Forgotten foods of St. Louis: Meet the Gerber and the Prosperity

The city of St. Louis is known for its plentiful supply of unique tasty treats. Some are more well-known, like the St. Paul sandwich, toasted ravioli, provel cheese, etc., while some St. Louis specialties remain under the radar. Instead of eating the traditional gooey butter cake, sample some of these St Louis-style delicacies.

St Louis’s famous offal sandwich is now all but extinct, but I assure you it did exist in plentiful abundance at one time, long ago in the city of yesteryear. The mighty “Brain Sandwich” is not just an urban myth, but was an actual staple of daily sustenance, not just for St Louisans, but also for those throughout the Ohio River Valley, and other places with large German immigrant populations. From reading the old time recipes for making this antique treat, all I can say is that they must have been delicious for all the work required to produce them.

First the skull must be cracked—no easy feat—even for the slaughterhouse. Then the brain must be cleaned of fibrous membranes and connective tissues. Next, the brain is cut into slices, battered and fried. Serve between bread slices with pickle and onion. Sounds delicious, no? I’ve never eaten one, but a friend’s mother (a lady now in her 80’s) described them to me as “crunchy and sweet.”

“Mad Cow Disease did them in finally”, says Bill Schnitker, sales rep for Kern Meats (one of our city’s top meat wholesalers). “We sold them before Mad Cow Disease hit, but after that the demand dropped off, and they became really expensive, so we just stopped carrying them,” Schnitker added. “The brain is the first thing affected by the disease, so it just kind of makes sense not to eat it.”

Schottzie’s Bar and Grill at 11428 Concord Village still is serving brain sandwiches. Andy Lowe, one of Schottzie’s cooks confirmed the tedious procedure for cleaning the brains. Lowe says “I pick through them, taking out all the little bone pieces and fibers. Then I put them in an egg wash and flour them and make a little patty to fry.” Lowe pronounces them to be “really good, but sometimes a little bit gritty. Some people stopped eating them after the Mad Cow scare, but we still sell a lot of them.”

Another old time St Louis sandwich is the Prosperity, which originated at the Mayfair Hotel shortly after it opened in the 1920s. It is a sandwich with many variations. As close as I can come to its original recipe, it was served open-faced on two slices of toast. Shaved ham and turkey are piled on the toast and is then covered with cheese sauce, with two slices of bacon crossed over the top, served warm. Other variations include English muffins, both cream cheese and cheddar cheese sauce, cheese slices, tomato slices, asparagus spears and broccoli. It pops on and off many area menus including the Lemp Mansion, located at 3322 DeMenil, where it’s often accompanied by its very famous resident ghost.

A not quite as old St Louis sandwich star is the Gerber. It was first created at Ruma’s Deli on Watson in 1973 for namesake customer Dick Gerber. This sandwich consists of a loaf of French or Italian bread, sliced lengthwise, spread with garlic butter, then piled high with shaved deli ham, topped with provolone or provel cheese and baked until the cheese melts. The Ruma’s Deli at 1395 Covington Lane still features the Gerber sandwich. DB’s at 1615 South Broadway, a place best known for its scintillating servers, serves the Gerber as well. Darrell Logan, a cook at DB’s Darrell does not stray from the original recipe, but he uses provel instead of provolone. “It’s a good seller but not one of the top sellers,” says Logan.

Whether these St Louis delights are menu-fillers or legacies, they are unique to the city and culture in which we live. The only mystery is why these two sandwiches that are truly unique to St. Louis are both of the open-face variety?

You can e-mail Mickey Kitterman at mickeykitterman@yahoo.com.