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Aleppo, Syria

​There was a sense of newness around the Gut Check desk this week. We learned about Aleppo pepper as we welcomed the first installment of Spice World, a column about overlooked spices from around the world, we found out about a new place for pizza in south city, and we finished up Anthony Bourdain's new book, Medium Raw.

What else did we do this week?

Prepared for an upcoming tomato festival.

Discovered how to mix up a Cuddle, thanks to James Lake of Eclipse.

Welcomed Feast magazine onto the scene.

Checked out a cheesier version of Rachael Ray.

Added a panzanella recipe from Fond chef/owner Amy Zupanci to our recipe box.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend. Eat something good.

​The humidity is as thick as peanut butter, and the Cardinals are in the middle of a pennant race. Yup, it's time for the annual Downtown Restaurant Week. The 2010 version runs from Monday, August 23, through Sunday, August 29. Participating restaurants will offer a three-course prix-fixe menu for $25. The official website has the list of participating restaurants and their menus.

Now the usual two important notes:

1) If you want to visit a particular restaurant on a particular evening, make a reservation. The restaurant will be happy, you will be happy. Hell, I'll be happy, and chances are, I don't even know you.

2) The RFT is a sponsor of this event, but Gut Check has no involvement whatsoever.

​Don't you know? Gut Check has a Twitter account. You can follow us @gutcheckstl.

Here's some of what you missed on the Twitter feed this week:

RT @nicklucchesi: Cheeseburger in Gas Tank Causes $1,000 in Damages: http://digg.com/d31YVTP?t

Video compilation of Iron Chef America chairman introducing ingredients. Hilarious, hypnotic. http://bit.ly/co12zp (via Eater)

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Beverly Davis Enterprises

Crib Cornbread - the home Beverly Davis hopes to save with cornbread.

​In 2006 Beverly Davis, with her good credit and stable job, purchased her first home, a modest three-bedroom ranch in Fairburn, Georgia.

In a tale all too familiar, fourteen months later that stable job was gone. She spent a year underemployed. Then an investment failed. In March, her home was gone, foreclosed by Bank of America.

She did what so many others in this situation have done: She made cornbread.

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This is the second installment of Robin Wheeler's Chef Choice profile of Beckie Jacobs of Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream. Part one is a profile of Beckie Jacobs. Part three, a Q&A, will follow.

Robin Wheeler

​Browse the commercial ice cream freezers at the grocery store, and you'll find no lack of frozen concoctions, bound and stabilized. Beckie Jacobs of Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream suggests ditching the pre-made treats and taking a few minutes to make your own Dipstik Sundae. Does it look and sound familiar? Perhaps. But it tastes a nothing like the stuff sold out of the ice cream truck.

With a fondness for fresh, wholesome ice cream ingredients, Jacobs also shares a recipe for homemade peach ice cream that takes advantage of August's bumper fruit crop.

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Welcome to Girl Walks into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week Alissa Nelson profiles Eclipse bartender James Lake. Below is a Q&A with Lake, followed by a video of him mixing a Cuddle.

Alissa Nelson

Eclipse bartender James Lake

​A light rain is falling at the rooftop Moonrise bar at Eclipse, one of the rare times the bar can be found unoccupied. The bar area itself is luminous, the icy color scheme reminiscent of its lunar namesake. The tiles nearly match bartender James Lake's eyes. Lake is puttering around behind the bar, arraying his bartender's tools meticulously, ready to assemble his signature drink, the Cuddle.

Eclipse is in many ways a move up for Lake, both literally and figuratively. Lake was the bar manager for the short lifespan of the first incarnation of the Wedge, in south St. Louis. The demise of that bar led him to seek out employment in the Joe Edwards empire. He initially worked his way through the ranks as a member of the security staff before taking his place behind the bar.

Click through for a Q&A with Lake and a video of him mixing a Cuddle...

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Congrats to Stefani Pollack, author of the Cupcake Project and Gut Check contributor, and her husband, the photographer Jonathan Pollack: Top-notch food magazine Saveur this week linked to Stefani's recipe for waffle cones on its Daily Fare blog.The post, part of its "Best of the Web" series includes one of Jonathan's photographs of the waffle cones in question.

Another gem via the folks at Eater: A video compilation of the Iron Chef America chairman introducing ingredients.

Michael Batterberry, founder of Food and Wine and Food Arts magazines, has died. The 78-year-old died on Thursday after a long illness. He also wrote 18 books, many on food or dining. Wine Spectator has his full obituary.

Forget the warm milk and turkey. The Washington Post reports foods that hinder sleep outnumber foods that help you sleep. Fat tops the list of insomnia-inducers. Caffeine's the obvious culprit. Alcohol's bad, too. And warm milk and turkey? The former's relaxing, but won't make you sleep. You'd have to eat a ridiculous amount of the latter for it to have an effect.

The latest in sustainable meat in the United Kingdom - squirrel. The Guardian says that a grocer in north London started selling the rodents five months ago and sells around 15 a week. Store owner Andrew Thornton says, "I think it's lovely. It's bit like rabbit. I think there will be a lot of fuss about this now, but in a few years it will become accepted practice that we eat squirrels. People don't bat an eyelid now about eating rabbit."

Ranch or no? Celebrated chef Todd English refuses to serve ranch dressing at his Las Vegas outpost, P.U.B. Las Vegas Weekly asks the all-important question: who the hell asks for ranch for their fries? Or, rather, do chefs have the right to refuse to serve a condiment they don't like?

Robin Wheeler

Josh Galliano, executive chef at Monarch

​Monarch (7401 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314-644-3995) -- which some hack called the second-most important restaurant to open in St. Louis last decade -- will reopen this Monday, August 2, after several weeks of renovations and menu planning. The most significant change: Executive chef Josh Galliano has revamped the bar and bistro menu to highlight his Southern heritage: gumbo, hush puppies, po' boys, shrimp and grits and much, much more.

(Fans of Galliano's upscale cooking needn't fear. The dining room menu returns.)

Want a sneak preview of the new menu? Want to help a worthy cause? On Saturday, July 31, Monarch will host a grand reopening benefit for the National Children's Cancer Society with live music, cocktails and, of course, food. The cost is $75. You can reserve your spot at the official National Children's Cancer Society website.