New Bakery Visible To Pedestrians

It isn’t unusual for local restaurants to bake their own desserts, breads, buns, and rolls. What is unusual is to have the operation visible to pedestrians passing by on the public sidewalk!

If you can’t read the image above, here’s the gist:

1. Moved bakery from Baileys’ Range to make room for more bathrooms.
2. To make fresh-baked muffins & breakfast pastries to sell at Rooster.
3. Plan to function as a small independent baker, selling baked goods (breads, pastries) at Rooster.

Baileys’ Restaurants family includes: Baileys’ Chocolate Bar, Rooster, Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar, Baileys’ Range, the Fifth Wheel at 4 Hands Brewery, and later this year Small Batch:

Bailey’s latest endeavor will be located in the Locust Street Automotive District (a.k.a. Automotive Row), a string of buildings along Locust Street (part of what’s now known as “Midtown Alley”), former home to more than a few early-20th century automotive dealerships.

Bailey’s restaurants all have different vibes and culinary leanings. His latest is no different—and may be his most ambitious.

Small Batch will hone in on “American whiskey and bourbons, both neat and blended with a library of house blended liqueurs, bitters, tonics, and tinctures,” according to Bailey, whose email noted that “beer will also play a prominent role.”

Playing an even more prominent role will be vegetables: look for a 100-percent vegetarian menu at Small Batch, a name that could be extrapolated to connote the increasing but still limited supply of local and heirloom produce that’s in high demand in local culinary circles. (St. Louis Magazine)

I’ve begun going down 11th just so I can get glimpses of the workers creating inside. Much more interesting than some storefront spaces that are now someone’s office.

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis PrideFest Downtown June 29-30

Today and tomorrow the annual PrideFest celebration will take place in downtown St. Louis. For many years the parade was on South Grand, ending in Tower Grove Park. Before that the parade was on Euclid, ending in Forest Park.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the gay rights movement and why we celebrate in June:

In the early hours of June 28, 1969, a group of gay customers at a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village called the Stonewall Inn, who had grown angry at the harassment by police, took a stand and a riot broke out. As word spread throughout the city about the demonstration, the customers of the inn were soon joined by other gay men and women who started throwing objects at the policemen, shouting “gay power.”

Police reinforcements arrived and beat the crowd away, but the next night, the crowd returned, even larger than the night before, with numbers reaching over 1000. For hours, protesters rioted outside the Stonewall Inn until the police sent a riot-control squad to disperse the crowd. For days following, demonstrations of varying intensity took place throughout the city.

In the wake of the riots, intense discussions about civil rights were held among New York’s LGBT people, which led to the formation of various advocacy groups such as the short-lived Gay Liberation Front, which was the first group to use the word “gay” in its name, and a city-wide newspaper called Gay. On the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the first gay pride parades in U.S. history took place in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and near the Stonewall Inn in New York.

The Stonewall riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organize in support of gay rights, and within two years after the riots, gay rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the United States. (civilrights.org)

In 1987, just 3 years before moving to St. Louis, I drove a vehicle in Oklahoma City’s inaugural Gay Pride Parade. I was just 20 and we didn’t know what to expect. Turnout was good and nobody got beat up.

Over my years in St. Louis I’ve attended our St. Louis parade on Euclid and on South Grand, participating a few times. As a downtown resident of 5+ years I’m glad to see the event relocate to downtown.

Some in the LGBT community, including many friends, aren’t happy about the move downtown.  They’re having a picnic this morning at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market followed by a block party at Hartford @ Grand. I’ll stop by if I can but I know I’ll be able to travel a few blocks to for the main event, here’s some basics from the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis:

PrideFest 2013 is happening this Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30 at Soldiers’ Memorial.

On Sunday, the Pride 5K begins at 7 am, followed by the Pride Parade at 11 am. The Pride Parade will begin at Market and 8th Street, and will travel west to 18th Street for full disbandment. All street closures will be contained to Sunday.

Parade Closures

Market closed from Broadway to 18th Street, starting at 6 am

7th Street closed from Walnut to Chestnut, starting at 6 am

8th Street closed from Chestnut to Walnut, starting at 6 am

**All side streets leading into Market from Chestnut on the North and from Clark and/or Walnut on the South will be closed, starting at 6 am**

The exact closure times of some streets will be contingent on police direction that morning. Streets are scheduled to reopen by 3 pm Sunday.

5K Closures

The Pride 5k will do a continuous loop around Soldiers’ Memorial, starting at Pine & 15th Street; to Pine & Tucker; to Tucker & Market; to Market & 17th Street; back to Pine to complete the loop.

Pine closed from Tucker to 18th, 6 – 8:30 am

**Additional closures for the 5k will be side streets leading into Pine from Olive, between Tucker and 17th Street**

Tucker will be closed starting at 6 am from Olive to Clark and will reopen after the 5K contingent upon crowd size and police discretion.

The boyfriend and I will be at the parade Sunday, this will be his first.

— Steve Patterson

Diner To Reopen Soon At Tucker & Washington

It has been a couple of years since the 12th Street Diner closed, in the same location will be a place called King Louie’s — no connection to the former King Louie’s on Chouteau:

The new King Louie’s will be a citified homage to the old, with “griddle” burgers, shakes–and (we hope) their signature potato “planks”–but also a full bar featuring local beers. An open-grill will allow Chef Rook some of the creativity and flexibility found in modern diners, like the ability to cook steaks, chops, and gourmet “Royal” burgers made from prime beef cuts. We’ve been told the legendary Chef Dave’s Gumbo (the one we’ve called the best in town) will indeed have a place on the menu. (St. Louis Magazine)

A “citified homage”? I like how that sounds!

The main entrance faces Washington Ave. but the new sidewalk cafe will be a very nice addition to downtown, making this intersection interesting.

What remains to be seen is how the cafe will be done.

• Open seating?
• Short fence with limited entrance points?
• Regular height tables or tall tables that wheelchair users can’t use?
• Will a clear path be maintained?
• Awning or umbrellas?

The same family operates the Empire Deli & Pizza in the former B&T Pizza space to the east. I’ve been pleased so far.

— Steve Patterson

Accessing Food Truck Events

I love patronizing food trucks, street food is part of the reason I live downtown. Food trucks are often located at various downtown locations, right next to the sidewalk. Very convenient.

Food truck events, on the other hand, aren’t so convenient for those of us who’re disabled. Walking across grass, which is often uneven, is not an easy task. For some, it’s impossible.

For a few years now cities coast to coast have wrestled with accessibility of popular food truck events, so no citizens are excluded from participation. In 2011 Napa, CA halted a friday night event until a more accessible location could be found (source).

I’m asking local organizers to consider everyone when planning a food truck event.

— Steve Patterson

Readers Favorite St. Louis Brewery: Schlafly

The three breweries came out ahead of Anheuser-Busch InBev together received nearly 80% of the votes in the poll last week:

Here’s the detailed results of the non-scientific poll:

Q: What is your favorite St. Louis brewery?

1. Saint Louis Brewery (aka Schlafly) 51 [31.1%]
2. Urban Chestnut Brewing Company 47 [28.66%]
3. 4 Hands Brewing Company 32 [19.51%]
4. Anheuser-Busch 24 [14.63%]
5. Unsure/No Answer 5 [3.05%]
6. O’Fallon Brewery 3 [1.83%]
7. Exit 6 Brewery 2 [1.22%]

Remarkable given the short history of smaller brewers in the US.

The battle between craft breweries and big beer stretches back to the 1990s, when the idea of buying a beer brewed by a small, independent brewery first took off. In 1991, annual volume growth of microbrewing was 35 percent. Four years later, it had leapt to nearly 60, according to the Brewers Association. (US News — Hopslam: How Big Beer Is Trying to Stop a Craft Beer Revolution) 

Indeed, Tom Schlafly later recalled the start of Schlafly beer after the son of a former law partner convinced him a market existed:

It was Dan who finally convinced me that a microbrewery would be viable in St. Louis. For a number of reasons, we concluded that the best plan would be to start with a brewpub.

In 1990, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law that allowed microbreweries (defined as breweries that produced no more than 2,500 barrels per year) to hold retail liquor licenses for the brewery premises. They were not allowed to sell beer anywhere else. In 1991, we were issued the first microbrewery license in the state of Missouri and opened The Schlafly Tap Room on December 26 of that year.

Soon thereafter, owners of other bars and restaurants began asking us how they could offer Schlafly Beer and were amazed to be told that the Missouri General Assembly wouldn’t allow us to sell to them. Responding to these requests, in 1993, I successfully lobbied the General Assembly to amend the Missouri microbrewery law to allow us to brew up to 10,000 barrels per year and to sell our beer to licensed wholesalers. In August of that year, several bars and restaurants in St. Louis began serving Schlafly.

In 2003, we opened Schlafly Bottleworks where we now brew most of our beer including almost all of our packaged beer. In 2008, we brewed approximately 25,000 barrels of beer and owned two restaurants, The Schlafly Tap Room and Schlafly Bottleworks. In 2009, we brewed over 30,000 barrels. We reached this point without amending the law that restricted microbreweries to 10,000 barrels of annual production. How did we do this? Easy. We’re now licensed as a winery. That’s right. In the eyes of the law, Schlafly Brewery is a winery.

Like microbreweries, Missouri wineries are allowed to hold retail liquor licenses on their premises. Unlike microbreweries, however, wineries are not subject to an annual production limit. Because we make cider, we can qualify as a winery (cider being considered wine because it’s made from fruit juice). As bizarre as it might seem that a brewery could be licensed as a winery, it’s even more bizarre that Schlafly is now the largest American-owned brewery in St. Louis (Anheuser-Busch is now owned by a Brazilian-Belgian conglomerate) (CraftBeer.com)

Dan Kopman became Tom Schlafly’s partner in St. Louis Brewery. Recently they sold a majority stake (60%) in the company to a group of local investors, Kopman still runs the operation. Interesting they started with a Brewpub, the Tap Room.

Many comments on the original post focused on the fact I only included breweries as listed by stlhops.com so brewpubs like Civil Life and Perennial were not choices. I did this to avoid controversy….

I’ve learned there as many terms in the beer business: microbrewery, brewpub, craft brewery, etc…

That last one is defined as:

An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional.

Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less. Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition.

Independent: Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer.

Traditional: A brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor. (Brewers Association)

And craft beer sales continue to climb, taking away sales from the big guys:

Note how the Craft Brewers Association distinguishes between:

• Regional craft brewers
• Contract brewing companies
• Microbreweries
• Brewpubs

I still have a lot to learn.

A close second on the list was the 2-year old Urban Chestnut Brewery which just announced a second location that will be larger than the Schlafly Bottleworks:

Once the new brewery is open, Urban Chestnut initially will be able to boost its annual production by about 15,000 barrels of beer. The new facility will eventually have capacity for 100,000 barrels a year. (One barrel equals 31 gallons, or about 330 regular-size bottles.) (stltoday) 

Another brewer not on the list was William K. Busch Brewing Co.:

Brentwood-based William K. Busch Brewing Co., founded by Billy Busch, a son of former Anheuser-Busch leader August A. “Gussie” Busch, introduced Kräftig lager and Kräftig light in November 2011.

“We did the first year without TV, and we want to take the company to the next level,” Busch said.(stltoday)

Currently Busch’s new company is smaller than Schlafly, but it wants to brew a couple million barrels a year, still a small sum compared to the brewery founded by his ancestors.

— Steve Patterson