by Ethan Johnson
October 1, 2006

I'm not a big believer in drinking to get drunk. For starters, I'm not a "happy drunk", so to anyone who thinks getting me loaded means big fun, uh, no. Also, as with any recreational drug use, I just don't see the need and/or point. But herein lies the dilemma: Why drink wine? It contains alcohol, which can be used and abused to bring about ostensibly more thrilling states of being than abstinence can provide. As for me, I believe in drinking wine for pleasure, not utter escapism. But going down the "pleasure" road has its own unique set of issues, as summarized neatly by the Pratie Place weblog:

by Ethan Johnson
September 10, 2006

I was working on the first of a series of articles, when I lost myself in thoughts about the brute force nature of advertising. Simply put, advertising, especially in the realm of the Fortune 500 company, is intended to decimate your imagination, and therefore increase the likelihood exponentially that you will pay for their product or service.

by Ethan Johnson
September 8, 2006

I'm no wine expert, trust me on this. But as my own interest in wine ebbs, flows, and generally evolves, I thought it might be a good idea to share some of my learnings. In short, wine is really daunting, what with the selection, the different producers, points of origin, point ratings, and glossy magazines devoted to the hardcore appreciation of wine. You know, the ones that say that a wine has "good Botritys" and "cellar for 45 years." And of course, forget about white wines, as they're beneath the lofty palates of the reviewers. But chances are, if you're getting into wine, you're going to start with white. That's why I created the Totally Unpretentious Wine Reviews section of this site. I was tired of the haughty approach to wine that so many outlets favor, and wanted to get people excited and interested in wine the way that I got turned on to it. Plus, it serves as a great reference point to look back on and see how my tastes have or have not changed over time.

by Ethan Johnson
April 3, 2006

I'm no wine snob (yet), but I've seen my fair share of wine-related shows on the Fine Living network to know the essentials of restaurant wine service. With limited exceptions, it is my impression that the waitstaffs of several restaurants are expected to "wing it" rather than present a proper wine service.

by Ethan Johnson
Summer 2004

Time to go home, by way of:

Posh Nosh
8115 Maryland Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63105
(314) 862-1890

Check out this testimonial over at Sauce:

There is this adorable older woman that takes your order with the kindest, most attentive smile. The tables have unlimited pickles in a bucket for heaven's sake!!! The staff is so friendly. It's a great place to break at in a very busy, hectic, traffic infested and often not so friendly Clayton.

That really says it all, in a nutshell, but then, what do you need me for? Let me expound and pontificate:

by Ethan Johnson
Summer 2004

My last night out. Had to make the most of it:

Gulf Coast Cafe
3191 South Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 664-3940

We begin with the crab cake appetizer, again:

I hate to say it, but they were lousy. I forced myself to choke them down in hopes that I was just being overly critical, and no, I wasn't. I didn't send them back because I was of the opinion that they were already as good as they were gonna get.

by Ethan Johnson
Summer 2004

The week was getting closer to the end than to the beginning, so I had to make my shots count:

Eau Bistro and Cafe
232 North Kingshighway
St. Louis, MO 63108
(314) 454-9000

We begin with the crab cake appetizer:

I am not sure what kind of sauce in lieu of a remoulade they used with this, but it didn't really do anything for the flavor. The rice bed tasted weird and I pushed it away. The crab cake itself was sizable but needed something. Maybe a better remoulade would help, plus as noted, the rice needs work or should plain go away.

by Ethan Johnson
Summer 2004

Today was all about wine bars:

Riddle's Penultimate Cafe & Wine Bar
6307 Delmar Boulevard
University City, MO 63130
(314) 725-6985

(Sorry, no photos available.)

Before I talk about what *did* happen, let me first talk about what drew me to this restaurant in the first place.

Riddle's buys produce and meats from local, family-owned farms. So the "local flavor" really is the local flavor. They post their menu online and tell you what items come from where. I don't know of anywhere else that does this.