J. Gilbert's Steakhouse (West County Mall) 12-21-19

Note to self: Don't go to a restaurant in a mall on your anniversary.

J. Gilbert's is a fine steakhouse.  The menu is OK and the wine list is OK.  The food was actually very good.  It just was not a "special night" place.  It is a big dining room.  It was full of holiday shoppers and their families.  There were a few people who seemed to come to gather together for dinner (sets of couples), but no one seemed to actually be there for a "special night."  

Now, the prices are on the high side.  There wasn't an entree under $30.  When researching it I had seen photos of sliders and burgers, but those must be on a different "lunch menu."  Not that I was going to eat burgers or sandwiches, but I always like a plethora of options.

We started with cocktails and they were well-made.  We had the chacuterie platter.  It DID introduce us to a few new things:  bresaola (this is salted and dried beef)...it was sliced thin and was good, Mike didn't know what burrata was (it is like a very young mozzerella...not firm...a little cottage cheesey in the middle)...and a mostarda (this one was odd...it is candied fruit (like cherries or apricots) pickled in a brine with mustard seeds (or mustard powder may be added to wine and put in the pickling liquid)) and romao (this is a firm sheep's milk cheese from Spain).  There was also: prosciutto, chorizo, red spruce cheddar, cornichons (French word for little baby pickles),  whole grain mustard, and a pear that had been poached with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg (it was really yummy).  The chorizo must have been Spanish and not Mexican because it was much more "paprika" tasting than "spicy" tasting.  I really enjoyed everything on this board...even the mostarda fruit...that didn't taste like mustard at all!

With this we ordered a bottle of wine.  I totally thought I had "nailed it" in selecting a wine.  My research said that the Caymus winemakers (bottles are usually $150-$200 made a cheaper wine called Conundrum.  It is many of the same family of grapes but a fraction of the cost.  Mike and I both thought it was one of the most boring wines we've drank in years.  Bummer.

For dinner Mike had a steak, veg and some "polbano" au gratin potatoes.  We had recently had au gratin potatoes at The Capital Grille in Clayton and they were nothing special, but Mike really liked these.  The poblano pepper added just a little heat.  He said his steak was really good and had been cooked well.  That is high praise from Mike.  

I had something called Shrimp Durango.  It was a take on one of my favorite dishes, cioppino.  Cioppino is a seafood stew that is cooked with a tomato and garlic broth with a little white wine.  There is always a bit of spice added to the broth.  This was only shrimp, but the broth was very cioppino-ish.  It was good.  There were cooked tomatoes in the broth and diced raw ones added to the top.  The shrimp were very nicely cooked and not overdone...that is often difficult in a big, busy restaurant.  

For dessert Mike had an apple crostade (apple cooked in a pastry).  It was warm with vanilla bean ice cream on top.  I had creme brulee with raspberries.  Both were very yummy and a nice end to the meal.  

The food here was very good.  The service was fine.  Next time we will wear more casual clothes and not come on a special occasion.  

FYI...they have valet parking out front that costs $10 and was very worth it this time of year. 

Oishi Sushi (Chesterfield) 12-20-19

It is kind of a tradition of mine to go out for sushi on the final day of a school semester.  Various people have accompanied me over the years.  It used to be Bonnie and Anna.  Laurie has also developed a like for sushi. Today it was Jacob.

Instead of going to our usual sushi place in Lake St. Louis, we ran over to Chesterfield valley and ate at Oishi.  They have a lunch special of one roll and 3 pieces of nigiri for $11.  I got a spicy yellow tail roll and pieces of salmon, squid, and octopus nigiri.  Jake got a tempura shrimp roll and pieces of salmon, tuna, and octopus nigiri.  We also ordered (to share) a special "Christmas Tree Roll." 

Our special came with the customary iceberg salad with ginger dressing and miso soup.  I don't love miso soup, but I do like that salad. 

Our sushi was good.  The rolls were made well and the nigiri was nice sized.  The "Christmas Tree Roll" was pretty, but it a little too "sauced" on top for Jake and I...so we took a little of the sauce off and then it was more like a typical California roll. 

It was a nice lunch. 

Tattooed Dog (Wentzville) 12-19-19

Jacob is home for Christmas.  Mike is still in Atlantic City.  So, Jacob and I decided to go somewhere close for dinner.  He was looking at reviews online and asked about The Tattooed Dog.  I had totally forgotten about this place.  Mike and I had been there several times when it was still in an old building in Wentzville.  Then about 4 years ago it moved into a new strip mall close to 70 and Hwy Z.  The new place has a very industrial feel...corrugated tin, metal chairs on polished cement floors...branded wood tables, etc.  It is mostly gourmet style burgers and sandwiches. 

Jacob got a Maui burger.  It had grilled pineapple, swiss cheese and a wasabi/terriyaki glaze and roasted garlic aioli and spring greens served on a pretzel bun.  I tasted it, too.  We agreed...the pineapple is super yummy but it kind of takes over the taste of everything.    Neither of us could taste the heat of the wasabi or the terriyaki.  We got the garlic in the aioli but mostly it was just pineapple and hamburger.

I got the Perzola burger.  It has butter poached pears, Gorgonzola creme sauce, white American cheese, and spring greens served on a pretzel bun.  The pears were sliced thin, which was good, as they didn't overwhelm the taste...like Jake's pineapple did.  The Gorgonzola sauce was SUPER yummy.  I think the American cheese was totally unnecessary as you couldn't taste it because of the Gorgonzola sauce. 

Both burgers were served with seasoned fries.  Jake and I both commented that they were really nice fries.  They were seasoned well.  Sometimes seasoned fries are so overly seasoned they don't even taste like fries.  These still had a nice potato taste. 

About the pretzel buns...
About 1/2 of the burgers here are on pretzel buns and about 1/2 of them are on Kaiser rolls.  The pretzel buns are kind of dense.  I get using them with the 2 "fruit" laden burgers, but the problem is...they are an actual pretzel knot.  They want to fall apart at the seams and that makes the burgers a pain to eat.  Either use Kaiser rolls, or find pretzel buns that are actual buns made out of pretzel dough, so they'll stay together.

I don't know why Mike and I stopped coming here.  The food was good.  I'll come back. 

Robust Wine Bar (Webster Groves) 12-14-19

I had originally read about this restaurant in an article in Sauce Magazine.  Glenn Bardgett (local wine guru) talked about getting a wonderful Napa blend called Jax Y3 Taureau at Robust for $22.  That is a great price for a bottle of wine at a restaurant.  So, I thought we'd try it out.

The restaurant is small and really only a bar area (with table seating around it) and one small back room.  We were seated near the front door and caught the cold air each time the door was opened (which seemed to be often).  We had been placed at a high-top table and asked to move to a regular table (I hate high-top bar tables...sitting at them hurts my hip after awhile).  So, because we moved once we didn't want to ask to move again.

One thing about this restaurant is they do "flights" of wines.  3 half glasses were $18-22.   We saw several people who were here on dates.  They were all in their 20's-30's and they were doing the wine flight thing.  It is a nice way to try 3 kinds of wine, but I think that price is too steep.

Our waiter was nice and explained the menu well.  They have a large wine list (the Jax Y3 Taureau was nowhere on it!!).  I was bummed because I hadn't done my research as that was the wine I was planning on getting.  We ended up ordering a bottle of an Italian super Tuscan called Barbaspinosa by Morisfarms.  It was good, not great (and considerably more than $22). 

Our waiter explained that the menu is meant to be like a tapas menu.  He said everything is in tasting portions, even the entrees.  This started OK, then it got weird.

We started with a meat and cheese plate.  It was fine...but it was no Annie Gunn's.  It had 2 meats (salami and dried beef) and two cheeses.  One of the cheeses was a horseradish cheese with mustard seeds in it that had been soaked in some kind of beer.  That is a whole lot of big tastes going on and I don't like the taste of mustard or beer.  So, I was going to let Mike eat that whole one, but when he told me that he couldn't taste the mustard or the beer, I tried it.  It was just a whole lot of horseradish.  It was not bad...just strong.  The meat and cheese tray was fine...just a little lacking in variety. 

We should have just stopped there.

The next section of the menu was "entrees," which I found odd if this was tapas style.  These were legit entrees with sides, just small portions (for normal entree prices).  I ordered the scallops and Mike ordered the sirloin.  Neither of us ended up liking our entree.

My scallops were a bunch of tiny bay scallops cooked with some tomato, sliced garlic (that was way too strong for the mild taste of scallops) and onions over some squid ink pasta.  I actually usually like squid ink pasta.  I had it several times in Italy and really like it in Venice.  This was not tasty.  The whole dish was just kind of blah and I didn't finish it. 

Mike had sirloin (it was about 4 cross slices from the steak) with a side of mashed sweet potatoes and what we have decided was broccoflower (a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower).  Mike likes both broccoli and cauliflower and didn't like this.  He said the seasoning seemed to be all wrong on the plate.  The meat just tasted like salt.  They had heavily salted the outside of the meat before grilling and it was overpowering.  You don't need to do that to a good steak, but this wasn't a truly good steak.  Mike said it was a cheap sirloin with gristle lines running through it and they were trying to pass it off as good steak.  The vegetables actually needed salt and pepper.  Never a good sign. 


Dessert was fine.  We tried the "dessert flight."  It had a dense flourless brownie, a peanut butter chocolate mousse mini pie, and a salted caramel pot du creme.  The brownie was meh, the peanut butter chocolate pie was good, but the pot du creme was REALLY good. 

Take away from this place...nice selection of wine but do research before you go.  The meat and cheese trays are fine and the desserts are worth it, but punt the entrees...not worth it. 

I was hoping this would be a place we'd go back to...it isn't.  So, we'll keep trying new places...

Chimi's Fresh Mex-Wentzville 12-13-19

I know there are Chimi's restaurants in several locations, but the Wentzville one is the only one we've ever tried.

Last night it was packed!!

Mike and I had been to a school happy hour and then had to run some errands, so we didn't arrive for dinner until around 7:15.  Because it is a big place with several seating areas, we were seated immediately.  It had lots of families with young children who were dining.  It was a noisy place.

The chips and salsa are nothing exciting.  The chips come out of some bag and I think the salsa is pre-made.  It is still nice that they are free.

The margaritas come out of a pre-made bottle and it bugs me that they are warm and then poured over ice.  If you stick the straw in immediately and drink, you get a mouthful of warm margarita (which is no fun).  They are not bad, but there is nothing exciting about them.

That is kind of the rule of thumb for this place.  We have come here for 30 years (since our kids were the little ones making all the noise and dropping Mexican rice on the floor).  It is all fine but nothing exciting.

I always get the shrimp chimichanga. It is not too big and the shrimp are not over-cooked.  It comes with guacemole, pico de gallo, rice and beans.

Mike usually orders individual items.  Last night he had an enchilada and a beef taco.  Sometimes he gets beef chimichangas or beef burritos.

Most items must be partially pre-made because when you order, your food is usually out within 5-10 minutes.

Because of that, sometimes we want to just sit and talk for a bit, so we tell the waitress we don't want to order for awhile.  We sip our drinks and eat our chips and talk.  They don't mind.

IF you ever do go to a Chimi's restaurant...know that they ALWAYS have a deal on Groupon.  You can get $45 worth of food and drinks for $29. Just make sure you purchase the Groupon for the correct location.  Our meals and margaritas always is about $43-$45, so it is perfect for us.  It saves us about $15 whenever we come here.

88 China-Wentzville 12-12-19

88 China is one of the only Chinese restaurants in Wentzville.  It has been owned and operated by the same young family (with their parents) for probably over a dozen years.  Their son (who is probably 8 or 9 years old) now also works at the restaurant!

The food is not bad, but it is not great.  It is standard Chinese take out.

On this night I needed something that would give me leftovers to take to school on Friday.  I ordered a combo meal that included Hunan shrimp, rice (I opt for white rice, as I like it better than fried rice) and an egg roll. 

First...there is A LOT of rice.  It almost filled the entire container.  It leaves little room for the actual meal you ordered. 

Second...the broccoli is cut differently than I would cut it.  They leave A LOT of the stalk on...like an inch or so.  Maybe I've been conditioned to not leave that much stalk on broccoli because Mike Frazier doesn't like that part of the broccoli, so we always cut it off, but this was a lot of stalk.

There was a lot of broccoli.  I know it is cheaper than shrimp, but the ration was 3/4 to 1/4 with a few carrots thrown in.

The brown sauce with black beans in flavorful, but there isn't near enough of it. 

I haven't ordered from 88 China in quite a long time.  Next time I will probably get the same thing, but I will definitely ask for "extra" sauce to be added. 

It is adequate take out...nothing more.

Capital Grille-Clayton 12-7-19

The Capital Grille is a high-end steak house chain.  Mike and I have been to the one in Las Vegas many years ago, and Mike has dined at the one in Washington D.C. (which is where, I assume, they started, hence the name).  We knew the menu and prices before going.

This is a place where you know you will spend money, so you eat and drink well.

First let me talk about the wine list.  I like to research the wine menu from home because then I have time to look things up (price, taste, reviews, etc. of each bottle of wine).  I found Capital Grille's electronic wine menu very difficult to navigate.  You have to download their app just to look at the wine list.  Then it is very difficult to see the entire wine list.  I could see wines that were "trending."  I don't care what's trending...if I was a "trendy" person, I'd be at a totally different kind of restaurant.  I chose a bottle from the few dozen bottles I could see and neither Mike nor I found it great.  It was a red blend from Sonoma called Pedroncelli.  It was very fruit forward in the nose but it was just too simple.  There was nothing to it and it didn't really enhance the food.

When we arrived we valet parked our car (which is nice because the valets use texting app and when you are ready to leave, you just reply to a text and they bring your car around to the front).  Parking in Clayton is always problematic.

We tried checking in at the front desk and
they couldn't find our reservation.  This was odd because I had made the reservation weeks ago and they had even called me on Tuesday to confirm the reservation.  We showed them our reservation number and they honored it, even though they couldn't find it.

While waiting for our table, I checked out the lobby.  It has a huge wine cellar in glass in the middle of the area.  Also, there are "wine vaults" with names engraved on them.  Most of them are businesses, but a few are individuals.  People could choose specific bottles and keep them in their "vaults" (a little shelf with a door and a name plate) until a later day.  I found the vaults rather arrogant...especially right in the front lobby.

We were seated in the middle of the dining room.  It is a nice, somewhat fancy room where the waiters are all in matching suit jackets and black pants.  We started with a cocktail.  Because their wine list is so vast and ever-changing, it is only available on a iPad.  I am glad I had done my research and could just tell our waitress what bottle we wanted, because I would have hated sitting there scrolling through page after page of bottles of wine and not being able to do the research about them.

Mike and I both opted to have some french onion soup. It was super good...hot, cheesy with deep onion flavor.  The only problem was that it was huge.  Soup (after you've been eating out of it) is not something you can save.  Mike even made a comment that the bowl was big enough to be a meal unto itself, as they also bring you a large bread basket with a variety of breads and crackers.

The waitress gave us the info. on specials that were not on the menu.  Mike opted for a filet with a side of crab legs and some scalloped potatoes.  This is one of those steak houses where all the side dishes are big enough for two people, so you are pretty much forced to share a side dish.  She told us they had fresh 2 lb. Maine lobsters.  When she walked away Mike told me I should get the lobster.  I said, "No" because they are usually always super expensive ($60-80).  When the waitress returned, Mike asked her what the "Market Price" was for the lobster.  She said "$22.50 per pound."  That is expensive, but it is comparable to the price of most of the steaks, so I decided to go for it.  I ordered a 2 lb. steamed lobster.

When our entrees came, my lobster had been expertly handled.  All the claw and tail meat had been removed and placed on top of the shell.  This made it so easy to eat...no hammer or crackers required.  It was delicious.  Mike gave me one of his crab legs.  It was super sweet and yummy.  I like lobster, but I love crab.  I know lobster is supposed to be superior and more rich, but the sweetness of crab just can't be beat.  Mike said his filet was very good, as it was perfectly prepared.  The scalloped potatoes were good...nothing special.

We remembered that desserts here weren't something you wanted to pass up, so we saved some of our entrees to take home, so we had room for dessert.  Mike got the creme brulee cheesecake with berries on the side.  I got the flour-less chocolate cake with espresso powder on top.  Mike added his customary cappuccino.  Neither of us could finish our dessert, so they packed this up, too, and we took it home.

It was a nice meal in a fine dining restaurant.  The service was very attentive without being intrusive.  The food was very good but nothing was different, interesting or inventive.  The clientele was mostly white 40+ upper middle to upper class people.  I was happy to see a group of about 10 ladies (of a wide variety of ethnicities), all in red shirts (maybe a work Christmas gathering??), having a wonderful time.  They weren't the typical white 2-4 people at most of the other tables.

On a final note...later I asked Mike how much the meal had been.  I knew it was expensive, but the bill seemed to be higher than what I had figured in my head.  When I looked at the receipt, we had been charged $65 for the 2 lb. lobster, not $45.  So, that was a bummer and kind of taints my feelings about the restaurant.  I don't know if we'll ever return.  There are many nice steakhouses in St. Louis that we like just as much as this one (Citizen Kane's, Kreis', Fleming's, etc.).  It is a saturated market and if you want me to come back, you need to be flawless and maybe have something or do something different.  I can't say that Capital Grille stood out above the rest.

Stefanina's Wentzville 12-6-19

Every few months Mike feels like getting St. Louis style pizza (even though he refuses to put provel cheese on it...some Nebraska traditions die hard), so we go to the local Stefanina's in Wentzville.  As I don't really like the thin style of St. Louis pizza, I tend to continue to try things on the menu. 

We have been going to Stefanina's for almost 30 years and I still can't seem to find something I like.  I have tried almost all of their pastas and found them to be rather bland.  I have tried several sandwiches and could not describe them as interesting or unique.  Their salads are pre-made and sit in the cold refrigerator waiting to be served with a pre-packaged side of dressing.  They are OK but made mostly of just iceberg lettuce and greasy croutons. 

Tonight I noticed they had a "Senior" menu for people 55 and older.  Mike and I are 55.  So, I tried the soup and garlic cheese bread special.  I also ordered the cannelloni bites as an appetizer.  The appetizer arrived with a dipping sauce that is difficult to describe.  I think it is a combo of marinara and alfredo.  It wasn't to my liking.  The actual cannelloni bites were meat filled cannelloni that had been cut into bite sized pieces and deep fried.  They were like open ended toasted ravioli.  They were OK. 

The soup I ordered was Italian wedding soup.  I think it came out of a can (or some other non-homemade format).  The broth was flavorless and the small little meatballs were totally factory formed and had small bits of gristle in them.  I didn't finish it. 

The garlic cheese bread was good, but one can not live by garlic cheese bread alone.

Mike had pepperoni pizza, as usual, and liked it just fine.

Mulligan's 11-22-19

Mike and I were out on a Friday afternoon running errands.  We decided to look for a good Happy Hour.  After reading a bunch of reviews on Yelp we decided to try Mulligan's in Ellisville.  It is on the corner of Clarkson and Manchester in a strip mall.

When you walk in you see the large bar area.  It was PACKED.  I see why it is known for its happy hour (that lasts until 6 on weekdays).  They have LARGE glasses of wine and cheap beer.  We put our name in for supper and then stood around the bar for about 15 minutes looking for a place to sit.  There are probably 20 seats at the bar and another 25-35 at tables around the bar.  Nobody was budging.  They were drinking and eating cheap Happy Hour appetizers.  In the entire time we waited for our table (about 20 minutes, only one couple moved).  People weren't waiting for tables ahead of us.  They were just there for the bar.

So, when we got into the dining room (not as big as the bar area) we were still able to order a cheap drink (I had the house Cabernet, and Mike had a draft beer) and some cheap wings.  We got 18 small wings for something like $10.50.  The wings were good.  They were hot (fresh from the fryer) and the Buffalo sauce was fine (I'd have liked it a little hotter, but that's a personal preference).  

The dinner menu is all written in golfing jargon.  They have a wide variety of sandwiches and wraps.  I ended up ordering the 2 piece fish and chips.  I said I didn't want the cole slaw that comes with it.  The waitress (who was very good) offered me several other options.  I chose steamed broccoli because Mike loves that and would eat it.  Mike ordered a Reuben sandwich with a side salad.  The waitress told us that the side salad was an up-charge.  We said OK because we were probably going to share it.  Well, she went ahead and made it in two totally separate bowls and brought us each salad dressing.  I thought that was nice of her.

Mike's Reuben was really good.  It had a lot of meat and it was put together well.  Mike fish and french fries were blah.  The french fries were perfectly fine.  The fish was 2 pieces of frozen pre-packaged blah.  They had no taste and were overly breaded.  I should have just eaten the rest of the wings (that we put in a to-go box and decided to take home) and not ordered an actual entree.  

Our Happy Hour food and drinks was better than the meal.  I see why people go here for Happy Hour.  If you are ever in Ellisville and looking for a place where you get a lot of wine for your money...to go Mulligan's.  

J. Devoti Trattoria (on the Hill) 11-16-19

We had read good reviews of J. Devoti.  They used to be Five Bistro and then the chef (Devoti) took over/bought them out and changed the name and changed the focus of the menu.  They are now mostly Italian based and very much farm-to-table.

We ordered cocktails first.  I'll have to say that this is the very first place to give me my vodka collins with a metal straw.  I appreciate the gesture and I know my daughter (Anna) is passionate about not littering the planet with plastic straws, but I don't know how I feel about metal straws in a restaurant.  I don't know how easy it is to wash out the inside of metal straws and I don't know who used this before me...what if he/she had a cold?

I know farm-to-table is difficult, especially in the cold months.  So, the menu is small.  We started with the charcuterie board.  For $25 we found it lacking.  It had one meat and only 2 cheeses on it.  There was a cheddar and a soft goat cheese.  The meat was a white ham.  The cheddar had an exterior that had been rubbed in espresso and lavender.  When you ate that part, you could taste coffee but not lavender and it didn't seem to transfer through the rest of the cheese.   The goat cheese was soft and tart, but noting special.  Other things that rounded out the cheese/charcuterie board were: olives (unpitted) pickled vegetables (made in house), apple jam, whole grain mustard, chicken pate, local honey (very sweet, but good)., a chicken rillette (almost like a smooth French chicken salad...the chicken has been turned into a smooth spread), and 6 large pieces of bread (a sourdough, a focacia, and rye.  The breads were all large and very salty.  I would have liked some smaller crackers to try the pate or rillette.

I do have to give J. Devoli credit on their wine list.  1. It was posted online and that list was the SAME as they had in the restaurant.  2. They had a nice array of old world and new world wines.  We were able to find a real bargain.  We got a bottle of Jorche Primitivo di Manduria  from Puglia, Italy for $31.  Vivino (my go to wine app) lists this as a 4.1/5 wine.  Usually that means around $100.  It was not very complex but it was good with multiple dishes, and we enjoyed it.  The wine list had a nice variety of wines at several different price points.  When we arrived (6 pm) it wasn't super busy and our waiter knew enough to ask if we'd like our wine decanted (to give it a chance to breath) while we had our cocktails.  That was super nice.  As we watched for the next 90 minutes, I don't know if anyone else was asked or they didn't care, as no one else we saw had their wine decanted.

After our charcuterie board we were presented with an amus bouche.  This is a little taste of some food from the chef.  Ours was literally two spoons.  The spoons had goat cheese, a grain (that tasted a little like a cross between a quinoa and a barley), some vinaigrette, and a pickled red onion.  The initial taste was very good, but they as you had to keep chewing, you had all grain and it seemed a little dry and bland.

It was time for the main entree.  Mike ordered a spaghetti bolognese.  I ordered a fettuccine with mushrooms.  Both pastas were made in house.    Mike said his pasta was good.  You could tell the pasta was homemade, but the sauce was good but not great.  It wasn't as good as Cunnetto's.  My fettuccine was good.  The mushrooms were flavorful and the pasta was definitely homemade, but it was a little undercooked.  It was almost like they were trying to prove it was homemade so they made it super al dente.  It needed to be cooked about 2 more minutes.

Now, you need to know that Mike is suffering from a bad cold, so he was not in the mood to linger or get dessert.  I had even said we could walk across the piazza and get gelato (his favorite) and he turned me down.  He did end his meal with his traditional cappuccino.  One nice gesture...when they bring the bill they bring 2 choc. chip cookies made with very decadent dark chocolate.  It was just the little sweetness I needed.

On a bummer note...the two pastas that we ordered were listed as $18 each on the menu but listed as $20 on our bill.  We didn't quibble about the bill, but still it was disappointing.  

J Devoli is a nice addition to The Hill.  It is very small and won't make much of a notable difference in the overall feel of The Hill.  I appreciate the farm-to-table attitude, but they still have a few bugs to work out.  I'd say we should give them another try in 6-8 months.  

Firehouse Subs 11-15-19

We went for a quick dinner at Firehouse subs in O'Fallon, MO.

Mike has always liked Firehouse because they put more meat on their sandwiches.  I have always liked Firehouse because one of their big goals is giving back to the first responders in the community. 

Mike had a New York Steamer with corned beef and brisket.  I had an Italian with pepperoni, ham and salami.  One thing I like about Firehouse is that their subs are warm.  I know, you can get Subway subs "toasted" and I appreciate that, but these are better subs.  I don't like places like Jimmy Johns with their cold subs. 

They do have a variety of nice kids subs but they are lacking on their variety of vegetarian options...one veggie sub and a salad.  Not much.  In this day and age of "plant based meats" they could do better. 

Annie Gunn's 11-9-19

First...a little background information...

Annie Gunn's is one of our favorite places to go and spend an evening.  We go 3-4 times a year.  It is expensive and you should make an event of it.  You should do the WHOLE meal, cocktails, cheese or chacuterie board, wine, meal and dessert. 

Annie Gunn's is known for their wine.  They have an EXTENSIVE wine list.  It is 39 pages long!  So, I begin looking at it and researching over a week before we go for dinner.  They also employ a full time sommelier.  John Cain, whom we've met before, was on duty last Saturday night.  We ordered our wine from him.  We chose a California Cabernet called Buck Shack.  We chose one that had been aged in a Bourbon Barrel.  It was noted to be interesting.  It was good, but I don't know that I found the Bourbon Barrel to change the flavor much.  It still just tasted like a nice California Cab to me.

We ordered the cheese board and enjoyed it as always.  Annie Gunn's is part restaurant and part store.  The Market next door is filled with wonderful things to eat (meats, cheeses, wines, crackers, breads, spread, etc.).  So, the chef makes the cheese board from an array (usually 4, from hard to soft) of cheeses from the Market.  Then the rest of the board is filled with fun items like fruits, nuts, jam, olives, a little piece of a fig bread, and crostini.  This all comes with a basket of warm rolls.  It is the best $20 you can spend because it is different each time and it is fun.  You nibble on a variety of things with your first glass of wine and you enjoy each other.

The food at Annie Gunn's is rather eclectic.  They have a true chef, but they also have a lot of unstuffy food.  You can just get a nice French dip sandwich  or a burger with fries.  But there is also a wide variety of expensive steaks, chops, and fish. 

I decided to make an appetizer my meal.  The waitress talked me into making it an entree portion and I should have just stuck to my guns and said I only wanted the appetizer.  I ordered the lump crab and andouille sausage cake with chipotle chile aioli.  The appetizer was 2 cakes with some black bean salad...for $15.  The waitress told me I could get 4 cakes with some whipped potatoes and a vegetable for the entree.  Well, I wanted to try the black bean salad, so I got that and the potatoes.  The potatoes were fine (whipped garlic mashed potatoes...nothing bad...fine).  I was kind of disappointed in the black bean salad.  It was tiny black beans (that I found slightly undercooked...which I guess is better than over cooked).  They were room temperature mixed with some finely diced onions and maybe a little jalepeno.  They really didn't have much flavor and I found them to be a little dry (which is weird because they were in a bit of juice...but think underdone beans...dry).  The reason I was bummer later was because I couldn't eat all my meal and I had paid $38 instead of $15 to add 2 more crab cakes (that I was taking home) and some potatoes!  That was a dumb move on my part.  I really did like the crab cakes.  The crab was big and the aioli didn't overpower the taste.  I don't know that I really tasted the sausage at all...I know andouille adds spice, but that's what the aioli was doing, so the sausage was not necessary.

Mike had steak frites.  His steak was very nicely prepared and it had a really nice caramelized onion sauce on the top.  I know it was good because he dunked his fries in it. 

For dessert we had some warm apple "pie" with vanilla bean ice cream.  Mike always gets cappuccino with dessert.  It was a nice size to share and it was perfect to top off our meal. 

Annie Gunn's is difficult to get in to.  We usually pick a date about 3 months in advance and make a reservation...just for the heck of it.  It is a nice thing to do once an awhile. 

  

 Crab cakes, garlic mashed potatoes and black bean salad.  (Obviously I've eaten half of this already...sorry).  

Sugar Fire in Wentzville 11-4-19

Yes, the Sugar Fire people opened another restaurant.  This time it is in Wentzville.  The restaurant is definitely bigger than the O'Fallon location, but I still find it difficult to navigate through.  When you arrive there are two doors.  If you don't stop and read (which I watch a lot of people do) you go in the wrong door and then can't get out of the dining area without going back outside and going in the correct door.  Now, I will say the doors are clearly marked, but it is still odd and confusing. 

I was meeting a bunch of ladies here and there is really nowhere to wait.  As you walk inside (the correct door) you are in a an immediate food line.  People kept arriving while I was standing there and I had to step aside to let them pass.

When we all arrived, we got in the food line.  First you come to a drinks counter.  It is the only place you can buy beer.  That is OK, but they offer soda there, too.  There is a fountain where you can fill your own cup.  This is odd because the server behind the counter is quick to tell you that you may not want to take a cup now, so you don't have to carry the soda with your food, as there is another fountain (exactly the same) in the main dining room.

The menu is the same as other Sugar Fire locations.  I am not a huge BBQ fan, so I always look for things like chicken (they have none) or burgers (which is what I got). 

I like their variety of sauces.  One gal in our party was really enjoying the "white BBQ sauce."  I know it has horseradish in it (which I love).  So, maybe I'll try it next time. 

We happened to snag a table, but there are a few of the "community" tables like I have seen at other Sugar Fire locations.  I love this idea.  I don't know that my husband would ever pick a community table, but when we are given one by the hostess at Hobo's in St. Peters, he is always super genial to the other diners.  I heard two strangers discussing all the BBQ places they'd tried in the area.  I love that it brings people together.

As for my food...the hamburger is a nice size but it is always a little over cooked.  I mean...I know, I'm in a BBQ place and I should be eating something like pulled pork or brisket.  The fries are OK. 

It you like Sugar Fire, you'll be happy there is another location.

Donatelli's 11-9-19

I really WANT to like this place because it is so close to home.

Mike is really on a search to find a place that can be our Friday night go to place that isn't 45 minutes to get to.

We walked in at 6:00ish and were told there was a 20 minute wait.  We didn't have a reservation, so this was totally fine.  We said we'd go have a drink in the bar.  The bar was crowded with a lot of locals eating entire meals at the actual bar.  There were tables around the bar (way too close together) that were empty, but we were told those were only if you were going to eat in the bar.  One nice waitress did tell us that the table way over by the entrance to the kitchen was not for food customers and we could sit there.  We did and proceeded to each order a cocktail.  They came quickly and were pretty good and then immediately we were called because our table was ready (it had been something like 5 minutes).

That leads me to speak about the front desk.  The girls at the front desk (and there were 4 of them) were the "hostesses."  The problem is...they really only needed one or two.  They were high school/college girls and they were in a little "pack."  All they did was stand at the hostess stand (most of the time with some of their backs to the door/customers coming in and chat.  While we were eating dinner, Mike was facing the hostess stand and he said he watched them "do each other's hair" and look stuff up on their phones!  This doesn't help a restaurant that is trying to be a "nice" restaurant.

When we arrived at our seat we noticed quite a few empty tables/booths...so I don't know what the wait was for anyway (even if it was only 5 minutes).  The waitress saw that we had drinks and she said she would let us read the menu while she got us water.  We ordered and our salads came.  I saw that everyone around us had bread with a oil/vinegar dipping sauce.  I had to ask for ours.  It was unintentional, but still a slight bummer.

Mike ordered the cordon bleu chicken special.  It was in a mushroom garlic sauce with chives.  He asked for no mushrooms and no chives.  The waitress said the sauce was already prepared (not good) and that the mushrooms were already in it.  She said she could probably stop the chives.  So, Mike picked out the mushrooms (and I ate them).  The sauce on his chicken was pretty yummy, but they don't tell you the price of the "specials."  Mike's chicken breast with a side of pasta was something like $40.  He said it was good, but it wasn't $40 good.

I got linguine in marinara sauce.  It was something like $13 (which is actually high for something that cheap).  The marinara wasn't very flavorful and the pasta to sauce ratio was WAY off.  I had enough pasta for 3 people and enough sauce for 1.  If we go again, I'll need to get something in a white sauce, as I didn't like the red sauce.

We ordered a bottle of Hess "Shirt tail" Cabernet.  It was $48.  I noticed (because we are going there tonight) that Annie Gunn's (which is a way nicer restaurant) sells the exact same wine for $40.  It was pretty good but had a little "alcoholly" taste at the beginning that I found a little off putting.

This is still the closest "nice" place to home, but we are going to see if we can find something we like that is more in the medium price range.

Dominic's 11-2-19

Dominic's is a restaurant you need to give plenty of time.  It is not a quick bite.

First it is a dress up restaurant.  It reminds me a lot of Giovanni's on The Hill.  Giovanni's was our old go-to for special date nights (anniversary, etc.).

I picked it this week because it continues to be listed as one of the places in St. Louis with a superb wine cellar.

The problem is...we had tickets to the Fox to see Dear Evan Hansen.  Since Dominic's opens at 5, that really only gave us a little over 90 minutes to have our meal, and that's really not enough.  That was my fault.  I didn't remember being there before (Mike said we'd dined there several years ago).

When we arrived to The Hill at 5, the parking was horrid!  We drove around two blocks and finally parked about a block away.  Dominic's has valet parking, but I don't think they have their act together at 5 (it's just too early).  So, the valet parking sign (and the parking dude) were not out there when we drove by at 5 p.m.

They have a very limited menu and Mike and I had both looked at it online.  We knew what we were going to order...pretty much.

We started with a cocktail, each.  Which leads me to a side note.  My cocktail of choice is a vodka collins (just like a tom collins, only with vodka).  It is not a difficult drink to make, but in the last couple of months, you would not believe the nice restaurants we've been to (Giovanni's Kitchen, Il Bel Lago) who don't know how to make it.  I find that crazy.  Back in the day, all bar tenders had a recipe book of all the basic drinks, now they have their phones....Look it up!!  But, no, they fake it and send out some crazy thing that is not a vodka collins.  I've had to send it back over and over.  Dominic's knew how to make a vodka collins.  It was very good.

Now, about the wine menu.  Because there are tens of thousands of wines out there in the world, I don't really know how people get good and knowing all of them.  Every restaurant you go to has different wines.  I'm not about to "wing it" with something that is $40-60ish.  So, if the wine list is publish online...I do research.  Dominic's list was extensive, 14 pages.  I did a lot of research and I had it narrowed down to 2 wines that were in our price range, in the palate we prefer, and received good reviews from others.  When we got to Dominic's and opened the wine list...neither of those wines was even on the list any longer.  So, that's my bone to pick with them...if you are going to print out new pages for the sleeves in the wine list books you hand to customers, publish those updated lists to your website.

We ended up choosing a wine from Tuscany called Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona (Indicazione Geografica Tipica).  It had a fairly high rating on Vivino (one of my go-to sites) and was in our price range.  It was a decent wine.  It was good but not terribly interesting.

Now, enough complaining...on to the food...

I started with the eggplant involtini.  It was wonderful.  Think eggplant, sliced thinly and fried.  Then a mixture of ricotta and Parmesan cheese is rolled inside.  They are laid in a baking dish and covered in a marinara and mozzarella cheese and baked.  The eggplant has just enough acidity to cut through the creaminess of the cheese.  The tomato sauce plays off of both of them well, and they are delicious with red wine!!  Loved it.

Mike started with the house salad.  Good, but nothing to write home about.

For dinner I had linguine with clams. I am a person who likes the simple dishes at Italian restaurants (spaghetti and meatballs is my all time favorite).  This was simple and done VERY well. The pasta was almost undercooked, but not quite (which is sooooo much better than being overcooked).  The clams were plump and juicy (which doesn't happen often).  The sauce/broth was flavorful and not oily.

Mike had one of his all time favorites: veal saltimbocca.  It was supposed to come with a side of steamed mixed vegetables  (boring!), so Mike asked if he could pay and up-charge and order a portion of their famous papperdelle alla Bolognese.  They said, "yes."  Saltimbocca is veal pan fried and then made with prosciutto ham, sage and maybe a little cheese in a white wine sauce.  The ham, sage and wine sauce make the dish!  Mike said it was good.  He enjoyed it.

The papperdelle is thick homemade noodles in a bolognese sauce.  The homemade noodles were good.  The sauce was fine.  A true bolognese is a meat sauce.  When you look at it tossed with the noodles you see meat...not sauce or tomatoes.  When I looked at Mike's dish, I saw tomatoes in sauce on noodles.  Mike said it was "fine."  Not the best he's ever had...but fine.

After a meal like this (in which we both take about 1/2 of the food home), it is lovely to end with something sweet (they had chocolate torte and creme brule among others) and cappuccino/coffee or a glass or port.  You linger...

As we were going to the Fox, as soon as our food was boxed up, we were dashing out the door.  This was not the restaurant's fault at all.  This is just not a restaurant you should go to unless you have the time to enjoy it. 

Hobo's 11-1-19

Mike was hungry for fried chicken.  Why would you ever fry chicken at home (such a mess) when there is a place like Hobo's.

Mike had his usual 3 piece chicken dinner.  He always orders 3 big chicken breasts.  It is the most chicken for the same price.  He gets potatoes and macaroni salad.  He always brings some chicken home as left overs.

I don't have the same longing for fried chicken as most people, so I try other things on Hobo's menu each time we go there.

Tonight I tried their hot wings.  I thought...they are great at chicken, and hot wings is just more chicken...right?   Well, I was surprised.  You can get them breaded, but I don't like breading on hot wings, so I ordered them "naked" and "sauced."  They were about $11 for a dozen, so that's cheaper than places like BWW, and the wings are bigger here.  But when they arrived I could tell they had been tossed with very little sauce.  They almost looked dry.  I asked for more sauce to be brought.  The chicken was OK.  The drummies (the ones that look like little chicken legs) were fine, but the other pieces (the flat) is actually my favorite, but they were definitely under cooked.  They skin was not crispy and it just felt "flabby."

I've tried a lot of things here.  I like their shrimp dinner.  I think their fried fish is fine, but it doesn't have much flavor.  The shrimp wrap is too wet and falls apart.  The buffalo chicken salad is good.  Their burgers are good. 

So, I will keep making my way through their menu.

101 Asian in St. Charles 10-26-19

Even though I currently have a daughter studying in Taiwan, I totally didn't understand the name of this restaurant until I walked in the door.  Inside, there is a large photograph as a mural of downtown Taipei, Taiwan.  The center of the photo is the wonderful 101 Building. 

I was telling my friend, Vickie, who was dining with me, that Anna had recently been to the 101 Building and there was a very high-end mall in it, when the owner came over.  She agreed with me and told me that she and her family were from Taipei. 

The reason I tried this restaurant was because of positive reviews on Yelp.

The menu looked like regular Chinese dishes.  Where other menus sometimes go overboard with choices...I found this one a little lacking.  So, when she came back to take our order I asked her if there were any shrimp dishes in a spicy brown sauce. I said I like a variety of vegetables like cabbage and broccolli, etc.  She looked at the menu in the seafood section and said, no.  She then directed me to the "Chef's Specials" and told me to get the Seafood Delight.  I asked her if it was in a brown sauce, (as dishes like this are usually in a seafood sauce (white)).  She said yes.  I ordered it.  I also ordered some hot and sour soup and an egg roll.

Vickie ordered off the Special Diet Menu and got some chicken and broccoli. 

The hot and sour soup was good.  It was thicker than usual but had good flavor.  The egg roll was fried well but it was kind of mushy on the inside and the cabbage seemed overcooked.

Now, to the main entree.  It arrived.  It was shrimp, scallops, and fake crab.  All of these were actually prepared very well.  None of them were over cooked (which is what usually happens).  There was also a nice amount of seafood (they weren't skimpy).  But the only vegetables were some bok choi (the crunchy part...not the leaves), some onions, some thick cut carrots, some water chestnuts, and 2 pea pods.  The onions and carrots were the only thing with flavor.  The other vegetables were there for crunch, and there was almost no color to the dish.  Everything was white.  Now, to the sauce.  It was tan.  I think they had just added some soy sauce to the regular sauce.  It was not flavorful.  It all also had a slight taste of char...like being cooked in a wok that wasn't cleaned well. 

It was not bad, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

Vickie's chicken and broccoli was exactly like the menu said...steamed.  Blah!  It did come out with a soy dipping sauce.  She was fine with it as the chicken was tender and it was all cooked well.

So, nowhere on the menu does it reference that this family is from Taipei, Taiwan.  As we were leaving, I notice on the board by the cash register that they make the Taiwan national dish...Beef with Noodles (think big bowl of pho).  Anna loves that in Taipei. 

I probably wouldn't feel the need to return, but maybe I'll give the beef noodles a try.

Urban Chestnut Midtown 10-19-19

Just a quick shout out for Urban Chestnut brewery on Washington Ave in midtown STL.  We went there on a Saturday afternoon.  I had never been there before. 

We were with a group of people who were much more hip and much younger than we were. 

They had a nice selection of beers.  Mike easily found one he liked.

I saw people eating pretzels with whole grain mustard and a cheese dip.  Others had some fairly nice looking sandwiches.

One bummer...if you are not a beer lover (like me), the drinking is really limited.  They offered me water or a Riesling or Malbec wine.  I chose the riesling.  It was fine.

There are 15-20 picnic tables outside and on this nice day people were gathered talking, one table was playing board games, other were having a party (birthday, bridal shower??). 

It is a hip, fun place for a weekend afternoon. 

Bellefontaine Cemetery architecture tour 10-19-19

On Saturday 10-19-19, Mike and I went to a tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery. It is a
huge (400+ acre) cemetery in North St. Louis city. The tour was
sponsored by the Young Architects of St. Louis. So, because of that, we
got to see a lot of unique architectural elements of several of the
mausoleums. The tour director had a whole set of keys and took us into
about a half dozen mausoleums. I don’t know what I was expecting, but
they were very impressive inside. There is a lot of marble and some
have little places to sit/benches. They get cleaned twice a year (or more
if the family visits). They aren’t dark or scary at all. Here are some
interesting facts...
1. The biggest collection of Tiffany windows in the Midwest is in
Bellefontaine Cemetery and we saw 5 of them in on mausoleum.
They were very pretty.
2. The outsides of many of the tombs have A LOT of symbolism
(palms, upside down torches (a life extinguished), crosses, angels,
etc.)
3. Some of the tombs were huge in their capacity. The mausoleum
for the Lemp family (a famous brewing family in St. Louis at the
turn of the 1900s) could hold 36 bodies. It doesn’t have that many people in it,
but I was surprised to see that one of the sons married someone
from the Pabst family (another famous brewer).
4. One of the tombs actually had door knockers...weird.
5. One of the tombs was partially designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
It was an amazing thing for the Wainwright family in St. Louis.
The outside is very gray with a great deal of stone work, but the
inside is crazily night and day different...it is entirely done in
mosaics and the dome reminded me of the Cathedral Basilica in St.
Louis.
6. The most interesting story is that of the Sayman family. Their
grave marker is not a big mausoleum, just a medium sized
“fainting bench.” The story goes that Dorothy Jean “DoJean”
Sayman of St. Louis married Peter Smithers. He was a diplomat
and a spy from England. He worked for MI6. He was friends with
Ian Fleming (the writer of James Bond). Ian Fleming is said to
have fashioned Bond after Smithers...even once giving him a
pistol that looked like a pen. Through some odd story his wife was
given a solid gold typewriter, that Fleming wrote some stories on
in his “hunt and peck” style. Somewhere the phrase “gold finger”
was formed. In the James Bond stories, Agent Q has an assistant
name Smithers. DoJean died first and was buried at Bellefontaine.
Peter, who had now been knighted by the queen and become an
avid photographer and horticulturalist, even hybriding a new
flower...the DoJean Peony. The grave has the peony bushes
around it and the tour guide told us that once Peter died in
Switzerland at the age of 92, his ashes were brought here. The was
to get into the grave is not but digging up the ground in front of the
bench, but through a secret door on the back...which is a very
James Bond type of thing, don’t you think.

Mike and I found this all very interesting. We know that there are a lot
more stories like this about other graves. Since this tour was mostly
concerned with the architecture, I may go back and do another tour some
day and see what other stories I can find.

Cunetto's Pasta House 10-19-19

When young people, or people new to St. Louis, ask me where to go for Italian...Cunetto's is always our answer.

We have been going to Cunetto's for over 30 years.  Frank and the gang of waitresses know our faces. 

Cunetto's may not be pretty on the inside (could really use some updates), but it still has our favorite red sauce of all the places on The Hill...and believe me we've probably been to a dozen or more Italian restaurants on The Hill.

I always start the meal with Rosamarina soup (beef and chicken broth vegt. soup with beef and chicken) with tiny pasta.

Usually I then have a pasta dish with some sort of red sauce. 

Mike almost always has a dish that the major player is some piece of meat (veal parm, veal saltimbocca, chicken parm, etc.)

Our kids (who are all adults now) have also been going here since they were born.  They get all kinds of things...alfredo pastas, seafood pastas, toasted ravs, chicken picatta.

This is the restaurant where we taught our children how to eat in a nice restaurant.  They learned how to wait.  Since Cunetto's doesn't take reservations, I can't tell you how many nights we waited 1-2 hours with 4 little kids.  We always got an appetizer and 4 Shirley Temples (with extra cherries) for the kids, and we sat in the upstairs waiting area.  They also learned how to be order for themselves, how to ask if something could be prepared in a different way, and how to behave in a more formal public space (and if they didn't...we went outside...I can't tell you how many times Mike or I walked around the lobby or parking lot with a naughty or fussy child).

Just a side note...one thing we learned over the years...and good Italian (or Chinese, or Greek, or almost any) restaurant can put together almost any protein, with any pasta they have, with any sauce.  All you have to do is ask.  But please note...in fancier restaurants that have a legit chef...this idea of asking for things different, or sauces on the side, is considered an insult to the chef. 

Now that our children all live in different states...when they come home, we go to Cunetto's.  It continues to be in our family's memories.

Lona's Little Eats 10-4-19

We had heard from several people to go to Lona's.  Since we are from the Wentzville area, I knew we needed to be in St. Louis and then go to Lona's since it is about 50 minutes from our house.

We had been to the History Museum, which closes at 5 p.m., so it was the perfect time to head over to Lona's. 

I am not familiar with the Fox Park area.  It is very close to Lafayette Square. 

When we arrived (about 5:30) it was not super busy, so we were able to sit and read the menu and even ask questions. 

We decided to try a bunch of things...

• Spring rolls (3 rolls, each a different kind).  Came with dipping sauces.  Very yummy.
• Dumplings (we got 3 steak and 3 mushroom).  Both were good, but nothing great.  
• I got the rice paper burrito with steak and stir fried glass noodles (and some veggies) with the lime, ginger, peanut sauce.  It was GREAT.  It was too much to eat at one sitting.  I didn't know how well it would save, so once I started getting full, I just ate out the good stuff (shrimp, glass noodles) and tossed the outer shell
• Mike got grilled steak on stir fried rice with Lona-Q sauce.  This sauce was kind of a cross between a teriyaki and a BBQ sauce.  I asked him about the steak and he said it was tender and good...didn't seem to have been cooked way ahead of time.   If Mike says the steak is good...this is good...he knows steak!

The restaurant is not a big space, but it has seating inside and out.  It is very casual, you order at the counter and they bring you your food.  

They do have alcoholic drinks, but we were excited to see Ski brand soda (which our sons turned us onto about 10 years ago).  I was happy because several of the Ski flavors were caffeine free.

It was a pretty quick meal and we enjoyed it.  It is a fun, interesting menu and I would recommend this place. 

Pulitzer Prize Photos at the History Museum 10-4-19

I know this isn't about food, but I want to put it out there...

There is a great exhibit at the St. Louis History Museum in Forest Park.  It is running now through January.  They have all the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, since the award began in 1961.

Some of them are heart-wrenching, some are hear-warming, and some are just plain amazing.  I laughed, I cried (which is nothing new), I was inspired.

There is a great video that is 19 minutes long at the back of the display...take the time to watch that.

Two bonuses...
1. They have an inner exhibition of all the famous St. Louis Post Dispatch photos (one of the ones from Ferguson was actually a Pulitzer winner)

2.  They have this great display in the middle of the room, that I almost missed because I was so engrossed by the photos on the walls, for visually impaired visitors.  They took some of the most famous Pulitzer photographs and added texture to them and there was a lot of explanation in Braille.  I thought it was GREAT!  Most people wouldn't think that a person with limited vision could enjoy an exhibit like this, but maybe they can.

Here are some photos of the displays for the visually impaired...if you look close, you can see the texture.