If Riddle's Penultimate Cafe & Wine Bar is still open, it's not doing a very good job of convincing the public of it.
First off, the front window sports an October calendar with the last 2 weeks pasted over, announcing "closed for our annual fall vacation" (perhaps a more colorful take on the ubiquitous "closed for remodeling"). Reopening night was supposedly tonight. Second, the website looks similarly abandoned: the last daily menu was dated Tuesday, October 12; it also lists "no upcoming gigs right now," in a venue known for its live gigs. Third, the place is dark, and neither human nor machine is manning the telephone.
Although issuing the final 86 may be premature, the swirling rumors did get me thinking about the place: Riddle's was the first "locavore" restaurant I can remember, arriving a full 20 years before Jessica Prentice ever coined that term in 2005. It was the first restaurant I remember that listed the farms where various foodstuffs--some of them odd and unfamiliar at the time--were sourced. With each visit I recall learning something--sometimes I learned a lot--from the folksy menu that owner/chef Andy Ayers printed daily.
I remember seeing Ayers at every wine event I attended as well--and indeed, Riddle's was of the first restaurants to feature wines "by the glass," which meant served in the now-familiar 250 ML quartino, equal to about a glass an a half, what I many times have called "the perfect serving size."
Several years ago, Andy and Paula Ayers passed the ownership reigns to their daughter and sous-chef, K.T., which gave Andy more time to focus on a new business, Eat Here St. Louis, a service he designed to better connect local farmers and local restaurants, a service that is alive and thriving.
Last July, SLM's Rose Martelli revisited Riddle's--an honest and accurate assessment, in my opinion.
Could Riddle's Penultimate have made the ultimate decision...to close its doors after 25 years in the Loop? Sure looks that way. Andy Ayers had no comment.
And if the news is not true, let me know, and I'll stop by there for a quartino of wine and some free advice on how not to keep the public wondering.
