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Home Wine Kitchen's cheeseburger - missouri grass fed beef, tabasco hollandaise, bacon, cheddar and fried egg
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Andrey Ivanov's inaugural glass wine list at The Dining District, inside United Provisions market in the Delmar Loop.
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The bottle list
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Three strips of bacon--about 8" long and about 1/3 # total--at The Original Pancake House
HOT SPOTS
Homeward Bound - Lest you have forgotten, Home Wine Kitchen ( 7322 Manchester, 314-802-7676), SLM’s Restaurant of the Year for 2012, is the home of one-price wines; No Menu Mondays (with the slogan “Your mom doesn’t give you a menu…so neither do we”); a new menu each week; and now two prix-fixe options, three courses for $35 or four for $45. Chef/owner Cassy Vires says this week’s menu is one of her favorites, featuring a Mexican take on pork tenderloin and goose quarter with wild mushrooms, cream, and parmesan. See you at Home.
INSIDER TIPS
Wine Find - The inaugural menus for Ben Poremba’s recently opened The Dining District (6241 Delmar, 314-833-5699)—located inside United Provisions in the Delmar Loop—are now online. We’ll vouch for the Crab Guacamole, the Pickled Shrimp Salad with Jicama and Green Papaya, and the outstanding Goat Burger (goat cheese, not goat meat). But we were truly impressed by sommelier Andrey Ivanov’s short but sweet wine list, suggesting an alternate wine for the Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir lover (a 2013 Grüner-Veltliner and 2011 Brachetto Vino di Tavola, respectively). Ivanov, who’s also the sommelier for Elaia/Olio, makes it a point to expand his customer’s wine horizons.
RANT/RAVE
Best In Bacon - We rant that the price of bacon has increased 40 percent in the past year (and will continue to rise in 2015), but rave at the amazing quality served at The Original Pancake House (in Ladue and Chesterfield). With the bacon super thick-cut and double hickory-smoked, with a touch of sweetness, we can’t stray from the Bacon Lover’s Breakfast, containing five strips of OPH’s proprietary bacon—perhaps enough to share, but most likely not.