1 of 9
Spring rolls with chicken at Lona's Lil Eats
2 of 9
The sunny interior of Lona's Lil Eats' new location at 2199 California Ave in the Fox Park neighborhood
3 of 9
Glass noodles topped with stir-fried beef and chicken
4 of 9
Part of the menu at Lona's
5 of 9
Tibetan BBQ steak and Teriyaki chicken kebobs
6 of 9
A typical pan-Asian wrap with red Thai fried rice, chicken, and Asian salad
7 of 9
Pierce and Lona Powers, and their son Daniel
8 of 9
Pierce sometimes cooks with Daniel strapped to his back
9 of 9
Lona with a bumper crop of vibrantly colored Asian chile peppers from the restaurant's garden
After eating a meal at Lona's Lil Eats, we should be feeling good, said co-owner/chef Pierce Powers. That's because there's no MSG or preservatives used in this pan-Asian cuisine, and it does a body good, he averred.
We do feel good, but not simply because this food is fresh and delicious. We feel good because there is no other cuisine quite like Lona's Lil Eats in the area. The food is inspired by eponymous co-owner/chef Lona Pierce’s birthplace, the Xishuangbanna region of China, where China, Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia all converge. A grand hodgepodge of techniques, ingredients and flavors overlap in this food. At Lona's, you'll find lemongrass pesto, barbecued steak, stir-fried spicy tofu, and delightful spring rolls with lime-ginger-peanut dipping sauce. The hybrid fare is served up in American-friendly styles, like the ever-popular wrap.
We also feel good because Lona's was a restaurant open but one day a week within Soulard Market, but now, they've gone brick-and-mortar and opened a second location in the Fox Park neighborhood, open five days a week.
The new joint's enlarged and simplified menu features wraps made-to-order in a wide variety of possible combinations. We also really enjoyed the stir-fried glass noodles; Thai stir-fried red rice with bits of pickled cabbage, daikon, and other veggies; and a refreshing cucumber salad, among other dishes.
Everything has a way of going with everything else, which makes sense, explained Pierce, in light of the way people eat back in Lona's village in China. Diners place a hillock of rice on their plates, he said, and proceed to embellish it with various ingredients, sauces, salads, meats and so on, served family-style in bowls on the table.
“It all gets mixed together pretty quickly,” he said. “They're not obsessively keeping items separate on the plate, like we do here.”
In that subtropical, mountainous part of the world, Lona's birth-family grows corn, peanuts, mangoes, and tangerines for their own table as well as to take to market. They also raise pigs, cows and chickens.
The tiny 60-person village, said Pierce, is a place where livestock wanders freely hither and yon, and geese fight with one another to pass the time.
Lona's recipes are influenced by family and village dishes, the food from nearby towns in Xishuangbanna, ethnic festivals, and what grows according to the seasons. Pierce said Lona's cuisine typifies the “soul food of the area.”
At Soulard Market, Lona and Pierce continue to serve this Asian melting-pot food in their seventh year of business. It all started with their Tibetan BBQ steak and Teriyaki chicken kebobs, still among the most popular items at their walk-up counter. The meat chunks, unlike those in some kebobs, are not dunked in a sugary sweet marinate, but a subtler solution. (Kebobs are available at the Soulard location only.)
At both locations, the Powers' put their spin on fresh, healthy Southeast Asian food, and it feels good indeed to support this mom-and-pop operation. The new Fox Park location is just down the street from The Purple Martin. It looks like the neighborhood is blossoming.
Lona's Lil Eats
Inside Soulard Market
Saturdays: 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
and
Lona's Lil Eats
2199 California
open now for dinner
Tues - Sat(hours subject to change)
314-223-7330
