Sooooo…. The Buttery. I “discovered” (like I am Columbus or something) the Buttery well over 20 years ago. It is on the part of South Grand no one goes to anymore and everyone is hoping is just about to come back and in my life is has been a trash heap with pockets of brilliance. It is the area between Gravois and Carondelet Park. My dad’s “people” used to live around here. The formidable castle that is Cleveland High School is a dominating part of the area along with the iconic Ted Drewes (the other one) and Giuseppe's which is sometimes still open. On the North side of Gravois their is the bustling Tower Grove South/So-Gra hipster/ethnic collective where people sometimes get murdered but is otherwise a bastion of decent food, cocktails and music and the original, hated, hipster City Diner. When I head south on Grand I have to pass it and their big banner “VOTED #1 DINER!” banner but I pass it and I curse the RFT under my breath….But I digress.
The Buttery, (I love that name) is the iconic, shotgun diner. Exposed kitchen and counter with stools overlooking the action and then a scattering of booths flanking the counter. It has a jukebox. The bad kind with CD’s you can flip through. It has a no smoking sign but it looks (and feels) like you should be smoking when you are in there. The booths are the original faux wood veneer and always look as if the veneer is just about to peel off but is not quite peeling off.
While doing the extensive research that you have come to expect from this fine, fine, journalistic, intellectual endeavor I found this on line. Dont watch it with small children. I only tend to visit these fine establishments at around 6:00 A.M. when things are pretty quiet but any Diner worthy of the name is open all night long and personally I thank the lord that they are because people like this don’t come to my house. They have a place to go.
In the hopes of being a more diligent reviewer I visited the Buttery twice in the last month. On my first visit I pulled up about 6:30. there are a few parking spots in back and there is street parking on Grand but in any kind of off light it feels sketchy. You can also park in the rent A Center lot next door which warns you it is for Rent A Center customers only. The door advises you of a lot of things:
1. CASH ONLY
2. NO SMOKING
3. NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS.
I think these are all excellent disclosures.
1. DONT TRY AND USE YOUR CREDIT CARD HERE! WE DONT LIKE IT TO
CUT INTO OUR MARGINS And WE DON'T REPORT ALL OF OUR INCOME!
2. YOU CAN NO LONGER LIGHT UP IN HERE! OSTENSIBLY GOOD NEWS
FOR THE SENSITIVE BUT PEOPLE SMOKED IN HERE FOR 40 YEARS
AND OUR CEILING TILES ARE STAINED WITH IT. ALSO, THERE IS NO
VENTILATION AND BECAUSE WE USE OIL AND BUTTER WHEN WE
COOK THERE IS ALWAYS A “SMOKY’ SMELL….GET OVER IT.
3. IF YOU ARE NOT EATING HERE YOU CANNOT POOP HERE.
On the first visit there was one gentleman eating at the counter but when I walked in the employee who appears briefly in the video above came in. We exchanged pleasantries and he brought me an iced tea. A pitcher of it was sitting on top of the ice machine and it was fresh brewed. He offered me water as well which I declined. On my second visit there at about 7:30 on a Saturday the place was hopping with about 7 patrons and two woman working the place. In each case their ended up being a diverse group of people in the place which I added to. You have the feeling when eating there that you are eating with “the people” rather than hated City Diner feeling that you are eating with the hipster/privileged.
The waitress came quickly and took care of my iced tea and was very pleasant when taking my order. In my celiac phace I can no longer partake of the chicken fried steak and such I ordered what is sadly becoming my standard of two eggs over medium, suasage and hash browns. No toast (for religious reasons).
On the first trip it came it came quickly and looked like this:
The second time it looked like this. Pretty nice consistency with different cooks. The hash browns properly shredded (as God intended) and cooked as you can see to a light golden brown. While not being certain I believe their staff could crisp them up for you very easily. On both trips they had similar consistency. The sausage was standard grade and nothing special but had a nice flavor and the eggs were cooked nicely for over medium. If you can no longer enjoy the pleasures of toast, over easy is just too sloppy so...over medium it is.
The Bathroom
The Menu at the Buttery is simple, no frills laminated. Breakfast on the front, and lunch on the back. Everything is numbered which I assume would assist me when ordering drunk at 2:00 A.M. (Maybe on the next visit). The menu items are “unremarkable” yet solid providing everything that a true connoisseur would demand.
The next time I am in I am ordering a steak and a pork chop and as always...I will report on my findings.
Jukeboxes should be mandatory for all diners. There is a romance to them and once again there is the drunk at 2:00 A.M. factor when you just need to hear some Bad Company.... and not feel particularly embarrassed about it (you should be embarrassed by it, by the way). I like it because it has CD’s in it still. Not quite as cool as the really awesome ones with 45’s but still… and although I love “Touchtunes” and being able to pull down a lot of songs from “the cloud” there is something about flipping through that limited selection of CD’s to find “the good one”. When I came in Hank Williams was playing…”Your Cheating Heart”. Perfect.
There is a bathroom and you can use it if you are a patron. You go through an unmarked door in the rear and there is a door to the ladies room, a door to the mens room and an open door to the back part of the kitchen. It also is warm and unventilated. But it was clean and very serviceable. A little graffiti on the hand drier but other than that probably cleaner than my bathroom at home. The door had a serviceable lock and if nature was making its ever more incessant demands, I believe I could find solace there for a few minutes and not feel like I was at risk for Ebola. Good bathroom. Please wash your hands.
Additionally I always enjoy the deep history of a place like this and indeed, although we do not know if St. Louis greats like Lou Brock or Stan the Man ever used this bathroom, we are certain that BJ did!
The Staff really is what makes the place. Seriously. On both visits, totally different staff. They probably alternate Saturdays. You do not get the feeling that they just drove in from Wildwood. Nor do you get the feeling that they are “artists” living in the SoGrand “walk up” (pretending they live in Brooklyn) that their parents are helping to pay for. This is their job. They do it competently, politely and professionally. There is a reasonable amount of age and tattoos on the staff and they might look gruff, but they are not. Polite and professional they have a demeanor which says I am here to get whatever you want but please do not give me a lot of shit because I work hard. At least that is what I got. I like this place. The Buttery is St. Louis South Side at its best. Unpretentious. Not a lot of money. Trying to make it day after day. Not ashamed of anything. Not asking anyone for a handout. Trying to get along and not spread any grief in the world and certainly not trying to pretend for the benefit of anyone to be anything other than what it is. A place to eat. Maybe to talk. read the paper. Gather your thoughts, and get some food that is quick, and hot, and good. Long live the Buttery! 
