Southeast Asia

Loving Las Vegas and MSG: A Q & A with Qui Tran of Mai Lee

This is part two of Gut Check's Chef's Choice profile of Qui Tran of Mai Lee. Read part one, a profile of Tran, here. Part three, a recipe from Tran, will be available on Friday. Mai Lee (8396 Music Memorial Drive, Brentwood; 314-645-2835) isn't simply a job for chef Qui Tran. It's his legacy. His ... More >>

(No) Fear of a Shane Black Planet: The Iron Man 3 Auteur's Career, Reconsidered

Ask a Mexican: How did tamarind make its way to Mexico?

Review Preview: Fork & Stix

This week I visit Fork & Stix (549 Rosedale Avenue; 314-863-5572), a tiny Thai restaurant unlike any other in town.

Your Weekly St. Louis Bestseller List

Here's your weekly St. Louis bestseller list for the week ending December 30, as compiled by the St. Louis Independent Booksellers Alliance and based on sales at Left Bank Books, Main Street Books, Pudd'nhead Books and Subterranean Books. This week's bestseller list displays the effects of final-de ... More >>

To Protect and Preserve

First Look: Thai 202 Offers Sweet and Spicy Take-out in the Central West End

Restauranteur Art Lee keeps it all in the family when it comes to food. Growing up in Thailand, his family ran an open market grocery store. He says the skills he gained then come in handy even now for the new business, Thai 202 (235 North Euclid Avenue; 314-367-2002), which he runs with his wife an ... More >>

Getting to Know the King of Siam

The Things We Carried on World Book Night

Last night was World Book Night. We started with a box of books. Twenty copies of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, to be precise. We could give them to anybody we wanted.At first we thought it would be fun to pun on the book's title and give copies to people who were already carrying things. M ... More >>

The Five Best Sushi Restaurants in St. Louis

Selecting Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we are chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists a ... More >>

Ask a Mexican: How do I habla espanol?

A Veteran's Day Look at Military Chow

Wikimedia CommonsA Thanksgiving dinner with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.​Talk to any veteran, and there's a good chance you'll hear about military food, from mess halls to MREs, food drops and sharing with the needy, and of course the local eats from the far-flung places where they've served. E ... More >>

Your civil rights history, brought to you by Swedish TV, in Black Power Mixtape

They Might Be Giants at the Pageant, 9/24/11: Recap and Setlist

Chrissy Wilmes​They Might Be Giants The Pageant September 24, 2011 The large (not-quite-but-almost sold out) crowd at the Pageant last night was a perfect cross section of TMBG's fanbase: moms! twenty-somethings! hip toddlers! They were all in attendance, and they were all, of course, incess ... More >>

The Way We Were?

A Horrible Job Done Well

Osama Bin Laden: Local Rapper Jonezy Wants Us to Take A "Proper Gander" at the Propaganda

​The announcement came last night: Osama Bin Laden is dead. St. Louis rapper Jonezy dropped us a line this morning because he has something to say about this; his song "Proper Gander" is a call for critical thought. "I think Bin Laden's death is being hyped in an aim to provide relief to the ... More >>

Mango Taste-Off Will Feature Chefs of Monarch, Harvest

MangoMania comes to Maplewood.​Did you know that the mango is considered a sacred fruit in Southeast Asia and India because the Buddha supposedly meditated under a mango tree? Neither did we. Nor did we know that mangos are cited in ancient Hindu texts dating back to 4000 B.C. Or that that th ... More >>

Traveling Tea's Ancient Forest Black Tea, Tower Grove Farmers' Market

Wikimedia Commons​The clock radio comes on playing "Lover Please," from 1962. Swing tempo, brassy saxophone, handclaps like an R&B reveille. You can hear echoes of his gospel days in Clyde McPhatter's pleading: Lover please, please come back Don't take a train comin' down the track Don't, ple ... More >>

The Black Angels at the Old Rock House, 4/22/11: Review

Black Angels. Photo by Jon Gitchoff.​ Black Angels/Tone Rodent/Suuns Old Rock House April 22, 2011 Better Than: Timothy Leary's best acid trip. Pity the folks turned away at the door of the Old Rock House last night. It's been four long years since the Black Angels played here, and the band ... More >>

The Rep's production of Beehive isn't theater. It's a cruise-ship sing-along.

Fair Trade? U.S. Nearly Swapped F-16s for Frozen Chicken

​Reuters released a special report last week about how post-Cold War diplomats were put to work advocating for U.S. business interests abroad, at times straddling the line between being diplomats and hucksters. Case in point: American company Lockheed Martin wanted to unload some F-16 fighte ... More >>

Cloves: Sachet on Down!

Welcome to Spice World, in which Gut Check zeroes in on overlooked spices from around the globe, introducing those you may not own -- and probably should. Kristie McClanahan​History: Even Rodale's somewhat technical Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs can't contain its giddiness when it comes t ... More >>

Pho Long Moves...Though Not Very Far

Ian FroebA bowl of pho at Pho Long​Just got the word from one of my trusted operatives that as of today Pho Long has relocated from its former digs at 8613 Olive Boulevard to a larger space in the same strip mall, Jeffrey Plaza. The new address, 8629 Olive, used to be home to the dearly departed I ... More >>

What to Read When You're Snowed In

image via​A power outage could take your beloved Internet,TV and Wii away from you, but fortunately, there are other forms of entertainment besides Charades. Like books! (That is provided you have a flashlight or a candle.) Nikki Furrer, owner of Pudd'nhead Books (currently the reigning Best ... More >>

2010 is old news. Here are Ten to watch out for in 2011

School Nutrition Bill Gets Post-Election Boost

Post-election, the outlook for the stalled school nutrition bill was pretty bleak. But it's looking better, thanks to Representatives Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts opting to back the bill. According to the Associated Press, the upcoming changes in the House of Represe ... More >>

At Addie's Thai House in Chesterfield, the serious eater finds true love

Eat Shit Die: Eight Alternatives to the Eat Pray Love-Themed Bachelor Party

​Surely you jest, WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The piece you ran about Eat Pray Love-themed weddings seemed like a joke. But when we hit the part about including the bachelor party in the overarching theme of a middle-aged navel-gazer's big adventure, it began to dawn on us that y ... More >>

American soldiers, verite-style, in Restrepo

A Year in the Life

Jury of One: The Cannes crew picked a true winner, but the best of the fest wasn't even allowed to compete

Coming to America

Blown to Peaces: Weather Underground leaders claimed their bombings were devised to avoid bloodshed. But FBI agents suspect the radical '70s group killed a cop in the name of revolution.

Feet First: Midland Wok brings the essence of pork to Overland

Journey Undersea via Balloon

Thursday, Blood Thursday

Dinner Is Served

Ian takes one for the team and counts down the ten best restaurant dishes of 2007.

Aleli's Crispy Anchovies

$2.59
Seafood City Grocery Store
7733 Olive Blvd
St. Louis

Meatout!

No Meat, So Chic

Ba Le and Cheeburger Cheeburger break the chain mentality.

Fast food ain't necessarily bad food.

Sumatra Gayoland coffee

Typo Café at the Tin Ceiling, 3159 Cherokee Street; 314-910-7321.

Pantainorasingh Pickled Mud Fish

$3.59
Jay International Foods
3172 South Grand Boulevard

History Lesson

International Funtastical

Tower Grove celebrates

La Lucky Brand White Fungus Bird's Nest Drink

Jay International Grocery, 3172 South Grand, 314-772-2552

Planet Asia

The newly renamed Asian Grille tries to be all things Eastern but fails

Thai Score

In Maryland Heights, Thai Kitchen hits a winner

Pho Nouveau

A move to larger quarters brings Pho Grand nigh unto perfection

Album of Memories