The newest player in the St. Louis media scene

It’s interesting that at a time when printed newspapers are folding faster than a bad hand in poker, two new publications have taken a gamble in St. Louis in the last six months.

The first, Feast, debuted in August. It’s a monthly culinary magazine owned by Lee Enterprises, which also locally publishes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ladue News and St. Louis Suburban Journals. Feast’s publisher, Catherine Neville, was co-founder and former editor of rival monthly Sauce magazine.

Last week it was announced that several defectors of the Ladue News, mostly notably longtime editor Dorothy Weiner and publisher Lauren Rechan, have started a new, rival publication called Town & Style. Weiner will be its editor and associate publisher while Rechan will be publisher. The first issue is due to bow on Feb. 9.

In a conversation earlier this week, Weiner and Rechan said that Lee Enterprises had made policy changes at the Ladue News, which resulted in several staffers leaving. At least three members of the former Ladue News sales staff have joined the new publication, Weiner said, along with former Ladue News creative director Julie Streiler, senior writer Tony DiMartino and photographers Margaret Rambo and Charlie Barnes. In addition, “the style team of Suzy Bacino and Suzy Gorman will be shooting fashion and décor for us,” Weiner added.

Rechan, who after 13 years left the Ladue News in early November, declined to go into details about the “policy changes,” instead saying that she is excited about the new venture, which is being financed by herself, her mother and Ladue News founder Charlene Bry, and other investors, the names of whom Rechan declined to give.

She and Weiner said the thrust of the new publication will be “local” but more expansive than the Ladue News, including areas beyond Clayton and Ladue. “The focus will still be on the central corridor, but from the Central West End to Wildwood, with areas such as Kirkwood, Webster Groves and University City also in the mix,” said Weiner.

“Certainly there will be some overlap with what the Ladue News does,” she added. “We will be doing a lot of parties and covering non-profits and charities as well as some private businesses. But we want to make the paper more inclusive, bringing readers more news and features, with a local flavor. While the Ladue News feels less anchored in the community we want Town & Style to reflect the community and the people it covers.”

Rechan said they plan to distribute 37,500 copies of their first publication, adding they will publish 30 issues the first year and then move to a weekly schedule. The publication will be folio-size, much like the Ladue News, with a glossy cover and newsprint stock. Also like the Ladue News, Town & Style will be mailed to homes in the area’s most affluent zip codes.

“The overwhelming response I’ve been hearing is how people are ready for something new,” said Rechan. “I’m not saying that we won’t have our challenges, but I feel we have the right team in place and the right connections to make this work. We are born and bred St. Louisans who have been doing this for many years, so we bring a lot of experience to the table.”

When asked several questions about the new publication via email, Kevin Mowbray, president and publisher of the Post-Dispatch, had the paper’s public relations manager send a press release announcing that Justin Nangle had been named publisher of the Ladue News Thursday (Dec. 16). Nangle had been publisher of Saint Louis Seasons magazine for five years, and involved in advertising sales for 14 years.

Pay as you eat

In an effort to counter all of the “discount dining deals” that have become the mainstay of Groupon and other outfits like it, local restaurateurs Jeff Orbin and Aaron Teitelbaum have come up with a unique way to attract new customers to Monarch restaurant in Maplewood by offering customers the chance to “pay what they deem the meal to be worth.”

“The coupon deals can be the death of independent restaurants because we don’t get enough back from them to cover our costs,” said Orbin, who with Teitelbaum also owns Herbie’s Vintage 72 restaurant. “Yet so many independent restaurant owners feel the pressure and are getting roped in.”

Orbin explained that during the month of January, which is traditionally a slow time in the restaurant business, Monarch will allow dinner customers on Monday and Tuesday nights to pay whatever they feel the meal was worth to them. Diners will receive two separate checks at the end of their meal, one for the beverage portion and the other for the food. They will be required to pay the full amount for the beverages but can pay whatever amount they feel is fair for their meal.

“It will be interesting to see what happens,” said Orbin. “It’s definitely an experiment. We feel very good about the quality of what we offer and would be surprised if people paid 50 percent less for their meal.

“Like any restaurant, we are always considering promotions to entice new diners to experience our place, but these new social buying/discount sites have gotten out of hand and are not a stable solution for the local/independent restaurant community.”

NJT is singing out

The New Jewish Theatre is expanding its offerings to include a chamber music series in its new intimate theater space. In addition to this new series, NJT will hold a weeklong summer music festival in late June or early July focusing on emerging artists and community outreach.

The first concert in what is being called the “Salon Series” is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13 in the Wool Studio Theatre of the Arts & Education Building of the JCC’s Staenberg Family Complex. It will feature St. Louis Symphony violinists Lorraine Glass-Harris, and Jenny Jones and violist Michael Chen playing some of the more intimate music of Bach, Leclair, Schubert, Dvorak and Mozart. According to Glass-Harris, this is an opportunity to explore the idea of public music versus private music. There will be brief educational presentations by the musicians that explain how each piece falls into the category of private music and a discussion of the difference between the two.

The January Salon Series is the first of two concerts being presented in partnership with the St. Louis Symphony’s Community Partnership Program. The second concert, slated for March 16, will feature members of the Preparatory Program of the Community Music School of Webster University and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Tickets are $18/$20 for one of the Salon concerts or $32/$35 for both in the series and are available through the NJT ticket line at 314-442-3283 or at www.newjewishtheatre.org under Salon Series.