Cafe Provencal in Kirkwood 5-22-2021

 Mike and I enjoy French food.  I don't know why we've never tried Cafe Provencal before.  Maybe because when we wanted French food we always went to the same place (Bar les Freres in Clayton).  But it has been "temporarily" closed by the pandemic.  So, we tried some place new and it was delightful.

We arrived at our reservation time of 6 p.m.  It was lovely outside and they have expanded their outdoor seating into the grass around the restaurant.  The hostess asked us if we wanted to sit inside or out.  Mike said outside...but not in the grass.  So, we were seated on the regular patio area under an awning.  It was very nice.  

The menu is small but we both chose to the the pre fix menu of 3 items for $35.  You can choose from soups, appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts.  You just can't choose more than one entrée.  

Mike and I began the evening with a cocktail...nothing special there and ordered a bottle of French wine.  Their wine list isn't published online, so I had to do research at the restaurant (on my phone) which I don't like doing in front of other people (I feel like it's rude to be on my phone at the table) and I feel rushed.  I had a difficult time picking one because none of them scored very well on my wine app.  Mike finally picked on (after I'd narrowed it down).  It was a Bordeaux called Clarendelle.  It was fine, nothing special but kind of pricey.  

I was thinking about this later in the evening...I think over the years Mike and my wine tastes have definitely changes.  We used to consider ourselves "Old World" wine drinkers.  We liked wine from France, Spain, and Italy.  But it has been quite a while since we've had French wine and it really didn't impress me.  We still like a good Italian wine but we are much more open to California wines these days.  It is surprising how much more complex they can be than these wines that were supposed to be so much better!

Mike and I both started our meal with French onion soup.  It is one of our favorites and when someone makes it well (the old fashioned way with lots of slowly cooked onions in butter and wine) we are super happy.  The soup was very good.  It was super hot and took some time to cool down and actually eat.  One of our complaint (if you could call it a complaint) is that the portion was actually too big.  It would have been a great size for a lunch portion where you were having it with a side salad and that's it.  We both commented on the fact that we wanted to finish it but knew that we were not going to be able to finish our entrees (which we didn't).  

For his main entrée, Mike had steak and frites.  The steak was covered in béarnaise sauce.  The frites were cut very thin and were crispy and salty.  His dinner also came with some roasted vegetables. He said the steak was oh, so, tender!

I had grilled rainbow trout topped with herb butter.  It was good but you know, there is only so much you can do with trout...it doesn't have much flavor.  On the side were some really wonderful potatoes gratin.  They were layered with onions and I believe had some sort of cheese baked on top.  They were super yummy!  I, too, had the roasted veggies.  

For dessert I had crème brulee and Mike had chocolate mousse.  Both were small and just right to top off the meal with the end of the bottle of wine. 

(sorry, I can't find my photo of Mike's chocolate mousse...I think I accidentally deleted it)

It was a lovely dinner.  I have no idea what the inside of the restaurant looks like, but if you want to try some good French food and it's nice outside, I'd recommend Café Provençal.   

Fozzie's Sandwich Emporium 5-21-2021

OK, this is one time to NOT trust the photos online.  There are some really nice photos of the outdoor seating area and the lovely little herb garden in garden boxes.  Those photos must be from about 2-3 years ago.

The outdoor seating area is trash.  The lovely painted tables are all old and rusted with peeling paint.  The picnic tables are dirty and the dirt can't be scrubbed off (we tried).  The herb garden is all neglected and overgrown.  You can still see the mint, dill, chives, etc...but it is full of weeds and other crap.

So...that's the bad part.   The good part was the food.

Mike, Anna and I went with Laurie and Beth...so between the 5 of us...we had a wide variety of things:

Beth got the turkey club.  This was her first "go out to any restaurant" since the beginning of the pandemic.  I think she was scared and even played it a little bit safe with her sandwich choice.  

She said it was good.  She got the homemade chips and said, they too were good.  She said they looked over-cooked, but they didn't taste that way.

Laurie started with some hummus and pita bread.  She was surprised (when she opened it) that the hummus was orange.  I don't think I heard her say that the hummus was good/not good.  I'm assuming it was fine. For a sandwich she got the daily special of a chorizo burger on a pretzel bun.  It came with a few fried onion rings.  It was spicy enough it made her nose run, and I know she enjoyed it.  

Anna couldn't decide, so she actually got 2 sandwiches (and ended up taking the entire 2nd one home).  She started with a chicken parm.  She really liked it, but she tried to eat it with her hands (not knife and fork), and she was covered with sauce by the end (she said her hands looked like she had just "killed someone").  She also commented that when she began the sandwich the chicken was really crispy and good, but as she ate, it tended to get too soggy under all that sauce.

Then she got the "King" (think Elvis).  This was a peanut butter/banana/bacon sandwich.  She had it later in the weekend and said it was really good and had held up well in the refrigerator.  

Mike got an Italian beef sandwich with giardiniera on it.  He said it was good.  He especially like that it was really full of meat.  

I had eggplant parm.  I like eggplant but no one else in my family does.  I think in 35 years of being married, I've only made it once.  So, I figured, what better time to get it than on a sandwich.  It comes smothered in sauce and fresh spinach.  I don't really think the raw spinach added much to the dish.  It was a bit of a crunch on top, but no real flavor.  I ate mine with a knife an fork (unlike Anna) and I totally agree with her...at the beginning the eggplant was hot and crispy but after a few minutes under all that sauce, it was soggy.  I wonder if you could order the sauce on the side and dunk it??

We did proceed to have dessert.  They have ice cream desserts.  It was odd, they made the shakes in an actual old time milk shake maker but then poured it into a paper coffee cup to give to you...weird.  The desserts were very average.

Here's my guess about this place...someone owns it and put a lot of time and effort into the opening of it a few years ago.  It won some accolades and got put on some of the "Best Sandwich" lists.  They fixed up the outside and made the tables and gardens nice.  Then they owner hired people to run it for them and decided they had better things to do.  So, now, it is being run by about 6-8 20ish year old boys.  They make good sandwiches, but the outside looks terrible, the outside seating is horrid, the trash cans are all always overflowing, and the inside doesn't look like it would pass a health inspection.  

The sandwiches are good, and they do a lively business.  There were CONSTANTLY people coming and going with bags of sandwich orders.  

We all said we'd go back to try more/different sandwiches...it is just too bad the outdoor are is such crap.  

Brett Hull's Junction House in Wentzville 5-15-2021

 Jacob has been home and we thought, since he enjoys hockey, he would enjoy going to Brett Hull's restaurant.  We were totally wrong about this decor...it didn't have anything to do with hockey...no pucks, no sticks, no Brett Hull memorabilia.  It was all done up in train theme (hence: junction house).  I think Brett Hull just gave them his name.

We made a reservation and I'm glad we did.  It was very full.  We chose to eat inside, as it was a little chilly.  We actually found it still a little chilly inside. 

They are a sports bar...with TVs everywhere.  The tables are very close together and it is a loud place.  At times it is difficult to hear your server and even  the people at your own table.

We started with a drink.  Mike and Jake both had Leinenkugel lemonade beer.  I had a drink that had raspberry vodka, pomegranate, sour mix and sprite.  It was called a Yadi Toddy (which I thought was weird, because typically a toddy is a hot beverage).  It was good.  

For dinner Jake got a regular burger.  He said it was a really good burger.  He got it with the house made chips (they looked like ruffles).  He said the bottom ones in his basket tasted like they had a little BBQ spice on them and he wished they had all tasted that way.  He said it was good and he'd eat it again.

Mike had a Buffalo chicken sandwich and fries.  He said it was just OK.  The chicken was dry and I tasted the fries.  I thought they were weird.  They had a coating on them that almost tasted like potatoe chips on the outside of fries.  

I had the tutto mare pasta.  I was asked if I wanted it with the linguini.  I said, yes.  I guess I don't know what my other choices were.  It was full of seafood (mussels, shrimp, and scallops).  The broth/sauce was quite salty.  I liked it as I ate it, but later that night I couldn't drink enough water...very thirsty.  

We arrived at 6 p.m. and got in right away with our reservation.  When we left around 7:15ish it was packed and there were MANY people waiting (wearing very few masks...but they were outside).  

This place was OK.  The food was better than average.  The prices were fair.  We just didn't see of have anything that makes us want to run right back.  

Corner Pub and Grill in Chesterfield (Ellisville) 5-8-2021

 OK, I didn't take any pictures but I can give you some scoop...

I went here for lunch with 3 girlfriends.  It was a birthday lunch.  It was the first time the 4 of us had had lunch since the pandemic began 14 months ago!

One of our 4 is on chemo meds, so she has been very hesitant to go out into the public.  We had heard that St. Louis county still had the 6 ft. rule (St. Charles county didn't) so that is why we drove to Ellisville to this restaurant instead of eating at the one in O'Fallon, which would have been way closer.

We arrived at 11, when it opened.

We were actually the first diners in the building.  Our waitress was super friendly.

We started with drinks and some spinach artichoke dip.  It was warm and gooey.  

I ordered a bowl of the loaded baked potato soup with the crab cakes appetizer. The soup was good.  I would eat it again.  The crab cakes were super small and full of filler instead of crab.  They didn't have much taste.  The only thing that gave them a good taste was their aioli. 

Laurie had the teriyaki chicken healthy bowl with cauliflower rice.  She said the veggies tasted like they were frozen veggies from a bag.  That is disappointing.

Vickie had the Rudy sandwich, which we all think is misnamed.  It is a Reuben, so, it should be the Ruby sandwich.  Anyway...Vickie said it was good and she had it with sweet potato tots.

Beth had the same soup I did.

The food was fine but nothing was so good that anyone felt they NEEDED to come back. 

The bad part was that as we sat there (in a booth) they proceeded to put people at every booth and table around us...not leaving any booth or table empty.  So, that was disappointing.  That was the entire reason we drove to St. Louis county. 

I haven't been to this restaurant in O'Fallon, but I don't see any need to rush there as I wasn't impressed with the one in Chesterfield. 

Robust Wine Bar 5-1-2021

If your first thought is...hey, I think you've been there before...you are right and you have a better memory than Mike or me.  

We went to Robust Wine Bar in mid-December of 2019, and I even blogged about it, but it wasn't until we actually walked in the restaurant did either Mike or I realize this.  It looks soooo different outside than it did in on that dark, cold winter evening a year and a half ago.  Yesterday the sun was shining and it was lovely outside.  There were quite a few people outside and there were some guys playing guitars and singing.  

Right when walked in, Mike and I both knew we'd been there and where we sat the last time.  So, I pulled up the old blog. Yeah, I should have read it BEFORE we went.  We didn't really like this place much the first time.  The blog said the wine was fine, the meat and cheese trays were too small, and the entrees were WAY too small and over priced.

That did direct us a little.  I had done my research on the wine, and we ordered a bottle of Barnard Griffin Merlot.  It was fine, not great.

Then, since we thought the combined Meat and Cheese tray was too small last time, we ordered a full on Meat Tray and a Cheese Tray.  Yeah, that wasn't really much better.  

For almost $20 each they were still quite small.  The meat tray had 3 pieces of salami, 3 pieces of capicola, 3 rolled pieces of prosciutto, and what they called pate.  I like pate, and this wasn't pate.  It was something they had homemade.  It tasted like they had ground some kind of lunch meat (bologna?) and pressed it (along with some diced yellow peppers and diced olives and very few spices) into a loaf pan.  Then had cooked it and cooled it.  Then they sliced it.  It was not soft and creamy like a pate.  It was not good and not something we finished.  The center of the meat tray had some whole grain mustard with 3 little cornichons (super tiny baby dill pickles) on it.  Mike ate most of the mustard and I ate the pickles.  But I do have to tell you one discovery I made.  I have always hated yellow mustard.  This whole grain mustard was just the mustard seeds pickled in a vinegar...so I tried it.  I can eat that!!  It is twangy from the vinegar and has the taste of the seed.  Who knew that there was a mustard in this world that I would eat!!

On the cheese plate there was a very soft brie (I like brie, Mike doesn't) and a very twangy blue cheese (we both enjoyed that) and two semi-firm cheeses that had no distinguishing qualities whatsoever.  One was a little dry and sharper than the other but both were really quite boring.  In the center of that plate were some dried dates and apricots.  I like dried fruit, Mike doesn't.  Then there were almonds that were shiny.  I thought they were candied almonds...yum.  I was wrong.  I think they had been tossed in a bowl with some kind of oil and then salted.  So, they were shiny because they were oily.  Weird!

We didn't order entrees, we read the old blog and decided to skip right to dessert.  Mike had a dense brownie with ice cream, and I had the salted caramel pot du creme.  I had this last time.  Both desserts were good.  

I'm sure you know the taste of a fudge like brownie.  The pot du creme is like super thick pudding with a quenelle (fancy French word for a dollop that has been shaped with 2 spoons) of whipped cream and caramel sauce with flaked salt on top.  Again, it was yummy.  

Hopefully we will read our own darned blogs before we make reservations and go here again.  There were 4 guys who came in as we were eating dessert.  They looked like professors from Webster University.  They didn't want any food.  They said, "We are just here to drink!"  They know what's what!  That (and maybe dessert) needs to be what we use Robust for!