Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.
Justin "The Hill Topper" Bruegenhemke
There once was a time where you couldn't get on your phone or computer to quickly find out what the best sandwich on The Hill was. You had to either find some kind of official food publication or talk to an expert. A real human! You'd schlep over to Tony's house down the road and ask him. He'd been to every single shop. He knew the owners. He knew what to eat and what to avoid. Tony was the sandwich guy, a badge he wore proudly. He probably didn't even have a job, he'd just sit in front of his house and talk sandwiches while working on his car. We don't have a lot of those people these days. Now we just have idiots on Yelp. However! We do have Justin Bruegenhemke, a young, upstanding gent who was spending his lunches eating sandwiches all over The Hill, when his neighbor asked him "what's the best sandwich?" Bruegenhemke's response: "I haven't eaten them all, so I can't tell you."
Sick of his excuses for not providing an answer to their sandwich inquiries, his neighbors laid out a challenge (or perhaps a demand?): try them all! With the guanto thrown, Bruegenhemke took on a new identity.
Sandwich Shops on The Hill
Gioia's
Adriana's
Amighetti's
Eovaldi's
Joe Fassi's
Southwest Market
Viviano's
Urzi's
Mama Toscano's
From that day forward, he would be The Hill Topper. He set about to eat 158 sandwiches from The Hill's 9 sandwich shops, a task so daunting, none had attempted it before. On January 18th, The Hill Topper project was completed—Gioia's Hogfather marked #158.
I've followed Bruegenhemke (on Twitter and Instagram) from around the midway point, growing more and more impressed with each sandwich he downed. It seemed to me that he was either my competition or my new BFF. Our shared interests in whiskey, Nick Blue's cheeseburger, and eating excessively pointed to BFF. There was only one way to figure it out: a meet-up at the home of Hot Salami, Gioia's—a place I shamefully admit I had not been to.
I get there early and hold a table, which feels like it might be a faux pas. I pull my camera out so everyone knows I mean business. The door opens behind me and there he is: dressed in all black, it's The Hill Topper. I'm fairly shocked to see he's not 350 lbs, but that probably goes both ways.
We get in line; I defer our ordering to him, seeing as he is the expert. We get the Spicy Daggett—Hot Salami, hot coppa, and capicolla, and spicy giardiniera on toasted garlic pepper cheese bread—and, off the not-so-secret secret menu, his namesake, The Hill Topper: capicolla, Hot Salami and hot beef topped with spicy giardiniera and pepper jack cheese, all on toasted garlic bread.
The sandwiches are, as with most Italian sandwiches, hefty. I already know I won't be feeling good about myself later this evening. We split each sandwich in half and swap. I start with the Spicy Daggett. GODDAMN. Most Italian sandwiches bore me, but the hot salami—somewhere between mortadella, porchetta di testa, and headcheese—is sending chills down my spine.
"I thought hot salami was just spicy salami originally, but the hot comes from being warm. You can order logs of it, then slow cook it at home for 10 hours," Bruegenhemke says. "I want to slice it thick and cook it real crispy. I want some eggs on it."
Just thinking about this on a breakfast sandwich clogs my heart a little, but it would be so worth it.
The Hill Topper is the beefy cousin of the Spicy Daggett. "I used to come in and get the Spicy Dagget, then I subbed out one of the cured porks for beef. It's much less salty and spicy because of the beef," Justin explains. He's right. It's a beautiful blend of meats and toppings.
You're hungover and craving breakfast?
Donna Do You Wanna's Heartthrob at J Viviano's
Breakfast, lunch, & dinner in one?T
The Space Ball at Gioia's
Something quick and affordable?
How does a 9inch Meatball with homemade red sauce Eovaldi's for $5 sound? Hit them up Monday-Friday for lunch.
Need warmth on a cold winter's day?
Gorgonzola Dip at Adriana's
Got the need for cheese?
The Daily State Special at Eovaldi's
Don't eat pork?
Mary's Special - Adriana's Sicilian Bomber - Eovaldi's New York Philly- Gioia's
"How long did it take for you to eat all 158 sandwiches?" I ask.
"When I decided to do it, I crossed off the sandwiches I'd had ten times and knew everything about. If there were sandwiches that I thought I’d had but wasn’t sure, i left them on and had it again. Initially, I crossed off 30 or so. I would go to Gioia's and Adriana’s all the time before."
"It took me about a year—I had over 100 sandwiches in less than 12 months. It’s a decent pace, a sandwich every other day. Also, no issue on doing half and half. You can eat half a sandwich and get what it’s about."
"Your son is going to be so proud of you one day," I say.
I ask him what his favorite of the 9 shops is. Justin answers, without skipping a beat, "I find myself telling everyone to go to Gioia’s, Eovaldi’s, and Adriana’s. These three just shine above the rest. Mama Toscano’s is good, but they only have six or seven sandwiches. It’s basically just take out. They have the best toasted ravioli’s in the world, though. They do a meatball parmesan—breaded and fried meatballs—it’s really good. Basically a toasted ravioli sandwich."
Rather than picking a single favorite, he's come up with a series of lists for you to adhere to. Coming soon on Whiskey And Soba, we'll have his "Best at Each" restaurant, and below you'll find the "Quintessentials". However, there was one sandwich worse than the rest: the egg salad at Southwest Market.
Bruegenhemke's determination is admirable, to say the least. Mere mortals would give up on such an undertaking after sandwich 50 or so. When I ask him if he's glad it's over, he seems thankful; he can go back to eating just his favorites...but there's a glint in his eyes, a smirk on his face. He's got something else up his sleeve. I nudge and prod, but he won't give in. The Hill Topper has another eating conquest in mind, but he's not ready to share it.
For his sake, I hope it's eating every salad in town. But we all know it won't be.
JB’s Quintessentials
Gioia's
Hot Salami on garlic cheese bread
Eovaldi's
The Extra Special
Adriana's
Sicilian Salsiccia
Adriana's
Joe's Special
Adriana's
The Gorgonzola Dip
Gioia's
The Berra Park Club
Gioia's
Porknado
Eovaldi's
The Godfather
Gioia's
The Hogfather
J Viviano's
The Sophia Loren
Gioia's
Spicy Daggett
Mama Toscano's
Meatball Parmesan
J Viviano's
The Butch
J Viviano's
New York Steak Sandwich
Gioia's
The Hill Topper
Five Bistro
Five Bistro has closed.
I'd never given much thought about chef Anthony Devoti's Five Bistro before seeing it ranked at #11 on Ian Froeb's The 100 Best Restaurants in St. Louis list. It's a place I haven't heard much about since returning here and based on its location on The Hill, I made an assumption that it was just another Italian restaurant (i.e., boring 'classic' Italian food). It turns out that it's a new American bistro with a menu that changes daily based on what's in season and available from local farmers, so I was pretty far off on that one. It has a very neighborhood-restaurant vibe to it, if that makes sense. It's the kind of restaurant that floats between being good for a casual dinner or something fancier, like a date or anniversary. It's probably a little too bright and friendly to meet a Tinder 'date' at, though.
Interior at Five Bistro
The menu reflects the neighborhood feeling. Starters lie mostly in the pasta family, with gnocchi, tagliatelle, and risotto serving as bases, along with a soup, a salad and a charcuterie board (which I did not have, but I have heard is stellar). Looking at both current and past menus, what's noticeable to me is that their dishes all sound like a restaurant version of what you would make at home. It's comfort food, in that sense.
After going through the menu and placing our orders, our waitress - who was friendly, attentive, and great with recommending and describing dishes - brought us a small amuse-bouche of Goat Cheese and Salmon over a crostini.
We tried two cocktails: the Hot & Dirty and the Ginger Daiquiri. The Hot & Dirty reminded me of something I made in college when my friends and I thought we were mixologists.
The ginger daiquiri was delicious with Diplomático añejo dark rum, The Big O ginger liqueur, fresh lime, raw sugar, Bittermans boston bittahs. I'm not sure you'd ever see Don Draper drinking it, but I liked it.
Salmon Amuse Bouche at Five Bistro
Cocktails at Five Bistro
The soup du jour - that sounds good, I'll have that - was butternut squash mixed with a J.T. Gelineau oyster mushroom salad and creme fraiche. We all agreed that even though the amount of mushroom in the dish was relatively small, the flavor was just as potent as the squash itself.
Butternut Squash Soup at Five Bistro
Salmon Crudo at Five Bistro
An off the menu special for the evening was a salmon tartare with aioli and crackers. A simple dish that let the salmon shine.
Just looking at this next picture is making me hungry. Chef Devoti's spring onion gnocchi with housecured lardo, ozark morels, ramps, olive oil, black pepper, and Beehive Cheese's honey-rubbed Seahive was the best dish of the night. I would return solely for this dish.
This is early spring Missouri on a plate. If someone told me to take one dish from The Hill that represented spring and the area it came from, it would be this. Pillowy soft gnocchi, the light smoke of the lardo, and the smooth cheese all served to push the subtle flavors of the ramps and morels to the top.
Morel Gnocchi at Five Bistro
Pork Loin at Five Bistro
Before I even tried the Benne's Farm hickory roasted pork loin, I took a big forkful of the creamy polenta and gravy alone. Something amazing happens when you take any sort of corn-based 'porridge' and mix it with a meat gravy. The pork itself was cooked well, accompanied by hen of the woods mushrooms, spring onions, and a herb butter. Oh baby.
Roasted Pork Loin at Five Bistro
Roasted Chicken at Five Bistro
Halibut at Five Bistro
The Benne's Farm chicken breast is an example of what I said before about this being a restaurant quality version of what you make at home. Substitute your dried out skinless chicken breast and Trader Joes bag o' vegetables for a perfectly cooked and seasoned chicken breast, local squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, and you've got this. Our last entree was Halibutfrom Neah Bay, Washington, served over sorrel, rutabaga, red new potatoes, fiddlehead ferns, and topped with a ramp and lime vinaigrette. I thought it could have used a little more "umph" - I didn't have a gravy and polenta reaction. I have no pictures of our dessert due to a camera issue, but we tried their Apple Sorbet and cherry/pistachio biscotti, as well as their Peanut crunch ice cream bombe, served with peanut brittle, creme anglaise, and candied peanuts. Both were good, one was better. Can you guess which? Hint: it's the one with all the sugar and cream.
We all enjoyed our meal at Five Bistro, and if we lived nearby, it's probably somewhere we'd eat at fairly frequently. While my palate trends toward modern and ethnic foods, I have a lot of respect for chef Devoti for his focus on taking local produce and crafting well cooked meals out of them. We could use more restaurants with that kind of dedication around town.