February 2011

The latest sugary craze trickles into town

a t a v e r n w o r t h t r y i n g · f i l l i n g u p o n p h o · a s a k e s p e a k e a s y · c u r r y 101 February 2011

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contents FEBRUARY 2011

departments 9 À LA CARTE 14 SEASONAL SHOPPER Artisan Treats Sweeten Winter Markets

30

BY PAT EBY

16 CHEF TALK Franco’s Accessible Seasonality

BY LIGAYA FIGUERAS

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19 COOK’S BOOKS Thai Street Food: Authentic Recipes, Vibrant Traditions

BY SHANNON PARKER

20 GOURMET GURU A Tavern in Name Only

BY MICHAEL RENNER

22 OLD SCHOOL Versatility and Warmth at Wild Flower

BY LIZ O’CONNOR

25 REAL DEAL Hits and Misses on a Vast Menu

BY S.C. TRUCKEY

27 STL SCENE

features

cover details

29 SHORT LIST Pho ga

BY D EE RYAN

Clayton’s Secret Sake Spot

BY MATT BERKLEY

30 WARMING UP TO CURRY Debunking the myths surrounding this Indian staple

47 STUFF TO DO 48 FOOD

BY BYRON KERMAN

55 ART

BY BYRON KERMAN

58 THE NEW CLASSICS Milagro Modern Mexican’s Mole Poblano

BY KATIE O’CONNOR = recipe on this page

February 2011

BY LI GAYA FI G U ER AS

36 WATER WORKS Though stockless, this Italian peasant soup is rich with flavor

BY TO RY BAH N

38 SWEET SENSATION The latest sugary craze trickles into town

BY STACY SCH U LT Z

Macarons from Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood

Photo by Greg Rannells SWEET SENSATION, P. 38 a tavern worth trying, p. 20 filling up on pho, p. 29 a sake speakeasy, p. 27 curry 101, p. 30

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he dining experience is much more enjoyable when shared.

Recently, at dinner, a friend complimented me for having the foresight to start a food magazine a decade ago, considering that the universe has no shortage of culinary authorities these days. I agreed that people have become far more aware and passionate about the culinary conversation in recent years. But I also felt compelled to clarify that the essence of Sauce isn’t just about food. It’s about relationships. “Righhhht ... our relationship with food,” he shot back. “Precisely,” I said.

“Everyone has a personal relationship with food, and that relationship is inherently special.” That’s because food fuels our bodies as well as our conversations; it nurtures as it nourishes, it stimulates our senses and unites us like few things can. “Everybody eats,” I reminded him. In fact, that was the simple premise that inspired the inception of Sauce Magazine.

term sustainability of the St. Louis food community, and we believe that elevating the culinary conversation goes hand in hand with the credibility of any publication that claims to serve it. And I assure our readers that Sauce will remain true to that purpose, regardless of the economic or competitive climate. We know you make a conscious choice when you support a local, independent venture, and we are grateful and encouraged by those who continue to reach for and patronize Sauce.

Thank you, friends, readers and advertisers. Cheers and much prosperity to you in 2011.

Since its beginning in my South City apartment, Sauce has aligned with the hard-working risk-takers who helped to build this thriving culinary community. We appreciate passionate culinary artisans, charming mom-and-pop retailers, neighborhood coffee shops, specialty grocers, local farmers and multi-generational restaurants. Often these community gems have a hard time competing when franchises and mass producers enter their neighborhoods.

That’s one of the reasons we created the SpecialSauce grant program (page 28). It’s a new advertising initiative designed to help burgeoning restaurants and independent culinary ventures dedicated to locally sourced food – farmers, artisanal producers, shopkeepers – achieve self reliance. It’s also intended to help ensure diversity in our food-fascinated community, because the kind of character that makes local entrepreneurs so special can’t be manufactured.

Allyson Mace, Publisher/Founder publisher@saucemagazine.com

PHOTO BY GREG KIGER

It is the same situation in the publishing world, really.

Sauce is the only independently owned culinary publication in St. Louis. I’ll admit, it can be challenging at times, particularly with the advent of product placement and paid-for editorial features. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the allure of advertorials, which have the potential to be lucrative. But it’s just not the Sauce way.

We are continuously inspired by the growth and long-

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February 2011

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE | As we warm our toes by the fire, the whirling snow reminds us that we’re right in the heart of soup and stew season. Whether it’s a healing bowl of pho ga, a bold and spicy curry, or hearty vegetable soup, the unique soup bowls in Bowled Over will have you slurping in style long past the first signs of spring.

RECIPES | Want to prove you’ve got the baking chops to pull off the macarons featured in Sweet Sensations? Find more recipes for adding these Parisian cookies to your baking repertoire as well as recipes for more of the hearty and flavorful dishes mentioned in Warming Up To Curry.

PHOTO BY CARMEN TROESSER

EDIBLE WEEKEND | Our new weekly culinary e-newsletter provides you with everything you need to have a foodfilled weekend around town.

From new restaurants and bars worth the buzz to food festivals and cooking classes you just can’t miss to a delicious recipe that will inspire you in the kitchen, we’ve got you covered. Consider it a personal recommendation from the Sauce staff for a weekend of what we do best: dining and drinking well. Sign up for free today at saucemagazine.com/ ediblesignup.php.

TWEET BEAT | Every Friday, we round up the best tweets from St. Louis’ tastiest foodies. Some funny, some strange and a few just delicious, Tweet Beat is a list of our favorite tweets of the week. Think your tweets should be on next week’s list? Be sure to follow us on Twitter @saucemagazine.

February 2011

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February 2011

EAT THIS

The new THAI BARBECUE BURGER at SUB ZERO VODKA BAR is a welcome addition to the burger world’s usual suspects.

Budweiser, sriacha, liquid smoke and (yes) bacon drippings collaborate to create a red curry barbecue sauce that’s sweet, tangy and perfectly spicy; a fresh, vinegary green papaya salad both complements the meat and adds more heat – make PHOTO BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

sure you’ve ordered your vodka before taking a bite.

308 N. EUCLID AVE. • ST. LOUIS • 314.367.1200

February 2011

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wine shelf. “We’re always tasting stuff,” she said. “People look forward to it.” Recently, it was hot cider; before that, Cali bubbly and Spanish cava.

CHEF’S DAY OFF A DA M A LT N E T H E R

Wine and beer were part of the grocery plan from the start.

Though not singularly local in its approach, the market stocks Hautley cheeses, Dogtown Pizza, Billy Goat chips, Mangia Italiano pasta and pesto, Chauvin coffee and Kakao chocolate. “You have to have things that people will come back for. You have to offer them a positive experience as well. It’s stressful being out there,” Cummiskey said.

“If I’m off, the two things I usually go eat is the brisket at Pappy’s or the beef pho at Little Saigon. Pappy’s is pretty self-explanatory, I think, but everyone at Little Saigon is so nice and I love going in and talking to them. I love just sitting there with a big bowl of soup, especially on these cold days – it’s something that everyone should experience, especially with all that mint and basil, it just brightens up your day.”

– Adam Altnether, owner of Taste. Read more

Both Cummiskeys grew up in the Gateway area. He has his JD; she has her MBA. Both are foodies.

They find themselves eating at home more often since opening the shop in late 2009, due not only to a seven-day work week but also to having a 14-month-old son. Sure, they might have different opinions now and then on how to run things, but “it’s our business and we both want to do well. We try to be creative,” Cummiskey said.

USE THIS HAROLD IMPORTS NATURAL BAKING SHELLS

Vicky Cummiskey

CORNERING THE MARKET IN TOWER GROVE SOUTH

Class things up (and do less dishes) at your next dinner party with this versatile little wonder.

Naturally heat resistant, these shells are the Renaissance man of cookware for all your seafood favorites. Use them as a baking dish, a serving plate or both for fresh scallops, shrimp or light fish, and give your guests something to discuss besides who’s coming to dinner. $6.95, AVAIL ABLE AT KITCHEN CONSERVATORY, 8021 CL AY TON ROAD, CL AY TON, 314.862.2665

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Vicky Cummiskey watches the weather. Kurt Cummiskey visits vendors to pick up extra stores because if a winter storm is coming, the bread and milk supplies will be snapped up. And when the dog days of summer are upon us, the beer, water and power drinks are gonna fly out the door. They have to be ready.

Biz-savvy Vicky Cummiskey and her attorney husband own Gustine Market, smack-dab in a neighborhood that thrives on “local” and is proximate to Tower Grove Park. Find everything from

food to fabric softener, cat and canine food to Shakespeare’s Pizza, which is a county-wide draw, with people calling to ask for directions to the corner market.

And then there are the market’s featured tastings – from wine and beer to soda, the last being for the kids. Cummiskey clears the huge, theater-esque glass candy counter, where a penny will still buy a sweet, and sets “the table” to profile wines from everywhere, with selections often priced at less than $10 a bottle. The market is constantly evolving its beer and

There was always the hope to contribute to neighborhood revitalization, so when the Cummiskeys bought the building that houses the market, they asked the neighborhood to weigh in with feedback and support. Postrenovation, the 1,000-square-foot space is sleek with lots of light, a new floor (some will remember the pitch and yaw of the old one), and the call of that glass candy counter. “We want to do well for our neighbors,” said Cummiskey.

“We live here [a few blocks from the market] and we want the market to be a good place for everyone.”

Next up: utilizing the space over the store. Historically, it has been residential. One senses that is about to change. More immediately, Cummiskey is considering a tasting that just might center on chocolate. Reportedly, this would be for the kids.

– Diana Losciale February 2011

PHOTO BY WESLEY LAW

from Altnether in this month’s 5 Questions on page 48.

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Annie Gunn’s wine director Glenn Bardgett weighs in on which wines to drink this month, while Sauce Elixir columnist Ligaya Figueras offers her suggestions for which spirits to sip. Check your favorite wine shop or liquor store for availability.

Delas Saint-Esprit Côtes-du-Rhône 2008, Rhône, France No little simple, easy-to-drink Côtes-duRhône here. Although CDRs are typically Grenache-dominated blends, this powerhouse from Delas is 90 percent Syrah and offers mouth-filling, spicy flavors perfect for winter grilling or sipping in front of the fireplace.

About $15.

CHAMPAGNE COCKTAILS ADD POP TO WINTER SIPPING The official month of romance is upon us, and this year, we suggest you break out the bubbly in the form of a champagne cocktail.

At Robust Wine Bar in Webster Groves, owner Stanley Browne offers several bubbly-based drinks – all off the menu – that are guaranteed to make your special someone swoon.

Ask for a classic champagne cocktail and you’ll be served a flute with a sugar cube soaked with a few dashes of Angostura bitters. The glass is then filled with Robust’s house champagne, Francois Montand, a blanc de blancs (white grapes only) from the Gascony region of France. The drink evolves both visually (as the bubbly rises to the top, the now amber-hued sugar cube begins to dissolve) and gustatorily (the champagne slowly picks up the acerbic flavor of the bitters, which are held at bay by the sugar).

While Robust opts for a brut in its champagne cocktails, South City’s

3500 Winehaus uses the Segura Viudas brut Reserva, a cava, in its Sparkling Cocktail. To prepare this richly colored concoction, 1 ounce of the fairly dense Clear Creek Loganberry Liqueur (made from Oregon loganberries, a blackberryraspberry hybrid, distilled in fruit brandy) is poured into a flute and topped with bubbly and a fresh raspberry.

Adding a base spirit to champagne is another recipe for keeping things fresh and lively. At Benton Park’s Ernesto’s Wine Bar and downtown’s recently opened Rosalita’s Cantina, spirits such as vodka, rum and tequila each work harmoniously with bubbles. The popular house Cosmo at Ernesto’s is a marriage between house-made cranberryinfused vodka and extra-dry Pizzolato Prosecco. In the Ginger Kiss, created

by Ernesto’s head bartender Kristin Mefford, house-infused ginger rum gives Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato one long, lovely smooch. To build this

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well-balanced drink, Mefford combines 3 ounces of the flavored rum with half an ounce of tonic. The mix is shaken and strained into an old-fashioned glass, then topped with the Australian sparkling wine and sprinkled with a few housemade candied ginger pieces that melt in the drink and add some zing as you sip.

Think tequila can’t date Prosecco?

The Mexican spirit and the Italian sparkling white wine are a couple at Rosalita’s Cantina. The Sparkling Margarita, created by bar manager Juancarlos Lightle, is a pretty-in-pink twist on a Margarita that features Cazadores blanco with Riando Pink Prosecco, the black raspberry liqueur Chambord and fresh lime juice in a sugar-rimmed glass.

Disclaimer: If you get all starry-eyed after that celebratory “toast to us,” don’t blame the drink – not a one is really all that boozy.

– Ligaya Figueras

Wrongo Dongo Monastrell 2009, Jumilla, Spain While I was sitting at home waiting for my torn Achilles tendon to heal, I found that a couple of glasses of this 15 percent alcohol Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre or Mataró) did much more good than painkillers. This under-$10 explosion of dark fruits was a perfect companion to my recuperation.

Agavero Tequila Orange Liqueur The popular Agavero Tequila Liqueur, now with the essence of Mexican oranges. Try it neat or get experimental with your next Margarita.

Koval American Oat Whiskey The handcrafted white whiskeys and liqueurs from Chicago boutique distillery Koval have just been introduced to St. Louis. Get acquainted with the 80-proof American Oat, which boasts a creamy nose of oatmeal, red currant undertones and a hint of tapioca.

1860s Genuine American Vodka This five-times distilled vodka is the project of St. Louisans Todd McGowan and Max Burton, owner of 1860 Saloon, who created a vodka with pioneering spirit and metropolitan attitude.

February 2011

PHOTOS BY LAURA MILLER

3500 Winehaus’ Sparkling Cocktail, left, and Robust Wine Bar’s classic champagne cocktail.

Simonnet-Febvre Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Blanc NV, Burgundy, France Everyone knows that French Champagne is a luxury product. My suggestion is to go a few miles down the road to the region of Burgundy, and look for this 60 percent Chardonnay and 40 percent Pinot Noir Champagne-style blend instead. This $20 beauty is perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Agar-agar, meaning “jelly” in Malay, is a vegetarian gelling agent derived from red algae. Also known as Japanese gelatin or kanten, agar-agar is used as a stabilizer and thickener in Asian jellies, custards, baked goods and confections.

Use it: For an easy, less-jiggly-than-Jell-O dessert, boil one tablespoon of agar-agar powder or flakes per each cup of water, fruit juice or coconut milk until the solids dissolve. Incorporate sweeteners, food coloring and fresh fruit into the heated liquid for added flavor and eye appeal, then pour into a mold and let set. Get fancy with a multilayered creation like the recipe below.

Find it: The Natural Way, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314.961.3541

AGAR-AGAR DESSERT Courtesy of Blue Elephant Royal Thai Cuisine’s Art Lee 12 TO 15 SERVINGS 2 cups water 1 cup sugar, divided 2 Tbsp. agar-agar powder, divided Food coloring (choose desired color) 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk Pinch salt

PHOTO BY GREG RANNELLS

• In a saucepan, combine 2 cups water, ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon agar-agar powder and 2 to 3 drops of food coloring. Dissolve the agar-agar over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then simmer until slightly thickened.

• Pour the liquid into a 9-inch pie plate or a jelly mold. Let rest at room temperature until set, about 30 minutes.

• Once the layer has cooled, prepare the next layer: Combine 2 cups coconut milk, ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon agar-agar powder and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Dissolve the agar-agar over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then simmer until slightly thickened.

• Pour the liquid on top of the first layer and let set at room temperature, approximately 30 minutes.

• Once the second layer has cooled, use a knife to loosen the gelatin from the side of the pan and slide the dessert onto a serving platter. Carve a design in the top layer, if desired. To serve, cut into squares or pieshaped wedges.

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SEASONAL SHOPPER

tongue will slap your brains out,” Hairston claimed. She’s right: Her baking is that lush.

everything’s organic, but each ingredient is high-quality.

Find more posh treats at Queen’s Cuisine, where proper English delicacies wait to grace your table. Owner Jane Muscroft landed stateside when her husband followed his job.

She’s been introducing folks to the charms of English scones, authentic shortbread, seasonal pies and sundry treats ever since.

Prey’s baked goods are available this winter at his mother Marianne Prey’s Extra Virgin, an Olive Ovation. Next spring, he may find time to sell at the Kirkwood and the Ellisville farmers’ market and hopes to offer glutenfree mixes so that customers can bake up their own treats at home. Watch his Web site, wheatlesswondersbakery.com, for details.

You’ll find her goodies at farmers’ markets, including St. Louis Community Farmers’ Market at St. John’s Episcopal Church and at the Maplewood Winter Farmers’ Market at Schlafly Bottleworks, as well as online at the Queen’s Cusine Web site, qconline.us.

Muscroft also teaches classes at Dierbergs cooking schools and hosts afternoon teas by special request at The Oatman House in Collinsville.

Her cranberry-orange scones hit the perfect flavor and texture combination for me.

These aren’t dried-out, crumbling scones big as a baseball and hard as a brick. Instead, Muscroft’s scones fit the hand and bite tender with an almost creamy mouth feel.

That’s without butter and preserves or a gobbet of fabled clotted cream.

Jessie Pearl Hairston’s double chocolate Bundt cake with fudge topping.

ARTISAN TREATS SWEETEN WINTER MARKETS

BY PAT EBY • PHOTO BY CARMEN TROESSER

T

his month’s winter markets offer just-right treats from artisan bakers to soften winter’s cruel tricks. You’ll find pound cakes so buttery they melt on your tongue, tender English scones fragrant with dried fruit, and Cheddar-chive biscuits none the less savory for being gluten-free.

Jessie Pearl Hairston sold her first pound cakes 50 years ago, when she was just 13.

Today, Hairston bakes to supplement her income, focusing on baking high-quality products for customers, either by custom order or through local farmers’ markets.

Her cakes – moist, dense and intensely flavorful – cut to a velvety crumb. She’s known for endless varieties, including lemon, buttermilk, double chocolate, vanilla, mandarin orange,

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strawberry, Key lime, coffee, peanut butter, marble, Seven-Up, banana and coconut.

There’s red velvet, Oreo and even gooey butter.

At markets, you’ll also find specials like her sugar-free sweet potato pie or seasonal fruit cobblers. You could luck into pumpkin, banana, strawberry or cranberry-walnut tea breads. Try candy-like Pearlie Bars brimming with chocolate, butterscotch, coconut and nuts, super-chocolaty brownies or cream cheese pecan pie. Can’t wait till the Clayton Farmers’ Market opens this spring?

For custom orders, contact Hairston at 314.266.8619.

For a little bit of heaven, buy her biscuits, regular or sweet potato. One bite, and “your

Muscroft changes her products seasonally; December’s mince pie, tart and sweet, hit just the right note for me. This spring and summer, Muscroft plans to offer shoppers sausage rolls and a cream tea at farmers’ markets, regulations permitting. “The sausage roll would use local sausages,” she said. “A cream tea is a pot of tea, a scone, strawberry jam and clotted cream.” Wouldn’t that be a lovely breakfast?

For breakfast last summer at the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market, I munched quite happily on gluten-free Cheddar-chive biscuits from Wheatless Wonders. These savory biscuits taste sensational, but they’re not the baker’s only offering. Creamy chocolate brownies, apple spice cakes, dinner rolls – Adam Prey bakes gluten-free, but with the same great tastes and textures you’d expect from any baked item. Taste rules.

“I don’t want an aftertaste, a grassy flavor or something that’s not the right texture.

Products that make it to the market are products that work. I want to mimic the flavor of traditional bakeries, but using ingredients that are good for you,” Prey said. He uses no hydrogenated oils, refined sugars or flours, wheat flours, additives or cornstarch. Flours include tapioca, almond bean, amaranth, rice, sorghum, coconut and quinoa. Not

Visit these bakers and other artisan food producers each month at local markets, even in dreary February. Mid-month, sweeten the Valentine’s dinner with something freshbaked and fabulous.

CHEDDAR-CHIVE SAVORY FRUIT DRESSING 8 SERVINGS 6 day-old Wheatless Wonder Cheddar-chive biscuits 5 Tbsp. buttery olive oil, divided ½ small onion or 2 shallots, diced 2 large stalks celery, chopped ½ Granny Smith apple, diced ½ McIntosh apple, diced 1 tangerine, sectioned, then each section cut in half ¼ cup raisins ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans 2 eggs ½ cup 2 percent milk* Cooking spray • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Split the biscuits in half then cut into ½-inch cubes.

• Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in an 8- or 10inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until the oil sizzles when a drop of water hits the surface. Place the diced biscuits in the skillet, turning to coat with oil. Allow the biscuits to brown and toast, turning as needed.

• Transfer the toasted bread to a large mixing bowl.

• Wipe the skillet free of crumbs and heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions and celery for 5 minutes, or until the onion softens and begins to turn translucent.

• Add the sautéed vegetables to the biscuits.

Add the apples, tangerine, raisins and pecans and toss to mix well.

• Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Pour them over the biscuit mixture, then toss, using your hands to work the egg throughout. Add the milk and toss again until well blended.

• Coat a 1½-quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Turn the biscuit mixture into the casserole dish. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the mixture sets. * If you want a softer, more cohesive texture, increase the milk to 1 cup.

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CHEF TALK

FRANCO’S ACCESSIBLE SEASONALITY

BY LIGAYA FIGUERAS • PHOTOS BY CARMEN TROESSER

I

was just looking to be a chairlift guy,” responded chef Chris Williams when asked how he landed his first kitchen job. A chance encounter with an executive chef at Colorado’s Keystone Ski Resort (Williams was simply asking the stranger for directions) is just one example of how happenstance has played a role in Williams’ culinary career. But it’s his adventurous spirit and willingness to follow unique opportunities that led to a CIA degree, an externship at the famed Le Bernardin in NYC, being part of the kitchen brigade that opened Larry Forgione’s now defunct An American Place, and cooking stints abroad in France and most recently in the Galapagos Islands and mainland Ecuador.

Williams returned to his native St. Louis last year and recently assumed the top spot at Franco, where he looks forward both to the little surprises that Mother Nature bestows upon those who cook seasonally and to creating a few surprises of his own for guests at the French restaurant.

Barramundi with potato croquette, glazed butternut squash and pumpkin seed béchamel at Franco.

You were a sous chef at Franco when it opened four years ago. Of all the places you could return to in St. Louis, why Franco? It fit my personality as a chef, that sense of a living menu that we have here. We have the market across the street, the connections for local ingredients. I got away from it for three years in Ecuador, but something I kept talking and thinking about was coming back to cook with the seasons. I can’t wait for the first peas, the first asparagus. Right now, I’m enjoying having the cabbages, the squash. Seasonality is fun.

But weren’t you cooking seasonally in Ecuador? We had abundant fresh food – cherimoya, fava beans, peas bursting with flavor, Andean fruits, half of which I don’t know the name for in English. But seasonality is entirely different here than it is when you are living on the equator.

There, it’s really a wet or dry season, not a hot or cold. There is no real fall or winter or summer or spring. You have everything yearround. Some things do go out of season, but it’s subtle. You don’t notice it unless you’re really watching, and you just wait a month or two and it comes back.

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Talk to me about the concept of Franco as seasonal food with a French influence.

French is seasonal. French food has always been about using the best ingredients at their peak. We are like a restaurant that would have been around the Les Halles markets in Paris. And as much as our food has the French technique, there is accessibility to it.

Will we see any Ecuadorian influences?

Right now I’ve got a barramundi dish on the menu. It’s a coastal fish and comes with a potato croquette – inspired by an Ecuadorian dish called llapingacho. The pumpkin seed béchamel that comes with it is a take on an Ecuadorian pumpkin seed sauce.

What dishes will stick around? The ribeye will stay at least through March or April, but the garnishment will change as we get into spring. That’s something that we have done at Franco since the word “go.” We always have the steak and frites. Maybe the sauce changes or the vegetable that comes with it changes, but you trust that we are always going to have that steak and frites.

The lamb shank: When it’s wintertime, there will always be the braised lamb shank. We might change the accompaniment, but we’re going to have that. Just like the cassoulet.

The escargots, the pâté, French onion soup, Caesar salad … there are certain things we are identified with here.

Are you going to stick around St. Louis?

Yeah, this is home. I don’t how long, but I’m going to be here a while. I think St. Louis has limitless potential as far as ingredients.

Every year it just keeps getting better. And the dining public just keeps opening their minds to more and more things. You’re never going to see on our menu molecular gastronomy craziness. For some people, that’s intimidating; they don’t know how to understand that as food. Ultimately, Franco should be food that is approachable, friendly and warming to you regardless of the time of year.

FRANCO 1535 S. Eighth St. St. Louis, 314.436.2500 February 2011

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REVIEW: COOK’S BOOKS

THAI STREET FOOD: AUTHENTIC RECIPES, VIBRANT TRADITIONS

BY SHANNON PARKER I don’t know exactly what word to use in describing Thai Street Food. I need a term that is weightier than “tome,” less pretentious than “magnum opus” and wider ranging than “encyclopedia.”

It’s quite possible that this specific word doesn’t even exist, but that is just the concept that one needs to convey about this book.

each section provides insight into the vendors’ wares; only after digesting this information is the reader treated to a number of specific recipes – 13 for curry alone. The recipes are very specific and clear, although most of the measurements are given in weight rather than volume.

If you choose to actually cook from the book, you’ll need a kitchen scale.

Written by Australian restaurateur and chef David Thompson and weighing in at nearly 6 pounds, this behemoth of a book provides not only a multitude of authentic Thai recipes, but an almost anthropological look at the culture of Thai street food vendors.

Anyone who’s traveled has probably heard “getting there is half the fun,” and with Thai Street Food, simply reading the recipes is more than half the fun.

Thompson is a clever writer and puts his skills to good use in the recipe introductions. Jungle Curry of Minced Quail, for example, begins with the note, “Be warned – it is spicy, damned spicy!” Thankfully, he has provided a comprehensive glossary of ingredients because quite a few (Asian pennywort?

Snake greens?) are unfamiliar even to the adventurous home cook.

Thompson chose to organize the book in an unusual way. It’s divided into sections titled Morning, Noon and Night; each section reflects the type of food that vendors have out on the streets of Thailand. A lengthy introduction to

Almost every recipe is accompanied by a stunning full-page photograph from Earl Carter. The book contains photo essays as well, showing the crowded streets and market stalls at their most lush.

Thompson also delves into the history and politics of Thailand, as illustrated through the cuisine. When giving a recipe for Pad Thai, Thompson not only gives ingredients and directions, but also a brief history lesson, describing how the dish was strong-armed into the Thai culinary lexicon during the early part of the 20th century by Field Marshal Phibun. Thompson writes, “It is now considered a classic of the Thai kitchen – at least by Westerners.”

It’s no surprise that this book appeared on numerous best-of-the-year lists at the end of 2010. From its photographs to its recipes to its commentary, Thai Street Food is a real winner.

THAI STREET FOO D: AUTH ENTI C RECI PES, VI BRANT TRAD ITI O NS, BY DAVI D TH OM PSO N, TEN SPEED PRESS

THE FOUR COOKBOOKS EVERY THAI FOOD ENTHUSIAST SHOULD OWN Louis Brinckwirth, owner of Addie’s Thai House in Chesterfield, offers these suggestions for those looking to learn more about Thai cuisine.

Thai Street Food, by David Thompson “There are several dishes on our menu found also in Thompson’s new book. Though our recipes differ from his, the ingredients are often the same.”

PHOTO BY JONATHAN S. POLLACK

Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood,

by Kasma Loha-Unchit “After David Thompson, Kasma is the most influential in my understanding of Thai cuisine. Kasma has also authored It Rains Fishes, a book Thompson credits with influencing him, and she has a Web site on Thai food and travel. Dancing Shrimp … is exclusively devoted to Thai seafood.”

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Thai Food, by David Thompson “Thompson’s book is my bible: It is from this beautifully written book that I understand how to cook Thai food for Thai people; it is from this book that I understand Thai cuisine as a discipline.”

The Food of Thailand: Authentic Cuisine from the Golden Kingdom, by Sven Krauss, Laurent Ganguillet and Vira Sanguanwong “This short book is a good introduction to Thai cuisine.

Many of the dishes are classics. … My wife gave it to me years ago when she finished her program at the Wandee Culinary School in Bangkok. Shortly afterwards she appropriated it for herself; it’s one of the few Thai cookbooks that she references.”

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REVIEW: GOURMET GURU

The Tavern Kitchen & Bar’s open kitchen and house-made tagliolini with pancetta and a fried egg.

A TAVERN IN NAME ONLY

BY MICHAEL RENNER • PHOTOS BY DAVID KOVALUK

I

n Valley Park, where the eateries lean more toward chains and sports bars than destinations of distinction, chef Justin Haifley runs a gem of a restaurant.

Perhaps the name is a throwback, but The Tavern Kitchen & Bar ain’t your father’s tavern (or my father’s, whose hand-pattied burgers and cheap Bud kept Kansas City college students fed and quenched for years).

What tavern has a sous-vide immersion circulator?

seems like an endlessly packed house. A basic burger becomes exquisite when the blend of chuck roll, brisket and sirloin is ground in the kitchen, topped with Irish Cheddar cheese and slathered with bacon jam, a spread made from bacon, onion and spices; fish and chips transcend the ordinary when fresh-cut cod is coated in a beer batter of Schlafly American Pale Ale; pasta made in-house – pappardelle, linguini, tagliolini – rivals anything in a town where pasta reigns.

Haifley, who spent 10 years with Roy Yamaguchi’s Hawaiian fusion restaurants (not to mention stints cooking for Tommy Hilfiger, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, and Sean Combs), came home to St. Louis at the urging of Tavern co-owners Brant Baldanza and Jon Fogarty, two high school friends of Haifley’s and owners of the Corner Pub & Grill, located in the same shopping area as The Tavern. Haifley’s cooking is upscale, but not aggressively so. The menu calls it “exquisite comfort food,” a close-to-spoton description of what Haifley and his staff dish out from the huge open kitchen to what

Snag a stool at the kitchen counter and watch chaos theory come to life. Orders come in, orders go out. In between, about 10 whirling dervishes sling pans, extinguish shooting flames, flip a steak someone else started, shout “hot oven,” toss handfuls of Parmesan into salads and pasta, juggle hot cast-iron plates, carefully arrange food for final plating, peel some hard boiled eggs, quickly sharpen a knife before slicing into the pork tenderloin, and otherwise maneuver around each other like sailors on a submarine. The dance troupe Pilobolus could learn a thing or two from such choreography. And there’s Haifley at the

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helm, coolly coordinating the flow, checking each ticket with his big, black Sharpie before releasing the dish to the public.

One could have bacon with every course.

And we did. There’s an appetizer of Bacon & Eggs, a nice chunk of fatty-meaty pork belly paired with a “one-hour” egg atop a buttery brioche round and garnished with pickled red onion. The slow simmer in the immersion circulator gives the egg a much creamier, custardy consistency than any normal poaching could, resulting in a luxuriant blanket of bright yellow creaminess spreading over the toasted brioche. The baby spinach salad, here with crimini mushrooms and Gruyère along with chopped egg, was doused with a warm bacon vinaigrette. Like the excellent arugula salad with its Banyuls (a French dessert wine) vinaigrette, salads are dressed to complement the greens, not overpower. For entrées, were one keeping with the bacon theme, there’s that bacon jam burger, of course, or bacon-wrapped meatloaf. We opted for the house-made tagliolini (think thinner fettuccine) with

pancetta topped with Parmesan and a soft fried egg, creating its own luscious DIY sauce. Just when you think “no more bacon,” there’s dessert: hot, deep-fried doughnut holes you dunk in maple-flavored whipped cream. You can quibble about the bacon sprinkles on the whipped cream, but, really, why bother?

Those less inclined toward porcine dishes have other options, including vegetarian and gluten-free selections (but they are off the menu, so ask). Entrées cover the “comfort food” rubric, with plenty of twists. Beef short ribs, braised and tangy with honey mustard, are further enhanced with a bed of pungent Maytag blue cheese polenta. A smattering of quartered Brussels sprouts completed the plate, but picked up too much piquancy of the mustard and sharp cheese. Fisherman’s Stew, or cioppino, arrives in a steaming castiron cauldron, chock-full of mussels, clams, large shrimp and a piece of halibut in a light, fragrant tomato-red pepper sauce. My only quibble was the sauce: One more ladle next time, please.

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Straight-ahead meat dishes – pork tenderloin, free-range chicken and three steaks – are in a separate menu category and include a choice of one side. The apple-rosemary pork tenderloin came sliced on the bias, perfectly pink on the inside, resting on a bed of braised red cabbage and topped with a frisée salad for additional flavor notes.

One note notably missing was rosemary, however. The cheesy tater tot casserole, one of six interesting sides, came piping hot in a little cast-iron skillet and is worth getting, if for no other reason than to say you did. The other reason is because it’s really good. As was the Farmers’ Market Vegetable of cheesy cauliflower, also served searing hot in castiron, and not a bit mushy.

No self-respecting tavern serving food, upscale or dive, would be without toasted ravioli. Usually, it is best to bypass the offer.

But Haifley takes succulent, lemony lobster chunks, deep-fries them in large, light wrappers and serves them five to an order with a rich truffle-Parmesan cream sauce on the side. French onion soup (served only during lunch) and New England clam chowder are both good: the former rich with beefy broth and assembled to order, the latter creamy and chewy with plump clams.

Along with the doughnut holes, dessert includes chocolate soufflé and carrot cake, both baked to order in, you guessed it, those cute little cast-iron skillets. Each was topped with a scoop of ice cream. The addition of peanuts on the soufflé made for a hot-cold, salty-sweet rich treat.

There’s nothing wrong with taverns; Dad’s paid for college. But at the end of the night, when a cook leafs through a copy of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home cookbook resting on the kitchen counter, you know The Tavern is a tavern in name only. And there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

NEW AND NOTABLE WHERE: The Tavern Kitchen & Bar, 2961 Dougherty Ferry Road, Valley Park, 636.825.0600

WHEN: Lunch and dinner: Tue. to Fri. – 11 a.m. to

9 p.m.; Dinner: Sat. – 5 to 11 p.m., Sun. – 5 to 9 p.m.; Brunch: Sun. – 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

DON’T-MISS DISH: Bacon & Eggs, Apple-Rosemary Pork Tenderloin VIBE: A big, open kitchen invites curiosity, and counter seating invites conversations with cooks. The Tavern recommends reservations; heed the suggestion seriously.

ENTRÉE PRICES: $10 to $27

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REVIEW: OLD SCHOOL

VERSATILITY AND WARMTH AT WILD FLOWER

BY LIZ O’CONNOR • PHOTOS BY LAURA MILLER

W

ild Flower Restaurant is the kind of cozy place everyone wants in his or her neighborhood. It’s casual and warm with a menu that pleases. When it’s nice outside, a seat on the patio is a great spot for watching passersby, and during colder months exposed brick and a warm glow cast by retro hanging lamps create a welcoming ambiance.

The restaurant has been around for years, and last year owner Phil Czarnec brought in chef Josh Roland to tweak the menu, which offers a little of everything, from pizzas to pastas, wonderful salads to seafood. Inspiration is drawn from Asia to Italy to Greece.

When the Wild Flower menu describes something as generous, pay attention. The signature garlic chicken is said to have a “generous” stuffing of cream cheese, and boy, does it. Think of a massive crab Rangoon, but with crispy breaded chicken breast paillard standing in for the wonton wrapper. Considering it’s a signature dish, there is clearly a fan base. But for me, the chicken-to-cheese ratio was overwhelming.

The accompanying linguini was tossed in more of the heavy cheese, adding to the heft.

What this dish needed was a big squeeze of lemon juice to cut the lushness.

The Goat Buster is another cheesy dish, but this one is perfectly balanced. It’s a goat cheese fondue served with slices of apple, carrot, celery and crostini for your dipping and spreading pleasure. In a creative whydidn’t-I-think-of-that way, the goat cheese is blended with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes, adding flavor, body and depth.

The texture is creamy, not too heavy; the flavor is tangy and rich. It’s perfect to share with friends at the beginning of dinner.

There are plenty of seafood options on the menu as well – calamari, salmon, tuna and a ceviche among them. Crab cakes and scallops were fine, if unimpressive. Crab cakes made with plain old crab meat instead of jumbo lump meat don’t look as appetizing and are texturally flat; Wild Flower uses the plain old variety, but the cakes tasted good and had a nice sear on them, and a spicy aïoli added zing. The scallops, nicely sweet and salty, seared to a golden crunch on top and silky at their centers, were served on creamy but underseasoned polenta with roasted tomatobasil compote that lacked smoky depth. The dish could have used a punch of fresh herbs to liven things up a bit.

Wild Flower’s wild mushroom fettuccine, top, and honey-pear salad.

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The honey-pear salad is a delight, with all the elements of a winning composition. A

whole fresh pear is cored and sliced, then reconstructed with layers of crumbled Gorgonzola. It sits on a bed of lightly dressed spinach and toasted walnuts, the whole thing drizzled with honey. The Gorgonzola, savory and salty, balanced nicely with the honey. The firm pear is crisp, sweet and slightly tart. The walnuts add crunch and the greens, dressed in a white balsamic vinaigrette, round things out.

The wild mushroom fettuccine is intoxicatingly aromatic. The mushrooms are blended into the cream sauce so each and every strand of pasta is enveloped with earthiness. The dish is rich but doesn’t seem laden with fat. A drizzle of truffle oil elevates this very simple, comforting pasta into something more dreamy.

A tray of the evening’s desserts are brought to the table for perusal. Everything looked divine, but the ultimate chocolate cake had me at hello. It was every bit as delicious as it looked, with a velvety and dense ganache blanketing tender and moist chocolate cake layers. Best chocolate cake ever.

The service is friendly and knowledgeable, with small slip-ups here and there. If the kitchen is out of ribs, announce it to the table at the beginning of service, not after someone orders it. And, if you offer delicious bread with seasoned dipping oil one evening, do so every evening.

Regardless of any mishaps regarding food and service, Wild Flower is wildly popular because it’s so versatile. It accommodates the Sunday brunch crowd as easily as the aftermovie crowd. It’s where to grab lunch when it’s beautiful outside and where to duck in for a romantic date on a cold night. You can watch the game and eat a pizza or have cocktails and small plates with the girls. It’s a restaurant for everyone.

BACK FOR SECONDS WHERE: Wild Flower Restaurant, 4590 Laclede Ave., St. Louis, 314.361.8282

WHEN: Mon., Wed. and Thu. – 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri. –

11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sat. and Sun. – 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Brunch: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

DON’T-MISS DISHES: Goat Buster, mushroom fettuccine, chocolate cake VIBE: Casual and welcoming, with an approachably sophisticated feel.

ENTRÉE PRICES: $13 to $28

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The Stable’s Burger Grinder with roasted mushrooms and mozzarella.

REVIEW: REAL DEAL

served in. Artichoke hearts and fava beans lend texture to the dense mixture of goat, mozzarella and cream cheeses and sour cream, but unfortunately fail to add flavor.

Cheese also dominates the Pub Flat Bread, an 8-inch rectangular pizza with a soft crust of medium thickness. The creamy spinach, diced artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes give this a Greek twist, yet the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses covering the veggies provide more of an American pizza feel – and overpower the flavor of the vegetables.

The Sicilian Gumbo, described as a “take on the traditional favorite,” features pieces of spicy salsiccia, shrimp and ground beef, roasted red peppers and tender chunks of tomato. It’s spiced more like a chili than a gumbo, but it offers robust flavor and headsweating piquant heat.

Oddly, there’s not a single vegetarian option among the menu’s four salads. The spinach salad is topped with dried cherries, shallots, thin strips of smoked Gouda, pistachios and summer sausage, the last a jarring addition.

The passion fruit dressing is pleasantly sweet and tart but is applied too generously, turning the sturdy spinach soggy.

HITS AND MISSES ON A VAST MENU

BY S.C. TRUCKEY • PHOTO BY JONATHAN S. POLLACK

T

he Stable is primarily known as a beer bar, with extensive choices from all over the world. But don’t discount the restaurant, housed in a huge, almost cavernous, space.

The menu is also vast, ranging from soups, salads and sandwiches to pasta, osso buco and pizza. Among the 14 starters – including a basket of bacon – bacon-wrapped

February 2011

dates offer nice flavor but lose points for sloppy presentation, as they appeared to be haphazardly tossed onto the plate. The “sweet red pepper sauce” tasted like an Asian sweet and sour sauce and made the date gooier and the bacon stickier than usual.

Fava Bean and Artichoke Brulee hardly lives up to the brûlée name, seeing as its only resemblance is the oval dish it’s

The Stable’s take on the hamburger is an interesting – and original – approach: the Burger Grinder. It’s ground steak seasoned with a savory blend of herbs and spices, piled loose meat-style on French bread and then baked. Served alone, the meat would be unremarkable, but the half-dozen varieties make these grinders interesting.

The mushroom option has mozzarella stirred in with the meat rather than melted on top and is garnished with roasted mushrooms and mayo. Its simple, discernible flavors make this rather light, with nothing too overwhelming weighing it down. The Spicy Joe is dressed with chopped white onions, jalepeños, hot sauce and Cheddar cheese mixed in. While its flavor bears a slight resemblance to Hamburger Helper, it’s a familiar and satisfying taste. The grinders are difficult to eat, with the fillings falling out the other end of the bun, but they’re great pub fare.

The Formaggio Pizza, made with Gorgonzola, goat cheese, feta, mozzarella and white truffle oil, is, disappointingly, exactly like the flat bread but with different toppings.

The crust is soft and flavorless, with the cheese distributed generously on top. The goat cheese and Gorgonzola, overpower the subtle mozz, making more than one or two pieces out of the question even for lovers of stinky fromage.

Among the wide-ranging entrées, the butternut squash ravioli were cooked perfectly al dente and were stuffed with a sweet squash filling with a hint of orange, dressed with a flavorful sage butter sauce that nicely balanced the sweetness of the stuffing.

But before you can get to the pasta, you must deal with a pile of chopped tomatoes, onions and green peppers mixed with a white bean ragout – an odd combination that didn’t work well, the atypical toppings ruining a perfectly good dish.

The cheapest option in the entrée section is the intriguing Plate of Food, described as the “chef ’s selection” that changes “by the minute, by the hour, we just don’t know; all we know is it’s good.” This is a choice for the daring, particularly as there are no refunds. The plate consumed during our visit consisted of a ridiculous amount of spaghetti and meatballs accompanied by large pieces of grilled garlic bread. Who knows what it’ll be on your visit.

FILLING UP FOR $20 OR LESS WHERE: The Stable, 1821 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314.771.8500

WHEN: Tue. to Thu. – 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (bar until

1 a.m.), Fri. and Sat. – 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (bar until 1 a.m.), Sun. – 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (bar until 1 a.m.)

DINE-IN-ABILITY: The cavernous space offers an abundance of wooden tables.

FEAST OR FAMINE: A huge menu with heavy dishes, most geared toward the carnivore.

TRY IT YOU’LL LIKE IT: The Mushroom Grinder or the Sicilian Gumbo

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REVIEW: STL SCENE

CLAYTON’S SECRET SAKE SPOT

BY MATT BERKLEY • PHOTOS BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

I

t’s 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday as I step up on the curb at South Bemiston in Clayton. My destination: Area 14 Lounge, a clandestine sake lounge largely unknown to the throngs of Polo-clad barhoppers making their usual rounds on nearby Central Avenue. Like any good speakeasy, no neon signs beckon foot traffic to this hidden establishment. There’s only a door embellished with a geisha face, lorded over by a menacing, ever-present bouncer.

“Enjoy,” is all he says after giving our party a quick once-over and pushing open the door.

Inside, a dark hallway, illuminated only by miniature red specks of light, leads to the recesses of the building, where the pulsing sound of house music draws us forward.

The spawn of adjacent Tani Sushi Bistro, Area 14 is a slick late-night lounge smartly dressed in a New Age Asian style; it’s smooth, solid and glossy. Black walls are offset by white leather couches and ottomans meticulously arranged throughout the small space. On a central wall, a backlit oversized portrait of a geisha throws light on the dim room.

Intimate, stylish and equally pretentious, Area 14 is the type of place that keeps you eyeing the entrance for the arrival of fashion models. Decidedly exclusive, small and fun, the newest Clayton hotspot is an enjoyable distraction from reality for patrons who (with a little imagination and a lot of sake) are transported from a dreary night in the Midwest to a posh club in central Tokyo.

Intimacy does, however, come at a price. As the night progresses, it’s nearly impossible to find a seat and the bartenders at the bar by the entrance are backed up with orders, leaving grimacing patrons standing about with glasses of dry ice cubes.

Though small, the bar at Area 14 packs a serious selection. Sake is the definite showcase on the menu. Start off with a small carafe of hot rice wine (about 4 ounces) for $6.50. Cold bottles of various Japanese sake brands, each with different hints of various fruit, go for anywhere from $19 to $60. The bartenders also attempt

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a few specialty cocktails, like the Flirtini, a $9 concoction of mandarin vodka, Chambord, cranberry, simple syrup and lime, which, despite looking great, falls flat in the taste department. Much better is the Plum Saketini, a mix of plum vodka, sake and pineapple juice. Regular cocktails are well-executed and generously doused with call brand liquors for all tastes. And thankfully for Asian beer-lovers like me, the menu offers a number of Sapporos and Kirins at more-than-reasonable prices.

Bottle service is available for various vodkas and/or champagnes.

Despite the cosmetically enhanced gold diggers and their obnoxious prey that regularly inhabit the lounge on weekend nights, the venue appeals to both young professionals and the more mature, afterdinner crowd, all of whom make for great people-watching in extremely close quarters.

And with decent prices, the lounge is hardly exclusive, although I wouldn’t advise walking in wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Regardless of the few hiccups (expected in a fledgling drinking establishment), Area 14 Lounge is a more-than-welcome addition to a Clayton bar scene that has woefully too few newcomers. Sure, it might be cramped. And OK, the people can seem a bit pretentious.

But it’s an ideal spot to throw back a Martini and impress a first date. Get there early enough, grab a couch, order a tall, cold one, and enjoy the view. It’s definitely worth the price.

STL AFTER DARK WHERE: Area 14 Lounge, 14 S. Bemiston Ave., Clayton, 314.727.8264

WHEN: Tue. to Sat. – 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

CHECK IT: The Gateway City’s first sake speakeasy.

HIPSTER OR HOOSIER: Dress to impress and you’ll blend into the crowd of Clayton socialites, high rollers and thirsty 30-somethings.

SUDS OR ’TINIS: Start with a small carafe of sake chased with a tall, cold Sapporo.

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When winter’s colds and flus (or an over-indulgent weekend) knock me out, there is one silver bullet I can always count on: pho ga, or Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. At first glace, pho ga is a humble dish, a simple clear chicken broth presented with sides such as shredded chicken, rice noodles, cilantro, lime, Thai basil, and Thai or serrano chiles. But if you’ve ordered an exceptional bowl of pho ga, you’ll find that the broth has been infused with ginger, star anise, sweet roasted onion and other aromatics, adding layers of flavor that belie the dish’s standard menu description of “rice noodle soup with chicken.” You’ll feel better in just a few slurps.

– Dee Ryan

Lemongrass

PHOTOS BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

3161 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314.664.6702 South Grand is home to a few Vietnamese restaurants, but the pho ga from Lemongrass is not to be missed. The broth stands out because it’s a bit sweeter than expected, an incredibly addictive twist. Although basil isn’t among the accompaniments, plenty of lime and cilantro are offered, which accent the sweetness of the soup. The shredded chicken practically melts as it hits the hot broth, and two minutes of breathing in the healing steam from this flavorful bowl before you ingest it will surely cure all that ails you.

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Mai Lee

8396 Musick Memorial Drive, Brentwood, 314.645.2835 Mai Lee’s pho ga’s incredibly layered broth can stand on its own, with savory chicken, pronounced star anise and peppery ginger flavors. The generous portion of tender chicken that comes alongside it has a rich roasted flavor.

This pho ga staved off what promised to be the first brutal cold of the season. Pho ga: 1, common cold: 0.

Little Saigon Café

10 N. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, 314.361.8881 Sitting in the window seat looking out upon snowy Euclid Avenue and slurping down a bowl of Little Saigon’s pho ga is by no means the worst way to spend your lunch hour. The crystal clear broth, which pairs quite nicely with a little sweet hoisin sauce, boasts a stronger onion taste than some other versions, and the chicken is juicy and flavorful. Oddly, no peppers are offered with the garnishes, but throw in enough sriacha and you’ll never miss them.

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Debunking the myths surrounding this Indian staple by ligaya figueras | photos by carmen troesser

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Sambar, a vegetable-lentil stew, and idli, steamed rice cakes, from Gokul Snacks and Sweets.

February 2011

S

tews are a staple this time of year, offering hearty goodness, warm flavors and fragrant aromas to stave off the winter chill. An Indian curry fits the bill, but we’re not thinking along the lines of the ready-made yellow powder that many American home cooks keep in their spice armory.

“Curry is such a misused word,” said Hema Patel, owner of Haveli restaurant and Indian grocery store India Bazar, both in Maryland Heights. “A curry is like a gravy,” she summed. How has the Western notion of curry as a spice traveled a route that deviates from that held in the Indian subcontinent, and what are the steps to bringing this authentic Indian cuisine to the table?

FROM KARI TO CURRY Webster’s New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts defines curry as “any of several hot, spicy Indian meat and/ or vegetable stewlike dishes; usually served with rice and side dishes such as chutney, nuts and coconut,” plus a second definition of “a general term used to imprecisely describe any of a wide variety of spicy, Asian stewlike dishes.”

“Imprecisely describe”? It’s time to get precise.

We can thank the Brits in large part for the curry confusion, since it was British merchants smitten with salan, a spicy thin gravy dish with the familiar golden color, who termed the dish “curry” because it contained kari podi, a spice blend (sweet, aromatic kari leaves – we know them as curry leaves – being one ingredient in the blend) used to make kari dishes.

The Brits are, in fact, responsible for the advent of commercial curry

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powder, a blend that frequently contains yellow-inducing tumeric, red pepper, coriander, black pepper, cumin, fenugreek, curry leaves, mustard seeds, and sometimes cinnamon and cloves, all roasted and ground to a powder. As Indian cooking authority Julie Sahni writes in Classic Indian Cooking, early British merchants, eager to re-create in their homeland the same flavors that they experienced on the southeastern coast of India, “indiscriminately sprinkled kari podi over stews and casseroles” because they had not mastered different Indian cooking techniques or gained an understanding of spice blends.

INDIAN SPICE SECRETS Most Indian cooks would agree that spices are the soul behind the currymaking craft. Different curries call for different spices, herbs and fresh seasonings, a combination referred to as a masala. A masala may be whole, powdered or wet, as in a paste. Masala compositions are regional in character, but are also based on family traditions or individual preferences. Garam masala, for example, is a dry spice mixture of northern India; a basic blend might include warm spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cumin and coriander. The garam masala used at House of India in University City contains seven spices, while Jitendra Sandhe purchases one that contains more than 10 different spices for the dishes at his vegetarian restaurant Gokul Snacks and Sweets.

Another unique aspect to Indian cookery is the manner in which spices are added to dishes. Some may be added whole while others are first dryroasted and ground before being added.

In addition, spices are not necessarily added all at once, as might occur in an

American kitchen when seasoning a stew or a pot of chili.

Since whole spices like seeds can be sharp and pungent when raw, Indians use an age-old technique of seasoning them in oil. This procedure, known as making a tarka, changes the character of the seeds and imparts the flavor of the spice into the oil. Whole mustard or cumin seeds become sweet, nutty, aromatic and more digestible after sizzling and popping in the hot oil.

Multiple spices and seasonings such as fresh curry leaves can go into a tarka, and the spices are often added in a particular order, with those that burn easily, like dried chiles, being added last.

The perfumed oil is then folded into the finished dish, although this process can occur at the outset of the cooking process before adding other ingredients.

TURNING THE HEAT DIAL “The mixture of spices makes the food flavorful, not hot. Spices don’t make food hot,” contended House of India co-owner Satish Kumar regarding the notion that most curries are full of piquant heat. “The only thing that makes [curry] hot is red chile pepper or green chile pepper.”

Granted, a vindaloo, which Patel said is “usually the hottest thing on the menu” at Indian restaurants, is fiery hot. Be it chicken, lamb, fish or shrimp vindaloo, what characterizes this Portugueseinfluenced dish is the use of vinegar and those heat-giving chiles. The ingredients in the sauce for Haveli’s lamb vindaloo include red vinegar, red chiles, cumin, coriander and garam masala.

But Indian dishes are varied in their heat. For those who want a tempered initiation to curry, Patel always suggests the navratan korma, a dish continued on page 36

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Hema Patel (left), owner of Haveli, and her brother, Jignesh Patel, enjoy a meal of navratan korma, pictured in detail at top right.

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NAVRATAN KORMA Courtesy of Haveli’s Hema Patel This delicious Mughlai dish gets the name navratan, meaning “nine gems,” from the nine different veggies, fruit and nuts used in it. You can use almost any vegetables that you like.

4 Tbsp. vegetable, canola, sunflower or any cooking oil, divided ½ cup cashews, broken into pieces 2 medium-sized onions, chopped and puréed 2 tsp. garlic paste 1 tsp. ginger paste 3 tomatoes, chopped and puréed 1 tsp. ground coriander ½ tsp. ground cumin ½ tsp. ground turmeric ½ tsp. red chile powder 1 tsp. garam masala 1 cup warm water 1 cup peeled, cubed potato, parboiled 12 to 15 french beans, parboiled 2 medium carrots, chopped and parboiled ½ cup green peas, parboiled 1 cup cauliflower florets, parboiled 1 medium-sized green bell pepper, seeds removed and cut into 1-inch squares 6 to 8 raisins 3 Tbsp. heavy cream Salt to taste • Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a deep pan over medium heat. Add the cashews and fry till slightly dark.

Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

• In the same pan, heat the remaining cooking oil.

Add the onion and sauté till slightly browned.

• Add the garlic and ginger pastes and sauté for 1 minute. Now add the tomatoes and sauté for another minute.

• Add all the spices and sauté until the oil begins to separate. Stir often to keep the masala from sticking to the pan and burning.

• Add 1 cup of warm water and mix well. Cook for 1 minute.

• Add all of the parboiled vegetables, green pepper, fried cashews and raisins. Mix gently but well, making sure the vegetables do not mash or break.

Cook until the veggies are cooked but not mushy.

• Add the cream, season with salt to taste, stir and remove from the heat.

• Serve with hot naan or basmati rice.

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of mixed vegetables in a mild cream sauce sweetened from the likes of cashews, almonds and raisins. Kormas are mild, but not all kormas sway toward the sweet side – the popular savory vegetable korma that lands on the buffet every day at Gokul is built from two separate spiced gravies – a tomato gravy and an onion gravy – that are then combined with a medley of parboiled vegetables plus heavy cream (or coconut milk on vegan nights), and simmered some 20 minutes until the flavors have melded.

HOP ABOARD THE GRAVY TRAIN Although curry may denote “gravy” to an Indian, one major difference between a gravy as it is known in the Western world and an Indian-style curry is that a Western gravy is made separately and served on the side, whereas a curry is made by braising meat, fish or a vegetable in the sauce itself – in that way, curries are more like a Western stew.

“There are so many ways to make a gravy,” remarked House of India coowner Neelam Khurana. The basic procedure involves stir-frying sliced or diced onion in hot oil or ghee (clarified butter) until it turns a golden brown, then adding minced garlic and ginger – or, better yet, mash them together to form a paste, which lessens the chance of burning them and results in a smoother sauce. Then come whole spices, followed by ground ones. Now add the protein, such as diced chicken.

Once the meat is seared, you might add tomatoes for more flavor and moisture, then a cup or so of water.

Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is forktender.

Is it done yet? That depends. Not only do curries offer a range of flavor profiles – bitter, sour, salty, sweet and pungent – they also vary in thickness.

Unlike Western cooking, where flour is the go-to thickener for sauces and gravies, Indian cooks bulk up dishes and impart more flavor with components like yogurt, coconut milk,

ground nuts or puréed lentils. More viscous curries include the ever-popular tikka masala, with cubes of rusty-red tandoori chicken wading in a silky, creamy tomato sauce, or rogan josh, the specialty of Kashmir that showcases braised lamb perfumed with garlic in a velvety yogurt sauce. Thin-bodied curries include sambar, a vegetable and lentil stew flavored with tart-tasting tamarind and other spices. This south Indian staple is typically paired with steamed rice cakes known as idli, found on menus as idli sambar. (Look for this dish at Gokul and at Mayuri India Restaurant in Creve Coeur.)

Finally, before digging into the saucy delight, Indian cooks seek to balance the taste. And not just via salt. What does that curry need? A splash of citrus or perhaps a dash of dry citrus from the likes of amchur powder? Spiced oil seasonings or a sprinkle of chopped cilantro, and we’d say you’re good to go.

Brothy or thick, hot or mild, creamy, fruity – what kind of curry piques your palate? If you’re not sure, why not begin the curry quest in the buffet line at local Indian restaurants, where a tasty tour of the Indian curry world awaits.

GET IT

Pick up spices and other curry essentials at one of these area Indian grocery stores: Akshar Foods 12419 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton, 314.291.6666 Harsha Indian Groceries 14033 Manchester Road, Ballwin, 636.527.5656 India Bazar 10755 Page Ave., Maryland Heights, 314.423.5900

Seema Enterprises 10635 Page Ave., Maryland Heights, 314.423.9990 14238 Manchester Road, Manchester, 636.391.5914

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OPPOSITE, clockwise from top: Chotu Patel oversees curries in the making in Haveli’s kitchen; tandoori chicken ready to go into tikka masala at Haveli; chicken tikka masala from House of India.

THIS PAGE: Haveli’s lamb vindaloo.

NAVIGATING THE MENU Local Indian restaurants offer a variety of curry dishes. Here are some of the curries that you are most likely to encounter: CURRY – A vegetable, meat or fish dish made with a rich, onion-based gravy and mild spices like cumin, coriander, tumeric, salt and pepper.

VINDALOO – This pungent, heatladen curry is characterized by the presence of vinegar and chile peppers.

KORMA – A mild, cream-based sauce that may be made sweeter from the addition of cashews, almonds and raisins.

TIKKA MASALA – Meat or fish marinated in yogurt, herbs and spices then roasted in a tandoor, a clay oven, and simmered in a thick tomato-onion sauce. Chicken tikka masala is arguably the national dish of Britain.

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though stockless, this Italian peasant soup is rich with flavor by tory bahn photo by carmen troesser

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t was the hottest day of the summer in Florence, and I was on a mission to find acquacotta, a Northern Italian soup whose name translates to “cooked water.”

I had scoured the city all morning trying to soak up every bit of Florence in between my carefully selected meals, all of which would be quintessentially Tuscan. I had read that acquacotta, considered cucina povera, or peasant food, was a stockless vegetable soup with a poached egg and toasted bread with cheese – what I consider the perfect trifecta of ingredients.

When I found it at a restaurant appropriately named Acquacotta – schlepping bags of Florentine treasures, starved, exhausted and drenched – I was greeted by a smiling woman who most likely thought I actually was a peasant. She seemed to appreciate my broken Italian when I ordered wine, an antipasto platter, white beans in olive oil and a bowl of acquacotta. “Yes, all for me” was the look I proudly gave her as my order concluded.

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Cucina povera is the culinary equivalent of making the best with what you’ve got. Essentially you can add any vegetable to acquacotta, or just work with the contents of your fridge. Many recipes will call for swiss chard, a vegetable I normally love, but I find that the flavor overwhelms the other ingredients; I prefer to use spinach instead. And because acquacotta doesn’t rely on stock, a little flavor building is necessary.

Fresh herbs like basil offer a flavor boost, and using aromatics like leeks rounded out the flavors of the vegetable purée. I also think the use of an earthier mushroom was a very important component in creating the umami factor – that indescribable comfort food flavor.

I used porcini mushrooms, which lend a robust flavor. If you can’t find them fresh, buy dried and reconstitute them. If you do use fresh mushrooms, sweat or sauté them before adding them to the soup to reduce the high water content and release their flavor.

When my much anticipated soup arrived, it was perfection. The broth, filled with mushrooms, tomatoes and beans, was perfectly seasoned. The egg, which sold me on the dish from the start, added beautiful color and interesting texture. And then there was the lightly toasted bread, coated with melted Parmesan on one side and soaking up broth on the other.

It was the perfect lunch, regardless of the weather.

As winter marches on and we all tire of the weather, think of the sweltering summer that lingers four months from now. In the meantime, evoke sunny Italy with a warm and comforting bowl of acquacotta.

As a regional dish, acquacotta has many variations. Ingredients change depending upon the bounty of the season, the locality and the cook who makes it. The version of acquacotta below is from the Maremma region of Tuscany and includes a poached egg, which adds a wonderfully rich layer of flavor once you break the yolk and mix it into the broth.

6 SERVINGS

ACQUACOTTA

8 to 10 oz. dried porcini mushrooms 2 leeks ½ yellow onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 5 to 6 basil leaves, chopped ¹∕³ cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for toasting the bread 4 carrots, sliced 1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 28-oz. can peeled stewed tomatoes ½ tsp. red pepper flakes 8 cups water 1½ to 2 tsp. salt Freshly cracked black pepper to taste 1 lb. fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped 2 14-oz. cans cannellini beans, drained 1 Tbsp. white vinegar Loaf of white country bread Parmesan cheese, shredded 6 eggs • Rehydrate the mushrooms according to package instructions. Drain, reserving the water, and roughly chop. Set aside.

• Remove the green portion of the leek and chop the remaining white. Add the leeks, onion, celery, basil and parsley to a food processor and purée.

• Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large stockpot. Add the leek purée and sweat the mixture over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to sweat until the mixture starts to dry up and stick to the pan.

• Add the tomato paste and let it toast a bit, about 2 to 3 minutes. Dice the tomatoes and add them to the pot with the can juices.

• Add the red pepper flakes and simmer the soup for a few minutes.

• Add the water, the reserved water from rehydrating the mushrooms, salt and black pepper to taste. Add the spinach, mushrooms and beans and bring to a boil.

• Once the soup reaches a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

• Set the oven to broil and bring a pot of water with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a simmer.

• While the water is heating, slice the bread into 6 pieces about ½-inch thick. Place the slices on a baking sheet, brush each slice with olive oil and sprinkle heavily with Parmesan.

Broil until the cheese is melted and the bread is lightly toasted.

• Crack one egg into a small bowl.

When the water reaches a low simmer, create a funnel in the water with a spoon.

• Quickly add the egg into the funneled water and let it poach for about 2 minutes. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and carefully place it into a single-serving soup bowl. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

• Gently ladle the soup over each poached egg. Top with one piece of the cheese toast and serve.

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the latest sugary craze trickles into town by stacy schultz | photos by greg rannells

Macarons from the dessert sampler plate at Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood.

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et ready sweet tooths, there’s a new dessert in town – well, sort of. Macarons, the signature cookie of Parisian bakery Ladurée, are popping up all over the place in the States – from blogs to bakeries to dessert menus, even Oprah is touting these delicious little treats. But here in St. Louis, this tasty trend from the heart of France is just beginning to trickle in.

Not to be confused with the more common – though entirely different – coconut macaroons, macarons (pronounced mak-uh-rōhn) are French sandwich cookies made of egg whites, granulated and powdered sugars and almond powder, as well as additives for flavor and color. When made right, they’re smooth and shiny on top, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Traditionally, ganache, jam or buttercream is sandwiched between two of these brightly colored cookies, adding a layer of gooey texture and generous depth of flavor.

Though macarons have been a staple in Paris for nearly 150 years, they began taking the coasts by storm just a few years ago. Today, you can hardly walk into a corner bakery in New York City, Chicago or California without encountering these adorable little wonders. However, due to their degree of difficulty, it’s taking a bit longer for them to make their way onto local menus.

WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT What is it about these bite-sized pastries that makes them so difficult to pull off? First of all, they aren’t your typical last-minute dessert – macarons can require nearly as much planning as a black-tie wedding. “The advice of most cookbooks is to separate your eggs and then leave the egg whites to rest on the shelf for two or three days in order to reduce the acidity,” said Kakao’s Shannon Parker, who lets her egg whites sit for 48 hours in the fridge when she makes macarons for the local chocolatier. The process is less of an exact instruction than a result of personal trial and error. Katie Fitzgerald made macarons when she worked at The Raquet Club and is looking to add them to the lunch menu at Farmhaus, where she is currently the pastry chef. “I always, always, always use week-old egg whites, because they whip up better,” she noted.

But Nathaniel Meads, pastry chef and owner February 2011

of Fritz Pastry, a Chicago bakery known for its macarons, doesn’t let his egg whites sit out at all. Yet Parker said that anytime she has skipped this step, “it was a mess.” And so the confusion begins.

The next hoop to jump through is the ingredients. Though basic macaron batter calls for just four ingredients, this short list can work up quite a bill. Almond meal/flour sells for $12.99 per pound at Whole Foods (compared with $1.19 and $1.39 for organic whole-wheat pastry flour and white flour, respectively). This, along with the amount of work these cookies require, causes bakeries and restaurants to charge big prices for the bite-sized snack. The Bakery at The Ritz-Carlton in Clayton, for example, charges $2 per cookie, while Kakao sells its macarons for $1.50 apiece (Parker cuts down on the cost of ingredients by making her own almond flour). The price, Parker said, can be offputting to customers. “You have to tell people what goes into them because they don’t look like much, so you have to give some education as to why they’re so expensive.”

Once all the ingredients for the recipe are in place, executing it is no piece of cake either.

Intricate instructions can prove cumbersome at best – and downright maddening at worst.

Since nearly all macaron recipes originated in France, the best ones include measurements in weight rather than volume. While you could pour over conversion tables, Parker advised against it due to what she calls macarons’ finicky nature. “If you’re going to do this with any kind of hope of making them work, you need to buy a scale,” she said.

Now let’s talk about that finicky nature. First, there is the folding of the almond powder into the meringue. Some recipes call for fancy methods like pressing the batter up onto the sides of a stainless steel bowl, scooping the batter from the bottom and turning it upside down several times, while others suggest seemingly simple tips and tricks for pulling off the complex task. All come with the same warning: Over-beat and they won’t set up, under-beat and your cookies will crack. “You really have to have an eye for it,” said Farmhaus’ Fitzgerald. saucemagazine.com I SAUCE MAGAZINE I 39

MASTERING THE MACARON Even the most experienced bakers can get tripped up making macarons, but keep trying – the more you make them, the better you’ll get. Here, a few insider tips for tasteful execution.

Buying a kitchen scale is essential to executing macarons. They are available at any kitchen supply store and range from $15 to $65.

A pastry bag with a No. 807 tip is best for piping your macarons.

Avoid cornstarch in all your ingredients, from the almond meal/ flour to the sugar and flavorings, as it can cause the pastry to crack.

Baking times vary greatly between ovens. Think of the baking time as more of a process than a rule – keep your oven light on and pay attention.

Store your almond flour/meal in the freezer, as it goes rancid quickly. Of course, you can always buy fresh almonds and grind them in a food processor instead.

Once you have mastered the technique, think of macarons as a blank canvas. You can create any flavor combination imaginable with these snazzy little sandwiches, from peanut butter and jelly to carrot cake and cream cheese to strawberries and cream.

Don’t feel like making ganache or buttercream? Chances are you already have the makings for a quick and delicious filling right in your kitchen. Sorbet, ice cream, jam, peanut butter, Nutella, cream cheese and lemon curd can all be used as easy go-to fillings.

Clockwise from bottom left: Mike Shannon’s pastry chef Phillipe Aufret mixes the batter for his macarons; Aufret adds red food coloring to his chocolate macaron batter to create a deep brown color in the baked cookies; The Ritz-Carlton’s executive pastry chef Simone Faure sifts almond flour before folding it into to the egg white mixture; Faure pipes out her chocolate macarons.

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The Ritz-Carlton’s executive pastry chef Simone Faure lifts her baked pistachio macarons from the baking sheet before making them into tiny sandwiches.

Once the almond powder is incorporated, hurdles still abound. Skill, good timing and a keen eye for baking are as essential to successfully executing these cookies as eggs are. Macarons won’t work if they’re too small or if they aren’t dried long enough before baking (even worse, drying times vary with the weather). Small tricks like tapping the baking sheet against the counter to help the cookie’s pied, or “little feet,” to form and doubling up on baking sheets to prevent the bottoms from burning are key, and uncontrollable factors such as a hot kitchen can send your perfect little cookies into a very mushy mess. Just in case that doesn’t scare you off, cooking times – and temperatures – can vary with each batch.

A COURAGEOUS FEW OK, we get it: You have to be some sort of pastry magician to pull off this Mount Kilimanjaro of desserts. But the innovative culinary minds here in town aren’t known for shying away from a challenge, and macarons are no exception. At The Ritz, executive pastry chef Simone Faure has each new cook at the French-style bakery go through macaron 101. The reason is simple: “When my plane lands in France, I run to Ladurée and grab macarons as fast as I can; they’re so simple and so good,” Faure said. “When guests taste them, maybe they won’t know the difference [between house-made and bought macarons], but I will.”

Where can you find macarons around town? These local bakeries and restaurants offer the tasty treat.

Atlas Restaurant 5513 Pershing Ave., St. Louis 314.367.6800 House-made, available upon request with advance notice Bittersweet Bakery 2200 Gravois Ave., Soulard 314.771.3500 House-made, available upon request with advance notice Cielo 999 N. Second St., St. Louis

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314.881.5800 House-made traditional macarons and Amaretti Cookie Sandwich dessert available by request for large parties with advance notice Colleen’s Cookies 7337 Forsyth Blvd., University City 314.727.8427 House-made; available by special order with 1 to 2 days notice Cravings Gourmet Desserts 8149 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves 314.961.3534 House-made, available daily

Franco 1535 S. Eighth St., St. Louis 314.436.2500 House-made; available upon request with advance notice Kakao 2301 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis 214.771.2310 7272 Manchester Road, Maplewood (opening soon) House-made; available occasionally and by request with advance notice La Bonne Bouchée 12344 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur

314.576.6606 Imported; available daily Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafoods 620 Market St., St. Louis 314.421.1540 House-made dessert sampler plate; available daily Rue Lafayette 2026 Lafayette Ave., St. Louis 314.772.2233 Imported; available daily The Bakery at The Ritz-Carlton 100 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton 314.863.6300, x. 490 House-made; available daily

At Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood, pastry chef Philippe Aufret, a French native, has toyed with several versions of the Parisian pastry for the downtown restaurant’s dessert menu. Originally plating a single, traditional almond macaron, Aufret later sandwiched vanilla crème between two cookies and served them with a raspberry coulis and fresh raspberries. In November, he changed up the dish once again, creating a dessert sampler that features five thoughtful macaron flavors: pistachio with buttercream, chocolate with vanilla-chocolate ganache, caramel with house-made caramel, spiced bread with French buttercream and house-made orange marmalade, and lemon with a lemon cream. The dish has been a hit with guests.

Eric Kelly also tried his hand at macarons at Scape American Bistro, where he is executive chef. For the Valencia Macarons he had on the saucemagazine.com I SAUCE MAGAZINE I 41

CHOCOLATE MACARONS Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton’s Simone Faure Makes 20 cookie sandwiches 100 grams powdered sugar 50 grams powdered almonds, almond flour or almond meal 25 grams unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 2 large egg whites, at room temperature 65 grams granulated sugar 4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped ½ cup heavy cream 2 tsp. light corn syrup 1 Tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces

Chocolate macarons at The Bakery at The Ritz-Carlton.

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• Process the powdered sugar, almond powder and cocoa in a blender or food processor so there are no lumps. Set aside.

• In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

• Carefully fold the cocoa mixture, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula.

• When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into a pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps).

• Pipe the batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets into 1-inch circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced 1 inch apart.

• Once piped, let the rounds sit for 30 minutes to develop a crust.

• Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the countertop to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15 to 18 minutes.

• Let cool completely then remove the cookies from the baking sheet.

• Meanwhile, make the filling: Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl.

• In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to a boil.

• Remove the pan from the stove and pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and allow it to sit for 2 minutes. Stir the mixture until it’s well incorporated.

• Add the butter pieces and stir until smooth.

Allow to cool.

• Assemble the macarons by spreading one cookie with filling and topping with another cookie. Repeat until all cookies are used.

dessert menu last year, Kelley sandwiched blood orange gelato between two traditional housemade chocolate macarons. The tart blood orange with the rich chocolate cookie “makes you feel like you’re eating a Tootsie Roll,” Kelly said.

Meanwhile, over at Cielo at The Four Seasons Hotel, a Chocolate Amaretti Cookie Sandwich was one of the most popular choices on the restaurant’s dessert menu this summer. A play on the childhood favorite, the dish was a rich yet light sandwich of house-made vanilla ice cream smashed between two delicate but chewy jumbo hazelnut macarons. Though it’s no longer on the restaurant’s dessert menu, assistant pastry chef Peter Whitley will still make it upon request for large parties. He also often sends traditional, house-made macarons to diners after their meals as a compliment from the kitchen.

The question must be asked: If a group of local pastry chefs have the talent – not to mention the courage – to take on these pesky little pastries, why aren’t macarons on more dessert menus and in more bakery cases around town?

An unfamiliarity with them is certainly a factor. Ask for macarons at most local bakeries and restaurants, and more often than not, they assume you’re talking about the coconut version – trust us, researching this story took a lot of explaining. Ask the average dessert-lover about them, and you’re likely to garner more than a few bewildered stares. Combine that with the hefty price tag, and it’s easy to see why macarons haven’t spread with quite the same force as the cupcake revolution.

The good news: It’s not impossible. At Chicago’s Fritz Pastry, two people churn out 250 macarons a day in anywhere from nine to 13 flavors, which are then sold for 75 cents per cookie. The staff has whittled the entire process down to just two hours, Meades said, “from piping to baking to filling to putting them away.” On slow days, he sells 125 to 150 of these brightly colored treats, proving that it is possible to make macarons work. But even he admitted that it’s not easy. “If you want to add [macarons] to your business, be prepared,” Meades said. “Have recipes tested and retested so that nothing can go wrong – and then expect something to go wrong.” As fans of these delectable little treats, we’re hoping more local chefs will give it a shot.

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STUFF TO DO

PHOTO BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

FOOD page 48 • ART page 55

What better way to say “I love you” than over a Crave Case and cheese fries? Hey, there’s even candlelight. Grab your sweetie and head to the 20th Annual Valentine’s Day Candlelight Dinner at White Castle, where you’re sure to win brownie points for sharing your chicken rings. See page 48 for details.

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BY BYRON KERMAN

FOOD

FESTIVAL Southern Comfort Taste of Soulard Feb. 26 and 27 – various times, various Soulard restaurants and pubs · 314.771.5110 · mardigrasinc.com Purchase SoCo Taste of Soulard ticket booklets in advance or the day of the Taste, at the participating restaurants, and you’ll be set for a progressive party. (Booklets include six food tastes and one booze taste.) A staggering list of options includes everything from crab cakes with creamy crab sauce and jambalaya with baked herb rice at 1860’s Hardshell Café to andouillestuffed mushrooms at Big Daddy’s to fried beef tacos at Chava’s to blackened chicken Creole pizza at Joanie’s and much, much more. Plan ahead and aim for the ones that sound best to you. Don’t miss the free trolley (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on Saturday, which is not only fun, but might also be a necessity for the imbibers.

SPECIAL EVENTS Serendipity After Dark Feb. 11 to 13 – after 7 p.m. nightly, Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream · 314.962.2700 · serendipity-icecream.com The prix fixe dessert spectacular known as Serendipity After Dark makes for a fun, romantic V-Day choice. Ice Cream queen Beckie Jacobs of Serendipity explained that for the whole weekend before Valentine’s Day, couples can enjoy a total of four ice cream desserts, two beverages (coffee, tea or cocoa), a take-home chocolate gift, candlelight and live guitar music by her husband for a set price. Last year’s ice cream dessert choices included hot fudge brownie sundaes, apple pie à la mode, the “float flight” (root beer, strawberry and cream floats), a trio of cupcakes and ice cream, assorted cookies and ice cream, and a trio of mini sundaes. (À la carte choices included affogato, which is vanilla ice cream with espresso, and chocolate-covered strawberries.) Jacobs said that Serendipity After Dark has proven so popular that the ice cream parlor has to utilize the empty storefront next door to accommodate all the couples. Reservations are required.

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Valentine’s Day Candlelight Dinner at White Castle Feb. 14 – 5 to 8 p.m., participating area White Castles 314.535.7430, x. 21 · whitecastle.com Love comes in many forms. Sometimes love is a deafening shout. Other times, it is a humble whisper. Sometimes it is two sweaty lovers on a mattress strewn with 24 empty cans of Hamm’s and the greasy cardboard packages from a Crave Case of sliders. Is that not love? Where love takes root, let no man pluck its shoot. And if love resides at White Castle, open the door and smell the love. Taste love’s buns, redolent of grilled onions. Taste love’s cheese fries with ketchup. Try love’s chicken rings – if thou wouldst.

Feel the love at White Castle’s annual Valentine’s Day Candlelight Dinner, which might just be as popular as it is awesome.

Now in its 20th year, the cheesy night of romance includes tableside service, cute décor in the restaurant, commemorative photos of each couple placed online, occasional music (depending on the location), a specially printed menu and, perhaps the most poignant touch, candlelight. Reservations, which are required, may be made for half-hour slots between 5 and 7 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.

CLASSES AND TASTINGS Israeli Wine Tasting Feb. 1 – 8 to 9 p.m., Staenberg Family Complex, Arts & Education Building, Jewish Community Center 314.442.3771 · festivalofjewishlifestl.com When someone says “Israeli liquor,” you probably think of Sabra, the chocolateorange liqueur that’s been around nearly as long as the modern state of Israel has. But the Israeli region has been producing wine for much longer than that (King David enjoyed a tipple or two, from what we understand).

Modern Israeli wines are still kosher, of course, but they’re no longer the sickly sweet stuff that many American Jews have come to loathe at the Passover table every spring.

Israeli wineries number in the hundreds now and produce 30 million bottles annually.

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR ADA M ALTNETHER The 24-year-old Gerard Craft protégé, former chef de cuisine at Niche and executive chef at Brasserie by Niche, and new owner of Taste, scheduled to open in its new Central West End home this month.

Gerard Craft was your boss, and now he’s your investor. Is he still your boss? He’s a silent partner, but there isn’t anybody in this world that I respect more than Gerard.

I’m forever indebted to him. He took me under his wing from the moment I started at Niche. I’m really happy that he was willing to be an investor. It’s a bittersweet moment, though, you know? We’re such good friends. I’m happy we’re not separating.

It’s like Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi – a Jedi grows up. That’s extremely flattering. A lot of chefs would aspire to have a speck of the talent he has.

You’re going to be one of the youngest restaurant owners in town. Well, one

good thing about that is I’m young enough to recover from this if it doesn’t work. [Laughs] What’s your comfort food? Pasta with something simple like a red sauce, or maybe some braised meat. My favorite food right now, which I’ve eaten the last three nights, is popcorn.

What’s your end-of-the-night drink? If I go up to Ted [Kilgore, Taste’s bartender] and say I need a drink, he instinctively knows what I want – it’s often the strongest bourbon he has, on the rocks.

After a rough night, I go for short and boozy.

– Byron Kerman

February 2011

PHOTO BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

STUFF TO DO:

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BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE

THE FOUNTAIN ON LOCUST

3037 Locust St., St. Louis, 314.535.7800

PHOTO BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

Looking for a winter retreat from all the snow? Take shelter in a rear booth at The Fountain on Locust, where you can enjoy the art deco décor and listen to an episode of the radio comedy serial Soap Hospital while you warm up with a Magnum Opus coffee cocktail.

The varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a bit of Cabernet Franc, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Riesling and Syrah. Wine connoisseur Marshall Friedman discusses Israeli wines and offers lotsa tastes at an event sponsored by the new Festival of Jewish Life at the JCC. All wines are kosher and orders can be placed at the event for Passover 2011. Call or visit the site above for reservations.

February 2011

St. Louis Bee School Feb. 12 – 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Maritz · 314.894.8737 easternmobeekeepers.com Baby, it’s cold outside, but that’s no problem – your bees are safe and warm. That’s because you’re a graduate of St. Louis Bee School, where people learn how to create happy bees, delicious honey, super-nutritious pollen and other goodies. The Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association welcomes saucemagazine.com I SAUCE MAGAZINE I 51

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guests to the Maritz HQ in Fenton for a oneday learning blitz with courses for newbies and experienced hivemasters alike. College professors and veteran keepers will discuss “honeybee biology, site location, equipment requirements, bee sources, and producing, harvesting, extracting, bottling and selling honey and hive products. The course will also cover the basics of disease and pest management and control,” and will adopt elements of the 2010 pop-science hit book Honeybee Democracy. Preregistration is required.

Hearts Are Wild Kids’ Cooking Class Feb. 13 and 26 – 1 to 3 p.m., Eckert’s of Belleville 618.233.0513 · eckerts.com Pushing any kind of a cookie cutter into a sandwich feels so right. Squashing the cutter down through the layers of bread, lettuce, meat and so on is a tactile delight, and the final product – a perfect circle, a cat, even the disarming silhouette of Richard Nixon, if you must – is always cute as heck. (Eating the part of the sandwich that’s outside of the cutter is a reasonable appetizer, too.)

Your children can punch out a plateful of sandwiches shaped like hearts at the Hearts Are Wild Kids’ Cooking Class at Eckert’s of Belleville this month. They’ll also create heart-shaped pies, strawberry smoothies and take-home treats in the Country Store activity area. Call for reservations.

Blind Tasting Class: Cabernet vs.

Merlot Feb. 28 – 7 p.m., Balaban’s Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar 636.449.6700 · balabanswine.com “What happened to Merlot’s reputation?” is the query in the blurb for an upcoming blind tasting class at Balaban’s Wine Cellar and Tapas Bar. Well, we can tell you exactly what happened to Merlot. Paul Giamatti happened to Merlot. The homely actor hit his career apogee with his character’s famously angry anti-Merlot utterance in the hilarious 2004 film Sideways. After that, whether you were a certified wine snob or a frat boy perusing his first wine list, you got a laugh with that line, too. The Merlot growers, on the other hand, were not exactly amused.

Balaban’s wine manager Aaron Zwicker thinks Merlot has been unjustly besmirched, so he’s set up a challenge wherein three bangin’ Merlots will square off against three big Cabernets from various wine-growing regions around the globe. Is it time to lift the Sideways curse, or is Merlot best suited for soaking a brisket? You decide.

February 2011

Pies Anytime Feb. 28 – 6 to 9 p.m., Schnucks Cooks Cooking School 314.909.1704 · schnuckscooks.com As far as we know, there are no plans to view the famous “pie scene” from the movie Stand By Me during the course of the Pies Anytime cooking class at Schnucks, but it might add a certain frisson to the festivities and should be earnestly considered by all relevant parties. In the real world, you can bake up savory and sweet pies at the comforting class, taught by Lucy Schnuck in Des Peres. She’ll guide students through “stepped-up shepherd’s pie,” savory chicken pot pie and blueberry pie à la mode in a hands-on session with hard and soft beverages included.

sponsored events Opera Theatre of St. Louis Wine and Beer Tasting Feb. 11 – 6 to 8 p.m. · Sally S. Levy Opera Center 314.963.4223 Raise a glass to the arts at this annual event to support Opera Theatre’s professional development programs for emerging artists.

Sip wines and microbrews and nibble hors d’oeuvres before trying your hand at the silent auction.

Print/Pull Printmaking Exhibition Feb. 18 to April 18th (opening reception: Feb. 18 – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.) · SPACE Architecture + Design Studio stoopidfresh.com/events

Letterpress printing, silk-screen and etching come together to form this exciting and innovative exhibition in The Grove. A bevy of printmaking artists from St. Louis and Chicago and DJ NeedlesBeer will enliven the opening reception.

An Evening for Sight, Soiree pour la Vue Feb. 25 – 6:30 p.m. · Point of View · 618.394.6221 Enjoy an open bar, a Cajun dinner and shaking your tail feather to the Funky Butt Brass Band to benefit Minds Eye Information Service and Lighthouse for the Blind-Saint Louis. saucemagazine.com I SAUCE MAGAZINE I 53

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ART

BY BYRON KERMAN

Apop Records’ movie night celebrates Black History Month every Thursday in February with eccentric films.

COMEDY

THEATER

Comedians You Should Know

The Memory of Water, presented

by West End Players Guild

Feb. 19 – 8 p.m., White Flag Projects · 314.531.3442 whiteflagprojects.org In conjunction with the Time Wounds All Heels exhibition about art and humor, the White Flag Projects gallery presents a performance from a smattering of comics from Chicago troupe Comedians You Should Know. A visit to the comedy collective’s Web site (comediansyoushouldknow. com) offers a peek at the routines of Mike Lebovitz (LSD can make you temporarily lose the ability to read even your own name); Aaron Weaver, who slyly compares a sandwich to an awfully controversial topic (“A large group of people out there believe that a sandwich is conceived the moment the cheese is inserted – at that point it becomes something sacred and you can never go back.”); and Drew Michael (“I hate myself. That was the best part about having a girlfriend, is you don’t hate yourself as much, because you don’t have time. You’re too focused on the relationship.

That voice inside your head that normally says … ‘You’re a fraud. Nobody likes you.’ ... That’s replaced with, ‘No, I’d love to go apple-picking.’ You just don’t have time for both.”) The show is free.

February 2011

Feb. 4 to 13, Union Avenue Christian Church · 314.367.0025 westendplayers.org It’s tempting to think that Tracy Letts, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama August Osage County, stole a few pages from Shelagh Stephenson’s book. Stephenson’s The Memory of Water offers three sisters returning to the homestead to bury a parent, bucketloads of dark humor, and the undeniable, palpable feeling of deep family conflict that we all know so well; sounds a lot like Letts’ premier work to me. Water, though, is set in Britain and is leavened with so much witty, cutting humor that its great triumph may be how it transforms a dark comedy into a redemptive journey with such graceful aplomb. The WEPG presents a cast of four leading women and two supporting men in the absorbing tale. This one’s a winner.

depressions great and small, when all of the sudden Wilford Brimley tiptoes in from the wings to offer the lessons of FDR’s cousin, Teddy Roosevelt! Just when we get over the shock of seeing the mustachioed oatmeallover emoting as our spunkiest president, impossibly, Tom Bosley emerges from the other side of the stage, swathed in the period garb and hairpiece of a certain Millard Fillmore!

No, wait, there’s more – this jamboree of stout actors in the indignant autumn of their years is just gettin’ started, ’cause here comes Ernest Borgnine as James Garfield, and William Shatner as Grover Cleveland! Holy hell, make it stop! In truth, the formidable Ed Asner is alone on stage, delivering FDR’s Fireside Chats and discussing WWII, Eleanor Roosevelt and much more at a one-man, onenight show at the Florissant Civic Center. And Ed Asner is enough.

EXHIBIT

Ed Asner as FDR

Something Happened: A Residency Retrospective

How cool would it be if Ed Asner were playing FDR onstage, rolling around, cigarette holder jammed in his teeth, lecturing us on fear and

An insane asylum is a place with abbreviated cells that branch off from a central hallway.

Feb. 21, Florissant Civic Center Theatre · 314.921.5678 florissantmo.com/Theatre

Feb. 4 to March 18 (opening reception: Feb. 4 – 6 to 9 p.m.), Luminary Center for the Arts · 314.807.5984 theluminaryarts.com

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In each cell, a person is stewing, and a storm is brewing. The Luminary is an arts center with quaint little studios that branch off from a central hallway. In each tiny garret, an artist is spewing, and something is doing. Something Happened, the new group show at the Luminary, is a showcase for artists who won the right to utilize its micro-studio spaces in 2010. The “inmates” featured include Brian Depauli, who crafts hand-built zoetropes and disco balls with embedded text. “The work is in-your-face and celebratory,” explained Luminary director James McAnally, “cocky and perfectly executed.” Sarrita Hunn “investigates the systems through which information is mediated, and translates that information into new analog and digital forms through paintings, sculptures and public events,” he added. Amy Reidel’s “diverse multimedia work gathers around a few primary poles: storm imagery as personal metaphor, celebrity as guide, and television as comfort,” but “the true narrative is the artist herself embedded in these disparate images,” said McAnally. Opening at the same time in the Installation Space, Lauren F. Adams’ exhibit, The Nymph’s Reply will incorporate themes of colonialism, exploitation and contemporary politics through large-scale temporary wall paintings. In the past, she’s created such humorous yet pointed work as her Soviet avant-garde “agit-porcelain,” which mixes the delicate and the deadly.

ARTS GALA Tropicanniversary

PHOTO BY WESLEY LAW

Feb. 2 – 6 to 9 p.m., Tropicana Lanes · modernstlinfo@ gmail.com · modern-stl.com ModernSTL is a new advocacy group that has, among other charms, great visuals.

When you see the buildings it’s trying to save, faced with art-deco glass brick, embellished by soaring concrete arches or comprised of Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced horizontal planes, you can’t help but think about our vanishing tastes. ModernSTL is dedicated to preserving local mid-century modern architecture, which it can define much better at its Web site (see above) than we can here. One great example of this sort of cool structure that’s still functional is Richmond Heights’ Tropicana Lanes, an oddly angled building that may remind people of a certain age of the Tiki bar trend. ModernSTL hosts a 50th anniversary party for the vintage bowling alley with a February 2011

fun slideshow in the lounge, presentations, networking, prizes and discounted bowling.

BEFORE & AFTER TROPICANNIVERSARY

FILM Independent Lens Documentaries, presented by St. Louis Community Cinema Feb. 3 – 7 p.m., Missouri History Museum · 314.746.4599 ninenet.org If you’re a doc-freak (that’s a lover of documentaries), you may already know about the St. Louis Community Cinema series sponsored by the Nine Network (aka our local PBS affiliate). Each month, the Missouri History Museum screens another doc from the fascinating Independent Lens series (the films also air later, on various Sunday nights on Channel 9), followed by a panel discussion with experts in relevant fields. This month’s opus is Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story. Director Daniel Birman follows six years in the life of a remarkably self-aware 16-year-old sentenced to life in prison for murder, from conviction through prison through various corridors of her dark odyssey. He looks into her family history, among other places, finding some disturbing patterns. You can view trailers and read descriptions for each doc at the Web page listed just above this paragraph.

Movie Night at Apop Thursdays – 9 p.m., Apop Records (except Feb. 3, when it will screen at the Moolah Theatre) · 314.664.6575 Every Thursday night the cheerful iconoclasts at Cherokee Street’s proudly esoteric Apop Records fire up the DVD player and show some weird stuff. Their take on Black History Month promises to be outrageous and bizarre. First up is The Human Tornado (Feb. 3), Rudy Ray Moore’s second “Dolemite” blaxsploitation movie. (The Human Tornado will not be shown at Apop, but in the swanky Mini-Moolah lounge area at the Moolah Theatre.) Next, Italian film Goodbye Uncle Tom (Feb. 10) is not for the faint of heart.

Then, Darktown Strutters (Feb. 17) is a nutty romp that includes musical numbers, a sci-fi element, and an appearance by Otis Day, leader of the house band from Animal House. Finally, Space is the Place (Feb. 24) is a monumentally strange 1974 film written by eccentric jazz genius Sun Ra, that’s redeemed by great concert footage.

Apop Movie Nights, which are free, include complimentary snacks and drinks.

BEFORE: Fuel up for all that bowling with a piece of pie – pizza pie, that is – at Katie’s Pizzeria. Apps like the fried eggplant rollatini and the white bean dip satisfy, but for your entrée the egg, speck, goat cheese and rosemary pizza (pictured) is a can’t-miss. The beautiful eggs add a rich sauce to this salty, tangy pie, creating the perfect flavor fusion for a night on the lanes.

6611 Clayton Road, Clayton, 314.727.8585 AFTER: After hours of bowling and boozing, kick off your bowling shoes and head down the street for a nightcap.

At the Par Lounge, slip into a cushy leather couch and toast the night’s big winner with one of the bar’s signature cocktails.

1001 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, 314.646.1300

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Skip the schmaltzy sweets (though do keep the champagne) and add spice to this month’s romantic meals instead. Go for something with complex flavor, like the famed mole poblano at Milagro Modern Mexican, where chef Jason Tilford simmers a long list of ingredients into a deep, rich sauce suitable for special occasions.

Even better, you don’t have to forgo the chocolate altogether – it’s in the sauce.

– Katie O’Connor

MOLE POBLANO Courtesy of Milagro Modern Mexican’s Jason Tilford 6 CUPS 4 poblano chiles 8 ancho chiles, toasted, stemmed and seeded 4 guajillo chiles, toasted, stemmed and seeded 3 garlic cloves, chopped 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth ½ cup almonds ¼ cup peanuts ¼ cup raisins 2 cloves 1 Tbsp. kosher salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 Tbsp. sugar 2 oz. Mexican chocolate 2 cups diced tomatoes

PHOTO BY ASHLEY GIESEKING

• On a gas grill or broiler, roast the poblano chiles until the skin is blistered and slightly black in spots. Remove from the heat and wrap with plastic wrap; let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the wrap and skin the chiles, then slice them in half and remove the seeds and stem.

• Place all of the ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.

• Remove from the heat and let the sauce cool to a safe temperature for blending.

In small batches, purée the sauce until smooth.

• Return the sauce to the stove top and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust viscosity with more broth or warm water.

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