Fishbowls and Friends

Rigazzi's is a St. Louis Instituition.  It is the longest established restaurant on The Hill, founded in 1957, by Louis and Josephine Aiazzi and business partner John Riganti.  They smooshed the two surnames together to get Rigazzi's.  How 'bout that?

In front of the Frozen Fishbowl sign.

I learned this information from a column that I wrote in November of 1990 for the Bugle Newspaper.  Other than that, I'm not sure how much of the information in that article is still accurate.

Not sure if folks still show up for breakfast - even though they have no breakfast menu.  I'm not sure if the restaurant is still of favorite of Blues fans and even players.  I'm not even sure if Mark Aiazzi is still running the place.  But you can find out more here:  Click for history.

When any St. Louisan thinks of Rigazzis, they think of "The Frozen Fishbowl."  This is a 32 ounce chalice filled with the beverage of your choice....but most adults choose beer.  

Some holy grails for St. Louisans.

And they know this fact.  And they are consistent and thorough in their marketing.  "The Frozen Fishbowl" is on their signs, on art glass windows for the building, on the menu, etc.  

Frozen Fishbowl in the Art Glass.

So we ordered some.  I got a classic Budweiser, although some others got the Rigazzi's Golden Ale, handcrafted locally for the restaurant.  Click here for the drink menu.

 As you may have gathered, we visited with some very dear, longtime friends: Colleen and Joe, and Kristin and Kyle.

It's been a while, but we finally got the band back together.

The upstairs dining dining area was roomy and very classic, with the red/white checked vinyl tablecloths and red back basic chairs.  It was also nice because it got us away from the hustle and the bustle downstairs.  We could easily talk to one another and enjoy  the company.  They had tiny, autographed hockey jerseys framed and hanging on the wall.  I'm guessing toddler sized, or put in the dryer for waaay too long.

Since I don't care about food much, I won't go into details very much.  I got a pizza, my favorite from childhood visits here.  I will say that the crust was not at all like I remember it, but the cheese had that same "stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth" quality that I remember from when I was a kid.

Personally, I find pictures of food especially unappetizing.  But, if you are into that sort of thing...Have at it!

Mel enjoyed hers...the Eggplant Parmesan.  You can click here to see their menu.  And I didn't really assess what everyone else thought.

It had been a very, very long time since I had been there....I'm going to say, decades....with the "s" to indicate somewhere over 20 years.  Since I last visited, I know that they had a fire somewhere in there, added a formal patio and (as learned on this most recent visit) changed their pizza crust.

This patio is new to me....

 I must say, it was a fun "throwback" evening for me, punctuated with Fishbowls and Freinds.