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| Photograph by Katherine Bish | |
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We are now a city of pancetta at 3 a.m. Lest this foodie watermark underwhelm the culturally incurious or the gastronomically aloof, allow me to posit that such a culinary privilege—to revel in salt-cured, spiced pork belly Italian-style as late as we’re allowed to pound PBRs, Stags and Buds like last-call buffoons lurching for the door—elevates us to parity with the sidewalk cafés of Paris’ Left Bank, the street-food sizzle of Hong Kong’s Temple Street Night Market or the 24/7 New York institutions like Veselka, Cafeteria or the much-missed Florent.
The fact that that pancetta awaits us not on an elegant antipasti plate inside some candlelit bôite, but stirred into a porridge-like cream of mushroom soup ladled out in an overly lit, Formica-fixtured, off-campus sandwich shop? Well, even Rome’s finest trattorias were not built in a day.
The U sandwiched itself into Saint Louis University’s already crowded market for off-campus eateries last spring. It sits adjacent to the newish Buffalo Brewing Co. and Pappy’s Smokehouse, the three of them affecting an ersatz, campus-fringe food court along Olive Street. Except that The U’s menu of sandwiches, salads, sides and cookies—though quite similar in form to a run-of-the-mill sandwich franchise—boasts a number of gussied-up ingredients, fine flavor combinations and an obvious attention to preparation that really do make it a worthwhile choice, and not just for coeds. As a downtown loft-dweller, I find that The U’s cosmopolitan take on workingman victuals goes quite nicely with my granite countertops and exposed brickwork.
The only reason to forgive the joke-belaboring verbiage of The U’s menu—the 13 sandwiches fall under “College of Arts and Sandwiches,” five salads are dubbed “College of Lettuce Administration” and sides comprise “Extracurricular Activities”—is the food itself. The bleu peppercorn beef sandwich pairs the taste of thinly sliced steak, plenty of pink still in it, with the smokiness of a rich bleu-cheese dressing and the counter-texture of a few fresh tomato slices. The same steak is pressed into service for the “loaded” cheesesteak, which starts with the simple makings of a Philly—meat, bread and cheese, basically—and to that adds onions, mushrooms, banana peppers, lettuce, tomato and mayo. The kitchen-sink approach, which I didn’t think would appeal to me at all, results in a high-end Big Mac. Gourmet aspirations notwithstanding, there ain’t nothing wrong with that.
The chicken Parmesan sandwich, as appetizingly cozy as you hope it’ll be, came dotted with flecks of fresh basil leaf, though I would have preferred whole ones. Likewise, I really did want more formidable pieces of pancetta in that cream of mushroom soup (an occasional soup of the day), which bore an unfortunate gray tone and overly salty taste. Still, I’ll take The U as it comes and hope that, perhaps in time, it’ll blossom ever further into The U of my dreams.
Although front-loaded with epicurean buzzwords, the salads can’t be beat. The U’s house salad made good with oodles of artichoke hearts and a deliciously dilly dressing. The Asian salad proves swoonworthy with its cornucopia of baby corn, toasted almonds, Mandarin oranges and Napa cabbage.
Once when placing an order for delivery, I was told that my side of coleslaw might not be ready in time; they were in the midst of making a fresh batch. What better news to hear from a humble sandwich shop—house-made sides!—and when I asked for the potato salad instead, what a dish I got: tenderly boiled, red-skinned potatoes, cloaked (not choked) in just the right amount of dill-spiked mayo. Coleslaw was the furthest thing from my mind.
Address: 3108 Olive
Phone: 314-371-1718
Website: theustl.com
“Class times”: Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–3:30 a.m. Closed Sun.
