Restaurant review | B&T Pizza
1131 Washington Ave., St. Louis
314.621.2400, bntpizza.com

I was so excited when I heard a new pizza joint had opened downtown a few weeks ago. Heck, I'm excited when anything opens downtown. I don't even like or have service from Sprint, but I almost wet myself when I saw them opening a store at Tucker and Washington.

So when my friend Beth came for a lunchtime visit, I knew I had to take her to check it out the pizza.

I hope she can find it in her heart to visit again in spite of that.

Upon my first visit to B&T Pizza, which opened in the heart of the Downtown Loft District recently, I wasn't sure what to make of it. While the exterior is well designed and tidy, it's a bit inconspicuous. Beth drove past the place a couple of times before she realized she had arrived.

The interior looks like an Ikea ad: Everything is gray or metallic, and, on a sunny day, one easily could go blind in there.

B&T specializes in "street slices," originating from the custom of eating a slice of pizza while either standing or walking, the restaurant's menu explains.

A couple of standard varieties -- pepperoni and cheese -- are kept out on the counter. But the menu offers other topping options.

On my first visit, I tried the plain cheese -- hard to screw up, I figured. It was pretty bland, and the crust was a bit hard.

Beth's assessment was that it was "OK." I think she had pepperoni and mushroom.

I decided to give 'em a second shot tonight at dinner.

I settled on the Queens slice: pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, black olives, fresh mushrooms, green peppers and red onions. I also ordered a House salad: Romaine lettuce, mozzarella, tomatoes, green peppers, fresh mushrooms, red onions and the house vinaigrette.

Verdict: The pizza was less than delicious, but the salad was delicious.

My previous experience with pizza has been that the toppings are added in such a way that the cheese and sauce hold them onto the crust. This was not the case at B&T.

The man behind the counter pulled my slice out of the oven looking fully assembled, but when I sat down to eat it, it was a pepperoni-and-cheese slice with the rest of the toppings just piled on top. Many of them fell off when I picked it up.

One of the things I learned by watching "Top Chef" is that food must be easy to eat as well as delicious and attractively presented. This pizza was anything but easy to eat. And it certainly was not delicious.

I will return to B&T. Possibly at night, since they're open late.

But I'm having salad.

My friend Emily has a T-shirt that reads: "Brave enough to live in America's most dangerous city."

In late 2006, when the list of America's safest and most dangerous cities was released by Morgan Quitno Press, a lot of St. Louisans balked at our city's No. 1 ranking – just ahead of Detroit. The statistics cited a 20 percent increase in violent crime here.

Morgan Quitno's numbers are a bit misleading. The data take into account only crime in the city of St. Louis – not St. Louis County. The city's population is only 330,000 and isn't part of the county. Any amount of crime in a population  that small is going to be more than a tiny blip on the radar.

Detroit's population is roughly 1 million. At No. 2 for most dangerous, that's a lot of crime. 

If those numbers are accurate, and our city really was more dangerous than before, we surely didn't notice.

The crime was being offset by good things. We were all too busy reveling in the Cardinals' World Series victory and enjoying the multimillion-dollar urban-renewal projects taking place all over the city.

This year, however, I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that we're the most dangerous city in America. Or possibly the universe.

It seems like every time I log onto STLtoday.com, check my Twitter feed or turn on the local TV news, there's been another shooting in the city.

The trend hit close to home in when someone was gunned down in the basement of a loft building just a block from mine. Though the incident doesn't seem entirely random (police aren't speculating on a motive, but it sounds like it could be a case of "jealous ex does away with new man"), it still spooked me a bit.

My heightened awareness of gun violence in the city isn't unwarranted.  

From a story by Fox 2's John Gadson today (unedited for your enjoyment):

Mayor Francis Slay addressed the issue last week in his blog:

Too many murders. Why can’t they (the police, the judges, the jailers, the prosecutors) stop them?

It isn’t because they don’t try – and it isn’t because they don’t care. ...

I have talked to every group that will listen about helping build stronger families, create better schools, occupy kids after schools, offer better training and jobs to young City residents, and get guns off our streets.

We’ve made progress, but a May of murders disguises it.

I shudder to see where St. Louis ranks in crime statistics this year. I haven't reached the point where I'm terrified to leave my home. I'm certainly a lot more cautious and aware of my surroundings, though.

But if the crime wave continues, it truly may take some bravery to live here.

In response to my earlier entry, my friend Heidi writes:

I'd say to also be careful when you give them that bottled water. I had the pleasure of writing this headline last month:

She gave him burger; he gave her beating

By CHRIS ECHEGARAY
Staff Writer

A homeless man accused of beating a woman who offered him a hamburger will face a grand jury after a ruling Friday.

The case, as explained in court, started when Fran MacLaren went to a Nolensville Road McDonald's for a late lunch on Monday. The homeless man, David Craig, 41, was outside of the fast-food chain after being told to leave a nearby liquor store.

MacLaren gave Craig the cheeseburger as he was lying down in a parking spot outside the restaurant. Craig shouted he didn't want the burger, just money and threw the burger at MacLaren, she testified in court today.

"I told him he was an ungrateful bastard," she testified.

Craig went after her, MacLaren testified, and she pepper-sprayed him in the eyes.

Enraged, Craig went after her and rammed her over a 4-foot retaining wall, she said, striking her repeatedly. She testified that he broke her nose, fractured her wrist and cheekbone and cracked a rib. She also injured her knee.

She limped into the McDonald's. She was later locked out of the restaurant, she said.

During her testimony, things got testy between Craig's court-appointed lawyer and MacLaren. Public Defender Mary-Kathryn Harcombe asked whether MacLaren had been drinking and if she was drunk during the attack and whether she had really tried to avoid the attack.

Judge Casey Moreland found probable cause and Craig will face a grand jury.

The judge then ordered Harcombe out of the courtroom. Harcombe declined to comment about her removal.

Craig is being held on $75,000 bond.

Ah, springtime in beautiful downtown St. Louis.

The birds are chirping. The tourists are back. The restaurants have opened their patios. And there's a homeless person on every block begging for cash.

Seriously. The panhandling is out of control here.

My office is only about a six-block walk from my loft. But that's plenty of time for at least two people to ask me for a buck.

After a while, you get to know the usual characters. They'll ask everybody for money once, but if they see you regularly, they leave you alone. It's the new, inexperienced ones you must watch for -- or the ones who are just plain crazy. They'll stop you every time they see you and -- worse -- tell you the same sad story.

Like the effeminate black man who identifies himself as a "little black Barbie doll."

His routine: "Honey! Honey! Oh, honey! My husband and I had a big fight, and he kicked me out of the car back there, and I'm just a little black Barbie doll trying to get $4 for a bus back to Bridgeton!"

Also, he wears a garish fur coat in all weather and carries a purse -- reason enough not to trust him.

Last time I dealt with him, in the drive-through line at Jack in the Box, I said, "That's the same story you've told me at least six times."

"Well? Isn't it sad? he replied.

It was not sad. The only part that was sad was him thinking I was so dumb.

I did not give him $4. But I did get my No. 6 with curly fries.

I've also noticed a trend among the panhandlers of them addressing their victims as "big man." As in, "Hey, big man! I don't mean to be no trouble, but you got a dollar?"

On my walk home last night, someone called me "big man." I am not that big, I informed him. And no, he could not have a dollar.

With the onset of spring, The Homeless also are becoming a lot more courageous in their attempts to collect cash:

• Two nights ago, two separate panhandlers walked right into The Side Bar on Washington Avenue, walked up to patrons and asked for money. They were denied.
• No longer is a dollar good enough. A few weeks ago, a man asked me for $10. TEN DOLLARS. "I don't even have $10," I told him. Inflation affects everyone, I suppose.
• On weekends, a homeless man sets up traffic cones and barricades -- stolen, of course -- in the free public parking spaces in the alley behind Washington Avenue. He then opens the spaces when people need to park and collects tips.

I'm not totally heartless. Homelessness and poverty are big problems here -- not only for the individuals who are victims but also for the city as a whole. It negatively affects the city’s economic development.

Nashville, Tenn., has similar problems with homelessness and panhandling. But the city also has an extensive plan to eradicate the problem and offer proactive solutions to the homeless.

Giving to panhandlers is a lose-lose situation: You lose because they often use your money to support their addictions to alcohol and drugs and they lose by continuing these destructive behaviors.

According to Nashville's Downtown Partnership: The best thing to do is say no. Refer panhandlers to social resources. If you're inspired to give, consider a bottle of water or food gift certificates instead of cash.

Sitting at my cousin's graduation ceremony Saturday afternoon in a tiny, rural high-school gym in Southeast Missouri, it hit me: Schools are teaching students bad writing habits.

I made the realization when the class salutatorian took the stage, unfolded her speech and spoke: "I'd like to begin with a quote."

I cringed and exchanged a glance with my brother to my right. He knew what was happening.

The young lady at the podium -- very smart, as she was the salutatorian -- had fallen into the same trap of writers everywhere. She was trying to capture our attention by reciting a quote.

Yawn.

I remember when I was young, and my teachers encouraged us to begin our compositions with quotes. Or anecdotes. Or questions.

Now that I know better, none of those really are good ways to begin a piece of writing. Or a speech, for that matter.

I immediately composed a text message and sent it to my friend Heidi, now a metro editor at The (Nashville) Tennessean. She replied: "I would like to begin by commenting on the weather."

Heidi was my editor at my first big-boy newspaper job and taught me a lot about what to do -- and what not to do -- when writing.

Over the years, we shared many laughs at the expense of interns and experienced reporters alike who led their stories with quotes, anecdotes and the classic weather cliche ("Rainy conditions did not dampen the spirits of those who attended the Hayseed Festival ...").

A bit of research into the newspaper's archives a few years ago even revealed that I began my first article for that newspaper (1999, I believe) with a quote. And not a very good one. How embarrassing.

My, how I've changed my ways. And I've shared what I know with other writers whenever possible.

My brother, who just finished his freshman year of college, once led with quotes. But no more.

Good thing the rain held off a day while I was visiting. Beginning with a quote and a weather anecdote would have sent me over the edge.