St. Louis and/or Illinois
I almost feel like I've gotten tired of wandering around St. Louis, of taking photos in St. Louis. All through high school, I used to go driving around to find new neighborhoods that I've never been through before, but I feel like I've seen almost all of them at this point (save Ferguson, whose cool-looking coffeeshops raised my left eyebrow ever so slightly). In the meantime, I've been driving around, and I find that Alton seems to have a cool bar scene, and that Belleville's Ground Floor seems to a be a really cool coffeehouse, bar, and smallish concert venue (shades of a homier Side Door with art up - I'm coming back). I did, conspicuously, manage to miss Three-1-Three, though. And while it was way too late to have actually seen anything, the Lemming Armada Theater Company's space most definitely caught my attention.

In the meantime, it's apparently been waaay too long since I've spent time on South Grand. I love South Grand! Since the last time I went, the Jade Room stopped serving sushi and bubble tea (though I guess it's all the same, since I usually got their sandwiches), and the Mekong itself made like its next door and upstairs neighbors, and the decor got all hip-like. Elsewhere on the street, new buildings are being constructed, with the seeming promise of ever more cool businesses. Mangia Italiano also just expanded into the neighboring space, and pulled a MoKaBe's, adding upstairs seating. Man, damn, where have I been? Illinois or something?

The upshot of all of this? I'll have some new photos up in the portfolio section soon. New photos! Better photos! PHOTOS THAT WILL ROCK YOUR SILLY WORLD. Probably not.

Also, I came across this one underpass outside of Troy, Illinois covered in graffiti that caught my attention. Maybe photos soon?

Finally, since I've written so little lately, I might as well offer all y'all some culinary suggestions from my past few months.
Marion's St. Louis Rib Co. on Delmar? Awesome barbecue. And some fine mac & cheese that reminds me of that from...
The Tin Can. Love their burgers with caramelized onions, and they've got a wide beer selection, though having to pay the cover charge to hear late '90s alternative rock covers isn't quite so nice. They've got a Sega Genesis downstairs!
Belas Artes. Coffeehouse! Art space! Great turkey sandwiches. And Guarana Antarctica sodas. Lordy I love 'em.
Anywhere on Cherokee, but especially Casa Lupita. Neveria la Vallesana (the wee freestanding white bulding with a mural on the side) has very inexpensive tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, and they make plenty of tasty milkshake-esque nieves, and next door, Casa Lupita's got what I do believe might be the best red sauce enchiladas in town, and they're nicely priced themselves. They've also got a breakfast menu with a bunch of stuff on it, so some huevos rancheros may be in my future.
Beffa's. I finally found it. Ah, I really can't afford to be paying this much for sandwiches, but what can I say? Their corned beef was really, really good, the staff was extra-extra-extra polite (whoa now, I'm not one of the politicians that eats there all the time), and I half-swear that was the proprietor of Tony's eating at the other side of the bar.
De Palm Tree. Indeed, between the best doro wat I've had and their ginger tea, their Ethiopian Sundays are pretty much perfect.
And of course, I'm a sucker for Atomic Cowboy.

And Cine16's showing "The General" starring Buster Keaton, with a soundtrack by Chris Deckard's band Incorporated, at the History Museum in Forest Park this Thursday. Go, all of you, go!

- posted by Eric @ 1:48 AM