Mia Rosa will open for dinner tomorrow at 4501 Manchester Road in the Grove neighborhood of Forest Park Southeast. The restaurant features Italian cuisine -- not in the St. Louis style -- from chef Phillip Noe. Call 314-652-7672 for more information, and check the restaurant's Web site for the menu.
I liked Señor Pique even before I’d set foot in the place. This was a few years ago, when the Mexican restaurant shared an old house with a barbershop just west of the intersection of Manchester Road and Highway 141. It was the house I liked, one of several along this stretch of Manchester, wonderfully incongruous amid all the West County sprawl. It didn’t resemble the typical Mexican restaurant. Really, it didn’t look like a restaurant at all.
This week I visit the recently relocated Señor Pique in Ballwin. Check back here tomorrow to see what I think.
The Department of Justice wants more info on InBev's planned takeover of Anheuser-Busch. (AFP)
Controversy about potential grape-mixing in another Italian wine, vino nobile di Montepulciano. (Chicago Tribune)
God help us all: The Food Network is working on a show described as a cross between eating contests and The Amazing Race. (Hollywood Reporter)
Passing along a couple of notes I received last week...
Tomorrow local favorite Erin Bode will perform at Revival (3800 Chouteau Avenue). The concert runs from 9-11 p.m. Call 314-771-3939 for more info.
And Wednesday, Amy Miller and Michael Shearer will be performing at Franco (1535 South 8th Street). Call 314-436-2500 for details.
The FDA finds that the chemical bisphenol A does not pose any risk in food containers. (AP)
The news that Gut Check has been expecting: Food poisoning strikes U.S. athletes in China. (New York Times)
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gives $17.6 million to fight world hunger. (Seattle Times)
It's snow cone week, and yours truly is staring down a big annoying deadline, so no Blog Digest this week. Now turn off your computer and go visit the nearest snow-cone stand.
Have a great weekend. Eat something good.
(Like a snow cone.)
Yes, it's that time of year again: The RFT Best of St. Louis 2008 Readers' Poll is now available online and in the print edition. Vote here or turn to page 14 of this week's issue.
Best New Restaurant? Best Thin-Crust Pizza? Best Mexican Restaurant? We of the RFT editorial staff will make our choices, but you can have your say, too.
No ballot-box stuffing, though. Believe me: It's really easy to spot. I'm looking at you, [redacted].
So I've finally caught a mild case of Olympic fever. Last night American swimmer Ryan Lochte won the gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke. Shortly thereafter, he competed against the inhuman Michael Phelps in the 200-meter individual medal and won the bronze. What is fueling Lochte? Read his prefered Olympic diet here. (New York Times)
(Speaking of Phelps: He burns 4,000 calories per workout. Think about that.)
San Jose is the next Calfornia city to consider a moratorium on fast-food restaurants. (San Jose Mercury News)
Inside the baffling world of restaurant wine prices. (Wall Street Journal)
In this week's review of area snow-cone stands, I mention my childhood obsession with the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. This toy, first manufactured in the late 1970s, seemed the ideal summer activity: Make your own icy treat and -- this is America, after all -- sell them to your friends for a profit. My parents refused to buy me one. And for twenty-odd years, my resentment has lingered.
Until now.
Photographer Steve Truesdell has put together a slideshow of the snow-cone stands -- and the people who love them! -- mentioned in my review. Click here to check it out.
The Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine report coming later this afternoon.
A follow-up to yesterday's item: Officials in China now say the death of its leading food-safety official was an accident. Yesterday's report cited suicide. (AP)
Food costs help cause the greatest increase in U.S. inflation in 17 years. (Guardian)
Add Pizzeria Uno to the list of chain restaurants facing financial troubles. (Wall Street Journal)
So I was all ready to set up my new Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine and make some actual snow cones this afternoon. However, as I read the instructions, I saw that the syrup recipe -- water, sugar and grape Flavor Aid -- calls for a cup of sugar to a half-cup of water and the Flavor Aid packet.
We don't have a half-cup of sugar here at Gut Check International Headquarters, and I don't feel like raiding the break room's supply of sugar packets, so I'll mix the syrup at home tonight. And tomorrow there will be snow cones.
Sorry for the late notice on this: A Gracious Plenty is holding a fundraiser for Backstoppers tonight from 6-10 p.m. on the patios of Boogaloo and Fumanchu in Maplewood. Tickets are $35 and include a pig roast. Read the press release after the jump.
My, uh, review of snow-cone and snowball stands is now online. Click here to read. And, in a fortuituous bit of scheduling, this week Kristie enjoys a Bomb Pop martini while watching the Olympics.
