Espino's in Chesterfield 12-3-2021

 We haven't been to Espino's in a few years, but when it first opened we went there quite often. 

This time we had a weird ulterior motive.  The guy who was the live entertainment at Espino's was going to be the live entertainment at our country club at an upcoming event.  We wanted to listen to him and see if we liked his music before we signed up for the event at the country club.  So, we went out to eat at Espino's.  

The wait on a Friday night was quite long.  We probably waited 45 minutes.  We had a margarita.  I do have to say that I like their margaritas.  They are more citrusy than others and have a slight orange juice taste.  I also like that they make their own and they don't come from a bottle.  So many other places come from a bottle and they are room temperature (warm) and poured over ice.  I really hate that first warm drink through the straw.  

I got a chile relleno.  It was fine but I have had much better.  The one I typically get at our local El Tio Pepe is better and cheaper.  

Mike had a burrito.  He said it was OK but not great.

Anna had a spinach and mushroom quesadilla.  She said it was a little weird and she didn't know if she really liked it.  

Maybe now I remember why we stopped coming to Espino's.  The food isn't what we like in Mexican food.  

Here is our drinks and chips:

  

Here is my Chile Relleno:

Here is Mike's burrito (with sour cream on it):

Here are Anna's quesadillas:

By the way...the music guy was fine but not great. 

Irish Gypsy Bar in O'Fallon 12-18-2021

 I had heard from some friends who live in the area that this place was known for its good food.  I drive past it often and the parking lot is packed!!  So, on Saturday night Mike, Anna and I decided to give it a try.  

The interior is nothing exciting.  It looks like a typical bar: hightop tables, people sitting at the bar, a very few regular height tables and booths.  It was 6 p.m. and most of the tables were full.  There were two dirty tables near the door.  A waitress yelled at us as we walked in to sit wherever we wanted.  We walked around and discovered the two dirty tables were the only open ones.  So, we sat down.  In a few minutes she came over and apologized.  She cleaned the table and brought us menus.  She took our drink orders.  Mike ordered a "milk stout" beer and I ordered a Moscow Mule.  Anna got a sprite.  I didn't like the Moscow Mule.  The ginger beer was weird and threw off the entire drink.  Mike liked his 4Hands Milk Stout and eventually got one more.  

The menu really didn't have much to choose from.  Since this was an Irish bar, there was Irish stew and bangers and mash, but otherwise it was typical bar food: wings, fried pickles, fried onion rings.  We were surprised to see that it didn't have potato skins or fish and chips.  They had some things that aren't especially Irish: steak sandwich, french dip sandwich, and turkey sandwich.  They had a few wraps and chicken items, but none of the chicken was fried...it was all grilled with things like onions and peppers.  So, Anna and I both ended up getting burgers and fries.  I'll have to say, the fries were good.  They were very like McDonald's fries.  The burger was fine.  It was a nice size but they didn't ask how I liked it cooked.  It was a little overdone and dry for my tastes.  They also don't offer American cheese on their burger...just swiss, cheddar, Monterey Jack, or jalepeno/cayenne. Mike got a reuben sandwich and he said it was really quite good.  

I read online all about the good vibe of this bar. I just didn't see it.  It was a bunch of middle aged people sitting around eating supper and drinking buckets of beer.  There was nothing special or different.  The food was fine but not remarkable.  

Mike said he'd go back, but Anna and I said we'd give it a pass.  This was a one and done.

Here's my hamburger:

Here is Mike's Reuben with cheese fries:

Pastaria in Clayton 11-20-21

 I saw this on an Andrew Zimmern show on the Food Channel.  It said if you wanted old school Italian, go to The Hill.  If you wanted new and edgy Italian, try Pastaria.  I guess Mike and I aren't new and edgy.  We much prefer "old school."

This is a casual restaurant.  Most people were in jeans.  That is OK and appropriate as it is also a pizza place.  We had read good things about the pasta, so we decided to forego the pizza.  

We each started with a cocktail.  It was fine, but not especially good.  It was also overpriced...we noticed later when we got the bill.

Most people comment about how your NEED to try the risotto balls.  It was even on the TV show.  So, we tried them.  They were tasty.  I liked the marinara sauce that came with them, but neither Mike nor I liked the aioli.  It was very bland and just tasted of oil and parsley.  The weird thing about them is that I expected them to be like arancini (the rice balls of Italy).  They look like that from the outside.  I also expected to taste pieces of rice inside, as risotto is made of rice.  I really don't know how they make these balls as the inside is the consistency of mashed potatoes.  I do think it has a little cheese in it and maybe some mashed rice, but they weren't like arancini and they were just OK.

They also hand out complimentary bread with oil and cheese.  The bread was too heavy for my taste.  It comes in a big lump of a piece.  It was warm...which is nice but just too much.

Mike got the tagliatelle Bolognese.   A Bolognese is typically made with beef, but this had an odd bacon/ham smell to it.  It wasn't bad, just odd.  

I chose the bucatini Ali' Amatriciana.  I knew it would be a bit spicy, as chili is listed as one of the ingredients.  It also lists "guanciale."  I had to look this up.  It is pork cheeks.  So, I knew there would be a bit of a port/ham taste to it.  It was fine but nothing I need to have again.

The homemade pasta was good and it was all cooked perfectly.  It was just a little to different for us.  I don't need pork cheeks in my pasta.  

After dinner I had some raspberry gelato and Mike tried their tiramisu.  He gave me a taste.  It was really quite good.  

We did discover something weird.  We ordered a bottle of wine that was a kind we had never heard of before.  It was a Primitivo from Puglia, Italy.  We know Puglia, Italy.  We liked the wine and it wasn't too expensive.  

It was a nice little wine.  It would be fine to drink with or without food.  We are used to liking big, bold wines like California Cabernets.  This was light and fruity.  The weird thing that I found out today when I looked this wine up is that "Primitivo" is just an Italian name for Zinfandel.  I think that is crazy.  Mike and I always thought we didn't like Zinfandel.  It was too boring and one sided.  We were too snobby to consider it.  That was dumb of us.  So, now, we are Cabernet AND Zinfandel drinkers!!

All in all...Pastaria was just not our "cup of tea"...even though we enjoyed the "glass of wine."

Asian Cafe in O'Fallon

 On a Monday night when Mike was out of town, Anna and I at at Asian Cafe on Bryan Road in O'Fallon.  It is only 4 minutes from our house.

It has been a long time since I'd been there with faculty members on a Professional Development Day.  

We read some reviews.  One thing that people noted was the crabby waitress.  Yep, she was there.  She wasn't really crabby...just not very happy or nice.  She just "did" her job.  

We had also read that the broth that is used in the Wonton Soup and other clear broth soups is really good.  So, we started with 2 small bowls of wonton soup.  The broth was sweeter than the typical wonton broths we are used to.  It was good.  But the bowls were VERY small for the price you pay.

For an entree I tried the Hunan Stir Fry with Shrimp.  It was good but I missed regular broccoli.  It was a lot of celery, water chestnuts and other crunchy things that I couldn't discern.  The spicy brown Hunan sauce was VERY good, but the vegetables needed some regular broccoli.

Anna got sesame chicken.  The chicken chunks were VERY big.  That was OK.  She said the sauce was sweeter than normal.  It almost had a slight "orange chicken" taste.  She liked it but several of the pieces of chicken had gristle in them.  It came with several large pieces of broccoli (just steamed, not in the sauce).  

I think next time we try this place, I will try some actual Vietnamese food and maybe get a clear broth soup.  

The prices are considerably more than a typical Chinese restaurant.  

Paul Manno's 10-16-2021

 We went to Paul Manno's with our best friends Tim and Vicki who were visiting from Minneapolis.  We know that there are very good places to get Italian on The Hill, but if you want to go out "nice" this is a great place.  It is smaller, quieter and more intimate.  The room is dim and the waiter was superb.  

When I called for a reservation they told me that they had one for 5 p.m. or 8:30.  So, we chose 5.  It is a good thing we did, because we were there until 8!

We started with a cocktail and appetizers.  For the appetizer we had the cold antipasto plate.  It was fine...salami, prosciutto, a hard cheese, a couple soft cheeses and some pickled veg in the middle with a very syrupy balsamic vinegar drizzled over it.  It was a nice start.   

We asked that a bottle of Chianti be opened to serve with dinner.  Vicki and I ordered soup (pasta fagioli) while time and Mike had house salads.  The soup was yummy.  

For dinner Mike had veal parm, Tim made up his own order (he wanted a linguini with a Bolognese meat sauce mixed with a cream sauce).  They happily accommodated and suggested he add some additional protein...he added chicken.  It ended up being very good.   Vicki ordered the seafood linguini (without clams...not her fav).  I had eggplant rigatoni.  Vicki really liked hers.  It did look better than mine.  I guess I just didn't think my dish through.  I expected a slab of fried eggplant with some rigatoni.  What I got was rigatoni mixed in sauce with some diced and fried eggplant mixed in.  It was just not enough eggplant for my liking.  It wasn't their fault.  I was think of an eggplant parm type of dish...they were thinking of a rigatoni dish that happened to have some eggplant in it.

We just had the best waiter.  He was super helpful and just kept sweeping by and looking over the table but not actually bothering us.  He took plates and poured more wine (2 bottles) as needed, but was not overly intrusive.  He allowed us to have some good hours talking.  

For dessert we ordered every dessert they had except the cheesecake, as our waiter said it wasn't make in house.  There was tiramisu, and chocolate cake (but I can't remember the 3rd thing).  They also brought a frozen chocolate drink from the bar in a martini glass that we shared that had a name like a "flying squirrel" or something like that.  

It was a wonderful 3 hour meal with wonderful service.  We had a "wonderful" time.  

The Scrambler House in O'Fallon 10-10-2021

 Hey, there's a place that has been packing them in for breakfast for quite awhile now (couple of years) and I only figured it out because the parking lot is so full of cars every weekend morning.  It is called the Scrambler House and it is right by my school in O'Fallon, MO.

Mike and I went on Sunday morning.  It is a busy place.  We arrived before 9 and had a 20 minute wait.  While we were eating I heard the wait get up to 35-40 minutes.  It is a basic breakfast/lunch place.  Mike and I both got the Double Up.  It has 2 eggs, 2 pieces of meat (sausage/bacon), hash browns, and 2 pancakes or 2 pieces of French Toast. 

The food was good.  Mike said it is hard to screw up breakfast, but we've all seen that done before (greasy eggs, overly done potatoes, floppy bacon).  This didn't do any of those things.  The food was good and done well.  

We did have quite a wait for our food and it was quite cool in the restaurant (but remember, Mike and I are getting old and are cold all the time anymore).  

The service was good and it was nice to try a new breakfast place so close to home.

If you want breakfast (they also do burgers and sandwiches for lunch), give it a try.

Carnivore 10-2-2021

 I know "The Hill" is known for great Italian restaurants, but what about a steakhouse??  We decided to give it a try.  Carnivore had barely gotten their feet wet as a restaurant when the pandemic hit.  The fact that they are still open boded well in my book.

We did begin with a bit of a hiccup.  There were a bunch of open tables outside when we arrived, but as we age, Mike and I both get cold easily, so we wanted to sit inside.  We had reservations at 6.  When we arrived the seating hostess sat us as a table for 4 that was RIGHT by the exit.  Mike didn't like it and asked to be moved further into the room.  They accommodated, but then they sat us at a VERY small table for two.  I am sure it is difficult to distinguish between diners.  We don't look any different than the mother and tween aged son who sat at a table four near us.  The problem is...there is a difference.  We are here to be diners.  We will order cocktails and an appetizer.  We will get a bottle of wine to share with dinner.  We will probably box up some of our dinner so we can have dessert and coffee.  We are hear for the long-haul.  We need a table that can accommodate all of that.  I can't really fault them...but Mike does.

Now...back to the food.  We started with cocktails.  I tried a strawberry and limoncello martini.  It was good, but still a little too sweet for my taste.  Mike had his standard gin and tonic with lime. 

We ordered the arancini appetizer.  This was the very first food we ever ate when we arrived in Italy and it has always held a special place in our hearts.  They usually have meat and peas in the inside of the fried saffron rice balls.  These had melted cheese in the center.  They were different, but they were still good.  Mike (who was still in a bit of a tiff over the table) commented how he didn't like that appetizers often come in odd numbers when they are often shared by 2 people.  I remember hearing on a food network show that presentations of food should always be in odd numbers as it is more pleasing to the eye.  I don't know if I think that is true...but when the arancini came...there were 3.

Our server was very nice and attentive.  We asked her to open a bottle of cabernet.  It was good and not too expensive. 

For dinner I ordered the lobster risotto.  It was creamy and yummy.  I was surprised that it was spicy.  I like spicy food, but I think it would have been almost too spicy for some people.  It was spicy enough that the lobster taste was somewhat lost...and that's a bummer.  

Mike ordered the filet.  The menu talked about Modiga sauce.  He asked our server.  She said it was super yummy, but it was a mushroom sauce.  Mike decided to get it and pick out the mushrooms (which I ate.  Our server also talked him into getting the carnivore potatoes...loaded (with sour cream, bacon and diced jalepenos).  Mike REALLY liked the steak.  He gave them big compliments on their steak grilling, but he didn't like the potatoes at all.  He wished he had gotten a regular baked potato...loaded.  These were small whole potatoes and all the toppings melted and slid right off.    

After dinner, Mike asked about cappucino, which they did not have (often Italian restaurants do).  We split a chocolate cake.  It was not really a lava cake and it wasn't super great...just a bite of sweet at the end of a meal.

Overall, I'd say the food was good.  I wouldn't worry about the desserts.  Next time go somewhere else for dessert.  But if you want good steak and you are near The Hill, this place is worth a try