Tea

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 >>

Ten Best Food Events This Weekend March 9-11

Friday (Mar. 9): Mexican Fish Fry @ St. Cecilia Catholic Church Choose two entrees including jack salmon, shrimp, chili relleno and bean tostado, and pair it with a couple of sides and a drink any Friday during Lent. $10. 4:30 to 8 p.m. Stout and Oyster Festival @ Schlafly Tap Room Check out Schl ... More >>

Tea Time

Cilantro Recalled for Possible Salmonella Contamination

Image via​Pacific Marketing International, a California firm, and the FDA on Friday announced a recall of cilantro for possible contamination with Salmonella. No illnesses have been reported as of yet, but a sample of the Pacific-branded cilantro did test positive for Salmonella.The FDA has yet to ... More >>

Tea (and Lunch) for Two at London Tea Room

Robin WheelerA proper tomato soup and grilled cheese lunch for a rainy day.​ The Place: The London Tea Room (1520 Washington Ave., 241-6556), the cheeky British tea house and cafe across from the City Museum. The Lunch: As the weather turned drizzly and gray, the mood turns to tea. When it fee ... More >>

Eight Awful Uses for Terrible Flavored Vodkas

Hey vodka makers? You're out of control. It was cute and interesting many, many years ago when the likes of Absolut, Stoli, and Smirnoff got the bright idea to make flavored vodkas. Vodka with pepper flavor for bloody Marys? Great! Citrusy vodkas with tonic? Perfection. But come on. With the annou ... More >>

Entre Sucre Debuts Underground Dessert Dinner

Robin WheelerPassion fruit tartlet with toasted marshmallows, blackberries and basil​"It's sort of like being kids, staying up past your bedtime and eating dessert for dinner," chef Steven Caravelli told members of his first sold-out Entre Underground crowd as they finished his four-course, al ... More >>

Attend a Tea Cupping at London Tea Room

Image via​Care for a cuppa tea? Lipton might never forgive us for saying it, but the American tea market is pathetic. For years, the only options were Lipton or Celestial Seasonings. Now of course, the market is growing. The artisan coffee shops are doing their part to offer a wider variety ... More >>

Royal Wedding Paaaaartay Begins at London Tea Room at 4 a.m. Sharp

image viaWhat proud American could fail to be excited about getting up at 4 a.m. to watch the British royal wedding?​Gut Check would like to propose that a true, red-blooded American like yourself would feel a lot less silly watching the Royal Wedding tomorrow morning if you weren't sitting al ... More >>

Jane Muscroft of Queen's Cuisine, Part 2

This is part two of Deborah Hyland's Chef's Choice profile of Jane Muscroft of Queen's Cuisine (qconline.us). Part one can be found here. Part three, a recipe from Muscroft, will be published tomorrow. Deborah Hyland​Did your family cook when you were a child? Oh yes. My mum cooked dinner eve ... More >>

Jane Muscroft of Queen's Cuisine

Deborah Hyland​Somewhere along the line, Americans got the idea that "high tea" meant "fancy," as in "high class." In fact, a high tea is simply a light meal with a meat dish or two, often eaten by laborers. The stereotypical tea with scones, clotted cream and jam is properly known as "cream t ... More >>

Teavana Recalls 2,659 Pounds of Peppermint Organic Herbal Tea

​Organic herbal tea: It's the elixir of those who shine with all-natural health and goodness. Unless it's tainted with salmonella, which makes people shiny from all that vomiting. On Monday, March 7, Teavana's Atlanta headquarters issued a recall of 2,659 pounds of Teavana Peppermint Organ ... More >>

St. Louis Happy Hours: Maplewood/Brentwood

Feds Crack Down on Undocumented Kitchen Workers

A San Diego restaurateur stands up for illegal immigrants working in kitchens. The New York Times goes in-depth on the hush-hush issue of illegal workers, the blind eye that's been turned, and the sudden upswing in crackdowns by federal investigators. Despite a federal indictment last April, San Die ... More >>

St. Louis Tea Room Closing; Everything Up for Sale Next Month

Goodbye, Tea Room sundae. It was nice knowin' ya.​It's a perfect place for grandmas or great-grandmas, and plenty of the former (and at least one of the latter) were on hand Friday afternoon at the St. Louis Tea Room in Tower Grove Park South. (The great-grandma being 97-year-old Elaine Murray Fou ... More >>

Iced Tea with Limoncello, Stellina Pasta Café

Our water glass is perspiring so furiously, it's making a puddle on the bar. Diners are fanning themselves with menus. We are waiting for a table at the newly renovated Stellina Pasta Café. It's Friday night, the place is packed and the a/c is on the fritz. An employee opens a few windows, and the ... More >>

Oishi Green Tea: The Favored Beverage of World Leaders

Seen at a bus stop in Prague: Image source​ The Pope is saying, "Nothing but Oishi for me!" Obama responds, "Nothing but Oishi for me as well!" The main headline translates as "New beginnings." Does this mean Oishi Green Tea is ushering a new era of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and ... More >>

Top Five Music Festival-Inspired Flavors for Ben & Jerry's Consideration.

Every spring, when the music festivals are unveiling their line-ups, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream also reveals their new flavors. This year, the two have collided with Ben & Jerry's Bonnaroo BUZZ. Ian McCulloch: You know what would go great with that wine? Ice cream.​ The company's website descri ... More >>

Art, with A Side of Whimsy

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 >>

Drink of the Week: Pot for Two, London Tea Room Blend, The London Tea Room

​My companion is not a "tea room" kind of guy. In fact, he winced a little when I suggested the London Tea Room for lunch. Still, he plays along, even when I propose ordering tea for two. Knowing that black coffee is more his style, I resist the frou-frou flavored options in favor of the London T ... More >>

The Sneak: The International vs. Jay International

Fernando de Sousa, Wikimedia Commons Dara Strickland is a leading expert on sneaking food and drink into the movies. She reports on her exploits for Gut Check (from an undisclosed location) every Monday.Show: The International, an anemic thriller/travel porn about the laughably transparent evilness ... More >>

Ludo Charts on Billboard with "Love Me Dead," Debut CD, Appears on Arizona Tea Label (?)

Hoo Do: As Diamond Hoo Ha proves, Supergrass is best served fun

Ener-Gee Whiz: Steaz Energy (Lime)

Want Boba with That?: Fast and good Vietnamese food at BBC Banh Mi, Boba Tea & Crêperie

Asian Persuasion

P.F. Chang's China Bistro
25 The Boulevard
Richmond Heights
314-862-2624

Fancy a Cuppa?

Snapple Nectarine White Tea

Schnucks, 60 Hampton Village Plaza; 314-353-5060.

Get Clean Herb Tea for Detoxing

Straub's, 8282 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-725-2121.

Honest Tea Black Forest Berry Tea

The Pitted Olive, 5815 Hampton Avenue, 314-832-6548

Fancy Feast

For ladies who lavishly lunch (and other people, too)

Arnold Palmer Sr.

Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Avenue, 314-775-0775.

Shelby Lynne

Friday, August 26; Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City)

Chai

House of India, 8501 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-567-6850

Tea for Three

Ballwin's Ladies of Lucerne understands our passion for tea

Hung Fook Tong Common Selfheal Fruit-Spike

Central Trading Company, 8150 Olive Boulevard, 314-993-4303

Cockburn's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

The Grill at the Ritz-Carlton, 100 Carondelet Plaza, 314-863-6300

Magnetic Personality

We chat with Stephin Merritt and Dayna Kurtz, explore the folly of !!! and talk band battles with Thee Lordly Serpents

Fuse Company

609 comes close to the ideal balance of substance and style

Letters

Week of January 21, 2004

Three for Tea

A trio of St. Louis tea rooms revive a lovely, genteel tradition

Best Junk Store

John's Furniture and Antiques Annex

Steamy Choices

Lu Lu offers an embarrassment of riches

Tea and Sashimi

At Chá, the tea is sensational. The sushi, not so much.

Best Weird Beverage

St. Louis Bubble Tea

Best Waldorf Chicken Salad

Carolyn's A Matter of Taste

Teahouse of the April Moon

St. Louis welcomes two new tea-centric establishments

Best Bubble Tea

Little Saigon

The Curious Savage

By John Patrick (Act Inc.)