Quite Contrary

I love paradoxes. You know, "any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature"? Such as: eating Ethiopian food in Kansas. Vietnamese in Minnesota. Brazilian BBQ in New Hampshire. Such absurdity keeps life interesting, don't you think?

Sadly, most people will have a steak in Omaha, Tex-Mex in Texas, and crab cakes in Baltimore. But I beg you to scoff at such predictability. It's just gross. Do something unexpected and it will surely be more memorable than following the tourist herd to, say, Old Chicago Pizza in Chicago.

I don't know what people are expected to eat in St Louis but I didn't care to ask. My dining buddy and I went straight for hole-in-the-wall Thai. (above: our $10 appetizer extravaganza of shrimp summer rolls, curried chicken skewers, sweet corn cakes, and crab rangoon...just to start.)

I know, Thai food isn't a huge contradiction to St Louis culture, but we still felt like rebels. Besides having the restaurant to ourselves, the pleasure was intensified once our pretty little plates arrived, at which point I felt sure we were the only two people in St Louis having such a divinely exquisite, lusciously unique, seductively savory meal, served with the quintessential precision of our dainty Asian waiter.
>>> "Drunken noodles" with juicy scallops, squid, and jumbo prawns. Plate-lickin' good.