The food menu at restaurant and event space, Blind Tiger (7376 Manchester Road; 314-646-8822), seems small but mighty at the outset. A single one-sided sheet of printer paper clamped onto a clipboard, it presents itself with positively zero frills. Dated at the top to signify its most recent revision, it begins with salad, giardiniera and soup options and continues with the real meat of the restaurant's concept: ribs and pizza.
See also: Blind Tiger Opens in Maplewood
Blind Tiger opened on December 10 in the former home of the Jumpin' Jupiter and is the second restaurant in Maplewood owned by Mike McLaughlin, also known for now-closed south city watering hole the Bleeding Deacon. McLaughlin teams up with his original chef from the Deacon, Jaxon Noon, as well as business manager Katy Romine and business partners Michael Jones and Kelly Jurotich.
To marry the best of the food menu's offerings, "the Hog Mess" pizza combines spicy rib braise, mozzarella, pepperoni, salami, bacon, sausage, spicy pineapple, jalapenos, pepperoncini, red pepper and smoked garlic -- a mammoth of a pie on a delicate yet substantial housemade crust. Pizzas get delivered direct to tables straight out of the oven, propped up on recycled #10 tomato cans to remind patrons to keep things casual -- the restaurant gets its name from a old Prohibition-era slang meaning "speakeasy," after all.
See also: Blind Tiger Will Marry Whiskey, Pizza and Ribs
The other element of Blind Tiger's '20s-inspired identity awaits at the bar, which features a selection of thirty to thirty-five whiskeys, bourbons and scotches. A cocktail menu has yet to be set in stone, but will feature options such as a classic Manhattan atop a perfect cube of ice as well as an "Electric Flower," a bourbon-based take on a sidecar made with rose water.
Blind Tiger's current hours are Monday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. For more information, visit Blind Tiger's website and follow it on Facebook.
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