The last few times, we have been here, we have eaten in very good restaurants. This trip, we are eating in homes three of the four nights (not complaining), so my ability to test out the eating out scene (no, two outs do not make an in…..nor an inning) is limited. But……

We met friends at a coffee shop, Deer Creek Coffee, Monday at 10 a.m. I decided to hold off and have breakfast, not just coffee. DCC (I may be the only one who uses this abbreviation) is on Clayton Road in Ladue, near my high school. It has a good reputation. It is a very informal but comfortable place. I ordered two scrambled eggs, a bagel and hash browns. And coffee. The coffee was quite good, and the eggs looked delicious, yellow and fluffy and in fact it looked like maybe they gave me three.

I eagerly anticipated my first bite. It was luke warm at best, and devoid of taste. Not edible. How could this be? I went up to the counter and asked “are these eggs fresh or from some sort of mix?” “Oh, they are fresh”, he answered, “We make first thing every morning.” “Like three hours ago, or four?” “Yep.”

Another thing about this place (and I say this without bias): every staff member looked a little off. The fellow with a full beard wearing large green drop earrings. The young woman with full tattoos covering what appeared to be everything from her wrists to her neck. The 400+ pound man. The fellow you would hire to play the nerd in a high school romcom. I was glad they all got jobs.

Yesterday morning I had some time by myself and I stopped by to get a coffee to go. Not one of Monday’s staff was to be seen. And everyone working there looked perfectly normal. It made me wonder how the eggs would be. Go figure.

Yesterday for lunch, we tried a brand new place, Deli Divine in the new Delmar Divine reconstruction of the old St. Luke’s Hospital. Meant to be an authentic 100 year old eastern European American Jewish deli, it is very cute and has an extensive menu (not kosher), indoor and outdoor seating, and an attached specialty food market that you would love. We had sandwiches – Edie liked hers, I didn’t care for mine. But I liked the Zingerman potato chips from Ann Arbor and Mexican Coca-Cola (not very Jewish, but no corn syrup). I wish them success. Off the beaten path for most of the St. Louis Jewish community, and in a sketchy neighborhood (but they have parking, etc), it’s owned by a well known St. Louis/Israeli restaurateur and just may succeed. The Delmar Divine redevelopment has office space for a number of civic nonprofits and there is nowhere else to eat.

We did have dinner out last night. But at Westwood Country Club, not a restaurant. My swordfish sitting in a spicy artichoke tomato sauce was excellent.