Short Orders

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[FOOD NEWS]

Ozark Traditions

Chef from hit show Reservation Dogs to host events at Bulrush

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

On Sunday, January 22, St. Louisans will have the opportunity to dine with the culinary force behind the popular FX series Reservation Dogs when Bradley Dry pops into Bulrush (3307 Washington Avenue, 314-449-1208) as a guest chef. Dry, who was in charge of craft services for the hit show, will be hosting brunch and dinner service at the Grand Center restaurant that day, promising a delicious window into Cherokee cooking and Ozark foodways.

A veteran culinarian who has worked in a variety of restaurants around Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dry has become an important voice in telling the food stories of indigenous peoples. In addition to his work with Reservation Dogs, Dry is also a collaborator with the Osage restaurant Tocabe in Denver and Bon Appetit magazine, and he is currently working alongside Rob Connoley with the Smithsonian to bring an Ozark foodways festival to Washington, D.C., later this year.

For his Bulrush day — a brunch and two dinner seatings — Dry will draw upon the Cherokee traditions he learned from his grandmother, who has been his greatest culinary in uence.

“Each dish is based off something I learned from my grandma and my community,” Dry says. “Our family is originally from Georgia, but we now live in northeast Oklahoma and northeast Arkansas; the way my grandmother taught me to cook is Appalachiabased. I’m really excited about showing that.”

In announcing the brunch and dinner events, Connoley emphasized the importance of having voices like Dry’s represented at Bulrush, which has made it its mission to shine a light on Ozark cooking.

“Bulrush has been committed to presenting a complete history of the Ozarks since its inception,” Connoley said in his announcement. “However, when it comes to the role of indigenous and enslaved people, we believe that it is not our story to tell, but the story must be told. We continue to bring in outstanding chefs who can tell their own story, working with the Bulrush team, and supported through our reparative restauranting principles.”

For Sundays brunch service, Dry will be serving a selection of Ozark and Cherokee in uenced dishes, such as bison biscuits and gravy and acorn stew with pumpkinsumac wa es. At the two dinner seatings, guests will be treated to a seven-course feast featuring items such as a creamy corn soup with hominy, a traditional Cherokee dish made with grilled hen of the woods mushrooms and cauli ower, green beans and pork, fried squash with root vegetables and a beet sauce, chicken with succotash, bison meatballs over pumpkin puree, and a riff on a quintessential Cherokee porridge-like dessert that he will be serving as a pecan-praline-laden ice cream. Both brunch and dinner will also feature beverages made using the local Switchgrass Spirits.

Brunch with Dry will begin at 9 a.m. and run into noon, or until the food runs out. Reservations are not accepted; the brunch is a first come, first served setup, and all food is served a la carte. Tickets to the dinner seatings are sold out, though the restaurant is adding interested diners to a waitlist through its reservation system. “I’m really excited about this,” Dry says. “It’s going to be challenging, but it’s also going to be a lot of fun.” n

Chef Bradley Dry will be in town for a one-day brunch and dinner event. | COURTESY BRADLEY DRY

[FOOD NEWS]

Scan This

Imo’s QR code made of pizza is peak pandemic dining

Written by BENJAMIN SIMON

We never thought we would use these two words together: cool and QR code. But here we are.

That’s because this isn’t some AI-generated QR code. This is something only a human could do — and a St. Louis human for that matter: create possibly the tastiest QR code of all time, made out of Imo’s pizza.

That’s right — hundreds of squares of Imo’s pizza were cut and crafted to create a QR code for its Square Deals rewards program.

The QR code and rewards program coincides with the release of a new Imo’s app. The app will feature delivery options and the ability to cash in on Square Deals rewards programs.

With the rewards program, customers receive one “square” point with each $15 order, allowing them to receive free appetizers, salads, drinks and pizzas. Three squares can get you a free drink, and 25 squares gets you a 16-inch extra-large, one-topping pizza and an appetizer.

For more information visit Imo’s website.

Those who sign up for Square Deals in January will receive two free squares. All you have to do is scan the QR code. n

e QR code is constructed from an image of Imo’s pizza slices. | COURTESY BYRNE PR

Dry Run

Hello Juice and Sans Bar team up for booze-free cocktail series

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Two leaders of St. Louis’ alcohol-free movement are partnering up for a zero-proof cocktail series meant to show drinkers and nondrinkers alike there is more to the movement than Dry January. Hello Juice and Sans Bar launched their “AF Happy Hour” on January 12 at Hello Juice’s Kirkwood location (10463 Manchester Road, Suite F, Kirkwood; 314-394-0236) with an evening of merriment, activities, socializing, delicious food and creative cocktails — minus the booze.

“Dry January has gained so much momentum, and I love it,” says Annie O’Donoghue, Sans Bar’s self-styled mastermind. “But then February comes around, and [people] say to themselves, ‘What now?’ I’m not sure if it’s because of habit or what, but people go back to what they were doing, so this is a continuation of that momentum that lets people know they don’t have to go back, or if they want to, maybe they can do so in a more mindful way.”

As O’Donoghue explains, the collaboration between the two brands was a natural one, borne of a longstanding relationship with Hello Juice co-owner Jen Maness. Both alcohol-free in their late teens and early 20s, the two forged a friendship that has spanned moves across country, lifestyle changes surrounding alcohol and new business ventures. Both proponents of the alcohol-free and mindful-drinking movements, the two (together with Maness’ husband and Hello Juice co-owner Joe) are excited to partner up in a way that shows the community a world of possibilities that exists beyond alcohol consumption.

“I like calling it a movement because I really hope it is not just a moment,” O’Donoghue says. “One of the problems I’ve experienced has been that I am [a] nondrinker, but all my friends were drinkers. I never felt like I belonged and was so self-conscious being the one drinking a club soda and cranberry juice. What’s great about this is that it shows people you don’t have to have a problem to stop drinking or take the night off. With all of the products available, you are just one amongst many. People want to feel normal, and the response has just been amazing.”

O’Donoghue is well positioned to help spearhead this movement. In her late teens, she made the decision to quit drinking alcohol only to start again when she was 25 years old. At that time, she was living in New York City and working as a bartender; drinking was simply part of that culture, so she joined in with her peers, only to understand that there was a reason she’d made the decision to become alcohol-free in the past.

“It was five years of misery and craziness,” O’Donoghue says.

She knew she needed to make a change, so she got involved with the nonprofit NCADA, or the National Council on Alcoholism, which eventually led to a relationship with the Texas-based organization Sans Bar, a foundational voice in the national dry movement since 2017. When she moved back to St. Louis from New York in 2019, O’Donoghue launched the St. Louis chapter of Sans Bar with an initial event at Third Degree Glass Factory. It was a roaring success that showed her there was a real thirst for alcoholfree social opportunities in her hometown.

Since that initial launch, O’Donoghue has hosted several Sans Bar STL events, such as gettogethers at Kingside Diner and the now-shuttered Great American Human Foosball, as well as parties at the Improv Shop. She’s excited to carry this momentum forward into this current series with Hello Juice — continuing on three upcoming Thursdays, January 26 and February 9 and 23 — and is confident that people will be excited with what they have put together. For $30, the evening will include all-you-can-drink zero-proof cocktails, snacks and all materials needed for the interactive events, such as DIY succulent planting, a lineup of festivities which she hopes will draw even more people into the movement, even if just for the night.

“People come out for all sorts of reasons, and that’s the most interesting thing about it,” O’Donoghue says. “At the first event, a woman came up and told me she was 100 days sober that day. Another told me that she doesn’t drink because she had a lung transplant. We are so put into boxes, and I just want to bring people together and have fun.” n

Annie O’Donoghue, mastermind of Sans Bar STL, concocts a drink. | COURTESY SANS BAR STL

CHERYL BAEHR’S NEW YORK-STYLE PIZZA PICKS

Contrary to popular belief, there is more to pizza in St. Louis than Provelcovered squares. However, when it comes to New York-style pizza — arguably the quintessence of the American form — St. Louis has a reputation as having a dearth of slices, at least if you ask any East Coast transplant. These five places offer a delicious counterpoint to that narrative.

Pie Guy Mitch Frost serves up excellent New York slices at his Grove spot, Pie Guy (4189 Manchester Avenue, 314-8990444). Frost’s pies capture the greasy ease of the Big Apple’s grab-and-go joints, but are a result of his painstaking research and experimentation.

Pizza Head Punk-rock vibes permeate Pizza Head’s (3196 South Grand Boulevard, 314-266-5400) South Grand storefront, capturing the big city’s pizza game as much as its East Village’s music vibe — but you can’t be angsty while noshing on the amazing white pie with spinach and artichokes.

Racanelli’s A staple since the mid-’90s, Racanelli’s (multiple locations) is synonymous with New York-style pie thanks to owner John Racanelli’s family’s Italian American restaurant background, which traces its roots to the Bronx.

Pizza-A-Go-Go Founder Frank LaFata opened the original Pizza-A-Go-Go (6703 Scanlan Avenue, 314-781-1234) in 1967 in an old Gaslight Square bar called Whiskey-A-Go-Go, hence the name. Since then, it’s been one of the city’s most beloved New York-style pizzerias.

La Pizza Ask any New York transplant where to go for pizza, and after they stop laughing, they will have the same answer: La Pizza (8137 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-725-1230). The tiny shop is the area’s gold standard.