Worm

Urban Dictionary defines an ear worm as "any song that is so catchy, and at the same time extremely annoying, that it feels like a worm has crawled into your ear and eaten the intelligent parts of your brain so that you hum the song all day long, no matter how much you hate it." I tend to think of t ... More >>

Gut Check: Monarch migration

St. Louis Downtown Restaurant Week 2008

Belgium to St. Louis: We're Not So Different, Are We?

St. Louis is alive with great live music: Tune in to the city's hottest summer sounds

Downtown Restaurant Week 2007

Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards 2007

Wasted

Wasted

The Wine Master

A St. Louis sommelier strives to be among the best in the world.

Go! 3/30-4/1

"Lita Ford is one of the greatest female guitarists in the world and a very accomplished musician."

Week of November 30, 2006

Hungry Hombre

Step up to the plate at Albert Pujols' new restaurant.

"I was so excited that I shot a message off to Gehry's real e-mail address, which I have in my Rolodex."

Week of November 2, 2006

St. Louis Centre Changes Name, Moves South, Adds Buttload of Brick

Letters Column

Week of April 27, 2006

Scalped

The spendingest opening day in the big leagues this year!

Unreal News Challenge 2005!

Time again to take the year-end quiz

Kome and Get It

Kookin' for Kids serves up supper

Look Away

Unreal covers it all: Funnylady Kathleen Madigan, a traveling preacher who lacks Judgment and Bob Horner's Fatkins diet; plus, a new sport for extreme St. Louisans!

The Law's an Ass

Week of October 2, 2002

Best Potential Corporate-Naming Sponsor For the New Stadium

Dirt Cheap Cigarettes, Beer & Liquor

Best Sports Broadcast Personality

Skip Erwin
WGNU (920 AM)

Homer Town

When it comes to a new stadium, not even opening day is immune from a sales pitch

If You Could Be Any Car Part, Which Would You Be?

Week of December 6, 2000

As Mr. Koresh Suggested, God Will Have to Sort That Out

Last Friday was a big day for Our Town

Night & Day

June 16 - 23, 1999

Short Cuts