Eating on Jitneys

This past weekend I went to St Louis to visit my friend Emily who just moved there. Any time I visit her we have fun doing just about anything, including doing absolutely nothing. On this visit, though, we got a lot accomplished. We went to a semi-shady flea market where I picked up a knock-off Gucci wallet (AWESOME) and came this close to buying a “diamond studded” pair of Hello Kitty earrings. We drove to the Clayton Art Fair where I happened to meet up with my friends Ali & Dolan who had a booth. We saw the worst movie ever, The Ten. We went to a bar that makes it’s own juices and names their cocktails after St. Louis wards. We went to one of the most diverse international food stores that I have ever been to. Unlike most that I have been to, this store had everything from Japanese to Polish to Jewish foods (side note: Happy New Year to all my favorite Jews). Best of all, we went to the best museum I have ever gone to in my life: the City Museum. It’s basically worth going to St Louis just for that.

An amazing discovery that I made while there was that it is very possible that St Louis is not only the gateway to the West, but also the gateway to fast food.  Most towns have a certain group of fast food chains to call their own, but St Louis collected them all. “Ponderosa still exists?? Jack in the Box is this far East?? A Taco Bell that isn’t a Taco Bell but looks like one?? Steak ‘n Shakes??” Much of what I ate while there consisted of these types of foods, which was awesome for the weekend. We ate breakfast at Uncle Bill’s. The sign was awesome, as was the inside and the food and Emily’s gigantic bacon strips. You can’t tell from the picture, possibly due to some sort of optical illusion, but they had to have been like two feet long. We also ate fried ravioli which is a St Louis thang. I was skeptical at first, but I’m not sure why. They were great. I can’t quite see how they are much different from Mozzerella sticks, besides the shape, but I like the idea of frying italian food and eating it with a cup of red sauce. YUM.