A culinary history of the Gateway City and the memorable restaurants that once made their home there. St. Louis is a food town, and there are many restaurants that have captured the heart of the city. Some of them are no longer around. Rossino’s low ceilings and even lower pipes didn’t stop the pizza-hungry residents from crowding in. Jefferson Avenue Boarding House served elegant “Granny Food” in plush surroundings. King Burgers and onion rings ruled at the Parkmoor. Dohack’s claimed it was the first to name the “jack salmon.” Author Ann Lemons Pollack details these and more restaurants lost to time in the Gateway City. “Few St. Louisans know the history of the St. Louis food scene like local food and travel writer Ann Lemons Pollack. . . . The book is a treasure trove for St. Louis history-lovers, beginning with an extensively researched look at the food served at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition—better known as the 1904 World’s Fair—hosted in St. Louis. She debunks some myths—hot dogs were not “invented” at the fair, but perhaps found a wide audience there—and charts the various restaurants and cafes that fed eager fairgoers.”—Feast Magazine

St. Louis has an appetite for sure. The places that made it that way have fascinating tales of hard work and good flavor. From the white tablecloths of Tony's to the counter at Woofie's, the Gateway City came to culinary prominence. The glories of Union Station's Fred Harvey restaurant and simple spots like the Piccadilly highlight the variety. Mai Lee serves as the city's first Vietnamese restaurant, and Mammer Jammer was home of St. Louis's hottest sandwich. Recipes are included, like a favorite soup of Missouri's own Harry Truman. Ann Lemons Pollack, author of Lost Restaurants of St. Louis, found these stories and more, all to whet your appetite.

St. Louis is a food town, and there are many restaurants that have captured the heart of the city. Some of them are no longer around. Rossino's low ceilings and even lower pipes didn't stop the pizza-hungry residents from crowding in. Jefferson Avenue Boarding House served elegant "Granny Food" in plush surroundings. King Burgers and onion rings ruled at Parkmoor. Dohack's claimed it was the first to name the "jack salmon." Author Ann Lemons Pollack details these and more restaurants lost to time in the Gateway City.

Missouri's history is best told through food, from its Native American and later French colonial roots to the country's first viticultural area. Learn about the state's vibrant barbecue culture, which stems from African American cooks, including Henry Perry, Kansas City's barbecue king. Trace the evolution of iconic dishes such as Kansas City burnt ends, St. Louis gooey butter cake and Springfield cashew chicken. Discover how hardscrabble Ozark farmers launched a tomato canning industry and how a financially strapped widow, Irma Rombauer, would forever change how cookbooks were written. Historian and culinary writer Suzanne Corbett and food and travel writer Deborah Reinhardt also include more than eighty historical recipes to capture a taste of Missouri's history that spans more than two hundred years.

"In the early twentieth century, Tulsa was the "Oil Capital of the World." The rush of roughnecks and oil barons built a culinary foundation that not only provided traditional food and diner fare but also inspired upper-class experiences and international cuisine. Tulsans could reserve a candlelit dinner at the Louisiane or cruise along the Restless Ribbon with a pit stop at Pennington s. Generations of regulars depended on family-owned establishments such as Villa Venice, The Golden Drumstick and St. Michael's Alley. Join author Rhys Martin on a gastronomic journey through time, from the Great Depression to the days of "Liquor by the Wink" and the Oil Bust of the 1980s."--Back cover.

Contains captioned, archival photographs that trace the history of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, from the groundbreaking to the closing ceremonies.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, thousands of former slaves made their way from the South to the Kansas plains. Called “Exodusters,” they were searching for their own promised land. Bryan Jack now tells the story of this American exodus as it played out in St. Louis, a key stop in the journey west. Many of the Exodusters landed on the St. Louis levee destitute, appearing more as refugees than as homesteaders, and city officials refused aid for fear of encouraging more migrants. To the stranded Exodusters, St. Louis became a barrier as formidable as the Red Sea, and Jack tells how the city’s African American community organized relief in response to this crisis and provided the migrants with funds to continue their journey. The St. Louis African American Community and the Exodusters tells of former slaves such as George Rogers and Jacob Stevens, who fled violence and intimidation in Louisiana and Mississippi. It documents the efforts of individuals in St. Louis, such as Charlton Tandy, Moses Dickson, and Rev. John Turner, who reached out to help them. But it also shows that black aid to the Exodusters was more than charity. Jack argues that community support was a form of collective resistance to white supremacy and segregation as well as a statement for freedom and self-direction—reflecting an understanding that if the Exodusters’ right to freedom of movement was limited, so would be the rights of all African Americans. He also discusses divisions within the African American community and among its leaders regarding the nature of aid and even whether it should be provided. In telling of the community’s efforts—a commitment to civil rights that had started well before the Civil War—Jack provides a more complete picture of St. Louis as a city, of Missouri as a state, and of African American life in an era of dramatic change. Blending African American, southern, western, and labor history, The St. Louis African American Community and the Exodusters offers an important new lens for exploring the complex racial relationships that existed within post-Reconstruction America.