Dave Lowry

1 week ago | blackbeltmag.com | Dave Lowry

Here’s one for you to kick around with your dojo mates the next time you’re relaxing after training. It was back in the 1960s, a time when the Japanese dominated – almost laughably so – the international karate competition scene. For years, they had toyed with Western competitors, scoring on them almost at will. Much of their dominance was of a psychological nature.

2 weeks ago | stlmag.com | Dave Lowry

It’s weird, yes, but one reliable sign that a restaurant’s going to be good is that Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” is on the sound system. This is an axiom that has served The Old Critic well over the decades, and we trusted it—even though the menu listed something called “miso malai chicken tikka,” which sounds ominously like an example of that hellspawn pestilence of the dining world, “fusion.” Once again, though, Brubeck has steered us well. Chesterfield’s Black Salt debuted a few years back.

3 weeks ago | blackbeltmag.com | Dave Lowry

Dave Lowry 14 minutes ago4 min readImagine a political leader going to Duluth to tell Minnesotans this: “You are the descendants of Vikings. You have the blood of warriors in you. Your ancestors were feared over much of the known world. It’s only reasonable that you are invincible, that you control the lands your ancestors ruled, that you have the rewards they enjoyed, that no other people can match you for courage and daring.”It’s hard to imagine any Minnesotan believing such nonsense.

3 weeks ago | stlmag.com | Cheryl Baehr |George Mahe |Dave Lowry |Jordan Palmer

Soulard will soon have a new spot for Cajun fare and creative, NOLA-inspired drinks, courtesy of a successful, Texas-based restaurant group. The Southern Classic Daiquiri Factory has announced its intention to take over the storefront at the corner of Soulard and Seventh Street which was formerly home to the Wood Shack.

1 month ago | blackbeltmag.com | Dave Lowry

Using a serrated bread knife, can you cut a baguette, a loaf of French bread, in a single stroke? If you can't, you have work to do in the dojo. In our neighborhood, several families come to our house regularly for dinner. Some of them have children, and when the kids see me working in the kitchen, they want to help. TV shows and celebrity chefs have made cooking an attractive activity, making them eager to learn. I’ve introduced several young people to basic kitchen skills.