I'm Kristin, a 39 year old (gulp) mother of two living in St. Louis, MO. I live with my partner Branden, my two kids Liv (9) and Finn (6) and our pup Taco. I grew up in a pretty typical suburban Kansas City neighborhood with two full-time working parents who tackled meal time like an accountant doing your taxes. It was something that needed to be done, but it certainly didn't need to be special or flashy. They leaned into convenience (Hamburger Helper) and dishes that would stretch their budget (casseroles). There was nary a fresh green vegetable anywhere and definitely never an herb. So I carried this experience of food, serving primarily as a functional means to keep stomachs full, with me out into the world and was truly lit up to find it could be smething more.
I moved to Chicago when I was 22 (after a quick zip around Europe) and started working in media. Media is an industry where you notoriously make very little money but are lavished with free meals, concert and sports tickets and for a short time in the early aughts, lots of free jeans. Sitting at 22, wide eyed and very green, at some of the nicest and most notable restaurants in Chicago, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. I was introduced and exposed to not just exceptional food and beautiful dining rooms but the idea of chef as celebrity. Chicago has always been home to at least a few of the world's best restaurants and always a longer list of those considered to be the top in the US. The city became my food playground, first through the expense accounts of well-known media partners and publishers, but then, as I worked my way up through my advertising agency, restaurant dining became something I was willing to spend my own money on.
During this same decade, my new husband and I also made it a priority to travel abroad as much as our time off and budgets would allow. During these trips we made it our mission to seek out the local favorites and the well-reviewed hot spots. We hit Europe, South America, Africa and Asia experiencing both the best and the worst of dining outside of your comfort zone. I absolutely loved it and felt electric every time we were introduced to a new dish (springbok in South Africa? Why not?!) or were transported somwhere magical by the incredible dining room design, like the tree growing in the middle of 95 Keerom in Cape Town.
Now that I've settled in St. Louis with my family and am less able to travel far and wide, Branden and I do our best to enjoy the growing food scene in St. Louis. It is not Chicago, but what city could be? There are plenty of new and noteworthy openings and lots of fresh and unique culinary voices and talents in the Lou. What I've struggled with is the lack of valuable and informative restaurant reviews. Branden thinks all of the journalists are beholden to advertising revenues so no one will ever write anything that could be interpreted as critical, and if this is the case, it's to the detriment of the residents and people with mouths in St. Louis. Well defined and articulated criticism has two benefits. It is informative for those of us who really want to know how someone with a discerning palate experienced a restaurant and it makes the restaurants better! None of us get better or grow as humans without some level of criticism or critique. It doesn't have to be mean spirited or unkind, it just need to be truthful and motivated by a desire to elevate the restaurant and overall the quality of the entire St. Louis food scene. And that is what I aim to do!
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