The local fooderati may scoff at our local claim to fame, but face it, toasted ravioli is part of the city's culinary legacy. Throughout the country, St. Louis is known as its birthplace and its home. So when New York magazine wanted to know the best place in town to indulge in a t-rav, well, we felt a civic duty to reply.
A week ago, NYM's dining blog, Grub Street (arguably the most widely read dining blog in the country), published Relish's rec as part of "Pasta Porn:101 of America's Most Delicious Noodle Dishes, Pictured at left are our recommendation, the hand-made rav's from the Lombardo's family of restaurants as sampled at the recently-opened Angelo's Taverna (the former Max & Erma's), located in the western shadow of the Arch. The rav's in Grub Street are here, # 54 on their unranked list.
Before you dismiss the t-rav as the doughy, tough, machine-made pillows found in so many two-hour-old chafing dishes, do us one favor, though: try Lombardos' version, and eat it at the restaurant. To us, t-rav's are like pizza and chicken wings: If you can't consume them almost immediately, don't even bother. You're wasting bad calories.
Those who criticize tired, "Happy Hour buffet" ravioli, or chicken wings that've spent half an hour steaming themselves limp in a styrofoam box, or a pizza that's been in a holding oven (or worse, a delivery bag) for 45 minutes, should just zip it.
Any food that's been subjected to such unsavory conditions will be marginal to inedible, on that we will agree. Before you sell the ol' t-rav short, though, eat an order fresh from the fryer. That criticism will disappear with that last bit of marinara.
