Review Preview: "Three for the Road"

When I'm not visiting a restaurant for this column, I prefer to have dinner at home. Still, there are evenings when time is too short to shop and cook, or the kitchen isn't clean, or my fiancée and I want to see a movie and then grab a bite to eat. On such occasions we're just like many of you. We have a budget, and the difference between a $4 burrito and a $40 steak can be the difference between solvency and sharing our cats' food.

The Best of St. Louis 2007 is behind us now. This week I kick off the new restaurant "year" (in Best Of terms, at least) with a little something different: A look at some places I like to eat when I'm footing the bill -- but still want to feel a little classy.

-Ian Froeb