In the interest of mind-body balance, we make for Forest Park,
1,370 rolling acres set aside for the 1904 World's Fair.
Calculating our budget, we discover we can manage a two-hour bike
outing, so we head to a local shop and rent a pair of cycles for a
tour of the park's heels-and-wheels lanes. We stop at the lakeside
Boathouse, where it seems half the city has decided to take a break
for salmon BLTs. We pedal on and get lucky, stumbling across a beer
festival - yes! - where we happily settle for New Belgium ales and
barbecued chicken sandwiches gobbled up on the grass.
Bowling isn't just a kitschy museum subject in St. Louis. It's a
kitschy theme for a bar, too. Pin-Up Bowl, in the Loop district, is
small (eight lanes), carefully crafted, and upstart, with
pinup-girl pictures and Key lime pie martinis. How cool is Pin-Up?
Rap star Nelly, who grew up in the area, holds high score at 257.
It's now Saturday night, and craving a dinner worthy of such, Dave
and I decide to splurge. Gently. Chez Léon in the leafy, shop-lined
Central West End district pays tribute to the city's French roots
with a bistro menu of escargots, duck confit, and steak frites.
Plus, it has a bargain three courses for $32. We give in to the
Parisian murals, vintage cognac posters, and apron-clad waiters and
admit Léon is romantic in a classic but schmaltz-free way.
Declining the soufflé, we save dessert for
Ted Drewes, the
destination Route 66 maker of shakes so thick they're called
concretes, and are served upside down to prove it. The place is
mobbed at 10 p.m., 20 deep with clots of teenagers, families,
dates, even dogs. Splitting the "terra mizzou," a chocolate and
pistachio combo, we spy on the swarm of high-schoolers whipping out
the custard treats.