He Said, She Said: Spending an Afternoon with Savor Saint Louis Food Tours

As native St. Louisans who’ve put our time in at area restaurants, we wondered how much we’d learn at a culinary tour of the Central West End, a familiar haunt. What we should have known is that when your tour guides are two members of the Smith family—owners of the much-loved Royale on Kingshighway—you’ll not only learn a great deal and eat fantastic food, but you’ll feel as if you’ve made new friends by the end of the experience.

She:

At the corner of Euclid and McPherson, in front of Left Bank Books, I joined the rest of the Savor Saint Louis Food Tours crew. Everyone was there except for my colleague, who, running on “Byron time,” was 20 minutes late. Jennifer (Smith) Schmid provided some historical background on the area and the inspiration behind the tours: “We love St. Louis, we love family, and we love food.”

First stop, Dressel’s Public House. On the short trip to the pub, which, thanks to Chef Mike Miller has become a favorite of industry insiders, Schmid explained that they purposely sought out independently-owned places for the tour.

He:

Yes, I was late—again. So I like to make an entrance... The first course to be dropped in front of our gaping maws was the celebrated Porchetta “Louie.” It was only a mini version of the sandwich, which is succulent herb-roasted roast pork, broccoli rabe, melted Provel and pepperoncini slices, on a toasted baguette. This is the foodie’s redemption of the much-maligned Provel, according to some of our peers, but whatever, we didn’t analyze it, we inhaled it. It was sooooo satisfying, and one heck of a breakfast. You can’t go wrong at Dressel’s. This set the tone for the rest of the tour, too: bigger bites than one might expect to find on such a progressive meal. We were going to be stuffed like Christmas gooses. I mean geese.

She:

The short jaunt we made from Dressel’s to our next stop, Bowood Farms/Café Osage, helped us burn off some of that pork. Okay, maybe not, but it felt good to walk around after each tasting. Part nursery (right), part gift shop, part restaurant, the place is owned by John McPheeters, who also owns the original Bowood Farms in Clarksville, Mo. Across the street from the beautifully rehabbed 1920’s building sits a garden, where Schmid paused to tell us more about the area, including the former Gaslight Square, located just east of Osage. 

Inside the café, we were greeted with lovely pomegranate spritzers garnished with bright green mint sprigs to accompany our “Brie L.T.” (both below). This tasting was so good, we could see others on the tour not so covertly sizing up fellow guests to determine who would get the extra servings.  

Companion’s five-grain wheat toast provides the perfect base for brie, Nueske’s bacon, arugula, house-made tomato marmalade, and microgreens (grown on the building’s roof)—a visual and gustatory rendering of early summer. Rumor has it that Café Osage may soon start selling the tomato marmalade, and I will be first in line to buy some. Clearly, Schmid has worked closely with each restaurant to ensure that the food is ready when guests arrive, allowing for maximum enjoyment—an attention to detail not lost on us.

He:

Schmid also mentioned something extra-cool about Bowood/Osage–it extends the walkable Central West End to the east, which is a groovy thing.

The next leg of our walk took us south past one of Tennessee Williams’ childhood homes (below). We saw the fire escape where he (apocryphally) imagined the opening scene of The Glass Menagerie. Each of us felt a frisson of unrequited longing and urban loneliness. Then we belched and felt better.

Our next stop was the pizza that ate St. Louis, Pi. Schmid discussed Pi owner Chris Sommers and how he originally bought the celebrated corn-meal pizza-dough recipe from a San Francisco pizzeria owner. She also mentioned President Obama’s well-documented love for Pi.

Again, the timing was amazing. We had only sat for a few minutes when two pizzas descended like dei ex machina. Our thin, or “St. Louis crust,” pie was the “CWE”: Volpi prosciutto, grape tomatoes, arugula, red onions, mozzarella, and goat cheese. The surprise for me was the red onion, which tied it all together. Our deep-dish was the “Berkeley” (below), a vegetarian pie with portabella, Kalamata olives, red peppers, zucchini, onions, garlic, and mozzarella. I love the simple, super-fresh chopped-tomato sauce on the Pi deep-dish.

She:

One of my favorite things about the tour—aside from the stellar food—was the stories Schmid told—about the preponderance of brick in CWE buildings (bricks are fanciest in the front and get less and less impressive as one moves to the backs of buildings), the ghost that dwells in the former Lambert manse on Hortense Place, and the new busts of T.S. Eliot, Kate Chopin, and Williams anchoring the neighborhood’s corners. I don’t want to reveal all of Schmid’s narrative gems, but suffice it to say that this native learned a great deal about her hometown.

True to its promotional materials, the tour runs rain or shine, and as it began to pour, we hightailed it to the Chase Park Plaza, where we huddled outside the Lindell entrance’s revolving doors. Just inside, a bride stood, resplendent in her beaded ivory dress, waiting for her ride, as several aids held up her train. She seemed to take both the weather and my colleague snapping her picture in stride, and the whole tableau was like something out of a movie, not incongruous at all for the CWE. While Byron lagged behind to capture her striking image, we moved on toward Eau Bistro, our next stop.

The glamorous bride proved a fitting preview of the swanky, green-tiled open kitchen line that awaited us in the bistro. Chef de Cuisine Jason Paterno (right) was busy finishing off our ricotta gnocchi with five-hour braised short ribs, mozzarella, basil, tomato sauce, and a kick of red pepper flakes—“somebody’s grandmother’s recipe,” Paterno quipped. The bride we spotted was one of 10 staying at The Chase, so Chef Paterno and crew had their work cut out for them.

Schmid shared that the pasta has been different every week since the tours officially began in April, but we can’t imagine anything tasting better than the gnocchi we polished off that day (below).  Well, maybe the farfalle with pesto, green peas, mint, and shrimp that’s also on the menu.

He:

Agreed. The gnocchi (below) did what gnocchi does – it was so hearty, it stuck to the ribs and made me feel like drinking red wine, leaning back into a plush sofa, and napping.

Schmid and her mom, Susie Smith, are really great tour guides. If you’re just visiting St. Louis, or if you haven’t explored the West End in some time, you will get a kick out of the digressions in front of the world’s largest chess piece; the bit on Jim Voss, the former chef at Duff's who was the tour chef for the Grateful Dead; the 1958 Miss America Pageant held at The Chase; and much more.

Oh, the horror! At that point (sob), we were forced (sob), to walk to Bissinger’s at Maryland Plaza for chocolate!!! Bissinger’s voluble and fun manager Tambora Mills (below left) told us that the company has been around for hundreds of years. In fact, we sampled vanilla caramels made from the very same recipe as those that Napoleon used to buy for Josephine. Then we snarfed 60% dark-chocolate medallions, and finally, the piece de resistance: an off-the-menu iced chocolate drink (below right) made from a cocoa base, with a house-made marshmallow garnish. It was dreamy.

Okay, tour over. Nothing requiring work or concentration was going to happen for the rest of the day. We were too full and happy–but less full than you might think, though. The “inter-prandial constitutionals,” a.k.a. the walking between restaurants, help with digestion and make the food-tourist feel more comfortable and less guilty.

And speaking of guilt, the price tag for this one is guilt-free: $44 for five healthy-sized courses, including tax and tip, plus the “docent talks” by the Smith/Schmid gals (below).

Savor Saint Louis Food Tours is planning to do special tours of the South end of the CWE (including Brasserie by Niche, I hope!), other parts of town, and to run tours on Friday, plus offer veggie and gluten-free options.            

An affordable tour of the area for foodies and tourists, with the food popping out of the kitchen virtually when you walk through the door, a chat with a chef or two, and a sweet, sweet ending?

He liked it. She liked it.

What’s not to like?

She: I couldn’t have said it better.  Well, I wouldn’t have used the word “gals,” but, otherwise, agreed!  I can think of few better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.

by Jenny Agnew and Byron Kerman