Bishop's Post in Chesterfield 12-10-12

I'd say we give this one a 2/5 stars.  

In the 35+ years we lived in Missouri, this establishment has been many things...Crazy Fish, Andriana's Steakhouse...we've tried them all.

Now, it is Bishop's Post.  The sign at the front said "Classic Comfort Fare"  To me that is comfort food, like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and noodles, etc.  

There was one meatloaf dish and one friend chicken dish on the menu.  Most of the menu is full of steak and seafood.  It is not a place to go if you are looking for a lot of what I would call "comfort food" dishes.  It is also too pricey for regular comfort food.

I started with a Honey Kissed cosmo.  It was a little odd, as it is made with peach/orange blossom vodka and has a big smell of peach.  

Then I had a small cup of gumbo.  That was really quite good.  It was more filled with meat than seafood.  I'd rather have seafood, but it was seasoned really well and very yummy. 

I had done my homework with the wine list and we ordered a red blend that has a very odd name: Gundlach Bundschu.  It is a 160 yr old family of winemakers in Sonoma Calif.  This red blend is good and not terribly expensive.  

 

 The problem was me when it came to most of the food here.  They have several dishes that many people might like:

Seared sea scallops on angel hair pesto pasta.  I don't love pesto pasta.  

Pan seared halibut on smoked tomato risotto.  I don't like smoked items...sometimes the smoke is too strong and ruins the taste of the entire dish.

The "special" was shrimp, scallops, and lobster linguine with a Dijon cream sauce.  I don't like mustard.  I asked them if they could do any other sauce...they suggested alfredo.  I said no, it would cover the subtle taste of the fish.  

So, I got their Shrimp and Scallop Pasta.  It had sun dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and herbed olive oil over pasta and the seafood.  It was not very good.  The oil was just that...oil.  It had no taste.  The pasta tasted like pasta with olive oil on it.  Butter would have been boring but better.  They need to learn to make a seafood stock and with a little white wine and butter turn the seafood stock into a seafood sauce.  Alas...they didn't.  So, I ended up eating the seafood out of the dish and leaving a lot of the pasta.  

Bonus points for them.  While I was enjoying my dessert, the general manager came over and said, "I notice you didn't eat much of your pasta.  Can I ask why?"  I told him the oil sauce was just too bland...even with sundried tomatoes and Kalamata olives.  He was nice, but I doubt they change it.  I had crème Brule for dessert. 

Mike had a fairly good experience with his dinner.  He ordered the prime rib.  He knew he wanted extra to take home for leftovers, so he ordered the biggest piece they had.  It came with twice baked potato, Yorkshire pudding (which, as you know is not pudding but a starch that should have had some kind of gravy for it) and green beans.  The meat and beans were good.  He said the potato tasted like maybe they made a huge batch of twice baked potatoes a couple of days ago and then kept them in the refrigerator and just heated them up in the microwave for dinner tonight.  

For dessert Mike had some gooey butter cake and ice cream...with a cappuccino (of course).  

The restaurant was fairly nice.  The wait staff was fine.  The wine list was rather small.  I found the overall menu small and lacking variety (they had asparagus in almost every dish...I had to ask for it not to be put in my pasta).  The gumbo was really quite good, but there really was nothing that made me need to return to this restaurant.  

On a side note...they do have a lovely, HUGE outdoor patio that is mostly covered for summer dining.  

Prasino-Streets of St. Charles 12-3-22

 I'd give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I have talked to other people at school who LOVE this restuarant.

There are things I like about this restaurant.  I like the semi-nice/semi-casual vibe of the restaurant.  You could dress up but we came in jeans and were fine.  Mike was in a hoodie and felt underdressed for a Sat. night.  

I like the decor.  There are distinct areas that you can eat: at the bar, at the hightop tables in the bar area (louder, TV screens), or in the dining room.  I liked being given a choice.  

I like that they take reservations.  

I thought they had an adequate wine list.  I'm not even being a wine-snob here.  They have this big room with wine coolers on 3 sides.  It is all very "wine-ish."  So, they look like they are trying to be a wine restaurant and they they have a kind of small adequate wine list.  It is fine...but not if you are trying to impress people and seem like some big deal with wine drinkers.

The thing I found confusing is their menu.  It just doesn't have any kind of rhyme or reason.  It has burgers and wraps with a couple steaks, a seafood, and a pasta.  That's all OK together.  But then they have a section of a bunch of different tacos.  That is weird.  But then they also have a section of a bunch of different sushi.  None of the sushi is vegetarian or without raw fish.  So, it isn't a complete list (kind of like their wine list).  If you know and like sushi (and I do). these few sushi rolls seem rather incomplete and sorely out of place with no other japanese items (miso soup, sake wine, etc.).  

Mike and I had just driven 7 hours home from Nebraska and drove straight to this restaurant, so we were tired and hungry.

We ordered cocktails, which were fine...but my glass was mostly ice and not much "cocktail."  We ordered a bottle of Decoy cabernet.  The waiter couldn't wrap his head around the fact that we wanted all the drinks to come out together, even though we weren't going to drink the wine until we had dinner.  We tried to explain that we wanted the wine opened and allow to "breathe" but this seemed foreign to him. 

He ordered a steak sandwich and fries.  The waiter had to explain to him that the steak was chopped up and then put on the sandwich.  I thought that was weird.  We laughed about it with the waiter.  Did someone actually think there was just a whole steak on a bun??  He said, "Yes, that's what some people expect."  After all of that...Mike liked this sandwich.  They edges had been crisped up on the grill and the meat was flavorful.  The french fries were really more like potatoes that had been oven roasted and then dusted in a heavy dose of paprika.  Mike didn't really care for them.  He would have liked regular fries better.  

I ordered the lobster ravioli.  It was just OK.  I don't know why anyone puts something with such a delicate taste like lobster in a cream sauce.  The sauce overpowers the taste and you can barely taste the lobster.  The pasta was nicely made and was still firm enough.  The escarole in the sauce gave some color but nothing else (it added no taste or texture).  The squash in the sauce added a little sweetness and texture to a rather "soft" dish.  The little pile of cheese in the center just melted into one lump and couldn't be spread out.  That was disappointing.  

Overall this restaurant was OK.  We didn't eat anything that was so amazing that it made us want to come back soon.  

Tubby's Pub n Grub in St. Charles 11-12-2022

 3/5 Stars

We were looking for a casual place for a Sat. night.  Lauren Mitchell, at school, had recently told me several places in St. Charles that she liked. This was one of them.

It is in the end of Parkway Lanes bowling alley.  It is separate enough that it totally seems like a restaurant.  We sat in the first room and it has no entrance to the bowling alley.  

They are known for their steak dinners.  So, that is what Mike had.  For something like $25 he had a NY Strip steak, baked potato and a side salad.  He said it was good.  But sometimes we go out to Wentzville to West Allen Grill on Sat. nights and for the same price as this steak, he can get a big piece of prime rib with the same sides.  He likes that better.  

I had the fried shrimp dinner.  It was OK.  The french fries didn't have much taste.  They were hand cut and that is nice but they were greasy and had no salt on them.  The shrimp was just OK.  

The beer was cheap.  Mike got a beer glass full of Budweiser for 2.75.  That is cheap.  

This was not bad, but there are places that are just as cheap that are better.  

China Bistro inside of Pan Asia Grocery Store at 141 and Manchester 11-11-2022

 Mike and I knew that on Veterans Day many restaurants feed Veterans for free and the places are packed.  We tried to stay away from that type of restaurant.  

I had recently read an article about the 26 Best Places to Eat in STL right now.  The first one was this Chinese restaurant tucked into a corner of an Asian grocery story.

It was cold and windy as we made our way into the store.  All the people in line were super friendly.  The workers weren't friendly, but they weren't "not friendly" they were all just working super hard and super fast.  This place has about a dozen or so tables, but they also do a huge amount of take out orders.  

Mike had read that this place has the best BBQ pork fried rice in the area.  So, that's what he got.  It was $8.  He was happy with it.  He said it had plenty of pork and just enough vegetables.  Everything was fresh and you could tell that it had just been made in a wok.  It came out quickly and it was steaming hot.

I ordered spicy seafood soup with thick noodles.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  I wasn't unhappy.  It was HUGE.  There were scallops, shrimp, and squid in the soup.  There were carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, and a bit of cabbage in there, too.  The broth was somewhat spicy, but it seemed a little watery.  The noodles were good...not too thick or large.

This is a very authentic Chinese restaurant, so they don't have things like beef and broccoli or general Zao's chicken.  But they do have a lot more things I'd like to try.  I'm not a big Peking duck fan, but they do have that and you can just get a few slices with some vegetables and rice.  

It is also super fun to walk around the grocery store.  Check out the fish counter!!  

We will totally come back here.  It is exactly 30 minutes from our house.  So, not too far for decent Chinese food. 

Bartelino's Osteria 11-5-22

 We were on our way to the Fox and had planned on eating at a restaurant in Kirkwood that didn't take reservations (Billy G's).  But when we arrived in Kirkwood, we knew something was up.  It was the annual Wine Walk.  There were hundreds of people walking from restaurant to restaurant and store to store to sample a wide variety of wines.  The parking lots were packed and at 5 pm the restaurants had an hour wait.  

So, we left and tried to think of some place that would be nice but would still let us in.  We tried a couple other places farther down Kirkwood Rd, but they, too, were completely booked.  

So, we went down Hwy 44 and went to the closest "Hill" restaurant...Bartelino's Osteria.  I don't know why we don't eat here more often.  I think because it is now attached to a hotel we don't think of it as very "nice."  We are wrong.  The food is good and the people are good at their jobs.  

They were packed but when we told them we didn't have a reservation...they quickly shuffled things around and made room for us.  When we told the waitress we had time for dinner, but we were going to the Fox, she was super attentive.

Their wine list is pretty standard, but it has some nice selections.  We ordered a bottle of Requiem Cabernet.  

I ordered spaghetti with salsiccia (Italian sausage).  I actually really liked their sauce.  It was slightly sweet and it had good flavor.  The sausages were a little over cooked but eating them with the pasta and the red sauce made that not very noticeable.

Mike got veal parm.  He also ordered a side salad.  The salad was pretty big.  He was afraid if he finished the whole thing he wouldn't want any of his veal.  I ate a few bites.  It was good...a little over-dressed.  Mike said his veal was really very good.  

Again, I don't know why we've never given this place a chance.  It isn't a quite, intimate place because it is big and busy with all the hotel people, but the food is way better than a lot of quite places.  The service is great.  We will come back again, when we have more time...and maybe more people. 

Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville 11-4-22

 Laurie and Beth still (since the pandemic) like to eat outside.  Beth has always liked to eat outside, even before the pandemic.  So, she often picks places that have patios.  

Last Friday night we met at Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville.  The temperature was nice but the wind was super gusty.  As long as we held things like menus down, we were OK.

We started with chips and salsa and margaritas.  Mike got an original on the rocks and Laurie, Beth and I split a pitcher of blood orange margaritas.  They were good, but they didn't taste like blood orange at all.  They tasted like pink lemonade.  Oh, well...

Laurie and I both ordered the Voodoo shrimp bowl (shrimp. veggies, beans, rice, spicy sauce).   We each tweaked it a bit.  I didn't want the sautéed veggies (as I don't like bell peppers) and Laurie didn't want the beans.  So, the waitress (who was GREAT) said she'd give me Laurie's beans and give Laurie my veggies.  I really liked it.  It was quite spicy.  The shrimp were good.  

Beth had the fajita bowl.  It was very like Laurie's and mine, but it didn't have anything that would be considered "spicy."  She said it was good...and not spicy. 

Mike had a couple tacos with some rice on the side.  He said said they were fine...nothing surprising. 

The most excitement happened after the meal.  We were sitting around talking and throughout the evening the wind had continued to strengthen.  When they had arrived, Laurie and Beth had the umbrella to our table unfurled.  One of these new wind gusts happened to catch our umbrella, lift it up about 10 feet in the air and bring it back down nearly impaling Laurie and Beth.  Mike jumped up to push it out of the way and Beth deflected it with her arm (which I'm sure was sore the next day) but we were all fine.  There were many apologies from our server (who couldn't have been nicer), but that was our cue that it was time to go home.  

Salty's was good, not great.  Just don't sit under the umbrellas when there are huge wind gusts!

The Corner Pub and Grill-O'Fallon 11-3-22

 We have been living without an oven since May (it is now November!).  It was supposed to get fixed today and it turned into a big fiasco and Mike ended up yelling at MANY people.  Needless to say we needed to go out for dinner (I had planned something that used the oven...ugh!!).  

This is very close to our house (under 10 minutes).  

Mike and I arrived at about 5:55.  They have Happy Hour until 6, so I ordered the OG Classic.  It is made with strawberry vodka, triple sec, lemonade and lime.  It was very good.

There were two specials on Thursday night: fried chicken dinner and fish tacos.  We decided to try them both.

I had the fish tacos.  They come with guacamole and street corn salsa in the bottom of the soft corn tortillas.  This was too much goo.  It all fell out when you tried to eat it.  It wasn't bad, but none of that added much to the taste.  The fish was fine and the avocado drizzle that goes on top had a nice spice to it.  It would have been better if they had filled the bottom with a little cabbage slaw and not so much goo.  

Mike had the fried chicken dinner.  It came with a leg, a wing, a thigh, and a breast (that's a lot), slaw, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  The slaw was standard.  The chicken was fried well; it was still moist inside.  The problem was that the coating on the outside had no seasoning.  It was very bland.  It really needed some salt!  Mike said the mashed potatoes seemed like they were trying to copy KFC and didn't do a very good job.  

This was our first time here.  There were a lot of choices on the menu.  I think we will come back and try different things.   

Firefly Grill-2nd try 10-29-22

 After a crazy time the first time we were here (which was soon after they opened) we decided to give Firefly Grill in Chesterfield another try.

It was a cool night and there were a couple of tables outside that had people, but we decided to sit inside.  One thing that has changed...I am pretty sure when it first opened this restaurant had subscribed to a reservation service (like Open Table) because I know we originally had reservations.  They no longer take reservations for groups under 6.  That's a bummer.

We got a small (wobbly) table near a window.  The service was good.  We each had a cocktail.  My lemon drop martini was a little bitter.  I don't know if they rubbed the rim with lemon rind and that lemon oil flavor is kind of bitter or what.  

I chose the exact same dish I had the last time: fisherman's stew.  It was good, again.  It is all tomatoes, broth, spice with lots of fish.  All things I like.  

Last time, Mike ordered a sandwich and it was a fiasco (waited over 30 minutes for it and then took it home and it was terrible).  This time he ordered the pappardelle Bolognese.  It was big wide noodles in a beef, veal, pork sauce.  He really liked it.  

For dessert we split a piece of chocolate cake that was good but probably made elsewhere.  

The clientele was a lot of people like us: middle aged couples going out for a nice quiet dinner.  Think jeans and a nice shirt.  The food is good, not terribly expensive and there is a decent variety on the menu.  It is a new restaurant that seems to be making it. 

Westchester Restaurant and Bar in Chesterfield 10-15-22

 This is a fairly new restaurant.  It opened in 2022.  It is a small one room restaurant/bar.  It is nicely decorated and feels nicer than just a regular bar, but it is still small.  

We arrived at 5 (when they opened) because we had tickets to the Fox and wanted to have plenty of time for dinner.  When we arrived there were two TVs over the bar that were on to football games.  I think that immediately makes a place drop down to not "fine dining."  But I do have to say, they turned them both off at 5:30.  I don't really know why they have them anyway.

This place is very into farm-to-table.  They know where their beef, lettuce, etc. comes from.  I know that is important to some people, but sometimes I find it over done.  In this case, because they want to know where everything comes from, I think it limits their menu.  The menu seemed small.  I couldn't decide between 2 "small plates" (that were NOT small in price) or a seafood pasta.  I didn't really want pasta, but I didn't want to spend $46 on my entrees.  But that's what I ended up doing.  I got scallops that had supremed oranges around the plate and a small mixed green salad with the orange juice turned into a vinaigrette salad dressing in the middle of the plate.  The scallops were WONDERFUL.  The salad was too wet and the dressing didn't have any taste.   

My second course was mussels in a shallot/tomato broth.  Again they were all over telling me where the scallops and tomatoes were from.  The mussels were good, the broth was OK.  I actually wished the tomatoes were a little smaller or cut in 1/2.  Mussels are just so weird because they look like a lot but really are only a few bites of food.  The grilled toast that come on top was buttered and salted in some way and was too salty for my taste. 

I would totally get the scallops again, but I would ask for them as an entree with some sort of starch (probably potatoes of some sort, as I didn't see any rice or risotto on the menu) and a vegt.  

We ordered a bottle of wine.  Mike and I have finally determined that we need to get wine in the 4.0 rating on our Vivino wine app.  When we spend more for wines that are 4.3+, we don't necessarily like it any more.  This one was a 4.3.  It was good, but not $25 better.

Mike started the evening with soup...which is very odd for him.  He is NOT a soup person.  The soup of the day was a creamy chicken soup with shredded chicken and chopped spinach.  He really liked it.  It had a lot of herbs in it.  

For dinner he ordered a filet, mashed potatoes and broccoli.  The prices for steaks were not on the menu.  It just said "Market Price."  I don't like that.  No one wants to sound like a cheap skate and ask the price.  It was in the $65 range.  He said is steak was VERY good and the person really knew how to cook it and had the salamander type grill to cook it properly.  But that was still pretty darned expensive.  

  

As you can see, there is very little brown parts to Mike's steak.  It was charred on the top and the rest was pink and red.  This is a true medium rare steak.  He wished only for a little more au jus to use like gravy on his potatoes.

We would come back to this place, but we are more educated, now.  We know how much things are and we know that we can put things together on the menu with other things.  I hope the chef continues to add to the menu and it doesn't stay the same all the time.  Next time, we would give ample time to eventually try dessert (we ran out of time for that).  

 

Union Loafers in Tower Grove area of St. Louis 10-8-2022

 I was out with Laurie, Beth, and Vickie.  It was well after lunch time and we were looking for a place to eat.  Laurie and Beth like to pick up loaves of bread at Union Loafers, so we decided to eat lunch there.  The problem is...by 2 p.m. they are out of many of their lunch items and almost all of their loaves of bread that are for sale.

Laurie and I got a salami and cheese sandwiches.  They were on a focaccia bread that was good.  The problem was that there just wasn't enough salami and cheese.  It also had some banana peppers.  That helped, but it could have used some lettuce, onion, mayo, more salami, etc.  

I also ordered a "orange vanilla" soda drink.  It was listed as one of their specialty drinks.  I didn't like it.  It was like a bit of orange juice with seltzer water.  I didn't taste the vanilla and the seltzer taste was kind of overwhelming.  

Beth got a chicken and bacon sandwich and Vickie got a chicken salad sandwich.  Their sandwiches had more "stuff" on them and looked better than Laurie's and mine.  Beth also ordered one of their homemade pretzels.  It was very good.  It comes with whipped butter and whole grain mustard.  I don't like mustard, so I tried it with the butter.  It was a nice pretzel.  It was very crunchy on the outside and the flaked salt was nice.  

They must have a thing with salt because Beth also ordered a couple choc. chip cookies.  She said the surprising thing they do is finish them with salt on the top.  The one we got just didn't have much salt on it, so you couldn't really taste that contrast.  Beth was disappointed.  It was a good cookie, though.  The choc. chips were super melty and the cookie was soft.  

I wasn't super impressed with this place.  I know I won't ever drive 45 minutes for a loaf of bread, so it is not like I'll be here very often.  It was nice to try once and because I was with my friends, it is always a good time. 

Dog Prairie Tavern in St. Paul, MO 10-7-2022

 I had read online that there was some good bar food at some of the small town taverns around O'Fallon in places like Old Monroe, St. Paul, etc.  Last Friday we didn't want to spend a lot of time going somewhere and waiting for a place to sit, so we drove north of O'Fallon on Hoff Road straight up to St. Paul and went to Dog Prairie Tavern.

It is a very typical small town dive bar.  When we arrived at about 6 p.m. there were probably a dozen guys (mostly between 55-75) drinking bottled beer and talking baseball.  The Cardinal game had just ended and we had blown a lead and everyone was angry.

We didn't even know where to sit or what to do.  We kind of walked in and stood in the middle of the room.  A kindly waitress came over and had menus.  We went to a long row of metal tables and sat at the end.  The menu showed a variety of typical bar food.  I ordered a fish sandwich and onion rings.  Mike ordered a burger and tater tots (loaded).  It was just after 6 p.m. so happy hour was over, but Mike ordered a draft beer any way.  It came in a smallish plastic cup.  He ended up having a few beers (I stuck with Sprite).  Even though we left at 7 p.m., they gave him his beers at "happy hour" cost the whole time ($3 a beer...which is cheap).

The food is served on paper plates.  The food was good but not great.  I liked the onion rings, but the fish was just "typical,"  there was nothing special about it.  

Mike said his burger was fine, but again...nothing special.  He had them load his tots with beer cheese, jalepenos, sour cream, etc.  He said the cheese must have run off right away, because it was difficult to find. 

The people were nice, the place didn't smell (like some dive bars do).  There was a large outdoor seating area (which I think is a BIG draw on nice days).  They also have sand volleyball in the back and I think they have tournaments.  

The food was just fine.  Now I know.  

Circle 7 Ranch-Ballwin-9/30/22

 This was a place we had driven by many times but never gone in.  It is in the same plaza as Mia Sorella Italian Restaurant. They are both on Clayton Road just west of 141.  

So, the unique thing about Circle 7 is that they actually have beer taps at about a dozen of the tables/booths and you can pour your own beer and they charge you by the ounce.  That was not a big draw for Mike.  We were just looking to try someplace new that had some typical bar food.

We used the "wait in line" feature on the Yelp app.  It actually monitor's with GPS where you are. You can't even sign up on their waiting list until you are within 10 miles of the restaurant.  When we arrived, we still had a 5ish minute wait.  

There are a lot of BIG tables in the place.  They would seat 6-8 easily and most of them have 2 people at them and no one seems to be using the beer taps at the table.  Some people have beer, some people have cocktails, some people are just drinking water.  Pretty typical.  The huge tables that are mostly unfilled is a huge waste of space.

We were seated more near the back of the restaurant.  The tables back there were still mostly for 6-8 people, but they did seat us at a table for 4.  

It was happy hour, so we each started with the special drink of the day...a Long Island Iced Tea.  Mike didn't like it at all.  He said it tasted too much like lemonade.  It was different, but I didn't think it was bad.  Mike switched to beer.  We ordered some prezels and cheese off the happy hour "snacks" list.  They were warm, they had been brushed with butter (which made them a little greasy).  The cheese was warm and it was good...it was a nicer cheese than the one out of the big nacho cheese can from SAMS CLUB.

For dinner I ordered a shrimp po boy sandwich and fries.  I was going to get a side of fruit but the fruit was just grapes (boring). So, Mike asked if the fries were good, the waitress recommended them.  I don't know why...they were nothing special.  No especially good taste.  The sandwich was popcorn shrimp (that was over done and dry) on a bun with lettuce and a remoulade sauce that was supposed to be spicy by wasn't.  It was a disappointing sandwich.  

Mike ordered the fish and french fries.  He agreed with me that the french fries were lackluster.  But he said the fish was good.  It was cod and it was in big pieces, so it was not dry or over cooked.  He said the cole slaw was yucky and that the tarter sauce they made homemade was overly salty and it made the fish too salty.  

They do have all kinds of other things on the menu...like a whole bunch of burgers.  I would be willing to try the fish.  

I'm not going to write of this place, yet.  We may return...but I doubt we ever do the tap beer at our table.  That is a weird concept. 

 

Mickey's Drive In-Dardenne Prairie-9-29-22

 So, I had seen the signs and read online that a place had opened up over by the movie theater that was supposed to have Chicago food.  I read online that someone said their roast beef s's.andwiches were like Portillo's.  We have been big fans of Portillo's ever since Jacob moved to Chicago.

Jacob was in town for a day and a half, so we decided to try them for supper.

First let me tell you that we'd been in this space before when it was His and Hers BBQ.  It looks VERY different now.  The space has weird furniture.  It is like they are trying to make a living room.  There is a music listening area.  There is a sitting in couches area.  There are about 5 or 6 tables that have chairs and benches.  Part of it has the feeling of a lounge where you would drink bourbon and smoke cigars.  It doesn't feel like a place you would eat Chicago beef sandwiches or hot dogs and maybe have a beer.  

They said the menu wasn't fully operational, so we had to order from a limited menu.  Mike ordered a Chicago beef sandwich.  I ordered a Italian sausage sandwich and Jake ordered a meatball sub.  They have SKI brand pop.  The pop comes with the sandwich.  They write your order on a brown paper bag and then take it back to the kitchen.  Jake says they do this at Portillos.  I don't see the point.  They don't use the bag...they take it to the kitchen and then throw it away!!  Weird.

When we arrived the owner/chef was sitting in the front room.  He went back, cooked our sandwiches and then came out and chatted with the woman at the front counter.  After we had eaten most of our meals he started talking to us.  He wants to add a full liquor license and have a back 1/4 of the room have a few tables and have a "speakeasy" feel.  He said he lived in Chicago but is here now because he got a divorce and his ex-wife and kids are here, so he is here.  He plans to add deep dish pizza to the menu.  

This place has a serious identity crisis.  The owner doesn't really know what he wants it to be...bourbon bar, speakeasy, sandwich restaurant??

The food was OK.  My Italian sausage was good but the peppers that were grilled with it were flavorless.  I had giardiniera added and that was good and spicy.  The bun it was on was a little hard but got way too soggy way to fast.

Mike said his beef sandwich was fine but he thinks the beef came from pre sliced, frozen slices and they just grilled them up...like the old "steak-ums."  He wasn't impressed.  

Jake actually said his meatball sub was good enough he'd go back.  He said the meatballs were huge and had good flavor.  

This place was just too weird and I predict it closes in a few months.  

The Crossing in Clayton 9-24-22

 We had tickets to the first show of the year at the Fox, "Ain't Too Proud."  So, we were dressed nicely and we usually try to go to a nicer restaurant.  I've always heard that The Crossing in Clayton is one of the top 10 restaurants in STL, but I've also been afraid they wouldn't have anything Mike would like on their menu.  So, I checked again.  They had steak...we were good...I made a reservation.

We arrived a little before 5 and parked across the street.  They actually don't open until 5.  We knew it was early but we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time before we had to leave for the Fox.

We were the first diners in the restaurant, but I was surprised, by about 5:15 there were several other tables seated.  

Josh, our server, was great.  All the servers here are well trained in wine.  I had looked at the wine list before we arrived (You know how I love a restaurant that has their menu and wine list online, so I can do my research ahead of time!).  I knew we were pushing it a little at this restaurant.  We were close to out of our element.  I looked at the wine list and it began in the $50-60 range.  That is our price range.  There were 2 wines in that range...then it went up from there...for 2 more pages!!  Up into the thousands of dollars range!!

We ordered cocktails and opened a bottle of Trinitas Cabernet (in our price range). 

Anyway...Josh explained that you can just order a regular appetizer/entre/dessert type meal OR you can do a chef's tasting meal where you have several smaller plates.  The tasting meal was $65.  The other way was about the same depending on what you ordered.  Mike just wanted a basic steak dinner and a dessert.  I ordered from the tasting menu.  I ordered: tuna tartar, grilled octopus, pan seared corvina (white fish) over sweet potatoes and other veg, flourless choc. torte  

This is the tuna tartar.  This is not a good photo.  The tartar was VERY cold.  The oil on the plate was citrus oil and the sprinkles on the plate were parsley and really small celery (so crunchy) and lemon zest.  The tuna had been smoked.  The white cream was some kind of an aioli.  It was creamy kind of like a whipped mayo.  The caviar was smoked trout caviar.  It was very good at adding a salty burst to the bite.  I am not a big "smoked" person and I found the smoked taste a little strong but I loved the caviar's salty burst at the end of each bite.  This was good but not great.  

My second dish was grilled octopus.  THIS was a great dish!!  There was a tonnato (yes tonnato, not tomato, I had to look it up)  (made with anchovies, capers, lemon and tuna) on the bottom.  It was tangy.  The octopus was charred perfectly and super tender.  There were sweet little peas for sweetness and then there were sliced pickled peppers to add twang.  It was a great bite!

For my entre I had Pacific Corvina.  It was pan seared and on a bed of sweet potatoes and okra.  The "caperberry" lemon butter was good.  The dish was good and I ate it all, but there was nothing WOW about it. 

Mike got a steak.  I know it is hard to see but under the steak is mashed potatoes and haricot verts (little French green beans).  He told Josh that he really enjoyed the potatoes with the "gravy."  Josh said it was a special green peppercorn sauce.  So, sauce/gravy...who cares, as long as it is yummy.

For dessert I had the flourless chocolate torte.  It was warm.  There was a raspberry colis and vanilla bean gelato.  It was as good as it sounds.  Mike got a warm apple crisp with vanilla gelato.  

Totally would go here again.  There is a scallops entre I would love to try and I would eat that octopus over and over again.  

Mike enjoyed his steak and said he would go back.  It is not cheap, but the food is worth the price. 

 

Viviano's Festa Italiano in Fenton 9-23-2022

Viviano's is the big Italian grocery store in the heart of the Hill on Shaw.  They also have smaller grocery stores in Chesterfield and Fenton.  I knew the one in Chesterfield had a few tables and you could get lunch or a scoop of the daily pasta or soup, but I didn't know that Fenton had actually converted over half of their store to a sit down restaurant with tables, waitresses, a bar and gone to the trouble to get a liquor license.

So, on a Friday night we decided to take a drive to Fenton.  This is no little drive (43 minutes).  We went early because Mike had read they had a "happy hour."  We arrived around 5:20.  We were seated at a booth on the edge of the "dining" section.  The Italian grocery store is to the back.  When we had walked in we were near the tiny "bar" area.  There were 4 seats at the small bar and two of them were occupied. 

When we asked our teenaged waitress about the "happy hour" specials, she said to get those you had to be in the "bar area."  This is not the first restaurant we've been to that has this requirement and I think it is ridiculous!!  

They did have a couple drink specials for the night and one of them was the Paloma.  It was made with lime juice, grapefruit juice and tequila.  I said I'd try it.  Mike got his standard gin and tonic.  The Paloma was kind of like a grapefruit margarita.  It was OK.  

We were given homemade focaccia bread with olive oil.  It was warm and seasoned well.  

 Mike started with a dinner salad.  It was a little wet but it had all the Italian things in it...hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, salami, etc.  

Then Mike had spaghetti bolognese.  It was good.  He said there was nothing wrong with it.  It was made with an Italian sausage sauce.  It was good but not good enough to travel to a grocery store in Fenton.  

For dinner I was going to be safe and just order the spaghetti and meatballs but then I decided to try something new, so I ordered the pasta fra diavolo with shrimp.  It is penne pasta made with spicy marinara with olives and green onions.  The shrimp were just grilled and placed on top, so they hadn't been incorporated into the sauce at all.  They were good, but they were just grilled shrimp.  The sauce was just like big chunks of tomato and chunks of olives.  What little "sauce" there was had soaked into the pasta and what was left was big pieces of tomato.  I am more of a sauce girl.  I need something to dunk my bread in.  It had an OK flavor but it was nothing I needed to eat again.

So, there was not anything really wrong with Viviano's.  It was fine.  But it just wasn't good enough that we will return.  

The Firefly Grill 8-19-2022

 I had read on Channel 5 about the opening of this new restaurant in Chesterfield.  The menu looked interesting and we decided to give it a try on a Friday night.  

We arrived fairly early (just before 5:30).  We asked to sit outside.  It was a nice space surrounded by bushes and shrubs.  There was still a lot of noise from Long road, but it wasn't super visible.  The evening was warm but there was a small breeze, so we weren't hot.  We did have some trouble with flies and little sweat bees.  At times we considered moving inside.  

You could tell they were a very new restaurant.  We asked if there were any Happy Hour specials.  The hostess didn't know.  She asked the owner (who was behind the bar) on our way outside.  The owner rattled them off.  It would have been WAY more helpful if they had been printed on a Happy Hour menu/flyer.  

When our server arrived it was Kason Brown.  He is a former student and works now at West High as a permanent sub, just like Anna did for the last couple of years.  He's super sweet and was a good server.

I ordered a Happy Hour margarita and Mike ordered a beer and we ordered some "Cajun" spinach artichoke dip.  

The dip was good, but we agreed that the added spices to make it "Cajun" were unnecessary.  The margarita was fine.  The black salt on the rim was just for show...it tasted normal.

I ordered a glass of the house cabernet and we ordered dinner.  I ordered a "fisherman's stew" which really looked like cioppino.  Mike ordered a house salad and a hot Italian sandwich (with no tomatoes or onions).  

I do need to mention here that we decided that their outdoor chairs are not very comfortable.  They looked nice and were aluminum and shouldn't rust or need painted, but they just aren't great for sitting in for longer than about 45 minutes.

My soup/stew came.  It was actually very good.  It was tomatoey and garlicy, and had a little kick.  The fish were shrimp, mussels, bay scallops, and a large piece of a white fish that I think might have been cod.  I liked it a lot.

They brought Mike's sandwich.  When Kason came to check on us, he asked how things were and he looked at Mike's sandwich (Mike was eating his salad).  Kason noticed the sandwich had tomatoes and onions on it.  He took it back to get a new one.  

About 20 minutes later we still didn't have a sandwich.  He apologized and said it was being made and they were taking it off the bill.  

About 10 minutes after that, Mike asked for it to be packed up to go.  So, I can't tell you how it tasted, as Mike hasn't eaten it yet.  

So, aside from a few "new restaurant" pains, this place was nice and pretty good.