Courtesy SEC Network
Whoever thought food would bring ESPN to St. Louis?
True South, a show centered around food and culture, airs on the SEC Network, part of the popular sports network. Written and hosted by noted Southern food authority John T. Edge, in partnership with Wright Thompson, Mizzou graduate and ESPN senior producer, each episode highlights two food-related stories in a single city. The concept: to showcase a larger picture of Southern ideas and identities.
Now in its fourth season, the fourth of this year’s five episodes visits St. Louis and focuses on sandwiches. The episode airs this Sunday, December 5, at 7 p.m. (Click this link to find out what channel your provider uses for the SEC Network.)
As Edge explains, St. Louis is “on the cusp of the South,” and the show develops a “unified St. Louis sandwich theory.” Wright’s notoriously meticulous research sent them to almost 20 different locations insearch of the right stuff. It briefly visits several local sandwich spots, including Protzel’s Delicatessen, J’s Pitaria, Gioia’s Deli, and Iowa Buffet. Two restaurants are more closely examined: AAA Restaurant and Fish House and Lisa’s Chop Suey, the latter for that St. Louis favorite, the St. Paul sandwich.
Allison Carson’s AAA Restaurant and Fish House fries up their food to order – the large room, good for social distancing, holds people waiting patiently for their orders, knowing they’ll arrive hot and fresh. Carson’sfamily has had the restaurant since 2013. TrueSouth was particularly taken with their tripe sandwich.
At Lisa’s Chop Suey, Victor Ton, who’s Vietnamese by birth, escaped Vietnam on an ancient, beat-up freighter. These days, he serves up St.Paul sandwiches in a big, bright, and immaculate space in Jennings. He hosted the crew for two days of filming. Besides St. Pauls, he says, the most popular item is fried rice, but his menu goes somewhat beyond the namesake dish.
