And, what are T-Ravs, you may ask? Well. they are Toasted Ravioli. Though described as “toasted,” these ravioli are, in fact, fried. They are a St. Louis treat, available in many of that city’s Italian restaurants and many other eateries. Yogi Berra, reared in St. Louis’ Hill neighborhood, said he missed the ravioli treat when his career brought him to New York, a big town with lots of ravioli but no T-Ravs. All of this was recalled by HG as HG read the obituary of the most illustrious of St. Louis citizens, baseball great Stan “The Man” Musial. HG once dined at his restaurant, Stan and Biggie’s, and had HG’s first and only experience with T-Ravs. They were okay but the real hit of the meal was an exemplary broiled calf’s liver with bacon and fried potatoes. Charred on the outside. Pink on the inside. Perfect. HG’s Mom made an Eastern European/Jewish version of ravioli — kreplach. Kreplach had thicker skins than ravioli and were filled with chopped beef and onions. Mom boiled them in her golden chicken soup with additions of noodles, kasha, boiled onions and carrots and mondels, airy little croutons. (In the absence of kreplach, the soup got matzo balls). As a special treat for little HG, Mom would retrieve some kreplach from the soup and fry them in chicken fat for lunch. The dish got a big hit of sour cream and lots of coarse salt and ground pepper. With apologies to the the memory of “The Man,” these beat the hell out of T-Ravs.
