{"id":10389,"date":"2013-05-01T12:44:59","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T18:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=10389"},"modified":"2013-05-01T12:44:59","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T18:44:59","slug":"dining-divas-get-a-taste-of-reality-at-sweetie-pies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=10389","title":{"rendered":"Dining Divas Get a Taste Of Reality at Sweetie Pie\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dining Divas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Lisa Kampeter<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to admit that the sole reason for choosing the Dining Divas restaurant of the month was the excitement of a potential celebrity sighting.\u00a0 Well, if you\u2019re a reality show junkie, you\u2019d find it exciting.\u00a0 Months ago, the Gladys Kravitz Diva requested we head to The Grove neighborhood for the chance of seeing Miss Robbie or Tim or Lil\u2019 Charles.\u00a0 Thanks to the Oprah Winfrey Network, these three St. Louisans are household names in many homes in the country now because of the reality show, \u201cWelcome to Sweetie Pies.\u201d\u00a0 And for the Gladys Kravitz Diva, she speaks of them as if she\u2019s one of the family.<\/p>\n

Miss Robbie put her heart and soul into recreating her mother\u2019s own recipes and opened Sweetie Pie’s, a soul food family restaurant, on Manchester Avenue.\u00a0 Formerly an Ikette (a backup singer of Ike and Tina Turner\u2019s), once she stopped singing and touring, she turned to her other passion\u2026cooking.<\/p>\n

When you walk into Sweetie Pie’s, you\u2019ll notice the \u201cwarning signs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFilming in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour image or likeness may be used in the production of \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And \u201cno sagging allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had our Hip Hop Expert Diva not been present, I would have had to Google \u201csagging\u201d before I walked in to make sure I was in the clear.\u00a0 Basically, your pants have to pulled up at all times.\u00a0 A quick double-check, and we were good to go.<\/p>\n

The warning sign that was unfortunately missing was the \u201cDo Not Overdo It\u201d sign giving us the \u201ceyes bigger than the belly\u201d speech.<\/p>\n

After an unnecessarily long drive to Sweetie Pie’s, we finally made it to the restaurant.\u00a0 TRAVEL ALERT:\u00a0 From North County, do NOT take 170 to 40 to get to Sweetie Pie’s during the afternoon rush hour.\u00a0 270 to Riverview to Hall Street or the Halls Ferry Circle to 70 are much better options.\u00a0 Traffic on 170 is horrible and usually for no reason at all.<\/p>\n

Concerned that we were at another Sweetie Pie’s (there\u2019s another one located by the Fox Theater), the On-Time Divas sighed when we walked through the door, relieved we finally made it.\u00a0 (Or perhaps relieved that we weren\u2019t \u201csagging.\u201d)\u00a0 The friendly host let us pick out a table (normally you order first, cafeteria style, and then you are seated) and then get in the food line.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first visit for a couple Divas, but according to the line help, it didn\u2019t seem to matter if you were a newcomer or a regular.\u00a0 The Clueless Diva stood perplexed as she tried to figure out how the food line worked and how she was supposed to order.\u00a0 No one was forthcoming with details, and when she did ask questions, she got the evil eye.\u00a0 Her questions were something like \u201cWhat am I supposed to tell you?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat is this?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat do I get with this?\u201d\u00a0 The impressions we got from the line help were that we were annoying them and that we were asking too much of them.\u00a0 Their faces may have cracked if they\u2019d smiled.<\/p>\n

What the line help lacked, our waiter excelled in.\u00a0 Even as he claimed he was having an \u201coff\u201d night, we made it clear he was \u201cright on\u201d for us, especially for the Flirtatious Diva as she personally gave him his tip.<\/p>\n

Years ago, Miss Robbie\u2019s lung collapsed, and her singing career ended.\u00a0 Evidence of her legacy is displayed throughout the restaurant, and it\u2019s evident patrons are more than just hungry; they are fans.\u00a0 Personal cameras flash throughout dinner as reality junkies capture their own evidence.<\/p>\n

This night, the main characters were nowhere to be found, but that didn\u2019t keep the Gladys Kravitz Diva from checking out all the situations, including driving down the back alley in hopes of catching a glimpse of Tim.\u00a0 Her heart leapt when she thought she saw his white SUV parked out back.\u00a0 Then it leapt again when a few cops cars and officers looked to be handling a shady situation just down the street.<\/p>\n

Sweetie Pie’s is located in the growing and diverse Grove neighborhood, but just off the main street, you may feel unsafe, even though crime statistics show that it is a low crime area.<\/p>\n

The Divas all agreed that Sweetie Pie’s was an adventure.\u00a0 It reminded one Diva of her childhood days in the same neighborhood and of her relatives shooting slingshots at squirrels and then cooking them up for dinner.\u00a0 Fortunately, Sweetie Pie’s does not consider \u201csquirrel\u201d as soul food, and it\u2019s not on the menu.<\/p>\n

Sweetie Pie’s was definitely out of the comfort zone for the Conservative Diva.\u00a0 And as for the fried chicken, it should have been called \u201cdried\u201d chicken.\u00a0 She likened it to \u201cpigeon\u201d.\u00a0 She also thought the sides were just average, complaining that none of them were hot.\u00a0 Another Diva agreed with her and said the sides were too sweet.<\/p>\n

The Overloaded Divas couldn\u2019t pass up the side of mac and cheese, even though they\u2019d already chosen the mashed potatoes and the green beans.\u00a0 Baking the mac and cheese added a little crunch to it which always makes it better.\u00a0 The extra side was extra good as leftovers the next day.\u00a0 And these Divas even loved their other sides, including the green beans.\u00a0 They had to have been doused in bacon grease to be this good.\u00a0 And the candied yams qualified for dessert according to the Food Coma Diva.<\/p>\n

That night\u2019s Meatloaf special obviously was the wiser choice between that and the fried chicken.\u00a0 The breading on the chicken pleased the Picky Diva while the others didn\u2019t really enjoy the chicken at all.<\/p>\n

The Superfan Diva loved her experience overall even without an autograph or a picture. And her clean plate was evidence of how much she enjoyed her food.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure when filming will begin again, but I\u2019d recommend coming prepared.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like with your pants pulled up.\u00a0 Or with your order settled before you arrive in the food line.\u00a0 And if the line help still has an attitude, we\u2019ll give them a taste of Diva reality.\u00a0 And that will be something you\u2019ll definitely want to capture on film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dining Divas By Lisa Kampeter I have to admit that the sole reason for choosing the Dining Divas restaurant of the month was the excitement of a potential celebrity sighting.\u00a0 Well, if you\u2019re a reality show junkie, you\u2019d find it exciting.\u00a0 Months ago, the Gladys Kravitz Diva requested we head to The Grove neighborhood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columnists","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nDining Divas Get a Taste Of Reality at Sweetie Pie\u2019s - 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