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.