HOT SPOT
Dorm Room Dining
The popular dinner series at 33 Wine Shop & Bar began eight years ago, when a local chef boasted that he could create a gourmet meal using only cooking equipment found in a standard dorm doom. He did just that, and Dorm Room Dinners have been a semi-regular event at 33 ever since. On July 24, chef Matt Wynn—who's currently at Basso along with chef de cuisine Josh Poletti—will cook a meal that he’s calling a Moleskine Dinner. It will use recipes adapted from those he wrote in Moleskine notebooks, the centuries-old brand that became a favorite for jotting notes, sketches, and story ideas. Before Basso, Wynn cooked for four years at several acclaimed restaurants in Manhattan and most recently at Niche Food Group’s Brasserie and Sardella. Keeping with the college vibe, Dorm Room Dinners are budget-priced (usually $40 for five courses), and they tend to sell out quickly. Seatings are at 6 and 8:30 p.m. For reservations, call 314-231-9463.
INSIDER TIP
Farotto's All-Season Deck
As temperatures moderate, diners tend to wander back outside, onto the region’s myriad restaurant patios and terraces. One of the most flexible in town is the covered deck at Farotto’s Pasta & Pizzeria (see the 360-degree tour here) in Rock Hill. To counter the elements, the 80-seater boasts a louvered roof (one of only two in town), a humongous ceiling fan, and retractable electric windows. There’s no better venue for happy hour (offered every day) or the quintessential St. Louis casual Italian dinner: Sicilian Salad (with Volpi salami), an order of house-made T-ravs, and an Italian Stallion Pizza (sausage, fire roasted peppers and onions, pepperoncini, garlic, and mozzarella served on the thinnest pizza crust in town). 9525 Manchester, 314-962-0048.
MICRORANT
Soft-drink Flavored Dishes
Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. A&W Root Beer baked beans. Orange Crush chicken wings… Please. If you were served any of these in a blind tasting, we doubt you could discern the trademark ingredient. The names are catchy, memorable, and even...good marketing, but ineffective recipe writing. Call us purists, but if the item in question doesn’t taste at least vaguely like the namesake ingredient, why bother?
Follow George on Twitter @stlmag_dining or send him an email at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
