Wanting for beer frames sends us thirsting a couple blocks over to
warehouse-turned-loft-lined Washington Avenue. We know it's trendy
by the sushi bars, one of which, Wasabi, we stop into for a salmon
and soybean snack. But our intended destination is the funky City
Museum. Ostensibly, it's for kids, but its barrel slides, sea
creature mosaics, and shoelace factory are as fun for Pop as they
are for Junior. Since we didn't have Junior in tow, we skipped the
exhibits and headed straight for the museum's Cabin Inn the City, a
log and mortar cabin-cum-bar where $2 Schlafly microbrews and an
arty crowd win our vote for coolest bar in St. Louis.
Back at Busch Stadium, Cardinals game tickets are in ample supply
this chilly, rainy evening, more telling of the season's start than
the zeal of fans. Inside is what's known as The Red Sea, swelling
with boosters wearing Cardinals red. Full disclosure: We are sworn
Chicago Cubs fans. So perhaps that accounts for our enthusiasm when
the Cardinals touch Marlins ace Josh Beckett, the Cubbies' 2003
playoff nemesis, for nine hits, winning 6-3.
Ducking out just before the Red Sea parts, we grab the last two $5
seats at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, the city's destination blues
bar among a trio on Broadway just south of the stadium. After a set
by the Soulard Blues Band, we lurk outside the tree-shaded patio at
the nearby Broadway Oyster Bar, eavesdropping on their band. It's
not that we're too miserly to cough up another fiver each to get
into another club, we tell ourselves. Okay, maybe we are. But
mostly, we just can't face any more Budweiser.