Thomas Keller

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 >>

From Michael Ruhlman to Mom: The Favorite Cookbooks of St. Louis Chefs

Chef's Choice is Gut Check's regular profile and interview, with recipe, of a St. Louis chef. From time to time we'll present several chefs' answers to one of our regular questions. This week: What is your favorite cookbook? Shopped for a cookbook lately? So many beautiful choices. So many expensiv ... More >>

No, He Meant the Champagne of Beers and Not-Poisoning a Prince of Saudi Arabia: A Q & A with Andrew Jennrich of Farmhaus

This is part two of Gut Check's Chef's Choice profile of Andrew Jennrich of Farmhaus. Read part one, a profile of Jennrich, here. Part three, a recipe from Jennrich, will be available on Friday. Is it unseemly to be thankful for the financial stresses that others have faced? Of course. So put it ... More >>

Chef Eric Heath of Cleveland-Heath Calls Edwardsville "An Awesome Place"

This is part one of Gut Check's Chef's Choice profile of Eric Heath of Cleveland-Heath. Part two, a Q & A with Heath, will appear Thursday. Part three, a recipe from Heath, will be available on Friday. "Sometimes, we'll get cooks in here who are like, 'You don't sous-vide? You don't do this? You ... More >>

First Look: Basso, the Lower-Level Gastropub at the Cheshire

Last month we featured a first look of the Restaurant at the Cheshire (7036 Clayton Avenue; 314-647-7300) on the heels of its November 5 opening. Its sister restaurant, the lower-level gastropub Basso (7036 Clayton Avenue; 314-932-7820), opens today. Basso's robust Italian menu features sharable pl ... More >>

The Ten Best New Restaurants in St. Louis 2012

Selecting the Riverfront Times Best of St. Louis 2012 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we're chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists ... More >>

Report: Amtrak Has Lost $834 Million on Food Over Ten Years

Yes, that headline is accurate: Amtrak has lost $834 million on food service over the past ten years, an audit by the Government Accountability Office has revealed. Seems like the national rail line's food-service workers get a little peckish and a little sloppy on those long hauls across the countr ... More >>

Josh Galliano to Open Pop-Up Fried Chicken Restaurant August 13 [Updated]

Update: (Friday, July 20, 10:25 a.m.) Josh Galliano has revealed the location of his pop-up restaurant: All-Star Fried Chicken & Fish will open at 5 p.m. on Monday, August 13, at Half & Half (8135 Maryland Avenue, Clayton; 314-725-0719). The restaurant will remain open until 10 p.m. or until the foo ... More >>

Tidbits: Farmhaus Nose-to-Tail Dinner, Niche Lobster Rolls

- Farmhaus (3257 Ivanhoe Avenue; 314-647-3800) has announced a special "Nose-to-Tail" dinner on Tuesday, August 21. Chef de cuisine Andrew Jennrich is putting together the dinner's tasting menu, which will feature locally raised pork. Among the dishes promised by general manager Eric Scholle are pig ... More >>

Comfort Shmumfort: Edwardsville newcomer Cleveland-Heath defies categorization most tastily

Review Preview: Cleveland-Heath

This week, I travel to Cleveland-Heath (106 North Main Street, Edwardsville, Illinois; 618-307-4830), a new restaurant that boasts quite the pedigree: Cleveland-Heath takes its name from partners (in life as well as in business) Jennifer Cleveland and Eric Heath. The name is a rather audacious move ... More >>

Call Them "Favorite" Foods: Cleveland-Heath Nears Opening

​Gut Check reported last month on Cleveland-Heath, the new restaurant opening at 106 North Main Street in Edwardsville, Illinois (the former Fond space). This week, Jennifer Cleveland, who owns the restaurant with partner (in life as well as business) Eric Heath, checked in with us to say that the ... More >>

Jimmy Hippchen of the Crow's Nest, Part 2

This is part two of Mabel Suen's Chef's Choice profile of Jimmy Hippchen of The Crow's Nest. Part one can be found here. Part three, a recipe from Hippchen, will be posted Thursday. Mabel SuenChef Jimmy Hippchen in the Crow's Nest's kitchen.​Did your family cook when you were a child? My mom ... More >>

Todd Lough of Bixby's, Part 2

This is part two of Mabel Suen's Chef's Choice profile of Todd Lough of Bixby's. Part one can be found here. Part three, a recipe from Lough, will be posted on Thursday. Mabel Suen​Did your family cook when you were a child? Not really. I started cooking for the family when I was twelve. Fir ... More >>

C Notes: Ian completes the journey through his 100 Favorite St. Louis Dishes

St. Louis Food Blog Digest, 4.11-4.17

​Gut Check dishes on our favorite St. Louis food blogs. Eat It STL: The newest blog in our digest wrote about Sunday Supper. Veg St. Louis: The vegetarian bloggers checked out Everest Cafe & Bar. Cupcake Project: Stef shared a recipe for "bunny tails," an Easter version of donut holes.

The Perennial Plate Needs Help to Visit St. Louis

You watch "The Perennial Plate", right? The sustainable food web series from Minneapolis that's won the praise of Thomas Keller and Andrew Zimmern, among others? Of course you do! Otherwise you'd miss out on things like their educational music video about meat-cutting. Be warned - it's not for the c ... More >>

17th Street Bar and Grill Named 85th Best Restaurant in the Nation

Jennifer Silverberg​More accolades for pit master Mike Mills and his 17th Street Bar and Grill. His original joint in Murphysboro, Illinois (two hours southeast of St. Louis), has been named the 85th-best restaurant in the U.S. on The Daily Meal's 101 Best Restaurants list. 17th Street tied w ... More >>

Genetically Modified Apples From Canada Poised to Invade U.S.?

Frankenapples from Canada! The Associated Press reports that a Canadian company has requested U.S. approval for an apple that doesn't turn brown. Okanagan Specialty Fruits of Summerland, British Columbia, got the technology from an Australian company who developed it to keep potatoes white by silenc ... More >>

Bring on the Sad Meals - San Francisco Outlaws Fast Food Toy Giveaways

Sorry kids, but San Francisco has outlawed fast-food toy giveaways. Reuters reports that the city's Board of Supervisors passed the law on Tuesday, making them the first U.S. city to pass a law - not just an ordinance - banning the toys. Toy giveaways stop on December 1. NPR visits with Lisa Johan ... More >>

If You Hand Cut Your French Fries, Learn to Cook Them Properly

Welcome to Fly in the Soup, a new feature in which Gut Check contributors rail against those culinary experiences that annoy us most.Image viaThis had better be one of two fryings.​In my younger and more vulnerable years as a food writer, few words excited me more than "hand-cut fries." It suggest ... More >>

Chef's Choice, Part 2: Chef John of Entre:Underground

Robin WheelerCulinary man of mystery, Entre:Underground's Chef John​This is part two of Robin Wheeler's Chef's Choice interview with Chef John of Entre:Underground; to read part one, click here. We'd be most surprised that you eat _____. Microwave popcorn, and just because I am lazy. Stovetop ... More >>

All for Aughts: Let's count down the best local restaurant openings of the decade!

The Ten Most Important St. Louis Restaurant Openings of the Aughts #2: Monarch (2003)

​Monarch (2003)Josh Galliano is reason enough to rank Monarch so high: The Louisiana native, sent packing when Katrina devastated New Orleans, is everything you could want in a chef -- creative yet respectful of tradition; ambitious yet humble. Yet he has been the executive chef at Monarch for onl ... More >>

A Food Writer's List of 10 Essential Food Books

​As much as I'd like to assemble a Top Ten Food Books of 2009 list, I'm so far behind in my reading that I'd struggle to compose a Top Ten Food Books of 2008 list. Best I can do for this year is two books. First, Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan. It's a cookbook, but you can -- and should ... More >>

What to Get Your Novice Foodie This Holiday Season

User "Wikidemo," Wikimedia CommonsMerry Christmas! (Watch your knuckles.)​What to get the novice foodie(s) in your life this holiday season? Here are some gifts that I heartily recommend. These are invaluable tools, well worth the space they take up in my own kitchen because I use them so frequen ... More >>

FoodWire: Wall Street Journal Visits St. Louis

In this weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal, the paper's food writer (and former New York Times restaurant critic) Raymond Sokolov paid a visit to St. Louis to check out our restaurant scene. Sokolov dined at Niche and Franco and had good things to say about each. Here, he comments on the t ... More >>

Pi's Chris Sommers Deep-Dishes on Cooking at the White House...and the Controversy

User "Wadester16," Wikimedia CommonsChris Sommers, owner of the Delmar Loop pizza restaurant Pi (6144 Delmar Boulevard; Web site), will appear on Fox & Friends tomorrow morning to set the record straight on his visit to the White House to cook pizza for President Barack Obama. The interview shou ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 4.22

Days of Wine and Pizza

Food & Wine finds our Niche!

Weekend News: Sommelier Chris Hoel Splits for California

Gerard Craft on Being Named Food & Wine Best New Chef 2008

Gerard Craft of Niche Named "Best New Chef 2008" by Food & Wine Magazine

Michael Ruhlman at Viking Thursday

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 10/3

The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 9/25

Fare St. Louis

Bistro Alexander aims to break the mold (and the Review Generator 3000).

Incredible, Edible

Brad Bird does it again; health inspectors everywhere shaken to their core.

The Wine Master

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

That's a Winner

Culinary star David Slay teams up with baseball great Ozzie Smith to produce a terrific dining experience