INSIDER TIP
New TV Show Spotlights STL Restaurants
A new series exploring the diversity of the St. Louis food scene debuts on the Nine Network next Monday. Each week on Food Is Love, Danish chef Lasse Sorensen (an immigrant himself) visits the kitchens of St. Louis’ most renowned restaurants to trace the roots of different cultural influences. “Every great city has great food,” he says, and he’s “going on a journey around the world right here in St. Louis.” In the inaugural episode, Sorensen explores Korean culture at Kimchi Guys, owned by Korean American Munsok So (of Drunken Fish fame). Next week, the chef visits Guerrilla Street Food in the Delmar Loop, and in week three, he drops in on Loryn and Edo Nalic at Balkan Treat Box to learn the secrets of baking somun bread in a roaring, wood-burning oven. Episodes 4–13 are in production and scheduled to air in September. Food Is Love premieres on Nine PBS on Monday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m. and streams at ninenet.org and the PBS Video app.
HOT SPOT
Cold Canned Coffee at La Cosecha
Five years after La Cosecha Coffee Roasters launched their innovative flash-brewed iced coffee on tap, the company has partnered with Elemental Beverage Co., the innovative beverage company behind Snapchill Beverage Technology, to introduce its first ready-to-drink canned coffee. The patented process uses heat exchange technology, thermodynamics, and artistry to transform fresh, hot coffee into cold in seconds, thereby capturing, preserving, and enhancing its aroma, richness, and flavor without any oxidation, dilution, or additives. If it sounds a bit geeky, it is, but the proof is in La Cosecha’s organic, single-origin Papua New Guinea Timuza coffee, a dark roast with heavy body, and hints of pecan, brown sugar, and apricot. Single 12-ounce cans and six-packs are available at the coffee shop in Maplewood and at local retail stores including Local Harvest Grocery, Global Foods Market, and United Provisions. 7360 Manchester, 314-440-0337.
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MICRORANT
Curbside/Delivery Order Mishaps
While you won’t see us dissing local restaurants, especially given the current circumstances, we are concerned about the general level of carelessness in assembling to-go orders. Our last four orders included two sandwiches made improperly (their meat piled into a mound in the middle), a severely overcooked item, and a blown pick-up time (quoted 15 minutes when the hot food was ready in five). Not that these are egregious offenses, but it doesn’t matter, it's time to sound a general alarm: Restaurant owners must consider that because of the plethora of new players in the take-out and delivery game, customers may have less tolerance for miscues. Just like in the Before Time, it’s too easy to take one’s business elsewhere.
Follow George on Twitter and Instagram, or email him at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
