A Visit to St. Louis, MO

Have you ever been to St. Louis, MO?  We, the family, attended a wedding over Labor Day weekend because my son was bestman for his childhood friend.  My husband, daughter and I decided to explore the city before the festivities started.  We had a good amount of time so off we went to the downtown area by cab.  Our cab driver was very informative. So for about 15 minutes he took  us on a scenic tour to downtown St. Louis.  We saw the famous Gateway Arch!  Then on to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery for a free one hour tour ending with two free beer tastings!  Free! Did you know that St. Louis has free admissions to other sights such as: S.t Louis Science Center, St. Louis Art Museum, National Great Rivers Museum and more!

By now it was close to lunch time and we had read about a great Italian restaurant in 'The Hill' district of St. Louis.  Being Italians and we love good food, we called a cab and off we went!  To Rigazzi's!

We ordered the 'toasted ravioli'and two different pizzas.  First came the ravioli, which by the way is not toasted, it is fried! ! with sauce on the side. We all looked at each other and wondered what the pizzas where going to taste like!

Before long they were being delivered to our table.  With our taste buds ready to attack we indulged.  One was a white pizza with roasted garlic, and the other was the pizza margherita - with gorganzola cheese? And how about the crust!  Does the phrase 'stale fortune cookie' have any meaning for you? Basically it had to be a loser in the Betty Crocker baker-off.   I must say we were a bit disappointed.  Coming from the New York metropolitan area maybe our expectations were too high!  We decided it was a waste of calories! 

Overall, we did have a good time touring St. Louis and we were all quite impressed with the city.  Well worth a trip !  By now it was time to get back to the hotel, Ritz Carlton, to get ready for the wedding, which by the way, was outstanding!

I would highly recommend the Ritz Carlton in St. Louis!  A very elegant hotel and it was enjoyed by all.

The Best Pizza in New Jersey!

[gallery columns="2"] Recently I had a pizza at AMANO, a pizzeria in Bergen County N.J. I must tell you that it was the best pizza this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Having been to Italy in November 2008 with my family we made an effort to eat pizza at a very old pizzeria in Naples, Da Michele. The pizza at Amano comes very very close to an authentic Neapolitan pizza. The pizzas are cooked in wood burning ovens, which were built by Neapolitan Artisans and will reach temperatures of 1000 degrees. Everything from the flour to the cheese is imported from Naples. It had a think crust and the dough was very tender. They will create your own personal size pizza, which you will not have trouble finishing. Bring a good bottle of wine and buon appetito! Don’t forget to have some gelato to finish off your meal. Again all the ingredients are from Italy. By the way, A Mano means by hand in Italian.