Balkan Treat Box in Webster Groves 8-20-2021

 This place is all the rage.

In a recent Feast Magazine (a STL foodie type mag) it won best in two categories: Best Fast Casual and Best Food Truck (Savory).  Its chef/creator was also nominated for a James Beard award.  That is a huge deal in the cooking world.  

I expected a lot.

There were 4 of us: Laurie, Vickie, Anna and me.  We arrived around 12:15ish.  There was a line, but since it was hot outside, the line was mostly inside.  Laurie currently doesn't do inside dining, so we asked for our food "to go" and snagged one of the two picnic tables out back.  It was hot and there were a lot of flies and gnats, but we survived.

Now, about the food.  Laurie and Anna got the same thing, so between the 4 of us, we got 3 different entrees.  

Laurie and Anna got the Cevapi.  It is like a split pita with a bunch of beef sausages piled on it.  There is a side of onions and tzatziki sauce.  It also came with a side of red cabbage "slaw."  I tried one of the sausages.  They were just OK.  You know how sausages need spices added to the meat to make them taste like sausages???  These didn't seem to have those spices.  It was just bland.  So, bland meat on plain pita bread with onions and tzatziki.  It is kind of like a gyro with blank meat and no tomatoes.  

Vickie got their most popular dish the Pide.  It is like a boat shaped bread with chicken and then 2 sauces: one made of roasted red peppers and one that is like tzatziki.  Even though we were eating outside, we were eating with real cutlery and since the bread is made on a big wood-burning oven, the bottom gets tough.  You really need someone to cut it up with a pizza cutter.  They don't, and Vickie had a heck of a time cutting through it to get smaller sections.  The chicken was probably dark meat that had been roasted on a spit.  It was good but nothing spectacular.  The sauces sure helped it have some flavor but again, were nothing terribly new or wonderful.  Vickie felt it was "fine" but she didn't like having to work so hard to cut something.

I got the Balik Ekmek.  Basically this is a grilled piece of fish in a pita.  The menu says "fish of the day."  I don't know what kind it was, but it was super thin...something like tilapia.  Since it was grilled it was pretty dry.  It was on the pita with some lettuce and a BUNCH of cherry tomatoes.  I don't like cherry tomatoes, so I took them off and gave them to Laurie (who put them on her sausage sandwich).  There was a little spicy yogurt sauce (but not enough).  I actually threw the red cabbage "slaw" and squeezed my lemon all over it to make a little crunch and acid.  This helped!  It wasn't bad...it was just kind of dry and bland.  

We did try the rice pudding for dessert.  It is just chilled rice pudding.  It has some cinnamon and spices in it.  On top they sprinkle pistachios and rose petals.  It was simple and good.  We shared that because Anna had noticed that we were across the street from Serendipity and Anna and Vickie love a good bowl of ice cream.  

Balkan Treat Box might be all the rage, but I just don't get it.  The fire roasted items and fire baked bread are OK but nothing had much taste.  The sauces they add are OK but not enough to really flavor the meats.  I know this place has hundreds of 5 star ratings on places like TripAdvisor and Yelp, but to me...meh...3 stars for being interesting and from a different part of the world.  

 

Long Row Lavender in Wright City 8-4-2021

 Again, in search of bridal shower venues, we (Mollie, Jon, Anna and I) headed out to Wright City to look at Long Row Lavender.  I had been here before for a PEO event a few years ago, but didn't even think of it as a venue until one of my PEO friends said her daughter was having a shower here in August.  

It is just so cute.  They have a small gift shop in the front and then coffee shop/diner off to the side.  They actually dry and package the lavender upstairs.  

Mollie liked this place right away.  

For lunch we tried several things:

Anna had a gourmet grilled cheese with some fruit on the side.

Mollie had a turkey sandwich with some fruit.

Jon and I had chicken salad sandwiches with tortilla soup on the side.

All of these were tasty.  We each also got some kind of drink with lavender in it: lavender hot tea, lavender lemonade, lavender cold tea.

We also split (4 way, so about 2-3 bites each) a piece of lemon and lavender bread/cake.  It was super yummy.  

Sorry, I don't have photos, but they aren't working.  

This place is super fun for ladies (or gentlemen) who lunch.  There are cute places outside to sit (including several porch swings (a couple of them are by a small lake).  

I would recommend this for a fun afternoon getaway.  

London Tea Room 8-2-2021

 We were looking for possible places to have a bridal shower.  So, Jon, Anna, and I went to lunch at the London Tea Room in St. Louis.  It is just south of Tower Grove Park.  

It is very small, (about 6 or 7 tables), but they do have a bigger room in the back that can hold about 20-30 people.  

Their menu shows the WIDE variety of teas they have.  We all got different kinds.  Mollie got a chai, I got an African bush tea, (sorry, I don't remember what kind Jon and Anna got).  As the teas are all loose tea, they steep them and then make a pot of tea for each customer.

We also tried several things for lunch: chicken salad sandwich on a croissant (very yummy...very crunchy, buttery croissant), homemade tomato soup (had bits of tomatoes and celery in it...but they were small...it was yummy).  Anna had a Cornish pastry.  It was like a meat pie.  It had meat, onions, and turnips in it.  She found it delicious.  She also said it was the "perfect size" for lunch.  

Lunch was not cheap, but it was fun.  If it wasn't 45 minutes from my house, I would totally go here for tea more often.  

Sapore Italian Cafe 7-17-2021

 Mike and I had seen this place when we went to the French restaurant Cafe Provencal.  They are in the same sort of strip mall.  Both have very nice outdoor dining.  They seem to both get the same sort of clientele (50+ Kirkwood type of people).  

Sapore was good Italian.  I found their menu limited.  They didn't have some of the traditional things like spaghetti with meatballs.  They were heavy on seafood.  I love seafood, but when I try a new Italian restaurant, I usually try something with a red sauce, to compare it to other Italian restaurants.  

Mike and I did start with the fried artichoke hearts.  They are breaded, fried and top with prosciutto and cheese.  They were hot and yummy.  I forgot to take the photo until there was only 1 left.  

I will give this restaurant props for their wine list.  It isn't extensive (but some places (like Annie Gunns) it is TOO big to even read), but the wines are very reasonably priced.  I do wish they'd publish it online, with their menu, so diners can do wine research before visiting the restaurant.  

We ordered an old favorite, a Valpolicella.  It was very nice.  

For supper I had the Linguini with seafood.  It was in a white wine sauce.  It was very good.  Sometimes there is too much butter/oil mixed in the sauce.  This was light and yummy.  It let the seafood taste come through.  

Mike had the jumbo shrimp dinner.  The shrimp were good, but his dinner was just OK, overall.  The veggies on the side were fine, but kind of boring.  It would have been better with a side of risotto or pasta.  

I would totally go back to this place, but I would be prepared to eat seafood. 

Loaded Elevated Nachos -Streets of St. Charles 7-14-2021 (again on 8-6-21...updated review)

Right next to Narwhal's is Loaded Elevated Nachos.  (I keep wanting to put a comma in between the two adjectives in their name).

There is actually a window in Narwhal's that you are supposed to be able to order your nachos, but it was closed when we were there...which was dumb as it was a busy night.  It was a Wed. night, but it was one of the Y-98 concert nights and there were hundreds of people in the area!

So, on the table at Narwhal's there was a napkin holder with a QR code for Loaded Elevated Nachos.  Our seating hostess told us to use the QR code, order and pay and Loaded Elevated would bring our nachos to us.  Again, we had a ton of trouble with this...the internet was so weak right there we ended up having to go next door and order.  The whole no waitresses/QR code thing is a fine idea if it is all working, but when no one's phones work in that area it is very frustrating.

Loaded Elevated has a wide variety of nachos.  Then come on metal sheet pans.  You can get one or two kinds on each pan.  There were 4 of us, so we decided to try 4 kinds.  Here is what we got :

Buffalo Chicken on the top and Bahn Mi on the bottom

Bahn Mi Nachos:  I really liked these.  I gave them an 8/10.  The pork meat was marinaded in a sweet sauce.  The chips were crispy the siracha mayo was spicy.  There were jalepenos and some other pickled vegetables (dicon radish? and carrot) that added some twang.  There were cucumbers that cooled it down.  Several textures and flavors.

Buffalo Chicken Nachos:  Mike got these.  He gave them about a 6/10.  There was not enough Buffalo sauce.  There was too much ranch and blue cheese.  When you looked at his plate you expected it to be orange, but it was white.  It was on homemade potato chips.  They got soggy too fast.

Philly on top and Ol Standby on the bottom

Ol Stand By:  Carmen got these.  She said they were good, but they weren't great...and she is a nacho expert.  Nachos are her favorite food.  We had nachos at her wedding.  We had nachos at her 25th anniversary part.  She KNOWS nachos!  She said the meat was good but the problem was the cheese.  It was liquid cheese and nachos are always better if the cheese is "sprinkle" cheese and then they've been put under a broiler.  She said it was also lacking things that could have been added (lettuce, beans, sour cream (it had a little of this)).  7/10

The Philly:  Anna got these.  She said they were good but again, the potato chip base got soggy.  She liked the meat.  7/10

For dessert we shared the cannoli nachos.  I'd give those a 9.5 out of 10!  The cinnamon sugar chips were crisp, the mascarpone cheese was sweet.  The berry jam was yummy.  The strawberries were sweet and good and the dark chocolate sauce finished it all off well.  YUM!

This place was fun.  It was fun to share all of our different nachos and try new things.  I'd go back and try some of the other styles.  

UPDATE:

OK, I've been here again.  I tried 5 more kinds of nachos.  

The California BBQ...it was OK but the pineapple salsa was SUPER

The gyro...just OK.  They meat was kind of mushy and didn't have much taste.

The cajun...super yummy.  Probably the best flavor of the night, but you have to eat them fast, as they make the chips wet super quickly.

The Mexican Street Corn...Jon added chorizo to this to make it an entre.  The corn and sauce was good, but the chorizo didn't have much taste.  This was OK, just not great.

The jerk chicken...this one had shredded chicken that had been made in a crockpot.  It was juicy and good.  The jerk spices were yummy.  They added fried plantains to the chips...super good!).  I liked this one a lot, but the juice made the chips soggy, so you need to eat this one fast.

We again had the cannoli nachos...super yummy!!

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.