Culture

[ACROBATICS]

Written by RILEY MACK

Never before has the circus combined performances that make audiences’ stomachs drop with recipes that make them grumble.

Circus Harmony, a youth circus group based in St. Louis, is serving up delectable dishes alongside riveting circus performances with their new Interactive Cookbook, which debuted online on March 16. ith a release date specifically chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown, the digital cookbook features more than 40 recipes available for free on the Circus Harmony website, circusharmony.org. Recipes are displayed side by side with video recordings of the students performing fun, circus-skilled adaptations of the cooking process.

The recipes, including everything from breakfast to dessert, were chosen by Circus Harmony members and feature some of their family-favorite, tried-andtested dishes. Others, however, are straight from the imagination of the young circus performers.

Jessica Hentoff, the 65-year-old artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony, is the brains behind the unique cookbook idea, which seems to be a direct reflection of herself — high-energy, with a million things going on.

In a phone interview about the project, she is interrupted at times by the squawking of her pet parrot and the knocking of her nextdoor neighbor, who wanted to ask if she knew there was a man wandering around her property (she did not). Undeterred, Hentoff explains the hard work and immense creativity that went into the creation of the cookbook.

“Some of it is very bizarre — let’s just say it,” she says.

Hentoff gives examples that include her coworker’s famous hair trick, her pets’ roles in the circus acts and chartreuse pickles. And she recounts a chef, a slice of pizza and a monkey riding unicycles for their St. Louis thin-crust pizza recipe.

During a guacamole-based performance, a boy dressed as a chef tries to whack another boy dressed as a mole. (Get it, guac-amole?) For a microwave mug-cake recipe, a student does acrobatics edited to look like she’s performing inside the microwave. A costumed turkey (along with his dad, also dressed like a turkey) promotes a tetrazzini recipe by taking to the slack wire.

“It’s like kitchen-creative to the max,” says Hentoff.

Circus Harmony students, ranging from ages eight to eighteen, were each allowed to include as many as two recipes and accompanying acts in the book. Many of the acts are filmed inside the students’ kitchens with help from their families. A few stunts were performed in their circular ring in the City Museum.

While each student was allowed to choose their own recipes, the entire Circus Harmony team reviewed the options to decide which performances would best suit the storytelling and to ensure there would be a variety of dishes.

“With kids, you could end up with all chocolate chip cookies, basically,” Hentoff says.

Oddly enough, the cookbook does not include chocolate chip cookies, though “we do have a delicious chocolate chip scone recipe,” she assures. “These recipes are ... what the kids wanted to put in, so I wouldn’t use it to go on a diet.”

The timing for the cookbook is no coincidence. The release date is meant to mark 365 days of the American shutdown.

Circus Harmony performed about 700 shows a year between the students and coaches in the pre-COVID-19 era. They now resort to six-feet-apart circuses outside and some performances over Zoom, and feel that the joy in their audiences has never been the same as before. The cookbook is part of changing that.

Still, for Hentoff, there is just a hint of resentment in this anniversary.

“We remember leaving the ring; I have a picture of the ring as we turned the lights off. We thought it was two weeks,” she says. “Here we are 51, soon to be 52, weeks later, thank you so much Governor Parson, you are such — nevermind, that’s a whole other story.”

Just like speaking with Hentoff, viewers will never know what to expect when flipping through the digital pages of the Circus Harmony Interactive Cookbook (except, of course, the audible sound of a page turning, “a little detail that I adore,” Hentoff says).

But, Hentoff explains, viewers are promised one thing: “This is totally something unlike anything else you’ve ever seen, for circus or for cooking.”

“Somebody call the Food Network,” she says. “They should be covering this.” n

Written by DOYLE MURPHY

Little Bevo is coming back.

The long-dormant younger sibling of the Bevo Mill has new owners who are renovating the historic clubhouse and plan to reopen it as an events space.

Nick Fruend, who along with his father Todd Fruend closed on the space early this month, says they will be doing the work in three phases and hope to have the main hall open this summer.

“It’s probably got a couple decades of deferred maintenance before we can start the fun stuff,” Fruend says during a recent tour of the building.

Just across Morganford Road from the Bevo Mill, the Tudor Revival-style building was built in 1924 for C. Henry Dietz, who ran the Bevo Mill for the AnheuserBusch family, according to a historic district application. Like the mill, it looks like a slice of Germany was dropped into the south St. Louis neighborhood with its stone-and-stucco facade, slate roof and pitched gables.

The mill, a tavern and beer hall built for beer baron August Busch Sr., was beautifully restored and reopened in 2017 as Das Bevo by Carol and Pat Schuchard. At the time, they told the RFT they had been interested in Little Bevo as well but hadn’t been able to connect with the owner. And so the building sat quiet, boarded up and vacant.

That changed recently when it was listed for sale this summer. Fruend says he along with his father and grandfather have always been passionate about bringing back old buildings. His grandfather passed away during the past year, but he and his father continue to carry the enthusiasm forward. He sees Little Bevo as a particular gem.

“This one ust kind of flew under the radar,” he says.

The arched front doorway opens into a long hall with high ceilings. Fruend says they plan to face the ceilings with lumber between the heavy, dark wooden beams, giving it an even more dramatic look. Around the corner is an expansive bar, fronted with stamped metal panels. Curved stained-glass windows remain intact.

There is a warehouse at the back of the building that Fruend says they plan to tackle in a second phase and a three-bedroom apartment above that could be converted into an Airbnb getaway in a final phase.

While the history of the Bevo Mill is part of the Budweiser lore, Little Bevo is more mysterious. Fruend has heard stories that it functioned as a more-private hangout for a segment of the mill crowd.

“Lots of speculation, because nobody knows exactly what was going on over here,” Fruend says.

There is, for example, the basement. It has deteriorated over the years, but it’s clear it was no dank afterthought. Five-inch crown molding trims the walls above a ballroom-worthy floor that matches the upstairs hall. Fruend says there are rumors of a tunnel leading between Little Bevo and the mill, although he hasn’t come across any evidence.

Work has already begun on the main floor.

“There’s some contractors we’ve reached out to who are super excited to be involved, because it’s a historic building,” Fruend says. hen it’s finished, they expect to hold private events while also opening it on a regular basis to charities as a way to help out local organizations.

“Everybody is excited to see it,” Fruend says. n

[DIVE BARS]

Written by JAIME LEES

When Colorado Bob’s locked its doors and covered its windows with butcher paper, dive-bar fans feared the worst.

Would fans of the Morganford bar scene really never raise a glass at Bob’s again?

Well, yes and no. Colorado Bob’s is gone, but now in its place is Bootleggin’ Bob’s, the newest dive bar on the south side.

Bootleggin’ Bob’s is owned by Brenton Brown and Eddie Belter, who also own the Bootleggin’ barbecue joint on Washington Avenue downtown. The Bootleggin’ boys jumped when they saw an opportunity to own (and honor) a classic “what made America” tavern.

Brown said they’re describing the new space as an “elevated” dive bar. The interior shape of the bar is still the same, but the floors have been updated and the walls are covered in reclaimed wood. Even the bathrooms have been updated, which is an important improvement for any dive bar.

But Brown says that the freshly professionally cleaned-out air vents are actually the biggest improvement to the place and that it appears that the previous owners hadn’t addressed that particular bit of maintenance for at least twenty years.

The bar appears shipshape inside, with the classic nautical theme and the distinctive rounded bar remaining alongside newer coats of paint and a few small flat-screen televisions.

What makes this dive bar elevated, though, is not just the style; it’s the menu.

These barbecue restaurant proprietors are bringing those meaty, smoky flavors on down to Tower Grove South.

The bar sells Pretzel Boy pretzels and pizza, but not just the crappy Jack’s pizza that you’ll find at other dive bars. They’re selling their own pizzas with three distinctive flavors: Buffalo (with smoked chicken), Porky’s Party (with BBQ sauce and pulled pork) and the Booglegger (which includes brisket, pickles and onion and is basically a hamburger on a pizza). Visitors can also order a pizza to go or get a frozen one to bake at home.

The bar has a small patio out front and a big tent in the back. Colorado Bob’s boat is still out there docked on the sidewalk, too, though Brown says it’s likely soon to get an updated paint job.

And this isn’t the only project that the Bootleggin’ gang has hidden in its treasure chest. They’re also partnering with neighbor Alpha Brewing Company (4310 Fyler Avenue) to brew up a hard seltzer called Hotel Lobby which is cucumber and citrus flavored, like the water you get in the lobby of a posh hotel.

For more info on Bootleggin’ Bob’s, visit facebook.com/bootlegginbobs. n