Nicki's Central West End Guide

Sunday, January 29

Rockefeller Center, January 25, 2012

RFT's 2012 St. Louis Web Awards

The good news? The St. Louis online community is alive and well. The bad news? There's so much great content out there, it's extremely difficult to come up with a list of the best of the best. But, hey, this is the Internet. People love them some lists. We'd hate to disappoint. 

So, then, the list (below) of finalists in this year's RFT St. Louis Web Awards appears in no certain order. Winners will be published in next week's paper and announced at our award's ceremony on January 24th at the Old Rock House. Congrats to all, and special thanks to our judges who spent hours and hours combing the web to bring back these incredible finds. Now, without further ado...

FYI: Just back from the RFT Web Awards Ceremony at The Rock House to report that 'I Love Soulard" won best neighborhood blog. Thanks to everyone who nominated "Nicki's Central West End Guide." There were 1000 nominations for 21 different categories sent in by 400 readers of the RFT. It is an honor to be among the top five! Thank you!

Best Neighborhood Blog
Count on Downtown
Nicki's Central West End Guide

NoCo STL
I Love Soulard* THE WINNER!
Cherokee Street News

Best Music Blog
Encor.es
I Went to a Show
KDHX Blog
3 Minute Record
Music VS Man

Best Personal Blog
Running from the Law
City in a Jar
sKIDmarks
Captain's Quarters

Best Arts Blog
ReviewSTL
Temporary Art Review
St. Louisan
St. Louis Art Map

Best Food Blog
Every Little Thing
Off the Eaten Path
Cupcake Project
Rhubarb and Honey
Iron Stef

Best Sports Blog
Cards Diaspora
Black Sports Online
Joe Sports Fan
Viva El Birdos

Best Architecture Blog
NextSTL
Built St. Louis
Preservation Research
St. Louis Patina
B.E.L.T.

Best Political Blog
Occasional Planet
PoliticMO
St. Louis Activist Hub
Beacon Backroom
St. Louis Tea Party

Best Photostream/Flickr
Nate Burrell: Before the Blink
Elaine Marschik: Fridayn (Flickr)
Jason Stoff: Encor.es
Corey Woodruff:coreywoodruff.com
Todd Owyoung: I Shoot Shows
Mark Scott Abeln: Rome of the West
Darren Snow: Plasticfootball (Flickr)

Best Use of Video
Feast Magazine
Show Me Shows
Joe Sports Fan
St. Louisan

Best Use of Twitter to Promote a Business/Org.
@Schlafly
@MilagroModMex
@MissOhioVintage
@websteru
@RobustWineBar
@YoungFreeSTL (Vantage Credit Union)

Best Use of Twitter to Promote a Personal Brand
Evan Benn @EvanBenn
Angela Ortmann @STLwinegirl
Chris Reimer @rizzotees
Erica Smith @ericasmith
Nick Gilham @NickGilham

Best Use of Facebook to Promote a Business/Org.
Star Clipper
Atomic Dust
FoamMiss Ohio Vintage
Kakao

Best Use of Social Media for a Civic Campaign
Save St. Louis Del Taco
Save Pratzels

Best Local iPhone App
Pocketbooth
Explore St. Louis
Stodgy Gents

Best Club/Concert Website
An Under Cover Weekend
LouFest
Firebird
The Pageant

Best Restaurant Website*
Pi
Cicero's

*Our judges really disliked menus that open as .pdf files. Restaurant owners take note.

Best Designed Website
Atomic Dust
HatBox.co
Moosylvania

Funniest Twitter Feed
@MattSebek
@LeDASHa07
@not_erica

Best Kickstarter Campaign
(En)Visioning Hyde Park
Sukkah City STL
Sentinels of the Multiverse
We Are Church
Daughters of Cambodia

Best Sex Blog
Momfia
Pieces of Jade
Sex + STL
The Beautiful Kind
The Life and Charlotte Times

Meet Pi's Executive Chef Steve Caravelli

I stopped in to see Pi's Executive Chef Steve Caravelli (above) on Friday morning to get the lowdown on the posters in the restaurant's windows plugging "Meatless Mondays" (see below). I assumed the push at Pi was solely to encourage healthier eating ("Meatless Mondays" has its own wikipedia entry: look here), but there is more to it.

Steve said that the business model restaurant owner Chris Sommers and his partner, Frank Uible, have adopted is heavily weighted toward making  Pi an ecologically sustainable restaurant.  The Meatless Mondays' initiative (at the CWE location only at this point), is a step in that direction.

The newly-created Meatless Monday menu rolls out today, and will list among other choices, the "Western" and "Berkeley" pizza.

Once we finished discussing the initial reason for my visit, my ulterior motive for contacting Steve surfaced. I love getting behind the scene of almost anything--especially restaurants, and talking to chefs about their background and how they came to the restaurant business is high on the list.

Steve graduated from Mizzou with a degree in Journalism, and if there was any thought of the food business at all, it was writing about it, not working as a chef. But his father--who has a large cookbook collection and loves to prepare family meals---suggested that Steve might like working in the restaurant business. Father knew best and Steve apprenticed for some of the top chefs in St. Louis--- Aiden Murphy at Old Warson Country Club, Larry Forgione at the late, great American Place (one of our favorite special occasion spots), Gerard Craft at Niche, Eric Brenner at Chez Leon and Moxy (another old favorite).

Steve has been at Pi for about six months. One of his first assignments as Corporate Chef was to help open Pi's Washington, D. C. location, District of Pi at 910 F St., N.W.  He still travels to D.C. every month to tweak the menu. I asked Steve to compare the top selling crust in the CWE location to the District of Pi. Thin crust is more popular in D.C., where on a good day they sell 400 to 500 pizzas. In the CWE deep dish rules the day, and on a really good day here 300 to 400 pizzas are served. Anyway you slice it, that's a lot of pizza!

On the domestic front, when Steve has time off, he and his wife Cara and their two-year-old daughter enjoy spending time with both of their families, usually centered around a meal. Steve says that Cara, a graphic designer, whose online business is called "Clever Hands Press," does most of the cooking and makes a mean minestrone.

Pi, 400 N. Euclid, open 7 days a week, (314) 367-4000.

Sunday, January 22

Dressing up for a birthday bash

Apparently there was a birthday party upstairs at Brennan's (4659 Maryland Ave.) last night. The terra cotta entrance to the Gerhart Building was bathed in blue light for the occasion, accompanied by a Hollywood-style searchlight that illluminated the wintry sky. The effect added an air of festivity on an otherwise blustery night.

Steve Neels and his Arctic Cat

Entreprenurial CWEnder Steve Neels has started a snowplow business in the neighborhood called West End Plow. Last week he snapped a photo of his spiffy new Arctic Cat on Kingshighway after the first snowfall of the winter season. Steve's been hired by the CWE Business Community Improvement District (CID) to keep sidewalks within the CID District clear of snow and ice. Those hardy souls out and about on this icy Friday may have seen him earlier this evening spreading magnesium chloride on the slippery  sidewalks.

Steve specializes in clearing walkways & lots, and charges $85 an hour with a 1 hour minimum. In addition to his work in the commercial district, Steve's services could be a great resource for block associations, private streets, small condo projects, and apartment owners. When not out roaming the neighborhood on his Arctic Cat, Steve, a man of many talents, morphs into a multi-skilled small contractor offering a variety of services in the construction trades. Contact him at (636) 232-4664, or steveneels70@yahoo.com.

"Urban Landscapes & Holy Places" at The Vino Gallery

Last Saturday night a group exhibition, "Urban Landscapes and Holy Places," opened at The Vino Gallery, the wine shop/art gallery space at 4701 McPherson. Pairing artists and bundling their work under an evocative title, such as the one chosen for this show, is an art in itself. At The Vino Gallery that task belongs to art director Matt Pruyn (barely visible in blue shirt behind the new tasting bar). Matt, an artist himself, has had a passion for art for as long as he can remember. He has put his own artistic endeavors on hold in order to focus on bringing local and regional art to The Vino Gallery.

The current exhibition is based on urban landscapes rendered by four artists: St. Louisan Jennifer Richter, Jennifer Bock-Nelson who is based in Quincy, IL, San Franciscan Lauren Tallon, and St. Louis photographer James Holzer. The turnout Saturday night was, in Matt's words, "fantastic!"

Featured artist, photographer Jennifer Richter, is photographed (though unfortunately not very well) in front of her dramatic "California Overpasses" series, above and below. The photographs are limited first edition 20 x 24 archival giclee canvas prints, $650 each.

The landscape photos in St. Louisan James Holzer's (with back to camera in photo above), series, "Holy Places," range from $110 to $900.

The newly-installed tasting bar, shown in larger detail in the first photo, was designed and constructed by Andre Tourrette, a Brooklyn-born sculpture artist who now lives in St. Louis. Tourrette has exhibited his art nationally and examples of his work are also in international collections. Matt said that Tourrette approaches his work with a thought process that is opposite from most sculptors, i.e. the end result is the product of whatever materials are available during the creation of the piece.

Tourrette is also a metal fabricator at Troco, a local company that has designed the light filtration system for the new wing of The St. Louis Art Museum. Matt Pruyen helped Tourrette design the bar top for The Vino Gallery using glass chips and metal shavings as grouting between the chips. The metal shavings are left over from the construction of the Art Museum project (to be installed in the near future).

Jeremy Lampe, an instructor at the CWE's Glass Factory, is exhibiting selected pieces of unusual glass pieces (top shelf), $45 to $1200, and his popular glass pumpkins (bottom shelf) at The Vino Gallery.

"Urban Landscapes and Holy Places," The Vino Gallery, 4701 McPherson, Mon. to Weds. 11-7, Thurs. to Sat. 11-9, until March 10.

Making tracks, moving on!

Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Tipton

This afternoon (Friday 1/20): I just received a very funny email from Martin Schweig saying: "I understand that the turkeys have returned to Westmoreland Pl after their excursion into the far reaches of the Central West End. Apparently, after searching the area and checking the real-estate etc. they have come to the conclusion that they are better off where property values are higher!"

I've spent most of the day bogged down in paperwork so, while I have several topics to tell you about, I am going to take advantage of the note and the accompanying photographs received this morning from neighbor Mary Ann Tipton, and share them with you.

Last Thursday, around 12:30, Mary Ann noticed that a pair of turkeys got separated on Taylor (between Lindell & Maryland) when one dashed into Taylor Park. Just to say--like it happens every day--that a pair of turkeys got separated on Taylor, is amazing in itself, isn't it?

Mary Ann said she winced when she saw the larger bird in the middle of Taylor calling the mate/partner, but thankfully traffic slowed enough to avoid hitting the big bird. Mary Ann shooed the turkey out of Taylor Park because the bird was throwing herself/himself against the wrought iron fence in an effort to join the mate on the sidewalk, see below. 

Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Tipton

Last Mary Ann saw, the pair was making tracks heading north on Taylor.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Barnes

On the same day that Mary Ann saw the turkeys on Taylor, Elizabeth Barnes, who lives on Maryland Avenue, sent a photo of turkey tracks she spotted in her backyard. As Elizabeth said in her email: "there was only one set of tracks, which started in our neighbor's yard to the east and continued into the neighbor's yard to the west."

I also had an email from Heather Gentile last week on her sighting of the wild turkeys on Westminster near Boyle last Tuesday afternoon: "Thank you for the story on the wild turkeys. If it weren't for you and Todd (Frankel), with the Post-Dispatch, I doubt family and friends would believe my story.

 I was enjoying my daily walk in our neighborhood yesterday afternoon, and noticed something on someone's walkway. At first, I thought it was a sculpture and to my surprise, it moved!!!!! As I looked closer, I realized that it wasn't just one wild turkey but FIVE!!!!!! I was completely startled as they started walking towards me. Not knowing if they were aggressive, I quickly changed my route."

Thanks for the updates...keep them coming! Is a new bumper sticker in the future? How about alongside the "CITY" decal, one that says: "I Brake for Turkeys."

Sunday, January 15

Crossfit-CWE to open Monday

Last Sunday I snapped pictures through the windows of Crossfit-CWE, which is scheduled to open Monday, January 16, at 393 N. Euclid between Mary Jane's and Left Bank Books. Inside I could see owner Mel Marten and general manager & head trainer, Mike Libbie, setting up equipment and putting the finishing touches on the new facility. Crossfit-CWE is one of 3000 CrossFit gyms around the country (10 in the St. Louis area).

CWEnder Mel Marten went to Washington University, and later worked in the investment industry for 15 years. He's always been passionate about sports, from weightlifting to yoga to marathons and triathlons. Three years ago, after two surgeries to repair ankle problems from the damaging effects of long-distance running, Mel started doing CrossFit (see Wikipedia definition here). He eventually became a certified CrossFit trainer, and then last fall, started putting the pieces together to open a facility in the Central West End.

CrossFit-CWE offers several one-hour classes a day (Monday through Saturday), with 5-10 members in each class who go through a warm-up, skill work, and full-body, high-intensity workouts with a trainer who gives personal attention throughout the session. The workout varies each day.

Mel Marten further explained that: "Crossfit combines strength training, endurance, and agility movements to get people in the best shape of their lives. Some people are intimidated to start the program, but we scale the workouts to each individual's ability." Mel says you'll love Crossfit because "the workouts are always different, and going through the pain with a class of friends makes it fun!" There are already about twenty people who have expressed an interest in joining, just waiting for the doors to open on Monday.

If you connect the dots between CrossFit and that universal New Year's resolution, you can check one major item off your list---just like that!

Crossfit-CWE, 393 N. Euclid, for membership information and class schedule, visit the website here.