The Dining Divas Hit the Streets of St. Charles

By Lisa Kampeter

It has been quite some time since I’d been to Café Napoli in Clayton, but I always enjoyed it when I went there in the past. So last month, when the Enthusiastic Diva suggested the Dining Divas check out the newest location, Napoli III, in St. Charles, I was more than happy to oblige. But what made me happier, she volunteered to manage the reservations for us. In my book, that was huge.

For over 20 years (or it could be more because I lost track), I’ve coordinated the restaurant locations with the Divas and dealt with the reservations (which often includes updating them due to last minute cancellations or late joiners). It’s such a welcome change to me when someone else volunteers to pick the place and make the reservations and the revisions to them. I was off the hook.

She did such a great job, I’d be happy to pass the baton to her permanently. Napoli III is located at the Streets of St. Charles, and getting a reservation especially the size of our group is not an easy feat. We had a great table with an attentive, considerate waitress, and the restaurant was booming with a fashionable energy that made you think this was the place to be.

As the feeling of normalcy was returning, it was so great to catch up once again with the ladies. It was a tough school year for the Teacher Diva. She misses seeing her students’ faces and is ready for her classroom to return to pre-pandemic ways. The Travelling Diva is ready to adventure out of the country once again and excitedly shared her plans for her upcoming trip to Egypt and Jordan.   And the Epicurean Diva is ready for her taste buds to return to normal as her post-COVID symptoms continue to linger.

The Divas enjoyed the salad choices on the menu. The Stack Salad with eggplant was excellent as was the Napoli Salad and the Beet Salad, which, apparently, was “to die for”. And you can’t go wrong with the traditional St. Louis Salad.

The Predictable Diva ordered Arancini (rice balls) like she does at most any restaurant that serves it, and she’s glad she did. But she was most pleased with her soup of the day order, Corn Chowder. It should permanently be on the menu. The Positive Diva said that this was probably her first time having real quality calamari because it was excellent, and she typically is not a calamari girl.

The Tagliatelle Bolognese was some of the best Bolognese the Italian Diva had in a long time. The Liver and Onion dish served with fingerling potatoes was excellent and huge. The Chicken Picatta and Chicken Marsala were popular choices, but the Chicken Parmesan was too salty, and so were the Meatball appetizers.

Last summer, as the Divas gathered in a parking lot or park to rekindle some sort of normalcy

during the pandemic, one thing that I introduced to them was a time for prayer at 8PM. It happened accidentally because my phone alarm went off, and they asked why I had it set for that time. I told them every night, my husband and I pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic (among other things) at 8PM. They said “let’s do it”. So we prayed.

This month, when my phone went off, once again, they said let’s do it. But this time, instead of me leading the prayer, and the focus being mostly on the end to the pandemic, we went around the table and anyone wanting to share a special intention did. It was wonderful to pray together for others’ needs. Like for a mom who had recently fallen. A police officer friend with brain cancer. A person on hospice. An ex-husband with Alzheimer’s. A grandson finding his way. A daughter finding her way back to her mom. Good test results.

It was enlightening and a reminder that we really don’t know what’s going on in a person’s life or what they are going through. Which is why I found it so uncomfortable later when a Diva decided to complain to a manager about an apparent over-abundance of salt on a couple things. Was it really such an issue that it couldn’t be discussed with the waitress when first eating it? Did she have to make such a big deal out of it? And hadn’t we just prayed for really important things? I wanted to hide under the table. This has happened before, me wanting to hide under a table, but it’s been a few years.

Oh, well. Even though the restaurant wasn’t my pick, I was still relieved to hear from most of the Divas that it was a great choice and so good to get out and see everyone. And from my perspective, a little extra salt was probably just the added seasoning needed.

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