I have been on a mission to ignore corporate restaurant America for a few months now, venturing in to the city with friends to seek out all that is good about the independent restaurant community. I eat out a lot, and have been in the biz for some 25 years. My perception is that things have gotten out of hand in suburbia. For Gawd’s sake, look at the Valley! The competency of the cooks and or servers equal that of the high school kid who toilet papered your home last night. It is corporate manual and creative point-of-sale computer technology that defines the cuisine in the Valley, it is a genre in itself and it is way played out.
Lets face it, the corporate restaurant is nothing more than a packaged up regimentation of the independent restaurant operator. The true "pulp" of innovation and creativity lies in single unit operations with the sole proprietor. I have hero’s like Cardwells, Annie Gunn’s, Kris Steak House, Al’s, Seventh Inn (a moment of silence), Patrick's. The passion, especially early in the life of an independent restaurant, screams from the kitchen to the hostess stand, “I am different and I am good and I am consistant”. Sometimes it works, other times not.
From a typically Chesterfieldian point of reference, if you haven’t been to Lafyette Square in the past few years, you probably should kill yourself. You have been missing out on one of the perfect examples of city culture that St. Louis offers. The architecture, the sophistication of services set the area apart from the status quo. Hey, the St. Louis Bike Federation even has bike lanes marked throughout. Good for commuters. (Visit www.stlbikefed.org for more info)
Just before leaving on our journey, Janie, my wife said (and I agreed) that it would probably be a good idea that we take the cheap car down there, that “you know, it might not be all that good of an area”. So isn’t this the basic mentality that we have evolved to in Chesterburbia? We took the cheap car and found out quickly how stupid and shallow our perception really is of the city, that St. Louis and its culture is on the rebound, and that we should not be missing out anymore, ever.
Eleven Eleven is one of those restaurants that you would say to yourself, hey, this should be a chain...because of it delivers an innovation and creativity not often purveyed and not often attainable during times of urban sprawl development concepts seen popping up in every city. And so too does Tower Grove deliver and the city of St. Louis cultural revival in general.
Lets face it, the corporate restaurant is nothing more than a packaged up regimentation of the independent restaurant operator. The true "pulp" of innovation and creativity lies in single unit operations with the sole proprietor. I have hero’s like Cardwells, Annie Gunn’s, Kris Steak House, Al’s, Seventh Inn (a moment of silence), Patrick's. The passion, especially early in the life of an independent restaurant, screams from the kitchen to the hostess stand, “I am different and I am good and I am consistant”. Sometimes it works, other times not.
From a typically Chesterfieldian point of reference, if you haven’t been to Lafyette Square in the past few years, you probably should kill yourself. You have been missing out on one of the perfect examples of city culture that St. Louis offers. The architecture, the sophistication of services set the area apart from the status quo. Hey, the St. Louis Bike Federation even has bike lanes marked throughout. Good for commuters. (Visit www.stlbikefed.org for more info)
Just before leaving on our journey, Janie, my wife said (and I agreed) that it would probably be a good idea that we take the cheap car down there, that “you know, it might not be all that good of an area”. So isn’t this the basic mentality that we have evolved to in Chesterburbia? We took the cheap car and found out quickly how stupid and shallow our perception really is of the city, that St. Louis and its culture is on the rebound, and that we should not be missing out anymore, ever.
Eleven Eleven is one of those restaurants that you would say to yourself, hey, this should be a chain...because of it delivers an innovation and creativity not often purveyed and not often attainable during times of urban sprawl development concepts seen popping up in every city. And so too does Tower Grove deliver and the city of St. Louis cultural revival in general.
3 comments:
Isn't 1111 Mississippi off of Park down by Lafayette Park? Tower Grove Park is bewteen Arsenal and magnolia, Kingshighway and Grand.
Yes, you are right. Tower Grove must have been easier to spell. R
I had to look up Lafayette and I am still not sure.
I like your writing style, please keep writing.
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