Though you're likely reading this in February, our staff was putting this issue to bed (always too calm a phrase for a process like this) during the month or so between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. So as we prepared this month’s cover story, “The 30 Best Dishes in St. Louis,” we were also learning what our friends and family consider their best dishes.
Indeed, from my perspective all of December seemed like a procession of favorites—from a co-worker’s chocolate-chip cookies, circulating with a just-enough crunch, to my mother-in-law’s bamnja dish, braised beef with okra that’s paired with round bread called klipaš and served on special occasions in Bosnia (where, in true family fashion, she learned it from her mother-in-law).
While my side of the family experienced a deeply sad loss during December, it did mean even larger and more meaningful gatherings than the month normally holds. And in those, as I’m sure happens in yours, we spent time remembering storied food and in some cases eating plates of it: one grandmother’s holiday pies; another’s egg soufflé; one aunt’s lobster bisque (always on Christmas Eve, always with sherry); my mother’s sugar cookies (her dough, but the grandkids’ shapes, frosting and sprinkles). What’s known simply as The Schenkenberg Chocolate Sauce—kids learn how to make it at age 13—is the one recipe we couldn’t agree on. Is it 2 tablespoons of butter or 4? Those arguing for more—The phrase “too buttery” doesn’t exist—carried the evening, although it’ll ultimately be up to whoever’s manning the kitchen on the night it’s heating up.
So back to those St. Louis dishes. Starting on page 58, we take you inside the kitchens of 30 local chefs and show you—with as many pictures as paragraphs—the finest food they plate. As SLM dining editor George Mahe explains in his introduction, he and his team narrowed their search to appetizers, entrées and small plates, with the magazine’s always-present goal of achieving variety and balance. Regardless of your particular tastes, I believe the resulting feature proves the exceptional quality of dining options we have here in St. Louis. And that’s not even counting those creations cooked up in our other favorite kitchens: our own.
Stephen Schenkenberg, Editor
