HOT SPOT
Happy (or Any) Hour at Big Sky Café
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When eateries reach full adulthood, restaurant goers sometimes put them on the backburner. Some—like Big Sky Café—shouldn’t be. After 26 years. Tim Mallett’s sole restaurant (he closed Remy’s in late 2017), located at the end of a side street in Webster Groves, is still creating, still innovating. The left side of the menu lists Big Sky classics (Skillet Seared Crab Cakes, Braised Pot Roast); on the right are corresponding seasonal specials (Harissa Roasted Cauliflower Flatbread, Braised Lamb Papardelle)—in every menu category (17 special dishes on one weeknight menu). Rush Hour (Big Sky-speak for happy hour) runs from 4:30–6 p.m. every day in the bar or on the front patio, offering basically half-price beverages and snacks (including the signature grass-fed Blue Cheese Burger, one of the best in town). And just announced: Rush Hour has been extended until 8 p.m on Tuesday nights. Look for us on the patio! 47 S. Old Orchard, 314-962-5757.
Cheese Tea is Indeed a Thing
If you thought the juxtaposition of those two words sounds off-putting, don’t be so quick to judge. Created in Taiwan in 2010, the sweet-savory creation is now popular all over Asia and isn’t as bizarre as some might imagine it to be. No one is shredding Tillamook into cups of Twinings or swirling Brie into Bigelow. In its most basic form, cheese tea is brewed (usually cold, green or black) tea, sometimes flavored or with added fruit, topped with a foam of milk and cream cheese. Whipped cream is often added (for more froth). Occasionally, other mild cheeses are added as well. And a sprinkle of salt is always recommended (prompting an equally disturbing alternate name, salted cheese tea). If a specially designed lid is not supplied, then consume the drink at a 45-degree angle or use an oversized straw to get the proper mix of sweet and savory. In St. Louis, find cheese tea at Share Sweet (9625 Olive), Cube Tea Studio (8041 Olive), and newly opened Tasti-Tea (567-A Melville), among other places. Unlike beverages containing gelatin, such as bubble tea, cheese tea is benign and quite enjoyable—once you get past the name, of course.
MICRORANT
Undersized Condiment Packets
After years of field research, we professional eaters have concluded that no one, no one, uses one packet of ketchup or fast-food hot sauce (unless eating a single taco—and who does that?). Four—or six, or eight—might be the norm, because each packet contains roughly a teaspoon. Might we suggest doubling the size of those pesky little demons? And while you’re at it, make them easier to open. Last we checked (and confirmed by moms everywhere), teeth were not meant to scissor little foil packets.
Follow George on Twitter @stlmag_dining and feel free to send him Tidbits at [email protected]. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
