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Oh, Onesto...

So last night (Sunday), Onesto Pizza and Trattoria opened at the corner of Finkman and Macklind. No matter what anyone tells you, this restaurant is NOT in SoHa. It's in Princeton Heights, PrinHigh, if you're sassy. Sassy like a couple of the ladies we went to dinner with last night, who walked there from their PrinHigh house. Not that we SoHa folks don't want to claim the place, because it's destined to be ridiculously successful. We waited for a table for nearly 45 minutes on its inaugural evening, not too shabby for a Sunday night. It's totally non-smoking (Yay!) and according to the SoHa neighborhood listserv, they applied for their 3 a.m. liquor license months ago. Right now, their hours are a little less decadent, but that's okay.

This review is part one of 3, because opening night isn't really the greatest judge of a place. And I'm dying to go back anyway.

Our party of five tasted the following:

House Salad--delicious mixture of fancy spring greens and grape tomatoes + provel, baby!
Salami Roll--delicate, subtle, too small for 5 people! Great preview of the spot-on red sauce.
Red Wine--Il Bastardo, Mmmmm.
Meatball Stromboli--excellent crust, makes delicious leftovers
Lasagna--Frickin huge. Solid. But kinda cold.
Eggplant Parmesan--Frickin huge. Different. Zesty. Also kinda cold.
Fettucini Alfredo--Reasonably portioned! Served with a perfectly cooked egg yolk on top...unfortunately, the Alfredo eater also has an egg allergy.
Tiramasu--direct quote--doubtful claim: "I've had better tiramisu than this once." Incredulous challenge: "Oh yeah, Where???" Sophisticated answer: "Rome!"

We closed the place down with the two squares of tiramisu and five forks, and nobody licked the white chocolate or raspberry sauce (I assume) off the plate, but only because we were all too full.

Overall, our appetizer came 1 minute before our entrees, which were on the cold side, they forgot my salad until after my entree came (but it was free!), our doggie bags got mixed up a little (and I hardly ate my eggplant parmesan so I could warm it up for lunch and enjoy it hot! :(  ) and it took our charming waiter a little while to get our check right, but it was still totally worth the 45 minute wait to get a table (did I mention it was it's FIRST night!) and I believe this summer is going to be a lot of fun.

First Friday this Friday

Grand Center's big deal last Friday wasn't much of a big deal, apart from the architectural genius of the newish Centene Center for the arts. But I have high hopes for this Friday's gallery walk, though. The downtown gallery walk's website seems to be on the fritz, so I'll sift through my e-mails to deliver the goods. Let's see...there's free eats and drinks and the "Forces of Nature" show at Art St. Louis, Cheryl Wassenaar and Mel Watkin are still up at Phillip Slein, uhhh... this is really irritating. So few art galleries in the Lou have websites. Laine thinks the abstract show is still up at Ellen Curlee Gallery. 3rd Floor Gallery hasn't been open on a Friday night in months, but I have nothing to indicate that it will be this time, either. Drive Agency is having an opening reception for photographer Mark Schepker and metal sculptor Andre Tourrette. You should stick your head in MacroSun Imports, too. And if you're willing to break from downtown for Soulard, MadArt is bustin' out the wine and cheese for Julie Malone and Justin Visnesky.You could even buy something.

It's the first unofficial Friday of Summer, come have fun with us.

cat blog and a plug

Our friend Ann is a contract photographer with our business, Nuclear Family Photography. She started making jewlery last year, and these photo transfer bracelets she makes are just gorgeous. You would be darn lucky to get one of these St. Louis-themed bracelets. Each one is a work of art made up of works of art!

Obligatory Friday cat blog. As of this update, Rudy is still growing. Stay tuned for the likely-harrowing account of Pammy's vet visit tomorrow.

Ba Le? Oh, La La

Dateline: South St. Louis
The fish funk lingers a bit and the new owners of the old Long John Silver's on Kingshighway had to pull up the concrete to get rid of the grease stains, but Ba Le Bakery & Cafe has proved itself an outstanding addition to the 'hood. If memory serves me, the new St. Louis Ba Le Bakery is one of a small chain of Vietnamese French Bakeries of the same name, in Chicago, Atlanta, Austin and Orlando.

Laine and I have descended upon these fine folks five or six times so far, and Atkins spins in his grave at the number of their carbs we've consumed. BUT, since, in the world of pastry, St. Louis is largely famous only for its donuts, this choice is far superior. It even stays open until 11:00 at night, people! And I am loathe to discuss the affordability of the restaurant, for fear that they'll be all out of baguettes by the time I drag my happy butt out of bed Saturday mornings.

Saturday, right before noon, we stopped by Ba Le. Laine got the barbecued pork spring rolls and I got a cranberry muffin. She was on lunch, I was on breakfast. It happens. Absent was the usual vendor who (adorably) harangues us mercilessly until we buy more than what we came for. We had to go back at three o'clock, however, to get baguettes for a soup & tea party, and he was there that time. He forced me (yeah right) to try a bit of their flan and I wound up buying six orders of it for the dinner party. AND he threw in a tapioca, young coconut, mung bean dessert concoction for free.  Ba Le's flan is not as sweet as Lily's (which is decadent and totally worth the $$) but I got 6 orders of flan from Ba Le, plus two huge baguettes for $21.00.

We've also tried their croissants, which are light, airy, and not nearly as greasy as the St. Louis Bread Company version. The plain ones are delicious, but the cheese croissants, OY. To die for, honey. The cranberry muffin was light and subtle in its sweetness.

Long story short, their food isn't St. Louis food, and that's a good thing. Unlike Long John Silver's (and most STL native foods, I'm looking at YOU, Uncle Bill!) it's not heavy, it's not greasy, it's not fatty, and it doesn't sit in your stomach like a rock wrapped in bacon. For extra points, walk there!

Kitten/Plug

This month's St. Louis Magazine features an article on StudioSTL. You should read it. And not just because I wrote it.

Southampton Walkabout

We popped out of bed early Saturday morning for a day filled with crap to do. After our workouts, we stopped at St. John's Episcopal church for Tower Grove Farmer's Market's winter version. I passed up a cute (and big enough for my giant head) crocheted winter hat with ear flaps at Macrosun Friday night because I knew Gen Obata was going to be at the market Saturday and I wanted to give his pieces a chance. Unfortunately, they're NOT big enough for my giant head, and they were much too expensive. I suppose that means I'm going to have to go back to Macrosun. Woe. Is. Me. (color that sarcastic). Maybe this time I can talk Laine into getting us the wicked depressing weeping buddha sculpture. But I digress.

We left the market sweaty, stinky and disappointed. After a quick spruce up, we parked the car and walked down to the newest business in our neighborhood, Murdoch Perk, at Macklind and Murdoch Avenues where the old dry cleaners with the toy soldier in the window once was. We stopped by on a whim last weekend and learned they have excellent St. Louis cheesecake. And don't tell them this, but their prices are crazy cheap. They serve Kaldi's coffee and a bottomless mug is only $1.85. Combine this with the free Wi-Fi, and you've got yourself an over-caffeinated par-tay. For our brunch, we tried two of the quiches. I got the spinach artichoke and Laine, with her bizarre love of swiss cheese, got the Quiche Lorraine. Mine was vegetarian, nutritious and delicious. Laine's was more moan a little with each bite and cry a single tear when it was all was gone. This was facilitated by the Johnny Cash album in the background. For dessert, we split a crepe filled with a mixture of Nutella and marscarpone cheese, drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Just like the cheesecake, it was not over-sweet, and no one component of the dessert overpowered another. I was in the beautiful bathroom when dessert arrived, so no before picture, but we think you'll enjoy the after.

After brunch, I stopped in HomeECO on Macklind for lavender scented dryer sheets while Laine conducted a business call outside. Also newish to the neighborhood, this hippie home store has a complete line of environmentally friendly cleaning products. I was impressed with their booth at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market Fall Festival. They're having a holiday open house and artisan's reception on November 17th from 4 to 7 p.m. And dude, they have chlorine-free, recycled-content gift wrapping supplies and tree-free Holiday Greeting cards. We decided to walk to La Tropicana, a cuban market on the other side of Chippewa, for a gallon of cuban marinade. The website won't tell you that they've recently brought on another employee to work the cash register. If you're into rotisserie chicken, you must get one from La Tropicana. They smell gorgeous.

On the way home, we stopped several times to take pictures of foliage. Our neighborhood (SouthHampton) is, in our biased opinions, the most beautiful in St. Louis.

And plenty of time for a nap before dinner and Colleen's CD release party at Cicero's.