Restaurant review | Beso Mexican Grill & Cantina
1130 Washington Ave., St. Louis
314.588.7864, beso-stl.com

I never got a chance to check out Red, the trendy nightspot that occupied the Washington Avenue space before Beso. I heard it had suffered from something of an identity crisis: Its owners couldn't agree on what Red should be.

I did get a chance to check out Beso a few weeks ago, however.

My first impression was a good one. While pieces of the decor clearly were leftovers from the previous venture -- TVs in the booths, for example -- I liked that it didn't look like a traditional Mexican restaurant inside.

Sort of sports-bar-meets-Mexico.

I did find it a bit annoying, though, that the overhead music skipped the whole time I was there. I think it was one song that stopped abruptly and replayed, over and over and over. Employees made a few panicked attempts to fix it, but it was no good.

My party began with house margaritas -- the true test for success. Our consensus: If you like the taste of sweet-and-sour mix, they're great.

I went out on a limb and tried a Blue Lagoon margarita from the vast drink menu. It was delicious and appropriately mixed.

The dining menu has the Mexican staples, but it also offers a few surprises -- like shark. My portabella quesadilla was tasty and arrived in a timely manner.

The owner (one of the co-owners of Red) seated our party, and our server was attentive and pleasant. Overall, my experience was good.

Beso has been getting some negative attention lately in the blogosphere, though. A fellow downtown dweller brought the scandal to my attention last week.

Apparently, someone posted a negative review of Beso on Yelp, a restaurant rating site. Beso's owner then contacted the reviewer and threatened some pretty hateful things if she didn't remove her review.

They say any publicity is good publicity, but this story has spread like wildfire, especially among the downtown community. Word of mouth can make you or break you.

My advice: Give Beso a chance, and check it out for yourself. Downtown needs restaurants that will succeed.

Just review it at your own risk.

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.

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.