Narwhal's Crafted in Streets of St. Charles 7-14-2021

I was surprised at this place.  I made a reservation for 4 (which was odd, because it is a bar with frozen drinks...who would have thought you could make a reservation...but I read online that you could, so I did).  When we arrived it was rather cold inside, so we sat outside on the east side (out of the sun...which would have been super hot).  The seating hostess was super nice and gave us the exact table we asked for.  

They don't have menus.  They have QR codes.  This is all fine and dandy if they had some kind of internet booster, but right there at that spot, all of us had 1 bar of internet and could not get the QR codes to work.  It was a super pain in the butt!!  Finally we were able to see the kinds of drinks on Anna's phone.  Nowhere on the menu does it talk about "flights" of drinks, but I had seen them online and the seating hostess said we may want to start with those. 

We couldn't get the online ordering to work (bad internet), so we ended up going in to order.  We started with two flights.  We ordered:

Watermelon Frose, Thai Collins, Peach Bellini

All 3 were good.  The frose was a little too much rose wine taste.  The Thai Collins was my favorite of the whole night.  I found it not too sweet and slightly tart.

Hibiscus Gin and Tonic, Cucumber Mojito, Banana Dave

The hibiscus one was interesting, I don't love cucumber...but Carmen really liked this one.  The banana Dave one had rum in it and it tasted like a banana milkshake...totally a dessert taste.

Then we ordered (but I don't have photos) Key Lime Pie (good but super sweet), Strawberry basil lemonade (good, probably my #2 for the night) and a chocolate mudslide (like the banana Dave, super sweet.  Chocolate ice cream type drink).  

This was a fun place.  I expected it to be a bar of young people.  I was surprised to see a WIDE variety of ages.  There were 20s to 60s.  There were lots of people walking by as it is right by one of the big parking lots.  

I would definitely go back here and take friends.  It is a yummy and fun thing to do on a hot day.   

BARcelona Tapas Restaurant in Clayton 7-13-2021

My sister, Carmen, was visiting and we decided to try tapas for dinner.  So, Anna, Carmen, and I headed to Clayton to try BARcelona Tapas.

Anna was trying to be good, so she started with a house salad.  It was big and full of veggies.  The vinaigrette dressing was good.  

I was NOT trying to be good, so Carmen and I started with a cocktail.  Carmen tried the rose sangria.  It was flavorful and had chunks of apple in it that really added to the "nose" (aroma).  She liked it.  I had a "Paloma Margarita" which the menu says is a margarita made with grapefruit juice.  It was good, but it tasted like a normal margarita...I couldn't really taste any grapefruit.  I was kind of disappointed the drinks came out in plastic cups.  The decor of this place was definitely not high end (it had a Spanish feel with colorful tiles on the tables, etc, but the plastic cups made it feel more like a college bar.  (Maybe that is why BAR is capitalized in there name...who knows??). 

We ordered a whole array of tapas and didn't actually order any entree or paella.  The paellas on the menu sounded good, but by the time we were finished with our tapas, we were full.  Here are some of the things we ate:

This was a selection of 3 Spanish sausages in a sauce that looks like mustard but wasn't.  They were all split and grilled.  Some were better than others.  

These were bacon wrapped dates filled with goat cheese.  I love dates, and I love goat cheese.  The bacon kind of overpowered the flavor of both of those.  They were covered in a balsamic reduction.  If you love bacon...these would be good.  I just wish the bacon flavor had been less. 

This was a mushroom dish.  They were sautéed garlic and maybe a touch of wine.  There really wasn't much to them.  They kind of tasted like canned mushrooms that had been heated up and sautéed in some garlic.  

These were roasted brussel sprouts.  They were roasted enough, but they weren't really roasted well.  They were kind of greasy.  They also didn't have much flavor.  They need salt and maybe a little acid (balsamic??).  I've had roasted brussel sprouts that were much better than these.

These were crispy artichokes.  They had been breaded and fried.  They had some melted manchego cheese on them.   There was also a couple of dipping sauces.  These were done really well.  They were hot, crispy and not greasy.  Dipped in the marinara they were wonderful!

This was probably our favorite...it was called Queso de Cabra.  It was goat cheese (that tasted a lot like ricotta) in a tomato sauce with garlic bread.  Carmen and I enjoyed this a lot.  Anna doesn't like ricotta cheese, so this was not her cup of tea.  

Overall the meal was good.   The service was good and the place was nice.  I'd come back and try some different things next time.  

Kemoll's Chop House 7-10-2021

 A looooong time ago we used to like Kemoll's downtown.  It had the BEST location.  It had a restaurant on the ground floor and another section of it on the top floor.  The views of St. Louis and the Arch were wonderful.  The food was good.  The views remained, but the food waned over the years.

To try and fix their dwindling reputation, the Cusamano family decided to move and change the style of the restaurant.  Kemoll's Chop House in Westport Plaza is a combination steak house and Italian restaurant.  It is expensive for both styles of food.  There is not an entree on the menu that is under $45.  That is steep!  

Mike and I started with a cocktail and the meatball appetizer.  It was OK.  It was in their house meat sauce.  This tends to be a heavy, somewhat sweet meat sauce.  I had one meatball, Mike had a couple.  I think there were only 4 or 5 in the app.  We took the rest home  It was kind of heavy for an appetizer.

The wine list wasn't available online, so I had to do my research there.  Our waiter didn't see very knowledgeable about the wines, but we didn't do a lot of asking.  It seemed that one of the girls from the bar was in charge of all wine from the large wine cabinet in the dining room.  I don't know if she was a sommelier or not (our fault that we didn't even give her a chance).  We ordered a wine called Requiem.  It was a California cabernet.  It was good but not incredible.  

For dinner I chose the special of the evening, a sea bass on a bed on capellini pasta with a lemon butter caper sauce.  It was good but very rich.  The fish is buttery all by itself, but then to add butter, wine, capers and asparagus,  it was all too much.  The portion was quite large.  I ended up taking A LOT of it home.  It almost reminded me of restaurants like Maggiano's or Carmine's (both chains found in tourist areas) that charge you a lot for an entree but give you a large portion.  I wish they'd give you a small portion and charge you 1/2 the price!

Mike started with the house salad.  This was delivered with house garlic cheese bread.  I don't know that I really liked the bread.  It was kind of crunchy.

  

Then Mike had the veal parmesan.  The veal comes with a side of pasta.  The amount of food he got was kind of ridiculous.  The veal covered an entire dinner platter and then he also had a side of pasta.  He didn't even eat 1/2 of it.  He said the flavor was good and they used good, quality veal.  The house sauce was on the sweeter side.  He said it was sweetened with carrots, as they were in the sauce (little, tiny pieces).  

For dessert Mike got the ice cream cake...it was very much like what you get from Dairy Queen, only larger.  I got creme brulee.  It was good, but it was too much.  It could have been better if it was smaller and had a few berries on top to contrast the sweet cream taste.  

So, that's the ongoing thing with Kemoll's...the food is good, but all the portions, including the desserts are too big and thus too expensive.  

It was a nice place.  There was a guy at a piano who was entertaining and kind of fun to have in the room.  People would make requests from time to time.  

We enjoyed ourselves, but I don't know that we'll be back any time soon.  

STL Soup Dumplings 6-4-2021

 Anna and I went to STL Soup Dumplings for lunch last Friday.  The food is made by the chef from Private Kitchen (which is a place I've always wanted to try and never have).  Private Kitchen is just two doors down in this same strip mall.

The menu is limited to a few boiled, traditional dumplings, about 7-8 kinds of soup dumplings and a few other offerings (like rice pudding for dessert).

Just a note:  to make traditional soup dumplings the pork is mixed with some very gelatinous fat that melts when it is heated.  That and the spices in the meat make the actual broth "soup" part inside the dumpling and the pork cooks into a nice meatball.  

Anna started with some traditional boiled pork dumplings, which were good but not quite what she was looking for.  (She made a mistake when ordering and thought she was ordering soup dumplings).  

I ordered shrimp soup dumplings.  They were good and had plenty of shrimp in them.  The broth was good but shrimp just don't actually have the fat in them to make the actual "soup" part of the dumpling.  I don't know how they actually got the soup part in there. I was impressed that the shrimp weren't over-cooked or rubbery.  Here are my shrimp soup dumplings:

Finally, Anna went back and ordered a single order of the traditional pork "soup" dumplings.  We each had some.  They were the best.  The "soup" was flavorful and the meat was tasty.  

I know these photos really all look the same, but they were all very different.  They gave you soy and vinegar to dip them in.  They were both nice additions.

I'd go back here, just to try more kinds.  

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.