Robert St. John writes a weekly column about food, family and fun - or some combination of all of the above. Available in many newspapers across the country, Robert's column celebrates the love of food and family from his own unique perspective. It's Mark Twain meets Julia Child meets Will Rogers. Each column is rich with charm and usually a recipe or two. Catch Robert's column in your local paper or enjoy nearly five years of weekly columns here.
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” – Mark Twain
A reader of this column recently forwarded a copy of an archived New York Times article with the headline, “Robert St. John, Globe Trotting Reporter and Author is Dead.” My first reaction was to check my pulse. My second was to see when the article was written. The date of publication was Feb. 8, 2003. My third thought was, time flies, when you’re dead. more...
Eight months ago our restaurants rolled out an extensive Atkins diet menu. It took off like a California brush fire.
We were slightly ahead of the restaurant curve, and introduced the menu to an anxious bunch of carb-starved patrons. I, too, hopped aboard the Atkins luge to hell and deprived myself of carbohydrates for eight weeks. I lost around 30 pounds. more...
I am a fan of small, locally-owned breakfast joints.
The character of a small town can be summed up within the walls of its local breakfast café. Every morning throughout the South, the news of the town and the news of the world is recounted and debated at Formica-coated tables over strong coffee, newsprint, tobacco smoke and fried eggs. more...
Fifteen years ago I made a list of things I wanted to do before I die.
Somewhere in the middle of that list was the item: “Run with the bulls in Pamplona.” It seemed like a worldly and romantic thing to do, very Hemingwayesque. Although, to my knowledge Hemingway never actually ran with the bulls, he mostly stayed up in the stands drinking, writing extremely short sentences and watching matadors do all the dangerous stuff. more...
I often wonder if other food columnists receive as much hate mail as I do. Actually, I often wonder if other food columnists even receive hate mail.
I could understand receiving hate mail if I wrote an op-ed column and was weighing in on important social, political and economic issues. I would expect hate mail if I were a sports journalist dealing with the heated arguments involving sports rivalries. But this is food, folks. more...
If Destin, Fla., is the Redneck Riviera, then Gatlinburg, Tenn., is the Hillbilly Alps.
My wife talked me into a spring break trip to Gatlinburg. A friend had told her, “What Aspen, Colo., is to the Rockies, Gatlinburg is to the Smokies.” Wrong! more...
I have seen many strange things in my 22-year restaurant career.
In the kitchen, I have seen a cook slap another cook upside the head with a ham steak. I have seen a dishwasher pull a knife on a kitchen manager. I have seen a dozen fistfights. I have seen the emergency fire-extinguishing system activated in the middle of a busy lunch rush. I have even seen an employee's girlfriend drop her pants and urinate in the middle of the parking lot because a manager wouldn't let her boyfriend clock out early (don't ask me, I don't see the logic, either). more...
My wife, Jill, speaks her mind.
I have always admired this trait of hers. Sometimes she has trouble holding her tongue, but for the most part, she comes out on the better end of the deal. Clear conscious and all. more...
I have been despondent lately.
Days are gloomy and downcast, dark clouds gather at every turn, and I try not to lose all hope. Unfortunately, the junk-food world has taken another blow to its collective double chin. more...
Independent restaurateurs are torchbearers for the American dream.
In no other industry can one start with a small idea – and a minute amount of money – work his tail off and create a thriving business. more...
Restaurateurs are always on the lookout for new trends in the foodservice business.
We constantly keep our eyes open for new foods being introduced on menus and new restaurant concepts on the rise. more...
Life is filled with defining moments.
One such moment occurred last week. I was in Atlanta filming a segment on the cooking program, “Home Plate”, for the Turner South network. The studio was large and well equipped, the setting was extremely professional and I was surprisingly comfortable. The jokes and quips were flying, and before long the entire crew was eating out of my hand. more...
My friend Chris Bowen is a world-class eater.
He stands 6-feet, 4-inches, is redheaded and weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 pounds. Chris never passes up free grub. Growing up, Chris had a knack for arriving at someone’s house around mealtime. He has my passion for food, but he can eat more than me (and that’s not an easy task for anyone). more...
MOTHER: The two things I cook best are meatloaf and apple pie.
SON: Which one is this?
“Klank!” (That’s the sound a meatloaf pan makes when it cracks over a son’s skull. more...
It aint easy being a restaurateur.
The restaurant business has the highest mortality rate of any business. It’s a tough life. Restaurants open and close at a staggering rate, the hours are long, the labor pool is constantly changing, government regulations are ever mounting, the stress level is high, and, unlike most other businesses, there are more ways to lose money than there are to make money. more...
My wife is susceptible to lapses in judgment while watching late-night TV.
Over the years she has purchased Ginsu knives, Tae Bo tapes (still in the wrapper) Winsor Pilates tapes (still in the wrapper), a George Foreman grill (still in the cabinet), a complete boxed set of country music gospel CDs for her grandmother (her grandmother didn’t own a CD player), an electric egg scrambler that scrambles an egg while still in the shell (“I was pregnant and hormonal and too busy to scramble an egg out of the shell.”) and a Ronco food dehydrator that makes beef jerky and yogurt all in one. more...
The holidays are a time for all good Americans to eat massive amounts of meat. It is our patriotic duty.
I am a devout carnivore. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey, smoked ham, pork roast and beef tenderloin. Vegetarians have it rough during the holidays. Thanksgiving is to a PETA follower as Halloween is to a fundamentalist snake handler. more...
I made a bet with my wife that I would join her on the Atkins diet until Thanksgiving.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the diet. Never in the four years of writing this column have I received so many e-mails regarding one particular topic. The Atkins diet definitely touches a nerve. more...
One of the latest food crazes to hit the white-tablecloth restaurants of New Orleans is redfish on the half shell.
The best way to eat fish is on the half shell. It is the true fish lover’s fish preparation. more...
The e-mails are pouring in.
Scattered among solicitations for Viagra prescriptions, no-more-wrinkle solutions, spam e-mails that offer to help eliminate spam e-mails and advertisements for medications that promise to enlarge various appendages, were multiple e-mails complaining about last week’s cornbread column. more...
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