05.14.2009 2:14 pm
Coming to the Loop: Horse-drawn carriage rides
P-D Restaurant Critic and Food Writer
Friday and Saturday the Melting Pot in the Delmar Loop will be sponsoring a “test-drive” of horse-drawn carriage rides. Rides will be available from 6:30 PM until 10:00 PM, running from Kingsland, at the West end of the Loop to East Gate, just short of Skinker, and back. A 15-minute ride for $25.00 and a 30-minute ride for $45.00. The carriages are being provided by Brookdale Farms, the same company that handles the Downtown Carriages. (The photo at left is a similar service in Belleville several years ago.)
For more information, call Mike Hobbs, owner of the Melting Pot in U. City, at 314-725-4141.
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Joe Bonwich has been the restaurant critic for the Post-Dispatch since 2002 and has covered the local food scene for various publications for more than 25 years. He does his best to maintain his anonymity so that he isn't recognized in restaurants (which is why his picture looks like it does). 
Good to hear! I hope they do well.
Nooooo!!! That is so anti-loop. Please don’t try to “gentrify” the loop. I like it just the way it is.
What? Ludicrous. Ridiculous. Unfathomable. Like the 45 minutes it takes to drive down Delmar isn’t bad enough!?!? Who could….what did…this is unbelieveable. Calling Melting Pot to b!#ch as soon as I get home. Fair warning. The first time, and every time thereafter, that I get stuck behind those horses I will lay on my horn until they get out of my way. Absurd.
Terrible idea. The clientele that hangs out in the loop is not the carriage ride type. Who is their target market? The traffic is already horrible down delmar. How bout they give me a ride down Brentwood blvd when Big Bend closes down. Poor Buttercup.
Now, everyone chill a bit. This is a test drive, this weekend only. Also from the press release:
“This will test the traffic flow during evening hours and see if this is a viable feature to the Loop environment.”
So y’all just drop over to Cicero’s and do a beer flight and calm your nerves. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be apparent soon enough.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I think carriage rides are the most romantic way to kickoff or end an evening. I have enjoyed rides with my wife and friends on Lacledes Landing and the Landing in St. Charles. It’s good times wherever you can find it. Not sure if it’s for the loop but could become an attraction.
No matter how well a horse is treated at its farm, it is not good for its health when it is forced to breath exhaust fumes all night. Horses should not be forced to work in those conditions. The romance is not worth it.
This is an AWFUL plan! The hipness of the Loop will be sorely compromised by such a ridiculous idea. What does Joe Edwards have to say?
Given the already congested traffic in the Loop, adding carriage rides does seem kind of bone headed. If it works, doesn’t add to the traffic, and doesn’t cause manure problems on the street, then good for them. I’m not hopeful, though.
Who wants to be heading to a restaurant to dine and see/smell big clumps of horse manure? I know I don’t,it would kill my appetite!
RIDICULOUS IDEA! The loop is already too congested and that would be awful conditions for the horses.
How long before the horse and driver are shot in the head or attacked by the Metrolink filth?
Anything that clogs traffic more is OK with me. The Loop is the only place in this town that feels anything at all like a real city.