Joe Fassi's Sausage and Sandwich Factory on the hill

If you live in St. Louis you know that “The Hill” is synonymous for great Italian Food. It should come as no surprise that when I saw a groupon that offered $20.00 of food and drink for $10.00 at Joe Fassi’s sausage and sandwich factory on “The Hill” I jumped at the chance to get good Italian eats on the cheap. On the day we made our lunch bucket list visit to Joe Fassi’s we stopped in Maplewood and picked up my brother Sid and asked him to serve as a special guest critic.

I ordered the #10 which is a handmade salsicca with cheese touted as the best in St. Louis. The sandwich is served on Italian bread with cheese and marinara sauce - it was delicious, albeit a tad small. The sausage was excellent the bread, sauce and cheese rounded out the flavor pallet in a manner worthy of their best in St. Louis boast.

Brendan had the #21 “Yogi Berra” dog which consisted of two all-beef jumbo franks served open face smothered in Joe Fassi’s homemade chili, provel cheese and onions. The sandwich came in a foil pan and was baked in the oven melting the cheese on the chili. The chili was excellent, flavorful but not too spicy as to drown out the flavor of the all-beef franks.

Sid had the #11 Paul Fassi New York Bomber which consisted of roast beef, genoa salami, pepper cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoncini. Sid told us the quality of the ingredients and the blend of flavors of the sandwich were extremely good, but the sandwich which was served hot was ice cold in the middle deducting points from the overall enjoyment of the experience.

Each of us made our sandwiched into a combo by adding bag potato chips and a fountain soft drink. After using the groupon we still owed $18 for the three sandwiches, chips and sodas, which seemed a bit steep considering the pedestrian nature of the sides and beverages.

Overall the food was good, but it’s easy to see why they need to have a groupon to try to get people in the door. I will probably wait until the next groupon before visiting Joe Fassi’s again.

http://www.joefassisandwiches.com/

 Value: 2 Lunch buckets (as a combo each meal was $8.59 each)

Service: 4 Lunch buckets

Food Quality: 3 Lunch buckets (all of the food was good, but warm sandwiches served cold in the middle are a problem in my book)

Overall: 3 Lunch buckets

Pepper's Deli and Southwestren BBQ

With sandwich chains seemingly on every street corner it’s hard to get excited about going out to lunch and getting a sandwich. A trip to Pepper’s Deli and southwest Smokehouse is a noticeable exception. In fact, Brendan and I drove over thirty minutes to Peppers passing many sandwich shops along the way. You are probably wondering what makes us go out of our way for a sandwich at Pepper’s.  The answer is fresh high quality ingredients, good service and generous portions. Although Peppers has a lot of menu choices including many BBQ items rubbed with their own unique dry rubs, and slow smoked over a hickory fire for up to sixteen hours at a time, I can never seems to get past the deli sandwich portion of their menu. All of Pepper’s Deli sandwiches are made in the tradition of the New York style deli. Pepper’s uses only Boars Head fresh roasts all of which are at least 97% lean and are piled high on your choice of fresh baked bread.

For our visit Brendan Chose the Tom’s club which is a triple decker monstrosity of Boar’s head Turkey, hickory smoked bacon, lettuce and tomato stacked a full six inches high on some of the best toasted wheat bread you will ever taste. Brendan substitutes brown mustard for the mayonnaise that is traditionally served on the sandwich, and ranks it among his favorite sandwiches of all time.

I chose the Stack which consists of warm smoked ham, mesquite turkey breast; Pepper's hickory smoked bacon, melted provolone and cheddar cheeses. The Stack is topped with tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and honey Dijon sauce and mine was served on fresh wheat bread. Brendan and I both opted for the BBQ baked beans for our side dish and were delighted by their unique flavor and texture.

Although a little expensive, the flavor and freshness of the offerings at Pepper’s make me repeat Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous line from the Terminator movie: I’ll be back!

To see more menu items and get directions to Pepper’s go to:

http://www.peppersbbq.com/

 Value: 4 Lunch buckets (sandwiches were $6.99 each and the side was extra as part of a platter option)

Service: 5 Lunch buckets

Food Quality: 5 Lunch buckets

Overall: 4.66 Lunch buckets

Pizzarelli's pizza

In my opinion pizza is one of the most perfect foods in the world. The combination of cheese, meat, tomato sauce and crust explodes with flavors that satisfy my palate. For a pizza lover like me the really difficult part is deciding on what style of pizza I want to enjoy. This week we went to Pizzarelli’s in Ellisville Missouri. If you are looking for a fancy dine in experience you will want to go elsewhere, but if you want great New York style pizza at a fair price and are willing to overlook the small and not well maintained dining room, then look no further. Whether it’s by the slice or by the whole pie, Brian Behrens and his crew consistently turn out the best New York style pizza in the area. Pizzarelli’s makes their dough and sauce in house, preps their meat and cuts their vegetables daily and even grinds and grates their fresh Grande mozzarella cheese. The difference really comes out in the end product.

     Though there are several lunch specials, Brendan and I both chose the two slice special with a soft drink which came in at a reasonable $5.95 each before tax. I ordered a slice of meatball, and a slice of sausage. Brendan ordered a slice of pepperoni and a slice of sausage. Five minutes later we were enjoying our lunch. The large foldable slices had plenty of topping and the crust was baked to perfection. We especially enjoyed the sausage which was sliced Italian sausage instead of the more common ground variety. The meatball had copious amounts of seasoned beef and the peperoni was delicious albeit a little greasy as fresh peperoni can sometimes be.

If you love pizza you really owe it to yourself to visit Pizzarelli’s.  Just be sure that you go on Thursday, Friday or Saturday because although Pizzarelli’s is open seven days a week, they only serve lunch Thursday Through Saturday. For direction and more information about Pizzarelli’s visit their website at:

http://www.pizzarellispizza.com/

Value: 5 lunch buckets

Service: 4 lunch buckets (although fast and friendly, we docked them a point for their Spartan facilities)

Food Quality: 5 lunch buckets

Overall: 4.67 Lunch buckets

Blueberry Hill

I love the Delmar loop area of St. Louis. The “Loop’s” eclectic, melting pot feel always makes me think that I am in a much bigger city, right here in St. Louis. Any trip to the “loop” would be incomplete without a stop at Blueberry hill. When you walk in the door you are almost smacked in the face by Blueberry hill’s personality. Knick knacks everywhere and old school rock and roll playing strongly in the background; blueberry hill is a treat for the senses. Ambiance aside (and I repeat, there is plenty of ambiance!), Blueberry hill offers a fairly comprehensive menu with offerings ranging from burgers, and deli sandwiches to trout almandine, and several vegetarian offerings like veggie lasagna and red beans and rice.  On our visit Brendan decided to try the famous 7 oz burger with pepper jack cheese and bacon and buffalo chips, and I opted for the Special Sandwich with a side of potato chips.

     The burger had a big, tasty charbroiled patty which was cooked to Brendan’s specification topped with pepper jack cheese and crispy bacon and served on a sesame seed bun – overall a good burger. The buffalo chips were thick slices of wavy cut potato fried to a golden crisp and sprinkled with a sneakily spicy seasoning that was unique and delicious. The Special sandwich was Cold roast beef, ham and salami served on a large kaiser roll with provel cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and Thousand Island dressing – a delicious combination, and the chips were your garden variety straight from the bag chips.

     When you factor in the combination of the ambiance, the food quality and quantity, it’s fair to say I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill….

www.blueberryhill.com

Value: 3.5 Lunch buckets

Service: 4 Lunch buckets

Food Quality: 4 Lunch buckets

Overall: 3.8 Lunch buckets

O'Connell's Pub

I’ve wanted to go to O’Connell’s pub since my friend Tony Urban told me they had the best hamburger in St. Louis over twenty years ago. Located on the corner of Shaw and Kingshighway O’Connell’s is dimly lit, with dark wood and pictures of Irish boxers and other Irish themed items adorning the walls. A visit to O’Connell’s is like a visit to Ireland, without ever leaving St. Louis.  This visit Brendan and I both decided that we had to try the hamburger to see if what Tony had told me was true. Well Tony, you were right. The folks at O’Connell’s do hamburgers right. The high quality hamburger meat was formed in a big thick patty that was char broiled to perfection and served on a toasted sesame seed roll with a pickle wedge and a slice of Bermuda onion.  The only minor setback was that the side dish is not included with the burger, but other than that if you are in the mood for a great burger we highly recommend a visit to O’Connells Pub.

Value: 3.5 Lunch buckets

Service: 4 Lunch buckets (burgers are cooked to order so there is a little wait)

Food Quality: 5 Lunch buckets

Overall: 4.2 Lunch buckets

Pappy's smoke house St. Louis Mo

Believe the hype Pappy's Smoke House is the real deal! Brendan and I visited Pappy's as our first "Lunch Bucket List" restaurant and we came away full and happy. Pappy's Ribs were the best I've had and the pulled pork sandwich was big and flavorful. The sides were good too. We had baked beans, fried corn and sweet potato fries and each was delicious. The prices were fair $12.99 for a half slab of ribs and $7.99 for a Pulled pork sandwich. Both came with two sides, and for $3.00 more Brendan got a delicious hot link added to his meal. The only downside was the huge line... we waited almost 45 minutes before we ordered and it was a weekday at lunch time. Fortunately we had our food within minutes of ordering and it was great. In spite of the wait, we think Pappy's is a winner. Our ratings are (5 is the highest, 0 is the lowest):
Value: 4 Lunch buckets
Service: 3 Lunch buckets (The wait was the only real problem here)
Food Quality: 5 Lunch buckets
Overall: 4 Lunch buckets
Visit http://www.pappyssmokehouse.com/index.php
for directions and information about Pappy's

What is a lunch bucket list?

Think of the lunch bucket list as a bucket list except instead of all the things you want to do before you die, this list is all of the places you want to eat lunch before you die. Inspired by shows like Man Vs Food and Diners Drive Ins and Dives, we are going to go to all of the good, unique lunch places in St. Louis and the surrounding areas and share our experiences via this blog