The Gin Room 10-18-2025

 I would give this place a 4.5/5 just because the food menu is so sparse.

Mike is a gin lover.  He likes old style gin...the kind that tastes and smells like a Christmas tree.  It is actually the smell of juniper berries off those trees that is used in the making of gin.

I like gin...it is OK.  I like drinks that have gin in them but would rather not taste the gin.

I had read this article about Natasha Bahrami and The Gin Room and knew it was a place Mike and I needed to see.  She is a fountain of knowledge on all things gin.  

So, when I made our reservations I made sure to make them "at the bar."  We were lucky enough to have her be there when we were there and she did the explaining on Mike's "gin flight."  

They had a variety of 5 gins laid out before we began, but as she found out more about Mike and the fact that he doesn't like "botanicals" in his gin, and the fact that he can't drink grapefruit juice...even in gin because he is a transplant recipient...she kept changing her choices.  The variety of their gins is massive.  

She explained all the different varieties.  Mike discovered that he liked the "London Dry" variety but we LOVED the story behind the "Old Tom" variety.  Apparently during prohibition people in the gin making world (Scotland, mostly) would put out a sign with a black can on it.  There was a pipe that came out of the building somewhere...an unassuming lead pipe that could look like an old drain pipe.  If you walked up to it and said something like "puss" or "mew mew" there was a response back like "mew mew" and then a shot of gin would come out.  That tom cat is how they developed the "Old Tom" variety!  She also talked about "bathtub" gin like Miss Hannigan had in the musical "Annie."  Those were so toxic and made with such bad ingredients that they flavored them with annis (licorice) and other flavors and that is when flavored gin began.  

While Mike was tasting all these different gins, I was having some amazing gin drinks.  The first one was called the Icelandic Pear.  It had moroccan mint tea, brandy poached pear, cardamom, lemon and gin in it.  It was super yummy.  

Then I tried a classic gin gimlet made with fresh lime juice.  It was nice and sour and great.  

So, we looked and looked at the menu.  There was no beef dishes.  There was one pork chop dish, one fish dish, and a morrocan meatball appetizer but nothing that really sounded like something Mike would like.  So, we ordered the meat and cheese platter.  It was good...2 different meats, 3 cheeses, some crostini bread, jam, very vinegary whole grain mustard and some green tomatoes.  

Natasha made Mike a lovely "gin tonic" as she called it...not a gin and tonic.  And I finished with something called a "Cinnamon."  It had cardamom tea cordial, lemon, atomiced spiced rum, smoked cinnamon, gin and St. George spiced pear liquor.  It was like a dessert and just the right finish.  

If you are looking for a fun place to go and try a drink or two or three.  I would totally recommend Natasha and her big brain!  Sit at the bar and try some great drinks.  

Napoli Kirkwood 10-16-25

 I would give this place a 4/5

We had to run to Kirkwood to look at cabinet colors.  So, instead of sitting in rush hour traffic on the way home, we decided to have an early dinner in Kirkwood.

We knew Napoli had their newest restaurant here, but we've never been here.  It is in the bottom of The James apartment building.  The parking is confusing.  The Alpine Store has a big lot north of the restaurant but you aren't supposed to park there (even though that is where Google maps takes you) you are supposed to park in a lot south of the building.  We parked in the wrong place.

The menu is essentially the same as Napoli Cafe in Clayton and Napoli II in Town and Country.  

I started with their ever so yummy cosmo.  I don't know how they make their cosmos but they are the best anywhere.  I think it has to do with real lime juice and a lot of it.  Mike had a beer.

We weren't in the mood for full on entrees, so I got the eggplant appetizer and Mike got a pizza.  I wasn't going to take photos, but I decided to...after we'd already started eating.  

The sauce is the same as it is at the other places, but the eggplant was breaded heavier and fried more.  It was more greasy and gave me more indigestion than the other places.  It still tasted good, but the breading wanted to fall off it as you ate it and it was harder to tasted the eggplant and not just breading.  

Mike liked his pizza. The waitress talked about how they have these amazing European pizza ovens and Napoli has one in Kirkwood and one in Chesterfield valley.  We've been to the Napoli in the valley and they like the pizza with the "char" on it.  I know some people like that added flavor of charred crust and cheese.  Mike doesn't...he thinks it tastes burnt.  So, the fact that this place DIDN'T take the pizza to that dark level made him happy.  

The inside of this new restaurant was sleek and modern.  The floor is a polished cement with wild paint splatters on it.  The light fixtures are wire and gold.  It was sleek but not my favorite feeling for an old style Italian.  I would say it is not as nice as the Clayton restaurant but on the same level as the Town and Country one.  It is nicer than Chesterfield, which is open kitchened and louder.  

This was a nice place, but if we want Napoli food, we will probably go to Clayton or Town and Country first.  

Cafe Provencal in Kirkwood 10-11-25

 This place is always a solid 4/5 for French food. 

There are only a few French restaurants that we go to in the STL area (La Floraison, La Bonne Bouche, and Cafe Provencal).  

Cafe Provencal is very busy at 5 pm on nights that Stages St. Louis has a show nearby.  There was a line waiting out front waiting for the restaurant to open.

We told our waiter that we were going to the Fox and had a little more time than some of the other nearby patrons. 

We had a little weirdness with the cocktails.  Like I said, there were A LOT of people who all arrived at the same time.  We were sitting outside, but so were about 10 other tables.  Our waiter came with a bunch of drinks on a tray.  He gave Mike his gin and tonic, but gave my vodka collins to a guy at the next table, who took a drink and then said "this isn't right."  Our waiter took it away.  I knew that that had been my drink.  He came back out in just a few minutes with my drink in a different style glass.  Mike said he wondered if he just took the guy's straw, tossed it and poured the drink in another glass.  That was kind of a gross thought.  I drank it anyway.  

I started with the escargot.  I have only had them one other time in my life and I wanted to try them again.  They are good, but really you could put almost anything in that garlic, parsley butter and bake it and it would be good.  It is also kind of crazy to pay something like $16 for 6 bites of snail.  Now that I've had them, I won't need to have them again for a long time. 

Mike started with their classic French onion soup.  It is always good.  

Mike wasn't in the mood for wine, so I ordered a glass of Crocus Malbec.  They had 6 red wines by the glass and I used my Vivino app and went through every one of them.  5 of them kept saying "This would not be a good choice for you."  Thank goodness this one said it was a good match.  It was fine.  

For dinner Mike ordered the steak frites.  It was a steak with some roasted veg and fried shoestring potatoes.  The potatoes were too fried and there were too many of them.  But the steak and veg were really cooked properly.  Mike said it was good overall. 

I ordered 2 appetizers for my entree.  I got the French onion soup and crab cakes.  I should have only ordered the soup.  I ate the soup and then I ate the salad that came with the crab cakes and I ended up taking the crab cakes home.  

You can't go to a French restaurant and not do dessert.  Mike and I shared a profiterole with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.  It had a variety of berries on the side.  It was more than enough for the two of us and it was lovely.  

We enjoy this restaurant and its French faire.  

Peno-Southern Italian Soul Food in Clayton 10-4-25

 I would give this place a 4/5

This little area at the corner South Hanley and Wydown is the home to several very good restaurants (Akar, Wright's Tavern, Bistro La Floraison).   The problem is...there is NO parking for any of them.  Just around the corner on Westwood Drive is Peno.  It is in a little strip mall and doesn't look like much, but it is a nice, well-managed place.

Peppe is the owner/chef and he's hands on.  We saw him several times talking to regulars at other tables.  People come in and don't look at the menu, they just talk to Peppe.  

It was a lovely evening and we chose to sit outside.  There were probably a dozen tables outside under an awning.  Since we were on an off street the outside noise was low.  It was nice.  

We sat by a couple who had been coming here for 8 years.  They love Peppe and his food. 

The patrons seem to be a mix of local people from the Clayton area and others from farther away, like us. 

We started with cocktails.  Mike got his typical gin and tonic.  I tried the pepperoncini-martini from the menu.  I had had one at Napoli Sea a year and a half ago and it was really zingy.  This one wasn't near as good.  It didn't have the twang of the pepperoncini and there seemed to be something that was oily floating on the top layer of the drink.  I wouldn't recommend it. 

We ordered some toasted smoked mozz bites.  What came were some fried cheese squares.  There was a slight smokey taste to them.  They were fine but nothing awesome. 

We always struggle when a restaurant only has "Old World" wines, since we prefer California cabernets.  We did an ok job with this Nobile de Montepulciano.  It was good and went well with our food.  

I heard Peppe telling someone at another table that their octopus and eggplant were 2 of their specials.  I would like either, so I went with the eggplant.  It had been shaved thin on a mandolin and then almost layered like lasagna.  It was good and it had plenty of sauce.  It had a side of pasta with mushrooms on the side. 

Mike got pasta with sausage and meatball.  He said he liked the homemade sausage, it was good.  But he said we've had better meatballs at other places.  I really like the meatballs on Mamma's on the Hill.  

The food was good but not great.  I said that if I wanted eggplant, I would go to Napoli every time.  If we want meatballs, we'll got to Mamma's on the Hill.  

It was a lovely evening and nice sitting outside, but the food was not outstanding enough to make us return.