Blogs

Gut Check recommends three ways you won't go hungry this weekend.

1. OK, you probably don't need another reason -- or even a reason, period -- to drink beer this weekend. You might even be drinking your first cold one of the day as I post this. Still, should you need convincing: Tomorrow is the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival in Forest Park. Beer, food, more beer and (let's hope) sunshine...What more do you need? More details here.

#2 and #3 after the jump...

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A look at what’s happening at our favorite St. Louis food blogs…

Iron Stef is making tofu...tushies.

Show Me Vegan discusses the classic gin martini.

At STL Bites, Bill discusses how others react to his eating offal.

More after the jump...

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Tomorrow is the first day for both the Tower Grove Farmers' Market and the Land of Goshen Community Market in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Tower Grove market opens at 8:30 a.m., the Goshen Market at 8 a.m.

Remember: The earlier you go, the more likely you are to get the good stuff!

-Ian Froeb

Myanmar's government seizes food aid from the United Nations. (CNN)

The costs of commodity foods may have reached a plateau, but cheap food isn't returning any time soon. (New York Times)

Because Gut Check really doesn't mention Gordon Ramsay enough: Ramsay thinks chefs who use out-of-season produce should be fined. (Evening Standard)

The psychology of enjoying wine: Is Two Buck Chuck really better than a $50 cabernet? (New York Times)

-Ian Froeb

Big changes in store for your restaurant options at Lambert thanks to a $16-million contract extension between the airport and its contractor HMSHost. From the press release:

The new agreement lays out an ambitious plan to build or renovate about two dozen food and beverage locations at Lambert with the majority of work complete by 2011. HMSHost will introduce eight new food concepts with an emphasis on adding popular St. Louis food brands including Mosaic, Fitz’s and Imo’s Pizza. It also includes a new concept called, Missouri Vineyards, which will emphasize local wines and food. The plan will also bring Lambert popular brands now at other airports including Brioche Doree, a French bakery and café, Freshens, Baja Fresh and an enhanced Budweiser themed restaurant/bar.

What? That one Chili's express isn't enough?

The full press release after the jump.

-Ian Froeb

Illustration courtesy Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

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Friday is the last day you can get pizza by the slice in the Loop. That's when Racanelli's location in the Market Building (6655 Delmar Boulevard) closes down for good. The other stores in the Market Building have all since closed, and Racanelli's is the last holdover.

Don't bother ordering any garlic bread, they're out.

The building will be transformed into a big Racanelli's pizza joint in the coming months with far more seating than the cafeteria-style tables that have been a presence in the main hallway for the past few months currently offer.

Hopefully, they will still yell out your order when it's finished, several times in some cases, in the time it takes you to walk to the counter.

- Nick Lucchesi

Survivors of Myanmar's devastating cyclone face severe food shortages. (CNN)

Restaurants are feeling the pinch of the higher cost of rice. (AsianWeek)

Irvine Robbins, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins ice cream, has died. (New York Times)

Häagen-Dazs is trying to educate the public about collapsing honeybee populations. (Guardian)

-Ian Froeb

Jeanette Kozlowski returns to review the new season of Hell's Kitchen, starring her favorite bad-boy chef, Gordon Ramsay.

8:03 p.m. The big question this week: Can the guys finally get it together? Their mounting issues have become almost as painful as Vanessa's injury and unexpected departure last week.

8:06 p.m. Corey and Christina are still feuding; Bobby and Ben are getting closer and closer. Ho hum. Where’s the real drama? Known for its over-the-top editing and redonkulous production music, FOX hasn’t really thrown us anything new with season four of Hell’s Kitchen.

8:08 p.m. "Finicky and mommy's little girl." That's how Gordon Ramsay describes the restaurant’s newest customer: 15-year-old Melissa. Her sweet-sixteen soirée will be Hell’s Kitchen’s first. Ramsay gives each team 45 minutes to cook up one appetizer and two entrées for her to sample.

After the jump: It's Gordon Ramsay's party, and you'll cry if he wants you to.

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My review of Basil Spice is now available online. Click here to read. Also in this week's issue: Malcolm wonders whether pork pattie loaf is a pattie or a loaf, while Kristie chases the hair of the dog with SmartWater.

-Ian Froeb

Photo: Jennifer Silverberg

The Maplewood Farmers' Market opens for the season at 4 p.m. today. The market is open every Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. at the Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue).

-Ian Froeb

Another article on how restaurants are dealing with rising food costs. (AP)

New York City begins enforcing its new law requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts. (International Herald Tribune)

Actual medical studies of competitive eaters: nature, nurture or nausea? (Los Angeles Times)

Robert Parker doesn't much like the 2007 Bordeaux vintage. (AFP)

-Ian Froeb

The aforementioned June 2008 issue of Food & Wine, featuring a recipe from Mathew Rice of Niche and Veruca.

-Ian Froeb

As I ate lunch at Basil Spice, a slow, bittersweet melody played over the restaurant’s speakers. I hummed along with the climactic passage: hum HUM hum hum hum hum. It was my fourth visit to the two-month-old Thai restaurant, and I had heard this particular tune during each of my previous meals. More precisely, I had heard nothing but this particular tune during each of my previous visits. The song, five minutes long, give or take, plays on a seemingly endless loop.

This week I visit Basil Spice, the new Thai restaurant on South Grand. Check back tomorrow to see what I think. (FYI: As of now, the restaurant's Web site is only a placeholder.)

-Ian Froeb

Photo: Jennifer Silverberg

The devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar (Burma) -- current death toll: 22,000 and rising -- will likely worsen the food crisis in nearby countries. (AFP)

Is sustainable seafood catching on in America? A new study suggests so, but me thinks this is the key note from the article: "...there seems to be no widely-accepted definition of what 'sustainable' means..." (GreenBiz.com)

The controversy over poison-free fugu in Japan. (New York Times)

This is why you hire a sommelier. (AP)

-Ian Froeb

An update on last week's post on Fu Manchu, Mike Johnson's new pan-Asian joint in Maplewood: A commenter reports that the restaurant is, in fact, open. Still haven't found a Web site.

Update: Thanks to commenter Jimmy Z., who read the Google search results more closely than I did, here is the bare-bones Web site.

-Ian Froeb