Dog Prairie Tavern in St. Paul, MO 10-7-2022

 I had read online that there was some good bar food at some of the small town taverns around O'Fallon in places like Old Monroe, St. Paul, etc.  Last Friday we didn't want to spend a lot of time going somewhere and waiting for a place to sit, so we drove north of O'Fallon on Hoff Road straight up to St. Paul and went to Dog Prairie Tavern.

It is a very typical small town dive bar.  When we arrived at about 6 p.m. there were probably a dozen guys (mostly between 55-75) drinking bottled beer and talking baseball.  The Cardinal game had just ended and we had blown a lead and everyone was angry.

We didn't even know where to sit or what to do.  We kind of walked in and stood in the middle of the room.  A kindly waitress came over and had menus.  We went to a long row of metal tables and sat at the end.  The menu showed a variety of typical bar food.  I ordered a fish sandwich and onion rings.  Mike ordered a burger and tater tots (loaded).  It was just after 6 p.m. so happy hour was over, but Mike ordered a draft beer any way.  It came in a smallish plastic cup.  He ended up having a few beers (I stuck with Sprite).  Even though we left at 7 p.m., they gave him his beers at "happy hour" cost the whole time ($3 a beer...which is cheap).

The food is served on paper plates.  The food was good but not great.  I liked the onion rings, but the fish was just "typical,"  there was nothing special about it.  

Mike said his burger was fine, but again...nothing special.  He had them load his tots with beer cheese, jalepenos, sour cream, etc.  He said the cheese must have run off right away, because it was difficult to find. 

The people were nice, the place didn't smell (like some dive bars do).  There was a large outdoor seating area (which I think is a BIG draw on nice days).  They also have sand volleyball in the back and I think they have tournaments.  

The food was just fine.  Now I know.  

Circle 7 Ranch-Ballwin-9/30/22

 This was a place we had driven by many times but never gone in.  It is in the same plaza as Mia Sorella Italian Restaurant. They are both on Clayton Road just west of 141.  

So, the unique thing about Circle 7 is that they actually have beer taps at about a dozen of the tables/booths and you can pour your own beer and they charge you by the ounce.  That was not a big draw for Mike.  We were just looking to try someplace new that had some typical bar food.

We used the "wait in line" feature on the Yelp app.  It actually monitor's with GPS where you are. You can't even sign up on their waiting list until you are within 10 miles of the restaurant.  When we arrived, we still had a 5ish minute wait.  

There are a lot of BIG tables in the place.  They would seat 6-8 easily and most of them have 2 people at them and no one seems to be using the beer taps at the table.  Some people have beer, some people have cocktails, some people are just drinking water.  Pretty typical.  The huge tables that are mostly unfilled is a huge waste of space.

We were seated more near the back of the restaurant.  The tables back there were still mostly for 6-8 people, but they did seat us at a table for 4.  

It was happy hour, so we each started with the special drink of the day...a Long Island Iced Tea.  Mike didn't like it at all.  He said it tasted too much like lemonade.  It was different, but I didn't think it was bad.  Mike switched to beer.  We ordered some prezels and cheese off the happy hour "snacks" list.  They were warm, they had been brushed with butter (which made them a little greasy).  The cheese was warm and it was good...it was a nicer cheese than the one out of the big nacho cheese can from SAMS CLUB.

For dinner I ordered a shrimp po boy sandwich and fries.  I was going to get a side of fruit but the fruit was just grapes (boring). So, Mike asked if the fries were good, the waitress recommended them.  I don't know why...they were nothing special.  No especially good taste.  The sandwich was popcorn shrimp (that was over done and dry) on a bun with lettuce and a remoulade sauce that was supposed to be spicy by wasn't.  It was a disappointing sandwich.  

Mike ordered the fish and french fries.  He agreed with me that the french fries were lackluster.  But he said the fish was good.  It was cod and it was in big pieces, so it was not dry or over cooked.  He said the cole slaw was yucky and that the tarter sauce they made homemade was overly salty and it made the fish too salty.  

They do have all kinds of other things on the menu...like a whole bunch of burgers.  I would be willing to try the fish.  

I'm not going to write of this place, yet.  We may return...but I doubt we ever do the tap beer at our table.  That is a weird concept. 

 

Mickey's Drive In-Dardenne Prairie-9-29-22

 So, I had seen the signs and read online that a place had opened up over by the movie theater that was supposed to have Chicago food.  I read online that someone said their roast beef s's.andwiches were like Portillo's.  We have been big fans of Portillo's ever since Jacob moved to Chicago.

Jacob was in town for a day and a half, so we decided to try them for supper.

First let me tell you that we'd been in this space before when it was His and Hers BBQ.  It looks VERY different now.  The space has weird furniture.  It is like they are trying to make a living room.  There is a music listening area.  There is a sitting in couches area.  There are about 5 or 6 tables that have chairs and benches.  Part of it has the feeling of a lounge where you would drink bourbon and smoke cigars.  It doesn't feel like a place you would eat Chicago beef sandwiches or hot dogs and maybe have a beer.  

They said the menu wasn't fully operational, so we had to order from a limited menu.  Mike ordered a Chicago beef sandwich.  I ordered a Italian sausage sandwich and Jake ordered a meatball sub.  They have SKI brand pop.  The pop comes with the sandwich.  They write your order on a brown paper bag and then take it back to the kitchen.  Jake says they do this at Portillos.  I don't see the point.  They don't use the bag...they take it to the kitchen and then throw it away!!  Weird.

When we arrived the owner/chef was sitting in the front room.  He went back, cooked our sandwiches and then came out and chatted with the woman at the front counter.  After we had eaten most of our meals he started talking to us.  He wants to add a full liquor license and have a back 1/4 of the room have a few tables and have a "speakeasy" feel.  He said he lived in Chicago but is here now because he got a divorce and his ex-wife and kids are here, so he is here.  He plans to add deep dish pizza to the menu.  

This place has a serious identity crisis.  The owner doesn't really know what he wants it to be...bourbon bar, speakeasy, sandwich restaurant??

The food was OK.  My Italian sausage was good but the peppers that were grilled with it were flavorless.  I had giardiniera added and that was good and spicy.  The bun it was on was a little hard but got way too soggy way to fast.

Mike said his beef sandwich was fine but he thinks the beef came from pre sliced, frozen slices and they just grilled them up...like the old "steak-ums."  He wasn't impressed.  

Jake actually said his meatball sub was good enough he'd go back.  He said the meatballs were huge and had good flavor.  

This place was just too weird and I predict it closes in a few months.  

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.