Review: Anthony's Bar in St. Louis and Fast Eddie's Bon Air in Alton

Those of us who live right here in River City are fortunate in having a wide range range of restaurants, but nowhere along this spectrum is there are pair of lunch stops quite as disparate as Anthony's Bar in downtown St. Louis, and Fast Eddie's Bon-Air in downtown Alton.

I'm extremely fond of both of them, for reasons that are both similar and different. They provide well-prepared lunches at reasonable prices; I'd wager that no one ever walked away from lunch without smiling over the feeling of having been properly fed while receiving top value for the money.

At Eddie's, a few blocks to the right after coming across the Lewis & Clark Bridges, it's posters celebrating beer and race-car drivers and a plethora of road signs and bows to trivia and to history.

At Anthony's, a Vince Bommarito operation where one eats from Tony's kitchen without the prices of Tony's dining room, it's steel and glass, with an aura of New York's famed Four Seasons, and usually a rather quiet room, as if the people at the tables and alongside the square bar were discussing very important matters in confidential tones. That echoes in the dress, too, with touches of elegance, often including suits and ties because that's what the customers were wearing while they spent their morning at the office.

The crowd at Eddie's wears T-shirts that boast of their favorite teams, or fishing resorts, or beverages, and baseball caps that offer a second opportunity to announce support for a favorite hobby, or town, or union. By the way, the crowd at Eddie's, on a recent Saturday, seemed to be following a changing fashion trend of wearing baseball caps with their bills to the front, in the old-fashioned manner. Perhaps a cap worn in proper retro style is the necessary correct garb for a retro stadium. Now, if someone will persuade men to remove those caps when they are indoors, Miss Manners and many others will cheer.

Anthony's was the bar area when the oh-so-elegant Anthony's Restaurant took up most of the lobby, including the space that Tony's has now. Brooks Brothers' first St. Louis store was there, too. In those days, Tony's was six or eight blocks north on Broadway, where the ugly and unnamed stadium now holds forth to welcome people coming from the east, showing them immediately where St. Louis' values lie.

The menu is simple, but much of it changes every day. There are hamburgers, of course, beautifully seasoned and served with grilled onion if the customer -- as this one does -- prefers it that way. Outstanding soups are available, and the price triples later in the day when the bowl travels a much shorter distance from the kitchen at Tony's. Real turkey is a base for excellent club sandwiches, with peppered bacon adding an extra fillip of flavor.

There's a fresh pasta and a fresh fish of the day, too. Pasta is prepared with one of the favorite Bommarito sauces, and is always al dente, with enough sauce to flavor it, not to drown it. There's a fish of the day, too. Grouper is a favorite, and all the fish are broiled, dotted with a few bread crumbs and served on a fresh roll. And the Vince Bommarito touch of always wanting to do things just a little better than his competition shows in the city's best Caesar salad. Fresh, crisp Romaine, broken into small pieces that are easier to eat, fine croutons and a proper amount of Parmesan cheese are there, too, under a just right amount of dressing (no lake at the bottom of the plate, thank you) and the piece de resistance is good, rich tuna that adds the grand illusion that there are anchovies in the salad.

Recently, a dessert or two has been added, always fruit in season and often the Bommarito chocolate cake with home-made banana ice cream, a real delicacy that proves the old saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Service, of course, is as highly polished as the silver.

At Fast Eddie's, there's a great feeling if friendliness and joie de vivre; the crowd involves far more disparate types than the entire people project could have imagined and veterans take it upon themselves to instruct rookies, who usually walk through the door and stand stunned, gazing upwards at about 45 degrees above the horizon, like first-time visitors to Times Square. But don't stand too still for too long or you're in danger of being run over.

If Eddie's isn't very crowded, find a seat, order a drink (there is wine available, but it's for beer or soda drinkers), then get up to the food line. If it is crowded, with people trailing from the counter to the door, for example, split the party and have the persons who scout the table and order the drinks meet the ones who remain in line. Experienced, highly skilled, nimble waitresses who avoid hordes of onrushing strangers better than Marshall Faulk will find you when you come back to the table, because they collect after each round.

Meanwhile, back on line, face the first blow when you learn that shrimp, the first part of the meal to be ordered, has gone up from 25 to 29 cents apiece; in other words, a dozen is $3.48 instead of $3. Order as much as you can handle (I have a fantasy about those shrimp), then figure what else you want – giant bratwurst, big, fat hamburgers, spicy chicken wings on a stick, french fries, marinated steak on a stick (but don't look for Louie's recent favorite of ferret on a stick), order, pay a ridiculously low figure and figure on a wait of 20-30 minutes while you enjoy a drink, peel and eat the shrimp and dig into some of free popcorn that's also available.

People share tables, find a conversational common ground. I've heard lively discussions of tractor quality, the corn crop, the music on the juke box and, of course, sex, all of which were covered with considerable expertise and a touch of the poet.

The shrimp are excellent. They're good sized, perfectly cooked and chilled, easy to peel. They are flavorful and juicy, chewy but not tough, and without the mushiness that attacks when the shrimp are overdone. And the sauce is one of the best red shrimp sauces I know, heightened with the proper amount of horseradish. Eddie's are as tasty as any fancy shrimp cocktail in town, and if they are not arranged and garnished, well, so what? One of these days I may save up my appetite and go for four or five dozen, or maybe more, thereby fulfilling another fantasy.

I'm a big fan of the bratwurst sandwich and I like the spicy chicken wings. Hamburgers are good, but not quite to my taste. French fries are adequate and the counter where you pick up the sandwiches is loaded with all types of condiments and garnishes. The old system of yelling out numbers has been mostly supplanted by lights that post the numbers.

It's really funny (and that's funny-peculiar, not funny-ha-ha) but when I come out of either Anthony's or Fast Eddie's, I know that I have had a satisfying meal that provided all the basic food groups, and has added a large amount of joy to the experience, the sort of additive that makes my digestion work perfectly.