Robin Wheeler

​Last October Gut Check staged the Great Illinois Pie Fight, with Blue Springs Cafe in Highland taking a sound beating from Mills Apple Farm in Marine.

How sound was the beating?

But if we ever need to gather ammunition for a pie fight, we're heading straight to Blue Springs.

Ouch.

We were more than a little surprised by a tidbit in the Belleville News Democrat about Blue Springs Cafe's "Foot Hi Pies" being featured on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate".

Sugar artist and Food Network Challenge host Kerry Vincent picked the pie for an upcoming episode of the show that features Food Network chefs recounting their favorite food moments.

Vincent's no stranger to picking the best sweet stuff. She's co-founder of the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show and founder of the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition. Last year she became the first sugar artist to judge the USA pastry trials for the Coupe Du Monde de la Patisserie.

Since Vincent seems to know her stuff, we thought it was time for a second helping of Foot Hi Pie.

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Imagine taking down more than four pounds of these babies -- in six minutes.

​
We've heard about all-you-can-eat hot-dog competitions. And all-you-can-eat pie contests. We were even aware, in some deep recess of our brain, that there's an International Federation of Competitive Eating to regulate some of the more, umm, prestigious competitive eating events.

But we'd never heard of a tater tot eating contest -- until we learned about the one at Bar Louie next week. Silly us! Turns out, this is the fourth year of hosting "Rock the Tot" for the Chicago-based chain, which has locations in both the Central West End and Kirkwood. The winner at each location gets a $250 gift card for Bar Louie, plus free tots for a year; the national winner gets a $500 gift card, plus a year's worth of free tots.

And for all you city dwellers, there's a big opportunity lurking at the Central West End location this year: "Carl" is retiring.
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Vegan grub from the Temple of Cheese

​Gut Check likes us some mac & cheese. So it should come as no surprise that, given Gut Check International HQ's proximity to the dairy-licious Cheese-ology (6602 Delmar Boulevard, University City, 314-863-6365), plenty of piping-hot carry-out containers get toted down the street. Ian Froeb himself seemed pretty impressed by his foray into Cheese-ology studies back in September.

But we remained curious about one Cheese-ology elective: the cheese-less mac & cheese. The sauce, made in-house, contains margarine, Dijon mustard and soy sauce, as well as that stalwart vegan "cheesiness" stand-in, nutritional yeast.

You know what?
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Ian Froeb

The panang curry pizza (?) at Thai Pizza Co.

​I last visited Thai Pizza Co. (608 Eastgate Avenue; 314-862-4429) five or maybe six years ago -- before I was the RFT's restaurant critic. Though the restaurant is located right down the street from Gut Check International Headquarters, I rarely think to go there now. When I first ate there, it struck me as a gimmick -- not a bad gimmick, necessarily, but not one that appealed to me. As much as I love both pizza and Thai food, the two of them together didn't do much for me.More >>

Mmm! Plants!!!

​Sometimes only comfort food at a cozy south-city bar will do. But if you're among those who eschew consuming dead animals, burgers or super-hip ironic throwback meatloaf are not gonna cut it.

But it's cool. The Bleeding Deacon (4123 Chippewa Street, 314-772-1813) has your back! The pub's LP cover-bound menu contains an entire section devoted to vegetarian victuals, many of which can be made vegan-friendly if you like.
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Jennifer Silverberg

​One of the trickier aspects of reviewing a restaurant is deciding, over the course of several visits, what to order. I want to get a sense of the chef's range, of course. I usually succumb to a couple personal preferences. And I try to guess a dish or two that the average diner will want to try.

It's an imperfect science, though. Even when I give a restaurant a strongly positive review, I can miss something vital. Such was the case at The Tavern Kitchen & Bar (2961 Dougherty Ferry Road, Valley Park; 636-825-0600). I visited the Tavern in December and enjoyed it -- to the point that only a week later I included its pappardelle with stewed tomatoes and Italian sausage in my list of 2010's best dishes.

I didn't try the burger, however. That was a mistake.

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