Bizarre Foods!

St. Louis Episode of Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations" Airs March 23

In March 2013, the Travel Channel’s Andrew Zimmern visited St. Louis and the Missouri Ozarks to film a segment of Bizarre Foods America,  the U.S. version of his ongoing Bizarre Foods series that highlights regional specialties from around the nation.

Zimmern’s latest endeavor—Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations—features a broader range of culinary hallmarks, this time from cities across the globe, literally from A to Z—Athens to Zurich—and will also include an episode on foods from St. Louis.

A film crew from Bizarre Foods paid a visit last October, according to Chad Jacobs, owner/manager of Cicero’s on the Loop, where the segment on St. Louis-style pizza was filmed.

In addition to Cicero’s, the installment includes a stop at Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill for a lesson on how to make the original toasted ravioli, according to owner Charlie Gitto, Jr. They visit Park Avenue Coffee to learn how gooey butter cake is made, stop by C&K BBQ to test drive some St. Louis-style ribs, and then Ms. Piggies' Smokehouse for a primer on (what’s left?)…pork steaks. (Travel Channel did advance three, 3-minute video teases—find them here.)

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Jacobs (shown above, in his segment) told SLM today he had only recently heard from the Travel Channel about the air date. It's typical for networks to keep such matters shrouded in secrecy.

The episode will debut on March 23 at 8:30 p.m. CDT (and will re-air several more times thereafter). Apparently, Zimmern did not accompany the film crew to St. Louis this time—he relayed the stories off-camera.

But when Zimmern did visit in person almost two years ago (and we were lucky enough to be granted this interview), we presented the gourmand with a gift loaded with local flavor: a 5 # block of Provel cheese. We trust it was the impetus for Bizarre Foods’ return visit and not the reason Zimm was in absentia.