The 13 Blog On The Road: El Tigre "Sport Bar" in Playa Del Carmen Mexico

Let me welcome you to the Special Series, "The 13 Blog On the Road!"  From time to time when I travel, you'll get a look into where we went and what kind of bars we found.  In early December I got married to my then fiance and now wife.  Our honeymoon was delayed a bit, as I was convinced that going back to school to get all degreed up was a good idea, so our honeymoon, or luna de miel, was in early January.  The wife and I spent a week in sunny Mexico on the Yucatan Penninsula about 30 miles south of Cancun and right outside of Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

New Series Announcements At The 13 Blog

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or the facebook page may have already heard about this, but here goes!  There are actually two new series of posts that I'm happy to announce today.  Neither one will be as regular as the dive bars or the slinger posts though.   There are a couple things that the 13 blog loves doing as much as dive bars or slingers, and that's fish frys and travelling.  So I am proud to introduce.....

Part 11 Of The Continuing Series, St. Louis's Perfect Slinger: Layfayette Fire Company No 1

An unusually warm January morning in St. Louis made the perfect backdrop to go looking for the perfect slinger.

Before I really get into this, have you noticed the tags on the right hand side of the screen?  When I do a review post, I put in the tags, the neighborhood of where the place is.  In the future, perhaps in about a year or so, there will be so many neighborhoods listed it'll be so cool, I think.  Remember this blog is about the city proper first and foremost.  So, I'm trying to move around neighborhoods right now.  I noticed I've been downtown like 3 times, and to Soulard a couple times, so I'm making a concerted effort to move around the city, at least South St. Louis.

The Bull Tadpole

For those of you following me on twitter, you know I'm a little bit behind on this post. We went on Friday and I'm just now getting this one. What can I say? It's been a bit of a busy weekend. So, apology over, and let's get down to it!

I first discovered this South St. Louis gem about 5 months ago. The wife and I were finishing up taking photos of the St. Louis neighborhood signs and we just saw this bar and I decided right then and there that the 13 Blog was going to make a visit. I handed her the BlackBerry and said

formspring.me

Although the quest for the perfect slinger goes on, have you found a favorite slinger yet in your travels and if so, which one?

Yes, the quest goes on...though a bit frustratingly so right now. As I told the proprietor of 12th Street Diner a couple weeks back, my current favorite would have to be Chris's Pancake House's slinger.

Theirs comes with pancakes...I mean seriously?! It's very large and comes with a large helping of properly cut white onions.

This post here: http://battra13.blogspot.com/2009/08/st-louiss-perfect-slinger-part-4-chriss.html

This was an early post so the good pictures and such didn't happen, but you get the gist I think.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

It's 2010. Where is my flying car?

I'm very sorry, but this blog is about diners, dives, slingers, and bourbon. You could search out a good science blog to find out about flying cars.

Ask me anything

Part 10 Of The Continuing Series, St. Louis's Perfect Slinger: The Majestic Restaurant and Bar

All I can say right now is this is how I feel: A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! If you're a faithful reader of this fanciful adventure through St. Louis searching for slingers, you know that I've hit a run of bad luck.

This week it continued.  The reason why the slinger runs were so close together is because I haven't had a good one in a couple trips and I really, really want to eat a tasty slinger.  So, my father in law and I set up the time and date as I'm getting off of a plane from Mexico, the wife thought I

Part 9 of the Continuing Series, St. Louis's Perfect Slinger: The 12th Street Diner

Let me start off this entry with a quick story.  As my local readers know, yesterday was really slick and nasty and snowy in the morning.  So, after I woke up I saw that I had a text from my wife asking if we were still planning on going out.  Well, I really wanted my slinger, so we were.  Well, it was slick, and this morning, we were set up for some serious issues.

The Damned Dart Players At Phelans

This is a story from back in the before time; long, long ago.  It was requested that I post this one, so here it is:

Years ago, Chris and I used to go to Phelan's on a weekly basis.  It was our home bar.  We both worked retail and we'd kick 10pm like 5pm for normal folks.  So, we'd head out and watch a game, play some tunes on the jukebox and put back three or four beers, or even get their $7.99 steak special, but I think I'm ahead of myself.

The Night Before The Wedding.....PUB CRAWL!

So, I was planning on making this entry tomorrow.  I figured after last night that I'd be sleeping way in today and wouldn't have time.  It's 8:45am and the rest of my wedding party doesn't arrive at the house till 1pm.  I don't have to start getting ready until 12pm...but I woke up at like 7am today...so...I'm full of nervous energy, so here we go.  Let's relive last night shall we!

I'm Sorry For Ignoring You....

Hello. Hello.  I know, I know.  I've been very disrespectful.  I have some great places on the dockett.  I really do.  I've got a couple diners and some dive bars coming up soon, but....

Part 8 of the Continuing Series, St. Louis's Perfect Slinger: The White Knight Diner

Today my companion and I went on our next diner jaunt, The White Knight Diner on 18th and Locust. Let me preface this entry with a short story. I was telling the story of how this little blog got started to Christine, the owner of the Riverside Cafe, on Tuesday when we were enjoying the bar side of her establishment. It started with a joke. My soon to be father in law and I mentioned, as we drove past the White Knight, that we should eat there. My fiancee and her mother were not having it. So, I side, ok fine, you and me, we're going on Saturday, but when we got there, it was closed, so we went to The Hoagie Diner instead, and the blog was started as an anecdote in a Facebook blog entry.

Karaoke On Tuesday Night

OK, due to being invited, I'm not going to give a full write up, especially since it was not the kind of bar I would have driven past and said, I need to review this place.  I actually struggled with this question quite a bit.  I really do want to keep some sort of journalistic integrity, but also struggling with a lack of content recently, due to real life concerns, that are thankfully handled.  Last week, I received an email from the owner of the Riverside Cafe.  She wanted to introduce herself to me, and such.  We had been talking back and forth on a forum we both read.

Let's Be Friends and a Funny Story

A couple things here.  The newest bit is that I have created a fan page for the 13 Blog on Facebook.  There are already a few fans, but we're hoping for more.   I don't really know why I made it, but I think it's neat, and I do hope to get many, many fans of what we do here.  On the facebook fan page, all of our fans/members can post photos, links, and what not.  I guess I'm just kind of hoping that we can make a small community or something that would be fun.  It will also be a way to pass along news to more folks like I do with twitter.  So, please clicky clicky and become a fan!

Part 7 of the Continuing Series: St. Louis's Perfect Slinger, The Buttery Restaurant

So, this morning, my faithful diner companion and I went off on our next adventure. I, searching for the next great slinger, and he, enjoying my company. We decided to head deep into the the heart of South St. Louis today at The Buttery Restaurant. Located on Grand Blvd in the neighborhood of Gravois Park, the Buttery has been located there next to the Blockbuster Video for as long as I can remember.

This place is very quaint, and very much like a diner of old.  I was expecting Mel and Flo to be working there, except we were there during the day.  I hadn't been there in quite a few years.  I remember my mother, her then fiance and I made a trip to the Buttery once very, very late at  night.  I do not recommend this, unless things have changed since 1993.