It’s hard not to be pleased at the trend of small eating spots in south St. Louis’ residential neighborhoods. One of the newest of the crop, Annie Moons Cafe in Tower Grove South, sports plenty of south-facing windows and a giant Swiss cheese plant, whose proper name, ironically, is monstera deliciosa. Breakfast, lunch and, soon, dinner come out of the kitchen and everything is relaxed and happily idiosyncratic, from the stained glass to the comic book store they’ve opened next door.
A counter of baked goods stand next to the cash register. Half-pounds of the house’s Chauvin Coffee await. But new customers pause – a long time – to study the menu on the wall, or pick up a printed one. Breakfast sandwiches and burritos bear the name of famous and not-so-famous astronomers. Other galactic proper nouns emerge on the lunch menu.
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For example, there’s the Alfalfa Centauri B. A ciabatta-type roll is split and slathered with a black bean-kalamata olive spread, a hybrid of hummus and olivade. That’s topped with tomato, cucumber and sprouts. It’s an amazingly flavorful sandwich – not immense-looking but so packed with flavor and texture that it satisfies on many levels.
A sandwich called the RP Scott, arrives with pieces of pulled chicken, anointed with ranch dressing, the tomato-cucumber-sprout trinity and some fresh greens, a surprisingly tasty combination, probably thanks to the chicken which, we learned, was well-seasoned. We opted for pumpernickel bread; it normally comes on white.
Several options for sides, both simple and created. A zucchini and carrot slaw is excellent, laced with cumin, not at all oily, just tangy and seemingly quite virtuous. Cucumber salad contains pieces of tomato in it as well, a very traditional mild vinegar dressing on it. A lunch-size salad, the Brahe, sported blue cheese, real bacon pieces, shredded cheddar cheese, chickpeas, tomato, and the more of the aforementioned tasty chicken atop mixed and very fresh greens.
Dessert was an immense chocolate chip and pecan cookie, very fresh and with the proper combination of crisp at the edges and chewy in the middle, the very slight hit of salt setting things off.
Keep an eye out for the two stained glass pieces depicting a tattooed and callipygous Annie Moon at work. And watch the website for dinner hours, which should be starting soon.
Annie Moons Cafe
4001 Utah
Tower Grove South
314-296-3300
Tue- Fri: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sat: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
