Table of Contents (December 2011)

  WEB EXCLUSIVES THIS MONTH

• Vote for your favorite breakfast joints in SLM's 2011 Breakfast of Champions Bracket.
• Find a gallery of holiday gift ideas that are sure to delight your loved ones—and your wallet.
• Read more about Joplin's ongoing recovery from this spring's tornado, including information about how volunteers are helping the city get back in business.
• Take a tour of La Bonne Bouchée, one of SLM's favorite breakfast spots.
• Read an extended Q&A with world traveler/author Dave Norman about adventures from Belarus to Mongolia, Malaysia to the Himalayas.
• Learn more about what it's like to be a Salvation Army bell ringer.
• Find an extended interview with Joe Sanfilippo, owner of J.F. Sanfilippo's and the new Filippo's Italian Kitchen & Bar in Chesterfield.
• Submit your pet for our pet contest.

Note: For each new issue, St. Louis Magazine publishes only a select number of articles online. While all articles will eventually be published online here, your best bet for reading current content is to subscribe, buy an issue, or head to your local library.

WHAT'S ONLINE
Online on stlmag.com

BEHIND THE SCENES
The making of this issue

FROM THE EDITOR
Comfort Food
By Jarrett Medlin

FEEDBACK

CURRENT

• First Shot: Tragedy Turned to Art
  By Jarrett Medlin
• The Buzz: Back to Music (Web Exclusive: Read an extended Q&A with Christa Collins.)
  The X-Factor contestant Christa Collins on returning to the limelight—and what's next.
  By Rosalind Early
• The Buzz: Pulling Strings
  Kramer's marionnettes makes it onto How it's Made.
  By Byron Kerman
• The Buzz: On the Road Again (Web Exclusive: Read an extended Q&A with world traveler/author Dave Norman about adventures from Belarus to Mongolia, Malaysia to the Himalayas.)
  Nothing keeps Dave Norman from traveling.
  By Jeannette Cooperman
• The Buzz: Endless Tourist
  Amanda Doyle's uncommon St. Louis adventures
  By Byron Kerman
• What It's Like to be a Salvation Army Bell Ringer (Web Exclusive: Learn more about what it's like to be a Salvation Army bell ringer.)
  By Byron Kerman
• Agenda
  Our five picks for the month

GLITTERATI
See these and more at our Party Pics page.

STYLE

• Things We Love: Holiday Cheer (Web Exclusive: Find a gallery of holiday gift ideas that are sure to delight your loved ones—and your wallet.)
  Gifts for all ages—and budgets.
  By Jan Leach
• Shop Talk: Elegance Updated
  What do you get when you mix a lush interior with sumptuous clothes? A boutique fit for a queen.
  By Rosalind Early
• Stylish Subtleties: Melissa Rae Brown
  Owner/Designer, Penny Rae Vintage
  By Nancy McMullen

RELIGION
Thought for Food (Web Exclusive: Read more about Kastner and the New Jewish Food Movement.)
For Rabbi Andy Kastner, becoming a shochet, or ritual slaughterer, was a radical act in a culture awash in processed food.
By Stefene Russell

THINK AGAIN
Cash Out the Cameras
The case against outsourced traffic enforcement keeps getting stronger.
By Ray Hartmann
 

COVER FEATURE

Best Breakfasts
50 eye-opening ways to start your day in St. Louis
By Bill Burge, Byron Kerman, Rose Maura Lorre, Dave Lowry, George Mahe, Katie O'Connor, Joe and Ann Pollack, and Andrew Mark Veety; Edited by George Mahe

• Web Exclusive: Vote for your favorite breakfast joints in SLM's 2011 Breakfast of Champions Bracket.
• Web Exclusive: Take a tour of La Bonne Bouchée, one of SLM's favorite breakfast spots.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
 
Twist of Fate (Web Exclusive: Read more about Joplin's ongoing recovery from this spring's tornado, including information about how volunteers are helping the city get back in business.)
On May 22, the deadliest tornado in six decades tried to destroy Joplin. Six months later, the city picks up the pieces.
By Jeannette Cooperman and Jarrett Medlin

Jumpin' Jack Parker
He's spent his life in a pub and come away with the equivalent of three Ph.D.s—and more insight into human nature than most of us could bear.
By Jeannette Cooperman

HEALTHY LIVING

Food Fact and Fiction
What does the latest research show—and is it really worth worrying about?
By Rick Skwiot
 

Q&A: A Conversation With Charlene Bry
Laude's first chronicler
By Jeannette Cooperman

FOOD & DRINK

• First Look: Baileys' Range
  By George Mahe
• Review: The Block
  The Block is part restaurant, part butcher shop.
  By Dave Lowry
• The Well-Seasoned Life: South Side Tradition
  Grbic Restaurant: A mother/daughter team serves up home-style Bosnian fare
  By Joe and Ann Pollack
• Kitchen Q&A with Joe Sanfilippo (Web Exclusive: Find an extended interview with Joe Sanfilippo, owner of J.F. Sanfilippo's and the new Filippo's Italian Kitchen & Bar in Chesterfield.)
  Can a downtown restaurant give rise to one in Chesterfield? Indeed, it can.
  By George Mahe
• Liquid Assets: Better Bubbles
  Seek out "grower champagnes."
  By Chris Hoel
• Ins, Outs, and Almosts
  By George Mahe
• The SLM Restaurant Guide
  Plus the following box-outs: "Local Food Gift Idea, No. 1," "Local Food Gift Idea, No. 2," "Local Food Gift Idea, No. 3," and "Local Food Gift Idea, No. 4."

CULTURE & EVENTS

• First Stop: Grand Center
  First Night—Saint Louis
  By Stefene Russell
• Cameo: Hollywood's War Horse (Web Exclusive: Read the full version of this article)
  SLM's film critic talks to Steven Spielberg about his two holiday film releases, war, art...and St. Louis.
  By Andrew Wyatt
• Out & About: Quid Pro Quo
  Winter Barter Fest offers ways to find holiday gifts, without using a single dollar.
  By Stefene Russell
• The SLM Calendar (with Critic's Picks in Family and Theater)

FLASHBACK
1966: Home Economics
By Stefene Russell