gastronomic landmarks!

 You can't come to St. Louis without checking out a few of their gastronomic landmarks! 

Ted Drewes has been selling frozen custard and Christmas trees since 1931.  They're so good they've received offers to franchise, but they say they never will because franchising could lead to mediocrity.

 Gus' Pretzel is a pretzel bakery that opened in 1920 and is still going strong.   From pretzel sticks, to twists, to endz, to cinnamon-sugar or garlic-butter, to ones stuffed with bratwurst, salsiccia or hot dogs, to sandwiches made from pretzels instead of bread---they're hard to pass up.

Soulard Farmers Market is open year round, Wed. - Sat.  It got it's start in 1779 and is still going strong.  They feature locally grown and shipped in goods such as produce, meats, cheeses, spices, flowers, baked goods, ... .  There's even a pet shop and severl eateries on the market.

 If you love Italian food, there's a neighborhood teeming with great Italian restaurants and markets known simply as The Hill.  Italiam immigrants settled in the area, including Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola, Sr.  Soon restaurants and other Italian businesses sprouted up in the area.  One of our favorite restaurants here is Cunetto's.  Their Bistecca Soto is delizioso!

Another interesting ST. Louis restuarant in the Bevo Mill.  It was designed in the style of Dutch and German windmills and was built in 1916.  Unfortunately it's had a tough time staying open lately, but it is open for Sunday Brunch now.

Sunday brunch at the Bevo Mill.

Another landmark of St. Louis is the Crown Candy Kitchen, although expect to have to wait to get in---notice the line on the right and this was on a day when it was over 105 degrees!  They've been featured on the travel channel or food channel for their milk shakes and BLTs, but everything there is great.  And, yes, they do make homemade candy, too.

A fast food place that has gotten an interesting reputation in the mid west for it's little burgers and their steamed somewhat soggy buns is White Castle.  Everyone should try at least one!



I figure I have a pretty good start on my St. Louis blog.  I'll try to update it from time to time.

Just over the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers north of the city is another landmark eatery that everyone in St. Louis knows about---Fast Eddie's.  In 1921 Anheuser Busch opened a bar in Alton, Illinois. About ten years later, Busch had to sell the tavern due to a change in the statutes, which prohibited breweries from owning drinking establishments. In 1981,Eddie Sholar (alias Fast Eddie) purchased the bar became known as Fast Eddies Bon-Air.  In the twenty plus years that Fast Eddie has owned Bon-Air, it has quadrupled in size going from 80 chairs to over 400 chairs.  They even have live music on weekends. A food bar serves an assortment of grilled burgers, shish-kabobs, bratwurst and boiled shrimp all sold at the same low prices as when they were added nineteen years ago---which is quite a buy! (no doggie bags permitted, though).

Crystal City Underground

another attraction a short distance from St. Louis is Crystal City Underground.  It's about 30 minutes south of St. Louis and is one of Missouri's many mines.  Once a silica mine for making glass, Crystal City Underground is about a square mile in size.  Now it's being used as a convention and recreational facility.  Volleyball and disc golf are a couple of the sports played there. There's also a play ground called Treasure Hunters where kids can dig for treasures.   There's even a 150 acre lake in there, too, formed by artesian water.  We went here to take the barge ride in the lake.  It was neat tour and a nice break from our summer temperatures.

 Would probably be a nice place to play volleyball.  At about 55 degrees, wouldn't have to worry about getting too hot!

 From the barge heading back to the dock.

 The barge we took the 35-45 minute tour on.  It even had a propane heater lamp for those who needed a little warming.

 Wineries

 Believe it or not, we even have several wineries just outside of St. Louis county.

maybe not as scenic as many areas with wineries, but fun to go to none the less.

Casinos

We also have our share of casinos.  Here are just a couple of them.

With more than 2000 slot machines, 55 table games and a dedicated poker room, there's something for everybody at Lumiere Place down town by the arch (that's the arch reflection in the glass).

Up in north west county (St. Charles), there's the Ameristar.  This picture was taken from a bike trail I frequent on the other side of the Missouri River.  Very near this casino is Harrah's Casinos at Riverport.

Faust Park


In St. Louis's west county, Faust Park has the Butterfly House. Admission is $6 (or free with the Missouri Botanical Garden membership), but it's a great place to spend a cold winter day.

 The site includes an outdoor butterfly garden and two large sculptures by St. Louis sculptor Robert Cassilly.

Some of the many species of butterflies in the Butterfly house.

Also in Faust park is a building with the St. Louis carousel in it.   Built around 1920 by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia, the carousel is composed of more than 60 exquisitely hand-carved horses and deer. The carousel was a fixture at the St. Louis Highlands amusement park on Oakland Avenue near Forest Park. The amusement park burned down in 1963, but the carousel was rescued and later purchased by Howard C. Ohlendorf who donated it to St. Louis County.  Now it's housed here and for a small fee it can be riden.

Faust park is also home to Faust Village.  It preserves the area's architecture and history. The village consists of four homes and multiple other structures including a schoolhouse, carriage house, blacksmith shop, along with period gardens. Spanning a period from 1840 to 1888, the Village illustrates differences in lifestyle resulting from both technological developments and special needs. The Historic Village is open on the last two weekends in May, June and July when historical reenactors in period costume provide tours and a variety of demonstrations. The buildings can be viewed from the outside using a free self-guided tour booklet available at the Seed Visitor Center.

Delmar Loop

Just west and north of the city is the eclectic Delmar Loop.  It is an entertainment, cultural and restaurant district in University City and the western edge of St. Louis.  In 2007, the American Planning Association named the Delmar Loop "One of the 10 Great Streets in America."  The Loop is the home of the St. Louis Walk of Fame, a series of brass plaques embedded in the sidewalk along Delmar Boulevard commemorating famous St. Louisans such as Chuck Berry, Miles Davis and Tina Turner, actor John Goodman, and bridge-builder James Eades.   But it has had it's troubles with bunches of youths getting out of control.  

 The Varsity Theater and the Tivoli showed first-run movies.  Opening in 1924, the Tivoli  is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

 The Pageant on The Loop, is St. Louis's premier midsize concert hall. It hosts touring national acts in pop, indie rock, hip-hop, jazz, blues, and more---and is very busy.

 For the record crowd, Vintage Vinyl is the place to go for thousands of new and used LPs.  It's also where my daughter met her future husband---a wonderful encounter that was!

Although we do like to go to The Loop for the wide variety of great restaurants and entertainment, it has had it's troubles when groups of youths in extraordinary numbers sometimes congregating there and getting into mischief.  Keep aware if you go here and don't go if "kids" are congregating.

old City Hall

Near Union Station is the old City Hall  building.  As St. Louis expanded, the city hall was moved further west of downtown to its present location in 1904. St. Louis City Hall, still in use, was designed in the  Renaissance Revival style reminiscent of the Hotel de Ville in Paris, France.

Citygarden

Relatively new to the city of St. Louis is the Citygarden. It is located in downtown St. Louis, between 8th Street to the east and 10th Street to the west, and Chestnut Street to the north and Market Street to the south and is also free.

One of the 24 pieces of sculptures within the Citygarden.

Another Citygarden sculpture.

Missouri History Museum

Another interesting museum in Forest Park is the Missouri History Museum.  It, too, is free except for special exhibits and is a great place to also get help with genealogical research. 

During early and late summer, they even have concerts on the front lawn ---called Twilight Tuesdays.  Local bands, but very good ones, like Dogs of Society-a Tribute to Elton John--are the free entertainment.  We saw them in 2014 and they were "brilliant".

The Muny

 America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theater, simply know as The Muny, is also in Forest Park.  Construction on it began in 1917 and was built in 49 days.  It's orchestra pit holds 200 musicians and the amphitheater seats 11,000 people---1,500 of which are given away for free on a first come first serve basis every performance.  Currently they show 7 shows here during the summer.   It can get very hot in the evenings here, but they do have large fans mounted above to move air around.



World's Fair Pavilian on Government Hill


Another interesting area in Forest Park is the World's Fair Pavilian on Government Hill.  It was built in 1909 with proceeds from the 1904 World's Fair and is an open air shelter used for meetings and receptions. 

A view from the top of Government Hill by the World's Fair Pavilian.

Post-Dispatch Lake


Here at Post-Dispatch Lake you can rent a paddle boat just outside of the Boathouse Restaurant.  Paddling around the lake is a great way to work off a great lunch from the restaurant.

Another picture of the art museum as seen from the paddle boats in the Grand Basin.

Looking down towards the Great Basin from the Art Museum.

 

St. Louis Zoo

The St. Louis Zoo in Forest Park is rightfully recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. Admission is free although there is a fee for the train, childrens zoo and a few of the special shows. It's 90 acres is home to 24,000 exotic animals, many of them rare and endangered.   They are constantly renovating the habitats and making it a much better place for the animals to live.

The not yet built 40,000-square-foot McDonnell Polar Bear Point will more than double the zoo’s previous polar bear habitat, which closed in 2009 after the last St. Louis polar bear died.  The new habitat is projected to open in 2015 and have a 22 ' viewing window, an Arctic cave room, a 50,000 gallon saltwater pool.    Here's the previous habitat.

 The Primate House was renovated in 1977.   The original Spanish-style architecture of the 1929 structure was preserved, but the animal enclosures were completely redesigned. The traditional barred cages lining the walls were updated to large exhibits with colorful murals, rock formations, branches, ropes and live plants.  They even created extensive outdoor areas for the apes to hang out in. 

 Sea Lion Sound is it's newest large renovation and combines the popular Sea Lion Basin and Sea Lion Show in a 1.5-acre spectacular new exhibit right in the heart of the Zoo.  There's even a 35 foot long underwater viewing tunnel where visitors can see the sea lions swimming around.

 Big Cat Country takes the form of a large wheel. Three large open yards, almost one-third of an acre each, have trees and shrubs, boulders and a pool. The center yard has a 27-foot-high waterfall. There are four smaller yards that provide excellent viewing or photographing of the climbing cats.  This photo with the chain link fence doesn't show off the impressive realistic looking big cat habitat.

For a few weeks around Halloween, they even sponsor "Boo at the Zoo" in the evenings for a fee.  No candy handed out to the kids, but it is a pretty spooky place then.