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.  

Bar Italia 8-12-22

 It was going to be a nice evening, so I looked for some of the nicest outdoor seating in St. Louis.  One of the places that came up was Bar Italia in the Central West End.  

I hadn't been in the CWE for awhile.  Because it was a Cardinal baseball night, traffic on Hwy 40 was super busy, so we took Hwy 70 and then south on Kingshighway.  Whoa!  Talk about driving through blighted St. Louis and then almost immediately, just before the CWE it changes to nice houses/stores.  I think this is evidence of previous redlining in STL.  It is so obvious...and bad.

We had 5:30 reservations for outside seating.  When we were there, at first, the patio wasn't very full.  Over the next couple hours, it filled up.  

We ordered the appetizer special of the evening.  It was a bruschetta with ricotta cheese and artichoke topping covered with parm cheese.  I ended up not caring for it and Mike ate both of them.

We found a nice bottle of cabernet, but their wine list left a lot to be desired.  

The menu wasn't very large and I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to eat.  Mike got the steak and potatoes dinner.  The steak had been smothered in a sauce that was made with shallots.  He said both the steak and the potatoes were good. 

I didn't want a noodle and scallop dish, I didn't really want a heavy meat sauce on large noodles.  So, I ended up getting butternut squash ravioli with sweet potatoes made with a butter, basil, and cashew sauce.  I really liked it except I could have done without all the melted butter.  It just seemed oily.  The ravioli was really nice.  The sweet potatoes gave just a little sweetness to the dish.  

The patio was fine but it was just an average patio.  The only thing that made it special was that outdoor area is hard to come by in the CWE and Bar Italia has a nice sized patio.  I would not call it one of the nicest outdoor areas in the STL area.  The food was good, not great.  It was a nice evening.  I can't say if we'll return.  

Gian Tony's on The Hill 7-10-22

 As Mike and I were both going to be out of town for my birthday (in separate places) we went out for my birthday one day early.  I researched places that are open on Sunday night.  There are a handful of places on The Hill that are open on Sunday and have their closed days as Mon-Tues.  Gian-Tony's is one of those places.  

It is one of the smaller restaurants on The Hill.  It was one of the very first Italian restaurants Mike and I ever ate at on The Hill when we moved here.  It was much fancier back then (with tableside cooking, etc.).  Now, it is just a nice, casual Italian restaurant.

There was a group of about 8 ladies behind me who must have been regulars.  Tony, the chef, actually came out and talked to them.  I overheard them talking about being in St. Joe (Laurie and Anna's high school) in the early 1970s!!  

Since we were both leaving the next morning, we didn't want any leftovers sitting all week in our refrigerator, so we didn't start with any kind of appetizer.  We did get a cocktail and had a bottle of wine opened. 

I will say that I didn't find the waiter very nice.  I don't know if he is used to dealing with tourists or what, but he seemed to be a little condescending.  He wanted to seem like he knew more about the wine/food than we lowly eaters did...I had the urge to put him in his place...but I didn't.

We found a bottle of Valpolicella (one of our early favorite Italian wines...we have matured in wine drinking since we used to really like this wine...but it is nice to go back to now and then) for an inexpensive price on their wine list.  

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I started with a salad with the house vinaigrette.  The salad dressing was quite tangy but it ate well with the Italian bread.  For dinner I had the seafood ravioli.  I am not a white sauce kind of person and surprisingly this was in a spicy marinara.  It was good but the marinara was every so slightly too much for the delicate taste of the lobster/crab in the ravioli.  I did enjoy it and it was good with the wine. 

Mike had chicken parmigiana with a side of linguini in meat sauce.  He enjoyed the chicken a lot but didn't really care for the meat sauce.  We have noticed this at several restaurants...it must be difficult to get a meat sauce just right because they are often the weakest sauce in the house.  Cunnetto's is still the best

 I would still recommend Gian Tony's as a decent restaurant on The Hill. 

Wan Fu Chinese in Des Peres 7-9-2022

 Mike and I are always on the lookout for a new Chinese restaurant to try.  We had been in the Des Peres area a week ago and saw a lot of cars at a local Chinese restaurant.  I decided to do a bit of research and the restaurant that got the most positive review was Wan Fu on Manchester road in Des Peres.  

I remember eating here with Mollie and some of her girlfriends when she was in high school and again with Anna and some of her high school friends. 

I started with wonton soup.  The cup was VERY small and somehow the broth tasted like it was old.  There were only two wontons in the small cup.  It was not horrible but not good.  

Mike started with pan fried dumplings and an eggroll.  He said they were average:

  

I got a shrimp dish (I don't remember the name) that was like tempura battered shrimp and then in a spicy brown sauce...with broccoli.  The sauce was just not good.  It was sweet and just a little spicy and had an odd taste.  The broccoli was bad.  It tasted old. 

Mike got beef and broccoli.  He finally came to the conclusion that things tasted like they had been cooked in old, unclean pans...like I wok that hadn't been really cleaned in years.  Everything had an old, almost burnt, taste to it.

I would say that I don't think we would every go here again. 

Hendel's in North STL County 7-2-22

Mike and I have been to Hendel's before, but I don't think I've ever had it in my blog.

It is a nice (nice, casual...you could wear a nice shirt and jeans) restaurant in a neighborhood in North County.  It sits right across the street from Sacred Heart of Florissant church.  

I saw online that there was going to be piano music on the patio from 5:30-8:30.  So, we arrived at 5 and asked to be seated on the covered patio (it was good that it was covered because it had been raining off and on all day).  The hostess said it would be 25ish minute wait.  We went to the bar for a drink.  The bartender was lovely and Mike had a very informative discussion about gins.  But the hostess was WAY off.  When there is piano music...people linger.  We waited about 85 minutes for a table.  

But it was lovely out there.  Since it had been rainy that day, it wasn't hot.  It was now about 6:15 and we had coupons for a free appetizer and a free dessert!  Holly, our server was great.  We ordered a bottle of wine and a couple more cocktails and the spinach artichoke dip for an appetizer.  The chips were made with fried pita bread.  They had cheese (parmesan, I think).  The chips could have used a sprinkle of salt.  They weren't bad, but they didn't have much flavor.  The actual dip was just...meh.  There wasn't much to it.  Mike and I were both a little disappointed.  

Earlier at the bar I had a glass of the house cabernet.  Ooooo, I didn't really care for that.  Mike had again and tonic with some European gin and a Mediterranean tonic water.  He liked that!  So, when we went outside I decided to try something else.  I had a Paloma.  It has grapefruit juice in it.  It was good...not amazing.  They also have a peach sangria on tap.  While we were sitting at the bar, I asked for a taste.  Oh, it was super sweet.  If you are a super sweet drink lover...this is for you.  It tastes like peach and sprite combined.  It is what some people would like to drink with brunch...or sitting outside when it is hot.  Too sweet for me.

We found a nice bottle of wine for a good price.  Usually wines that rank in the 4.0+ range on Vivino are $50-70.  This one was $42.  It was called Requiem.

For supper Mike got the Burnt Ends Mac and Cheese.  He said the mac and cheese was good, but he expected the "burnt ends" to be from a barbequed brisket.  He expected bbq flavor or smoke.  He said these just tasted like a roast.  They weren't very Burnt Endsy.  

I got a fish sandwich and FF.  It was good.  The FF are big steak fries and I like fries like that.  I took 1/2 of my meal home.

Because we knew we had a free dessert, neither of us finished our dinner.  We shared a piece of chocolate/peanut butter cake.  It was rich and yummy.  Sorry about the photo...we started eating it before I remembered to take a picture!

This place has great atmosphere.  The food is good, not great.  I find the dishes hit or miss.  I'd still recommend it.  

NOTE:  They have a waitlist that you can get on from home.  That was our mistake.  We should have done that.  See their website.