Eat St Louis

Over on the Facebook page, I like to make up silly goals as a sort of fan pledge drive. The most recent was that I would eat haggis if I got 500 fans, and yesterday that goal was met! HOORAY! This is the perfect opportunity to tell you about the new project I dreamed up!

A few months ago, Francis and I walked the dogs a couple blocks over to check out Peat Wollaeger's new mural, Eyez. It's the latest in a series of commissioned murals on South Broadway in Carondelet, and as we wandered, we talked about how unusual and under-appreciated our neighborhood is. A lot of people don't know that Carondelet, and it's southern neighbor, Patch, have lots of little shops, restaurants, bars, and even a theater. Plus we have awesome old houses with tons of character (someone please, PLEASE buy 6727 Michigan). It seems "far away" because it is so far south, but it's right along the river and I-55, so it's actually really easy to get to any other part of the city.

The brainstorm:  One, St Louis has 79 neighborhoods, SO many more than the big names like Central West End, St Louis Hills, Tower Grove South/East, and Soulard. Two, I like to share bits of St Louis neighborhood trivia, such as "Dogtown is not a neighborhood," and "East of Kingshighway is not automatically 'downtown'." Three, St Louis gets a bad rap sometimes, but there are lots of adventurous people living here who want you to know that their neighborhood has a lot to offer. Four, years of writing this blog has showed me that nothing brings people together and gets them talking like food, especially food in their neighborhood.

The challenge: Find a way to eat in every neighborhood of St Louis. Is it possible? Well, at the moment I'm not sure, but I'm optimistic. The Peabody/Darst/Webbe neighborhood is currently food-less, but I read the other day that Brian Hardesty of Guerilla Street Food is planning a restaurant for the old City Hospital (now The Georgian) smokestack building. I hope to see that happen for more neighborhoods as we work our way through the list.

This is not really a restaurant review blog. It's just a personal challenge that is fun to share, and I really want input from other people! I want to know "what's good" in your neighborhood! Getting back to the haggis challenge: our pick for the Central West End just had to be the Scottish Arms. Head over to Eat-Stl.com to see the neighborhoods we've covered so far, and feel free to leave comments here, there, on FB, G+ or email for neighborhood suggestions!