Frequently Asked Questions About

Riddle's Penultimate Cafe & Wine Bar

Q) What kind of a restaurant is Riddle's, anyway?

A) A lot of people ask that question and you'd think, after all these years, we'd have a quick, pat answer. Every restaurant is supposed to have a "theme", right? Like "Family-Style" or "Italian" or "Pacific Rim-Vegan-CyberSpa/Bistro".

Sorry. We don't like to be boxed in. It will never happen that we cook up a terrific preparation we'd really like to serve but decide we can't because - it doesn't fit the concept.

The concept, actually, is this: we serve the kind of food we like to eat.

The history of our menu format has tracked the evolution of American printing technology over the past 25 years. Once upon a time we would prepare the menu copy and send it off for days to a "typesetter", who would eventually return a "proof copy" that we examined with a fine tooth comb for mistakes and misspellings. Then the corrected proof went to the printer, whose fee per each menu dropped with volume orders - so we would print lots of copies to get the best price each. Then, before we had nearly used up that giant pile of printed menus, we would want to change something!

As our options expanded we moved from the old Underwood manual to the electric typewriter, then to the "electronic typewriter" that had a small screen over the keyboard that displayed about 12 characters. You could march the entire menu across the screen, twelve characters at a time, make changes and print more copies on the spot! It was great!

Now, equipped with a powerful PC and workhorse photocopy machine, we print the menu fresh each day. Oh, every single item doesn't change every day - in fact you can count on some of our best creations from years past, items like Shrimp Sara and Chicken Major Grey, to be available all the time. But it's a rare day when nothing changes and week by week, as we move through the seasons, we print the best menu that daily shopping for high quality local ingredients and our own culinary inspiration allows.

Every day we prepare a menu for presentation here in the restaurant on the word processor and, while we print the copies we need for each guest, we post that freshly minted menu to this webpage. If you look early in the day you'll see a posted menu with yesterday's date, and by 5:00 p.m. or so we take that one down from the 'net and put up the current menu, in real time.

Q) What does "penultimate" mean?

A) It's an English word that means second to last. I picked it up from the Acting Missouri Director of Selective Service in 1970.

Q) What makes your place a Wine Bar? Can't I get a beer?

A) Sure you can get a beer. We've got an outstanding list of the world's best Beers and a full liquor bar, too. We were the first "wine bar" in St. Louis when we opened here in the University City Loop in 1985 - the first place to feature a really good selection of fine Wines By The Glass - and we wanted to say so right in the name of the place. In addition to 20 wines by the glass, our bottle Wine List, with a selection of well over 300 labels, has been designated in the St. Louis Riverfront Times Annual Reader's Poll as the "Best Wine List in Town" for many years running. Riddle's is the place for wine and food in St. Louis.

Q) OK, you've got a really interesting menu that changes every day and your wine and beer lists look great. Give me one more good reason to come to Riddle's.

A) That's easy. We have Live Music six nights a week featuring some of the best talent in a town that is long on fine musicians, and we never charge a cover. You can eat well, drink well and listen to great music. You don't have to dress up unless you want to. And we're right across the street from the Tivoli Theatre, recently restored to the splendor of its opening day in 1924.

Q) Alright, I'm sold. Do I need a reservation? How do I get there?

A) Give us a call at 314-725-6985 to reserve a table or just come on down.. Here's the Map & Directions. I'm Andy Ayers, the owner and chef. When you get here, let me know you saw us on the net.


Note about our menus: We have been doing desktop publishing of our menus and wine lists on paper for many years before going electronic with cyber versions of our bills of fare on the web. We change the menu we use in the restaurant daily and the wine list frequently. We are comfortable with changing both the item selections and pricing as the market and our supply and demand situation dictates. We will make every effort to keep current our web posting, but in the event of a discrepancy, the selections and the pricing on the paper version of our menus in the restaurant will prevail.

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