It’s been sixteen months since I moved back to the St. Louis area from Brooklyn, New York. Because I seek interaction with new people and tend to make friends quickly, I was concerned that St. Louis would begin to feel too small to me once I got on my feet here. I wondered how long it [...]]]>

It’s been sixteen months since I moved back to the St. Louis area from Brooklyn, New York. Because I seek interaction with new people and tend to make friends quickly, I was concerned that St. Louis would begin to feel too small to me once I got on my feet here. I wondered how long it would take me to meet “everyone” in St. Louis.

STL Wine Girl, The Cubicle Chick and Small Town Girl

Just when I thought I knew many of the key players in the St. Louis social media scene, I was invited to attend a St. Louis Yelp Elite party held at the Regional Arts Commission, where I knew only four people, including the Yelp community manager, Abby.

I attended a Yelp Blogger’s Roulette in June and had a great time, but when I arrived at the Regional Arts Commission last night for the Yelp Elite event, I was shocked to realize how many new-to-me faces there were in the room.

Caricature Artist, Drawing a Portrait of @milligfunk and @stlwinegirl

The main gallery area was filled with thirty or so people, and more had migrated to the rooftop deck where an artist was drawing caricature portraits for tips. Everything at the event was themed around the letter “P”.

@stlwinegirl and @milligfunk with their p-p-p-portrait

PBR was being served by a volunteer at the free Yelp bar, and boxes of pizza from St. Louis’ Pi sat on tables in the gallery. Brea photography had a makeshift photo booth set up, Powerade donated bottles of drinks, and Serendipity provided butter pecan ice cream and pineapple sorbet.

Puff Paint

Puff paint was present, and plenty of it. An entire table was set up with plastic Yelp cups to be decorated by guests using puff paint, markers, glitter and more.

As I enjoyed the venue, the portraits, the puff painting, and the food, I ran into a few friends and I had the chance to meet a few new people. More importantly, I saw how many people were in the room who I wish I’d have had time to get to know. Lots of fun girls in hip dresses and great shoes, and a handful of creative-type dudes who would probably be good for smart conversation.

STL Wine Girl and Small Town Girl - A Picture Frame Portrait

In New York, we talk about how small the city really is, despite its huge population. It’s not uncommon to run into old friends in the middle of busy streets or see your ex in a neighborhood they never used to visit.

Thanks to “P”-themed party hosted by Yelp and the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, I was reminded that St. Louis is overflowing with people I’ve yet to meet and with reasons to be curious about and interested in the community.

On my list of things to do before I celebrate my 30th birthday is learn to make martinis. Considering that I love fresh fruit and that I love to make things from scratch, it’s not far-fetched that I’d attempt making my own blueberry-infused vodka to use in blueberry cocktails (martinis included) later this month.

I’m fascinated by [...]]]>

On my list of things to do before I celebrate my 30th birthday is learn to make martinis. Considering that I love fresh fruit and that I love to make things from scratch, it’s not far-fetched that I’d attempt making my own blueberry-infused vodka to use in blueberry cocktails (martinis included) later this month.

I’m fascinated by the berries and the vodka, coexisting in this chilled 2-quart jar. The longer the vodka sits, the more the skins of the berries tint the vodka purplish-blue, so that each time I open my refrigerator I’m graced with a new variation on the same ingredients. The vodka and the blueberries are on a journey.

While the flavors of the blueberries and the vodka will eventually blend, the berries themselves remain firm. There’s something allegorical about this relationship that gives me hope that I can continue to adapt to rural Missouri without losing what distinguishes my life experiences from those of the friends and family who surround me here.

As with so many aspects of my life in Small Town Missouri, the vodka’s incubation tests my patience. It’s the slow change of the vodka and blueberries that fascinates me though, and so my experiment with homemade liquor has become a lesson in enjoying the process – of my kitchen concoctions, and also of myself.

Somewhere roughly halfway between Farmington and Fredericktown, Missouri on Highway OO (just south of the intersection of Highway DD) lie forty acres of blueberries.

Liberty Farms sells pick-’em-yourself blackberries and blueberries at seriously reasonable rates. I bought just over three pounds of blueberries for less than nine dollars. If you’re [...]]]> I discovered a treasure on Saturday.

Somewhere roughly halfway between Farmington and Fredericktown, Missouri on Highway OO (just south of the intersection of Highway DD) lie forty acres of blueberries.

Liberty Farms sells pick-’em-yourself blackberries and blueberries at seriously reasonable rates. I bought just over three pounds of blueberries for less than nine dollars. If you’re having trouble visualizing three pounds of blueberries, imagine a basketball – that’s roughly the size of my blueberry stash.

Now that I’ve come home with so many blueberries the real fun begins – deciding what to do with all of them. Stay tuned for my blueberry cooking (and drinking!) experiments.

Monday night was Sauce Magazine’s “Saucy Soiree”, a coming-out party of sorts for the winners of its Readers Choice awards for local restaurants and bars. Held at The Four Seasons Hotel on St. Louis’s riverfront hot spot, The Landing, the party was overflowing. Rumor had it that Sauce anticipated [...]]]>

@milligfunk @rizzotees @jenncloud and @iamcloud

Monday night was Sauce Magazine’s “Saucy Soiree”, a coming-out party of sorts for the winners of its Readers Choice awards for local restaurants and bars. Held at The Four Seasons Hotel on St. Louis’s riverfront hot spot, The Landing, the party was overflowing. Rumor had it that Sauce anticipated 600 attendees, and more than 1,000 showed up.

My first observation at Saucy Soiree was that there was a disproportionate number of very tall men in the room. The photo, above, does the tall-men phenomenon absolutely no justice. Everywhere it turned, it seemed I was dodging an elbow in my face as these super-tall dudes balanced drinks and food, making sudden sharp turns.

Super-tall men aside, the event was an easy way to sample food and drinks from some the finest establishments in the Lou. From barbque to chilled blueberry soup and cucumber-infused gin, Saucy Soiree reminded me that while we aren’t New York City, St. Louis is still a proud food town.

The event also brought out the city’s sophistication. I’ve not been to an event yet in St. Louis where the baseline sense of style was as high as it was at this event. Saucy Soiree brought out folks with fashion sensibilities on all ends of the spectrum, from hipster to elegant, metrosexual to Bohemian.

**

Thanks to the team at Scorch Agency for inviting me to attend.

Learn more about Sauce Magazine here.

Learn more about Scorch Agency here.

I was thrilled when I found an invitation in my inbox from Abby, the Yelp Community Manager in St. Louis, inviting me to participate in a Blogger’s Roulette during Yelp Eats! week June 21st-27th.  Drinks and dinner were served at The Shaved Duck in the Tower Grove neighborhood of St. Louis.

The restaurant was cozy, with exposed [...]]]>

I was thrilled when I found an invitation in my inbox from Abby, the Yelp Community Manager in St. Louis, inviting me to participate in a Blogger’s Roulette during Yelp Eats! week June 21st-27th.  Drinks and dinner were served at The Shaved Duck in the Tower Grove neighborhood of St. Louis.

The restaurant was cozy, with exposed brick walls and hardwood floors. The bar was small and personal with more than fifty beers on their menu, and since many of those were locally-brewer, The Shaved Duck earned brownie points – or brew points – with this small town girl.

We were served a prix fixe menu with two choices for each course. I selected smoked wings with mango habanero barbeque sauce as my appetizer. The plate was heaping with wings, and the wings were heaping with meat. The flavor of the wings was so good that I found myself bypassing the mango habanero barbeque sauce, even though it, too, was very good.

My entrée of choice was duck flatbread with smoked tomatoes, spinach, bleu cheese and bourbon drizzle, and oh. my. gosh. it was great. This dish alone would have made my drive to St. Louis for Yelp Eats! completely worth it.

Desert was hummingbird cake, which I’ve only just learned is a Southern tradition. The cake is similar in texture to carrot cake, but is sweeter, with pineapples and bananas both included in its ingredients list. Add some crushed pecans and a rich cream cheese icing, and you’ve got yourself a scrumptious ending to a flavor-filled meal.

Approximately ten bloggers attended Yelp Eats!, each bringing his/her own unique perspectives on St. Louis and social media with them to the table. As a result, the conversation was smart and friendly, and as an extra perk; genuine.

St. Louis does many things right, includingg barbeque, beer, and people.Kudos to Abby at Yelp for bringing the three together for the Yelp Eats! Blogger Roulette.

Despite soaring temperatures and unbelievable humidity, my friend and [...]]]> Saturday, June 19th was St. Louis Uncorked, a downtown wine and music festival. It was supported this year by KMOX, KEZK and Y98 FM, but it was organized by a private special events company, which I believe was a wise choice on the part of the radio stations.

Despite soaring temperatures and unbelievable humidity, my friend and I enjoyed the event. Live music was presented continuously from 11:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., though we were too busy planning projects and hiding out under shade trees to listen too closely to any one band.

The food at the festival was mostly really good. The organizers chose mostly locally-owned restaurants (Lola, Chefs de Cuisine Association of St. Louis, etc.). Each vendor offered something that was suitable to people of very different palates, from fruit and cheese plates to Chinese to crepes, and price points were spot-on; ranging from $1.00 to $6.00 per item.

I opted for a savory crepe from Lola, and oooh, was I satisfied. It was fantastic. I’m used to spending $6.00 at festivals for a hot dog and soda. This time the same amount of money bought me a delectable lunch from Lola. For another dollar, I bought a truly refreshing strawberry lemonade from O’Charley’s.

Unlike the cool, coordinated white tents used by the other food and wine vendors, Palermo’s Pizza was served from a mobile marketing trailer covered in photos of pizza and of the Palermo’s logo. I’m sure the pizza tasted fine, but the trailer the pizza was served from didn’t fit in with the crisp, preppy feel of the event. St. Louis Uncorked should opt for one of the many fantastic local pizza joints in the city next year.

The festival itself was free, and while the food was reasonably priced, the wine was a little bit on the expensive side for being served outdoors in plastic cups. $5 bought four tasting tokens, which seemed like a good deal until I realized that two ounces of wine was valued at two tokens.

If you’re having trouble visualizing what two ounces looks like, picture a shot glass or check out this picture:

My $5.00 in tokens bought me tastes of a 2007 Argentinian Malbec from Graffigna and 2007 Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon by Santa Rita. I liked the Chilean Cab, but not enough to buy a bottle. The Argentinian Malbec and I could have spent more than two tokens worth of time together. I’ll likely seek a bottle of this wine out at some point soon.

On a whole, StL Uncorked was a lot of fun. The organizers did a nice job with the venue (Soldier’s Memorial), the view of the Arch, and a wide enough street to allow plenty of people to move through comfortably. The food was great, and the vendors were friendly. I’ll definitely try to attend again if they hold the event in 2011.

***

For more information about St. Louis Uncorked, click here.

For reviews of and directions to Lola, click here.

One of the many good things that’s happened to St. Louis in 2010 is Yelp.

St. Louis’s Yelp community manager, Abby, is in tune with what’s happening with St. Louis businesses, social media and marketing. As a result, she’s influencing lots of St. Louis-area people and businesses to share their products, services and reviews via Yelp.

From Monday, [...]]]>

One of the many good things that’s happened to St. Louis in 2010 is Yelp.

St. Louis’s Yelp community manager, Abby, is in tune with what’s happening with St. Louis businesses, social media and marketing. As a result, she’s influencing lots of St. Louis-area people and businesses to share their products, services and reviews via Yelp.

From Monday, June 21st through Sunday, June 27th, 121 of St. Louis’ great restaurants will be offering $25 prix fixe menues as part of Yelp’s “Yelp Eats!“, a program designed to get foodies out in the city eating at new restaurants and reviewing those restaurants on Yelp.

I’ve been invited to participate in Yelp Eats! blogger roulette on Wednesday night. We’ve been given our choices between two fantastic local restaurants, where we’ll mix, mingle and dine with other St. Louis bloggers before heading for post-dinner drinks at The Scottish Arms.

Stay tuned late this week for my reviews of the Yelp Eats! Blogger Roulette, The Scottish Arms, and The Shaved Duck!

Robust is only one of two restaurants I’ve found in St. Louis that transported me back to New York City with its style, its service, [...]]]> Last night some very fun St. Louis twitter ladies gathered at Robust Wine Bar in Historic Webster Groves, Missouri, and I can’t rave enough about the restaurant, the wine or the service.

Robust is only one of two restaurants I’ve found in St. Louis that transported me back to New York City with its style, its service, and its patronage. When I walked in the door, the diners on the patio and at the bar were smartly and stylishly dressed. The hostess knew before I even mentioned twitter exactly what the tweet-up was and where the girls had been seated. The menu a touch of chic and a lot of subtle, and the servers knew or were willing to seek out answers to any questions that we had.

Before the meal, Stanley the voice of Robust Wine Bar on twitter (and, I believe, the owner) introduced himself to us.  A waitress showed up at our table with complimentary sparkling wine for the table, and we toasted twitter, wine, girlfriends and Robust.

Robust Wine Bar gets social media. As a business, seeking out key users on twitter, blogs, facebook, Yelp! or other online forums where clients or guests can formally or informally review your business is a smart move. Last night was an excellent example. Six of the seven of us at the table are active twitter users, at least two of us have active blogs, and another girl is employed at one to city’s fast-growing interactive agencies.

We’re activators in our respective social networks. In other words, we’re the girls who organize the parties, talk about our great restaurant experiences with friends online and offline, and go out of our way (this blog post, for example) to recognize businesses and people whose services exceed our expectations.

Stanley and his staff at Robust get it. They recognized that while we may not have had the deepest pockets of all the guests in the restaurant, we have some of the biggest megaphones. He and his team rolled out the red carpet for us, and the girls have raved about him and about Robust on twitter ever since.

Speaking of Ro(lling) Out the Red Carpet, that was the name of the flight of red wines I ordered last night. The wine menu was filled with clever but eloquent names for flights, bites and wines. There was one dessert, however, which has not yet been named. We cast our vote that the dessert be called the “St. Louis tweet-up sweet treat”, because based on our experience at Robust Wine Bar, there’s nothing about the place that isn’t a sweet treat for a twitter girl.

Robust Wine Bar is located on West Lockwood Avenue in historic Webster Groves, Missouri. Learn more about Robust by visiting them online or following them on twitter.

It should be noted that both of [...]]]> One of the best parts of my job is that I get to work with coworkers ranging in age from teenagers through retirees (who’ve come back to work in retirement). Last week at work, two coworkers were discussing beets, which it seems have a reputation as an “old person’s food”.

It should be noted that both of these coworkers are my elders, and both eat beets regularly at lunch. Being the young, tactless coworker that I somehow manage to be all too often, I chimed in that I also associated beets with old people, specifically with nursing homes.

Flash forward a few days…

Great friends, great beets. @ Local Harvest Cafe, photo my MilliGFunk

Yesterday I took two of my very close San Franciscan friends to lunch at Local Harvest Cafe in South City, St. Louis. Having recently developed a fascination with borscht, my friends ordered a bowl of it with their sandwich. I ordered the Farmer’s Market salad, which came loaded with beets.

Farmers Market Salad from Local Harvest Cafe, photo by MilliGFunk

If you love beets, or if you’re old…or if you’re not old and you don’t like beets…or if you’re vegetarian, vegan, a fan of local foods…and/or if you’re looking for fantastic soups, salads, coffees and deserts in St. Louis, I highly recommend Local Harvest Cafe.

Across the street from Local Harvest Cafe is the Local Harvest Grocery, which carries – among other things – my favorite Missouri brie, made by Baetje Farms in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. I wrote about Baetje Farms last fall.

Local Harvest Cafe is located at 3137 Morgan Ford Road, just south of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Local Harvest Grocery is located diagonally across the street at 3148 Morgan Ford Road.

***

I dedicate this post and my beet-filled salad yesterday to my two fantastic, beet-eating coworkers. Judy and Cat, beets aren’t just for old people. Thanks for opening my eyes to the beauty of the vividly-colored root vegetables. And to my coworker Julianne, thank you for teaching me about Local Harvest last year when I’d just moved back to this area.

The man and I have a problem; on weekend mornings he wakes up craving a burger and a diet coke, and I wake up craving eggs and coffee.

One of my favorite things about life in New York City was the tendency of (seemingly) everyone to spend weekend mornings (and sometimes afternoons) at brunch. There’s just nothing [...]]]>

The man and I have a problem; on weekend mornings he wakes up craving a burger and a diet coke, and I wake up craving eggs and coffee.

One of my favorite things about life in New York City was the tendency of (seemingly) everyone to spend weekend mornings (and sometimes afternoons) at brunch. There’s just nothing better than eggs, fruit, and lots and lots of coffee at 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning.

Enter Gordon’s Stoplight Drive In in Crystal City, Missouri:

Gordon’s not only has good food, its food may save my relationship. The man can order his burger and soda, and I can order my whole wheat egg sandwich and bottomless coffee. Gordon’s claims to have the best burgers in the world since its founding in 1948…

And as if that weren’t enough, Gordon’s is cheap. We can both eat for something like $12.00.

Gordon’s has a single row of stainless steel and red pleather stools along it single long counter. Large windows bring a flood of natural light, and mirrors behind the counter provide diners a reflection of traffic at the stop light immediately outside.

Gordon’s has good chili, good burgers, and a good, not greasy egg sandwich (on wheat bread!). Coffee comes by the bottomless cup (take that, Starbucks), and food is cooked right in front of you.

Gordon’s Stoplight Drive-In is located at 500 Bailey Road, just off of US 61-67 in Crystal City, Missouri. It hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. and Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.