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One proprietor’s spinning an animated tale about the evolution of the whole thing, a theatrical narrative that involves the 1904 World’s Fair, a lost toasted ravioli, and an archaeological dig at the Temple of Mirth. It’s so preposterous, it causes a few raised eyebrows from even the buskers around the booth. Another staff member is trying to explain the concept of toasted ravioli to a family from Cleveland. He's having moderate success—until he adds that these aren’t exactly toasted ravioli.

It might not be the most coherent way to launch an eatery, but it's right up there with the most unusual.

Auggie’s The Original is located along the riverfront, across from the Arch, amid a line of food trucks and stalls. A sign beneath a bright-orange tent announces "St. Louis-Style Toasted Ravioli Dogs." Yes, ravioli dog, which is a little hard to explain even if you're not a tourist.

Here’s what Auggie’s isn’t: It isn’t a dog, of either the corn or hot variety. It isn’t the much-beloved sausage-stuffed crusty pillow on the menu of every Italian joint in town. The Auggie Dog is a long, sausage-shaped version of the meat inside the toasted ravioli, wrapped inside the familiar pasta shell, deep-fried, and skewered for your dining pleasure, with a tub of basil-spiked marinara sauce on the side for dipping. The meat is denser and more substantial than a stick of fried canneloni—more sausage-like—and the pasta coating is thinner. And, hey, it's walkaround food, perfect for Arch-ogling.

“It’s almost all tourists down here,” says proprietor David Brown, “so about 70 percent of the customers we’re getting have to be told what toasted ravioli are—and then we tell them these aren’t the same thing, but in a way they are.”

After just a few days in business, Auggie’s is already drawing a steady stream of patrons, particularly on an unseasonably cool evening when tourists are streaming out of the Museum at the Gateway Arch around dinner time.

In addition to the ravioli on a stick, Auggie’s offers other specialties, which don’t get any less strange. Another dog is composed of buffalo chicken wings that are shredded and stuffed into the pasta before frying. A “Crab Rav-goon T-Rav Hot Dog” contains, we’re promised, actual crab. There's also a Toasted Ravioli Taco, the sausage filling wrapped in pasta crescents and fried. It's something of an homage to the “school tacos” that haunt the culinary dreams of many a student from the '80s.

And for the traditionalist, there are those old-fashioned crispy ravioli—although they're the only item that's not entirely house-made. “It isn’t cost effective for us,” says Brown, adding that they're sourced from a local supplier.

Brown and his partners are also kicking around some other possibilities, including such daily specials as a Cajun crawfish ravioli dog and a foie-gras-stuffed version. For now, though, the existing menu is sufficiently unusual enough to make a visit worth it for those dining enthusiasts who’ve longed for another way to consume a St. Louis staple.

When another group of tourists approaches, Brown again launches into his story about the lost World’s Fair ravioli, which inspired the “almost famous since 1904” slogan (see the cartoon depiction in the banner above). It's a story that's almost as tasty as the dogs.