respublica

The Best Grilled Cheeses from all over

Esquire has a lineup of restaurants around the country which offer grilled cheese and they chose the ones they consider the best. St. Louis has one on the list and it comes from Winslow's Home. This is a grilled cheese sandwich that has Fontina Cheese inside grilled sourdour bread covered with Thyme butter and sprinkled with sea salt.  (Flaked sea salt)

I'm telling you sea salt is everywhere.

The Most Life Changing Grilled Cheese according to Esquire comes from Cheesie's in Chicago. It  consists of two chicken tenders smothered in Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce and Frank's Red Hot, sprinkled with bacon, served on Texas toast with melted mozzarella and cheddar cheese and served with a side of ranch for dipping.

What's great is that one of listed best grilled cheeses is "the one you make at home". Truly for sure.

Don't be too hasty about using your cards at Schnucks

It's been 6 weeks since Schnucks shoppers began learning that their debit and credit cards had been compromised. Publically the company has hinted that they have the problem contained but this is just not the case so be careful, use cash or checks.

Our son in law's debit card was hacked and he received a new one last week. He used it with the confidence things were now ok. But it was hacked right off the bat. Schnucks, for all the good they do in local communities, have just not been able to solve this problem. So just don't use cards at Schnucks or go to Shop N Save or Dierbergs.

Oh those lucky kids

New York City's public school 244 is the first school in that city to go to an all vegetarian lunch menu which will include tofu wraps and veggie chili.

Oddly, when you think back on what passed for meat on school lunch trays this may be a better option, but hopefully they'll still get a cookie once in a while.

And in Wisconsin, a state assembly committee recently voted to limit how much junk food could be purchased with food stamps, instead decreeing that 2/3's of the amount must be used for milk, bread, fruits and vegetables.

And if it makes snails smarter, why not us, too?!

The best take I've read recently on the ups and downs, yes' and no's, good or bad, theories from food scientists.

Humorous and worthy. And Chocolate

Back to the Triscuit saga

As an update to yesterday's post on the Triscuit fiasco, I just want to relate two things. First, I did get a box from Trader Joe's and they were ok but did not have the taste sensation the original original Triscuits had. On the other hand, they were made in the same way and were crispy without being hard and had that nice bite of air we've come to associate with those crackers.

Secondly, I was able to find a store on the Illinois side which still has some of the original Triscuits. Hurray! At least for the time being, I'm happy about the late afternoon snacks.

A more lethal strain of bird flu

News no one wants to read, especially in a time when chicken is probably the most common meat in lunches, salads, dinners and quesadillas. It may currently be limited to China, but with these flu strains you just never know.

"A new bird flu strain that has killed 22 people in China is "one of the most lethal" of its kind and transmits more easily to humans than another strain that has killed hundreds since 2003, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday."

Exhausting news in many ways.

So that's what they did to the Triscuits

I love Triscuits and have a late afternoon habit of putting a bit of cream cheese on some of those crackers and sharing with Ferdie. So satisfying. But recently the Nabisco company came out with a new version of the original Triscuit which should never ever be confused with the actual original. Which you can't get anymore. I've given the new ones a try with 4 different boxes bought in different stores just to see if by chance the first one was an oddity. But no.

The new original Triscuits are hard especially around the edges with an unpleasant dense-ness in the middle. The flavor is not at all what you might expect from a Triscuit either, hard to describe, just off and nothing like the original original.

The new box gives you the idea that it is merely a change from normal salt to sea salt, however there is more to the new. They now combine the wheat with brown rice and sweet potato and is probably the reason the taste and texture is so un-Triscuit like. So why did they do this? This cracker has long been one of the best sellers and a consumer favorite. As a matter of fact it is the 6th largest brand in the US cracker industry and they ruined such a good thing.

Here's why: "Triscuit is seeking to appeal to consumers who are eating more snacks and less traditional meals. Consumers are looking for a lot of the same things they used to find in meals in snacks."

Ok come on. What kind of consumer is this? People who don't eat meals so they want meal things in a cracker? What we want is a Triscuit that tastes like a Triscuit. Hopefully I'm not the only one picking at this and the company will return the traditional.

For now, it's a no go unless I'm in a grocery store which still has a few of the original original boxes on the back of the shelf.

4 Stadium hot dogs

An infographic showing hot dogs served up at Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field. Although not a Cub fan, the dog from Chicago looks the best and is probably the same one fixed up at White Sox Park. Hot dogs sold at Busch Stadium are among the dullest of all. And, often not hot at all.

Click to make it bigger and easier to read.

Tavolo!

After Lauren and Kent's wedding rehearsal was completed, everyone went to dinner at Tavolo V which is on Delmar in University City, east of the Pageant Theater but on the other side of the street. We'd never been to Tavolo and it was a real treat, we'll go back. The food was excellent and the service was extraordinarily efficient. Considering the wait staff was covering 3 tables of the wedding party, family and friends who all ordered off the menu, this was amazing. 

One item on the menu which everyone raved over and still talked about the next day was Tavolo V's Roasted Cauliflower appetizer. Shazam it was good, so good I'm hoping to replicate it as much as possible for dinner tonight. The flavor and texture was unforgettable and consisted of mainly 5 ingredients-cauliflower, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parmesan cheese. Of course a bit of salt and pepper as well. Combine all together except the cheese, put on a foil lined cooking sheet or casserole dish and roast at 400 for about 25 minutes, turning once or so for even cooking. Sprinkle the parmesan on top when it comes out of the oven. I think the shredded or shaved parmesan looks and works best. If you don't want to make this, get yourself over to Tavolo V.

Their brussels sprouts appetizer was awfully good as well. The sprouts are roasted with cipollini onions and pancetta topped with shaved parmesan at the end. 

And the entries were just as good. The place is mostly salads, pastas and pizza with maybe 4 entree dinners of fish, vegetarian, beef and chicken. Bliss and Jeff got the spaghetti and meatballs!

Those meatballs are huge!

Dale got the special which was some sort of fish and I got the margharita pizza. 

And what made the whole thing even better was seeing Tavolo had Michelob Golden LIght on draught. Unheard of in St. Louis. For some reason Anheuser Busch won't sell Golden Light around here, but sends it up to Minnesota or some place. 

So good! 

I like this picture of Dale with Lauren and her parents, Mark and Charlotte.

Great two days.

Wienerschnitzel founder dies

Being in the midwest I've never heard of this chain of hot dog stand, but its founder died Saturday.

 Wienerschnitzels numbered over 300! We know about the In-N-Out stands, but German Lutherans haven't heard of  Wienerschnitzels? How odd. Shoot, they even offered Chicago dogs.