Day 46 St. Louis, Missouri

Last night brought a light sleet and snow storm that must have caused very slippery conditions, because the highway was littered with cars that spun off the road during the night. Fortunately the roads were clear by the time we left for the seven hour drive to St. Louis. There was still ice on the trees and grass so the prairie was sparkling...a spectacular sight. Around two 'clock we checked into a hotel located in Italian section of town called The Hill and immediately went to the restaurant next door called Bartolino's. We ordered a quick lunch of Roasted Ravoli's that were as good as they were unusual. It was hard not to order a second helping. The Bartender Rosa, who had lived in The Hill for 37 years and knew everybody, was quick to recommend Bartolino's, Gian-Tony's and Lorenzo's as the best restaurants for good Italian food. Around seven we drove around The Hill to decide where we wanted to eat. The Hill is St. Louis's answer to Little Italy, and is a fascinating eight block by eight block residential area with either a restaurant, market, or bakery on practically every corner. The difference is that it's not made up of row houses, but is suburbish in that it's all small houses on small lots mostly built in the 20's and 30"s. Since Lorenzo's was closed on Mondays, and Bartolino's was next to the hotel, we selected Gian-Tony's for dinner--thankfully, because I was starved for pasta. Walking in I thought "this is exactly the kind of place where Tony Soprano would be a regular". We started with an Involtini, Spinach and ricotta cheese blended and stuffed in very thin grilled slices of eggplant, served in a marinara sauce with melted mozzarella. There wasn't even a tiny morsel left over. Any restaurant, anywhere would love to have this on their menu. For an entree I ordered Cannelloni, homemade egg crepes stuffed with ground veal and vegatables served in marinara sauce and melted mozzarella. Although very good, it didn't come close to what Sylvia had; Pollo Spedini, chicken breaded and rolled, stuffed with broccoli and provel cheese, served in a peppercorn cream sauce with more broccoli. I don't know what made this dish so extraordinary, but it was unique. Maybe it was the locally produced provel cheese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provel_cheese) I don't know, it was just great. There was no room for dessert. Oh, I almost forgot, it all came with a good bottle of Valpolicella.