Blogs

Reading Joe Bonwich's excellent story on Balaban's closing, I was especially struck by two things.

First, one of the reasons owner Brendan Marsden gave for the restaurant's struggles:

...a total redo of the menu after the 2006 sale had alienated some longtime customers.

"Some people were responsive, but others were very upset," he said.

Second, this tidbit about the terms of the restaurant's sale:

Kent Hirschfelder, director of restaurants and hospitality for Kaplan Real Estate Co., is handling the sale of Balaban's. He said that the restaurant is for sale "with the brand or without the brand," leaving open the possibility that the Balaban's name could live on.

So, assuming a new restaurant does open in Balaban's stead, should the new owner(s) call it Balaban's?

On the one hand, you have the cachet of the Balaban's "brand," which as Bonwich's article makes clear, ties into a very rich vein of St. Louis restaurant history. You also play into the reality that for the first few months after you open, at least, people are going to refer to your restaurant as Balaban's or That Place That Used to be Balaban's anyway.

On the other hand, you might encounter the exact problem Marsden describes: old-school Balaban's fans who won't be happy unless they can have their beef wellington, cucumber bisque and what-not. Then again, regardless what you call it, those customers will probably evaluate you in light of their nostalgia for the good old days at Balaban's.

It's an interesting situation. And yet another reason why the restaurant biz can be such a pain in the ass.

-Ian Froeb

So I feel kinda bad for posting that giant picture of the cheeseburger in a can yesterday. And I rarely give vegans and vegetarians much attention. (Sorry. If there were more vegan/vegetarian restaurants out there, I'd write about them.)

Thankfully, Jeanette sent along this Wall Street Journal story about superstar Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, who played this past season while following a vegan diet.

Why is that a big deal?

Experts say athletes in training need as much as twice the protein of an average person to rebuild muscle. Their bodies also require a big dose of minerals and vitamins, as well as the amino acids, iron and creatine packed into fish, meat and dairy foods. It's fine to be a vegan, says sports nutritionist and dietician Nancy Clark, if you're willing to work at it. "It's harder to get calcium, harder to get protein, harder to get Vitamin D, harder to get iron," she says. "You have to be committed."

Worth a read.

-Ian Froeb

From the mothership, STLog:

I can’t say I’d ever eaten at Red’z Rib Shack in Maryville, Illinois. But I couldn’t help being a bit saddened when I learned that the ramshackle barbecue joint will soon be leveled to make way for a Walgreens.

As reported in the January 17 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Red’z sits on the now-busy corner of Illinois Routes 159 and 162 amid “new banks, carwashes, businesses and subdivisions.” Land owner Joseph Arnold of Collinsville recently sold the seven-acre spread that includes Red’z to Koman Properties, the developer of some 40 Walgreens in the St. Louis area.

Red’z owner Bryan Warren says he plans to relocate his rib shack. I wish him luck. Red’z is one of at least a half-dozen iconic, local businesses I’ve seen uprooted by Walgreens over the past ten years. All too often, the small business does not survive the move.

The lone exception to my list is the Broadway Diner. The 1960s- era eatery was forced to move from a prominent location in Columbia in 1998 to make way for a Walgreens. Now the diner operates just a few blocks from its original location.

Carriage Bowl and Red Bird Lanes -- two quintessential bowling alleys in south St. Louis -- didn’t fare as well. Red Bird Lanes was sold to Walgreens in 1996 after occupying the corner of Hampton and Gravois avenues since 1958. Among its original owners were Cardinals stars Stan Musial and Joe Garagiola. Later the bowling alley was famous for never closing its doors.

As fun as 24-hour bowling may be, it’s nothing compared to indulging in the pastime without clothes.

In 1999 Walgreens purchased Carriage Bowl on the corner of Kingshighway and Arsenal Street, across from Tower Grove Park. For a time management offered clients the option of bowling naked, according to a Post-Dispatch article commemorating Carriage’s closure. (Shoes were still required.)

Perhaps the most quintessential victimization of a St. Louis landmark at the hands of Walgreens came in 2004, when the pharmacy toppled the Parkmoor Restaurant, which had anchored the corner of Clayton Road and Big Bend Boulevard since 1930. The original restaurant was replaced in the 1970s by a swank, modern structure that sat idle once Walgreens took over the lease to the property in 1999.

I’m sure Walgreens generates far more tax income than the mom-and-pops it replaces, but I doubt anything the pharmacy sells tastes as fine as Red’z ribs or the Parkmoor’s milkshakes.

And I know none of its drugs make you feel as giddy as bowling au naturel.

-Chad Garrison

If you didn't already see it, my counterpart at the Post-Dispatch, Joe Bonwich, has a nice article on Balaban's closing in today's paper.

-Ian Froeb

The Humane Society releases video showing mistreatment of cattle at a California slaughterhouse. A grim -- but not all that surprising -- story. (CNN)

Add San Francisco to the list of cities trying to eliminate transfats from restaurants. San Francisco's program is voluntary. (San Jose Mercury News)

The confusing laws governing the interstatement shipment of wine -- and one online retailer's brazen sting operation. (New York Times)

-Ian Froeb

Today's New York Times includes not one, but two stories following up on the paper's article from last week about the level of mercury in tuna.

In the first, Marian Burros (who wrote the original article) reports that restaurants and retailers nationwide are testing the mercury level of the tuna they serve. Burros mentions some push-back from the National Fisheries Institute, but in general she doesn't seem to waver from her original article's level of concern.

The second article, by Nick Fox, reinforces this concern by detailing which seafood is likely to have the lowest (or no) mercury.

What I find interesting is that neither article takes up the accusation that the original piece was, at worst, "scaremongering," as this piece from Slate claims, or simply not detailed enough to give the complete picture, as this Time article seems to suggest.

I'm not a scientist, and I have no particular stake in this issue except that, ideally, I would like to eat tuna. (Overfishing of the species being a whole other matter, of course.) Still, I find it disheartening that, once again, instead of having a rational discourse about an important topic, we're headed toward the "X is bad for you!"-type reductive argument that has led to such great moments in culinary history as margarine being recommended over butter.

(Why, yes, I have recently read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.)

-Ian Froeb

My review of Agave, the new Mexican restaurant in Forest Park Southeast is now available online. Click here to read.

Also in this week's issue: Does Malcolm love the 80's? How about Bartles & James? Meanwhile, Kristie battles the common cold with Bushmills Black Bush.

-Ian Froeb

Today's New York Times looks at Starbucks' struggles. Nothing we haven't read before, but I'm linking it because the author's angle is interesting and vaguely local: He compares a Starbucks closing in Kansas City with the success of the independent coffeeshop next door.

-Ian Froeb

Via Eater, I present, yes, cheeseburger in a freakin' can.

Gizmodo.com

-Ian Froeb

The Government Accountability Office says the FDA should be more specific about its plans to improve food safety. (Reuters)

Should the FDA follow China's example and enact swift, strong measures to improve food safety? It seems to be work-- OH MY GOD POISONED DUMPLINGS! (Guardian)

Remember the episode of Seinfeld in which George gets busted for double-dipping a chip? Believe it or not, that inspired scientists to study the effects of double-dipping. Timmy is avenged. (New York Times)

-Ian Froeb

The St. Louis Business Journal has a brief item on Balaban's closing. Not much new, except confirmation of what has been whispered for a few weeks now: The restaurant is for sale.

-Ian Froeb

As its name might suggest, Agave is a tequilería as well as a restaurant. The tequila list features more than 80 selections, most available as single pours or eight-ounce “carafes,” and the menu suggests a tequila to pair with each dish. Duty precluded me from sampling this selection; even very good tequila, sipped slowly, has an interesting effect on me.

(I recall -- dimly -- running through the streets of Sheffield, England, one night with my arms outstretched, pretending to be an airplane. Though that tequila wasn’t very good, and I certainly didn’t sip it.)

This week I visit Agave, the new upscale Mexican restaurant in Forest Park Southeast's Grove neighborhood. Check back here tomorrow for my review.

-Ian Froeb

A look at the debate over labeling meat from cloned animals in the larger context of food labeling. (Chicago Tribune)

Various opinions on whether you should eat those energy bar food-like substances. (Not to give my own opinion on the matter or anything.) Seriously, though, just bring a damn apple to the gym with you. (NBC6.net)

Because Gut Check is interested in nothing if not fairness, here is some not-bad news concerning McDonald's. (AP)

-Ian Froeb

Just got a hot tip that Balaban's has closed. Its Web site confirms it will be shuttered "until further notice." No answer at the listed phone number, though it still directs to a Balaban's voice-mail message. More as I learn it.

-Ian Froeb

www.nataliedee.com

-Ian Froeb