Ravioli

Ravioli are square pasta pockets filled with meat, vegetables, cheese, or occasionally, seafood. They are an Italian-restaurant staple, served either with tomato sauce or in broth. For the St. Louis specialty toasted ravioli, the pasta pillows are dredged in seasoned breadcrumbs and deep-fried until they turn crunchy. They come with red sauce on the side to use as a ravioli dip. Curiously, fried chicken restaurants in the Illinois River Valley, some of which have a distinctly Italian personality, serve their chicken with what is listed on the menu as “ravs.” Logic would suggest rav is short for ravioli, but in this small part of the world, the red-sauced ravs served with fried chicken dinner are in fact tortellini.