Why I Oughta...

I've posted about the food tourism that was a key part of our family visit to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago that included a stop at Blueberry Hill on the Delmar Loop and a visit to the Downtown Imo's pizza ahead of a ballgame .  But, we also made a visit to the "must stop" Ted Drewes for frozen custard.  Nat recalls fondly her visits to Ted Drewes during her time at Wash U, but I had never had the stuff before.  Serious Eats calls Ted Drewes a "national institution" , so the stop was, ummm, warranted.  We pulled into the generous parking lot and hopped out of the van.  You walk around to the street-side of the stand (see the photo below) and wait in the line to order.  All of us ordered our own concretes in the smallest format.  Micro or Mini, I don't remember.  They take cards, so no need to come with cash, but after you order, you kind of stand around and wait for them to call your item out - just like most every other ice cream stand....

I mentioned in a few posts that we were in St. Louis recently to show the kids Nat's old stomping grounds.  It turned out to be a blend of vacation time with a little bit of work mixed in.  One of the mornings, I was trying to make a couple of work conference calls during our trip to St. Louis and found myself outside of the Kaldi's Coffee (Nat's favorite!) that is adjacent to Concordia Park.  You can find the location here .  The kids were eating their breakfast and I snuck away for some quiet. While I was pacing and doing the calls, I came across this small Kwanzan Cherry Tree that was in bloom and beautiful.  I'm familiar with the Kwanzan Cherry Tree because it is the same variety that I bought and planted after my first trip to Japan to see the Cherry Blossoms.  I took this photo a couple of weeks ago in St. Louis so they're clearly ahead of us bloom time because our tree hasn't bloomed yet.   But, they're behind the blooms that I saw in J...

Yesterday, I posted about our visit to St. Louis and eating at Blueberry Hill with their awesome Schlitz Beer lamps .  We ate good in St. Louis and I figure I should share more.  Being a pizza nerd, a visit to St. Louis isn't complete without grabbing a St. Louis-style pizza.  Not familiar with St. Louis being a regional pizza style?  Start here with this post on Serious Eats .  It is thin, tavern-cut pizza with the most defining characteristic being that it is topped with provel cheese. Provel is a combo of Swiss, provolone and Cheddar.  We ordered a medium pizza because it was an odd time of day - and we were on our way to the ballpark for a game.  We had half plain cheese, half pepperoni.  They lay the 'roni under the provel, so there's no cuppage or #ronicups to be found at Imo's . This pie felt like a close cousin of Chicago tavern pizza, but since we didn't order the sausage, it is hard for me to make that link directly. There's tons ...

Almost nine years ago, I posted a photo of a beautiful Schlitz Beer lamp from Blueberry Hill down near Washington University in St. Louis.  That photo is here .  We recently went back to St. Louis and toured Nat's old stomping grounds including lunch at Blueberry Hill, of course.  I was immediately struck with the vintage Schlitz lamps once again. The photo above you see is from this recent trip and the lamps are the same nine years later.  (But...the quality of low-light photography from my phone is CLEARLY way, way better, right??) Blueberry Hill actually has a post on their own site that talks about these lamps .  Turns out, there are ten of them  and they were made in the year before the restaurant opened: It’s hard not to notice the classic Schlitz lamps illuminating our Dining Room-Blueberry Hill’s ambiance certainly would not be the same without the ten vintage lamps adorning our wooden booths. ...These vintage pieces are straight from 19...

Earlier in the year, Nat and I spent time at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis near Wash U (Nat's alma mater).  In each of the booths (on the bar side, by the dart room), hung one of these beauties. There must be 10 of them on one wall - all with glass shades.  They're certainly not reproductions, but it is a wonder how they could have kept these in such pristine condition throughout the years.  Nat tells me that "Blue Hill" was a Wash U hangout, so they must not have been as rowdy a crowd as the one I spent many a night with at Kam's.  Guess that's what happens when you're school is ranked 12th in the nation.