Courtesy Tower Grove Farmers' Market
HOT SPOT
TGFM Harvest Festival returns
On Saturday, September 28, the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market Harvest Festival returns for its 14th year, promising plenty of annual favorites plus a variety of new options. In addition to live music and flamenco dancing, several guest vendors will be in attendance (more than 125 in all), selling a wide array of local produce, breads, artisanal sweets, and fresh flowers. This year, The Croquetterie’s Inigo Gondra will be on hand offering a variety of pintxos, plus other Basque specialty foods from AO&Co., Ben Poremba’s new specialty market in Botanical Heights. And there will be additional fare from some of the region’s favorite food trucks. Check out the 2nd annual 4 Hands Brewing Company / Tower Grove Farmers’ Market peach beer collaboration, made with peaches from Friedel Family Farms. Look for STL Barkeep mixing cocktails and certified sommelier Jen Epley pouring and discussing wines chosen just for this event. And a first for the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market: a physician from MO Green Care will be accepting applications for medical marijuana prescription cards. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information about the Harvest Festival, visit the Facebook event page.
INSIDER TIP
Best spumoni in town
Courtesy Favazza's
For decades, Da Baldo’s Trattoria (and gelateria) was a mainstay in the South Hampton dining scene. When it closed in 2012, owner Baldo Gandolfo sold the recipes to his famed gelatos, sorbets, and tartufo (chocolate and pistachio ice cream in a chocolate shell) to the Favazza family (owners of Favazza’s and the Rose of the Hill banquet center). They now produce and sell Baldo’s products (all made to order) around the metro. The biggest seller is the spumoni, a swirly blend of three gelatos (pistachio, chocolate, and strawberry) mixed with dried cherries. Sadly, many iterations of American-made spumoni (and its feeble cousin, Neapolitan ice cream) are uninspiring at best. Baldo’s version is a flavor bomb. Seek it out in markets (Urzi’s, DiGregorio’s, Spirito’s, Mannino’s) and restaurants (Al’s Steakhouse, Benedetto’s on Main, Café Napoli and Napoli 2, Dominic’s on the Hill, Gian-Tony’s, and Vito’s in the Valley).
MICRORANT
Delayed liquor licenses
Siberian Photographer/iStock/Getty Images Plus
The process of obtaining a liquor license is demanding and time-consuming (and it’s easier here than in other cities). Regardless, restaurant owners underestimate the vagaries, and some are forced open their doors unable to serve alcohol—which is problematic, since customers expect it. A restaurant’s beverage program is integral to its theme and financial success. It could be argued that having alcohol available on day one is as important as providing food (we know of several places that opened dry and never recovered). New restaurants simply must allocate the necessary time for liquor license application and approval, which is often a six-month process.
