Styrofoam

On a stretch of road famous for fine international cuisine, Famous Szechuan Pavilion is a hidden gem

Review Preview: Famous Szechuan Pavilion

This week, I visit Famous Szechuan Pavilion (8615 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-685-0888), the one-of-a-kind restaurant that relocated earlier this year from its original drive-thru spot in Brentwood to St. Louis' strip mall without culinary equal, Jeffrey Plaza.

Best and Worst Easter Candy Countdown: Marshmallow Peeps, Worst

As Easter Sunday creeps closer, Gut Check dreams of Easter baskets piled high with pastel-colored foodstuffs, chocolate shaped like baby animals, and, oh sweet Jesus, Cadbury eggs. So we remember well the Sunday morning ritual of sorting the bounty of candy bestowed by the big, weird Easter Bunny. W ... More >>

Minute Maid Lemonade, BP 4901 Southwest Avenue

Sean McElroy​It is the most delicious, most thirst-quenching lemonade that anyone has ever tasted, anywhere -- like bottled sunshine. It is sublime. If lemonade fairies plucked the ripest Meyer lemons and combined their juice with the sweetest clover honey and the purest, coldest spring water, ... More >>

Feel the Earth Move

Stella Blues: Drink Now, Eat Later

​Stella Blues (3269 Morgan Ford Road; 314-762-0144) reopened two weeks ago, and the bar remains true to the old place: a laidback hangout with a great patio. If the prior incarnation of Stella Blues wasn't a revelation, it offered a great patio and the kind of clean-cut crowd that gets mouthy ... More >>

Fuck Michael Pollan #2: Breaking the Food Rules at Hit-N-Run

Michael Pollan's 2007 best seller The Omnivore's Dilemma documented the industrialization of the world's food supply and whipped the foodie vanguard into a self-righteous froth. His encore, the "Manifesto" In Defense of Food, revealed the author as a proselytizing zealot/minimalist poet ("Eat food. ... More >>

Stan Chisholm: 2010 MasterMind

Nothin' Fancy -- Just the Way We Like It: Tom's Bar & Grill

Kristen Klempert​The Joint: Tom's Bar & Grill 20 South Euclid Avenue 314-367-4900 The Hours: 4-7 p.m. Monday through Friday The Deal: $2 domestic drafts and bottles, $3 premiums (e.g., Blue Moon, Bass, Guinness), $10 five-bottle buckets and $3 well drinks. All appetizers half off. The Scene ... More >>

Thrill or Swill: A Sure Thing?

Dave Nelson​When Bon Vivant Wines, Riverfront Times' pick last year for "Best Wine Shop," closed in February, it left a gaping hole in the area's Beaujolais selection. Well-made Beaujolais has the capacity to meld seamlessly with a wide variety of food, and to slake the thirst of warm St. Loui ... More >>

The Dive Bomber: Corned and Car Bombed at Foley's Tavern, Belleville

Foley's Tavern sits on the quiet far-west end of Main Street, just a normal neighborhood bar. Here they adhere to the Illinois smoking ban, which means there're usually a few people sitting outside for a smoke with their Stag. Third-shift workers stop here in the morning for their version of a night ... More >>

Fish Fry Frenzy, Week 3: Epiphany of Our Lord

A church with a bowling alley's a bit out of the ordinary. Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church is also a school, though. What? Your school didn't have eight lanes and an arcade with a smoking lounge and bar? Or a Lenten fish fry in the gym next door? Robin Wheeler​Having learned from last ... More >>

Remember "Cum Gum"? Five TV Commercials for Extinct Foods

"Here it comes," she's about the enjoy the "gum that goes squirt," so says the old-school commercial for Freshen-Up gum.​Food products come and go, often with good reason. What seems like a good idea might leave diners gagging in retrospect a decade down the road. Some products die because t ... More >>

The Novice Foodie Isn't a Slow-Food Novice

There's a good chance your food didn't come from anyone like her.​If there's one area of food where the Novice Foodie isn't such a novice, it's local, organic and sustainable foods -- a.k.a. Slow Food. I've been digging around to learn where my food comes from since I saw Canadian farmer/activist ... More >>

Dive or Not? Arena Bar and Grill Tests the Dive Bomber

Robin Wheeler​Can a bar be a dive if it has flowers planted in front and offers issues of local foodie magazines? Can a dive bomber be a dive bomber if she goes to a bar and drinks nothing but iced tea?Yes, if I'm having lunch at Arena Bar and Grill. This tavern on the bottom level of a rambling ... More >>

What Price Green? A rattled Chesterfield neighborhood says the droning noise of Parkway Central's recycling plant far outweighs environmental benefits

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

Mount My Squirrel! Local taxidermist Rick Nadeau has a lot of fun with his "little buddies"

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene

Throwback of the House: The Cold War on Cheese

Todd Ehlers, Wikimedia CommonsRobin Wheeler writes for the blog Poppy Mom. After years of making and eating fancy food, Robin is sick of it all. She's returning to the basics: recipes that haven't surfaced in three decades. She reports on the results for Gut Check every Tuesday.If we've learned anyt ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Horchata

Lily's
4601 S Kingshighway
314-352-1894

Cheap Sex: Despite the labels and levity, big-screen SATC is a poor-man's knockoff

Sot in the City: It's time to hit the bottle — not the beach!

Cruel and unusual punishment: Malcolm sentences himself to Prison Loaf

Economies of Scale

Dead Bird

(August 29, University City)

Oriental King Preserved Duck Eggs

$1.69
Jay International Foods
3172 South Grand Boulevard

Micro Bak’n! Artificially Flavored Bacon Strips

49 cents
Hucks
535 South Kingshighway
Cape Girardeau

Coffee with milk

World's Fair Doughnuts,
1904 South Vandeventer Avenue;
314-776-9975.

McDonald's "Richer, Bolder Coffee"

McDonald's, 1420 Hampton Avenue,
314-781-8032

Horchata

La Vallesana, 2801 Cherokee Street, 314-776-4223.

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Week of June 15, 2005

Lost Downtown

An insider's guide to downtown St. Louis

Feels Like 80 Days

Jackie Chan takes a long trip without going anyplace new

Up From the Gutter

The Pin-Up Bowl brings new meaning to drinkin' in the alley

Best Meat Counter

Straub's

A Whole Lotta Soul

The Goody Pancake House serves up flawless fare

Old Saying

The well-loved Tachibana is beginning to look the part

Slap Shot

The Missouri River Otters take aim at fans of St. Louis' major-league teams

Street People

The People Project exposes the dysfunctions of the region

Zum Zum In

South Grand's newest restaurant promises delicious Subcontinental cuisine and exquisitely personal service

Best Peach Daiquiri

Kinder's Restaurant

Best Quesadilla

Nachomama's

Hit Parade