HOT SPOT
Belly up at Clover
The Clover and the Bee, the 11-month-old sister restaurant and next door neighbor to Olive + Oak in Webster Groves, has just tweaked both its image and its offerings. The full-service restaurant is now open for breakfast, lunch, and a more robust dinner. To enhance the latter, owner Mark Hinkle has also added a marble-top bar and 10 barstools. The cuisine, led by executive chef and Trattoria Marcella alum Mike Risk, now leans more Italian, as do the wines and cocktails. “When it got dark, Clover still looked like a breakfast place,” says Hinkle. “Now the nighttime vibe feels more like Olive + Oak and less like pancakes.” 100 W. Lockwood, 314-942-1216.
INSIDER TIP
Gold medals for the Lou
This week, two local institutions won top honors on separate national stages. Clementine’s Creamery won two major awards from the National Ice Cream Retailers Association: the Best New Flavor in the non-dairy category for its Chocolate Coconut Fudge, a vegan-but-you’d-never-know-it dark chocolate infused with coconut milk, and the First Place Award of Excellence for its Madagascar Vanilla, a perennial best seller.
Chef David Molina of Sugarfire Smoke House also took home Best Sandwich in the World honors (and $10,000) at the 2018 World Food Championship for his Cuban Reuben, a mass of meats and cheese piled between grilled cheese sandwiches. The mile-high sandwich will be available at all Sugarfire locations on Sunday, November 18, and featured at different locations sporadically afterward.
MICRORANT
Personal space hoggers
It’s wintertime, and there’s a line out the door at our fave fast-casual lunch spot. If only we could advance 4 feet, we’d be inside, away from the cold and wind. But alas, someone in the queue ahead of us has elected to stand well behind the person in front of him, unnecessarily delaying our ingress. We know not the reason, nor do we care. All we know is that it’s nasty outside, and if we were a car, we’d pass to one side and zoom right into that space.
Follow George on Twitter @stlmag_dining or send him an email at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
