Buzzetta's in Chesterfield 6-14-24

 I am writing this MONTHS after the actual meal...so I'm going going with memories that the photos evoke.

This restaurant was an Italian restaurant for years and got taken over by new owners about a year ago.  

The seating hostess is an older lady.  I believe her son is the chef and her husband work in the kitchen.  He comes out a lot and checks to see how things are going but doesn't seem to have a well defined job.  He acts like he runs the place but the son/chef is really in charge.

It was busy and we waited a bit for a seat.  When we were seated we got kind of a crappy table up against a wall right by the entrance.  Mike asked if we could wait for another table and the older lady seating hostess said no.  I think she was flustered but that ticked Mike off.  

We stayed at our seat.  We had wine.  It was fine.  Mike had chicken parm with a side of pasta.  I don't know where the photo of my meal went, but I had eggplant parm.  It was odd, as all the eggplant was cut up in small pieces and then fried and then tossed with the pasta and sauce.  It tasted OK, but larger pieces of eggplant is what I was wanting.

On the way out, Mike felt it necessary to tell the seating hostess and her husband that we liked their food but didn't like that we were told we couldn't wait for a better table.  

The Bellwether 4-26-24

 I have had The Bellwether on my radar for a long time and we finally made it there.

It is set in an old building that also houses rock climbing??  The restaurant is on the 2nd floor.  It does have outdoor dining, but the night we were there it was VERY windy and no one was dining outdoors.  they have a funky vibe with industrial old building feel jazzed up with funky chandeliers and big draping curtains.  

We talked to our server a few minutes about drinks and Mike asked about all the kinds of gin they had on hand...well, that started a whole thing.  The bartender came over and got into a huge discussion of gins with Mike.  They discussed gins that taste like evergreen trees.  This bartender thought those were so old fashioned.  Dad didn't want to mention it, but those are the kind he likes...old fashioned ones like Beefeater.  So, any way, Dad had a whole gin tasting party with this bartender.  They weren't terribly busy, as it was early in the evening (5:30ish) and they spent a lot of time explaining things to us. Dad ended up having a Gin and Tonic with some botanical gin.  It was OK, but he will go back to the old fashioned kind.

I had a drink called The Fifth Season.  Here are its ingredients.  It was good.  haku vodka, svöl danish aquavit, leopold bros. fernet, spiced pomegranate syrup, lemon juice, bittercube trinity bitters

We also opened a bottle of Cabernet Franc.  The waiter was good enough to warn us that Cabernet Franc isn't the same as Cabernet.  We gave it a try anyway and he was right.  This was cheaper and just didn't have much to it. 

With our drinks we had a cheese board.  I didn't take a photo of it. It was nothing special...a typical cheese board.  We had a choice of 3 different cheeses, so we tried all 3.  We took some of it home (which is always a mistake, as we don't eat it fast enough and it gets bad).

For dinner I had the seafood ravioletti.  It was good.  The seafood broth was yummy.  The portion wasn't too big.  The pastas were small and homeade, but the filling didn't have much taste.  The pasta seemed a little heavy for the dish.  

Mike had the filet.  It was cooked well and he liked it.  He liked the added sauce.

For dessert we shared piece of chocolate torte.  It was rich and good...a nice end to a nice meal.

This place is interesting and has a good cocktail menu.  We may come back.  

Ruth's Chris-Chesterfield 4-13-2024

 We have been to the Ruth's Chris is Clayton years ago, but this new Ruth's Chris in Chesterfield is huge!  The waiter told us it is the largest Ruth's Chris in the country.  They have 3 floors.  The top is a huge outdoor patio.  

It is a typical Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  The menu is not very large and heavy on steak.

We each started with a cocktail and then had a bottle of wine opened.  They have a huge wine list, it comes on an ipad.  I had read the wine list online ahead of time.  Most of the wines were out of our price range.  I ordered a Decero Malbec from Argentina.  I figured Argentina people know red meat and should be able to pair wine with red meat.  It was good not great.  

For dinner I had the fish special of the night, which was a salmon in a terriyaki preparation with green onion and red peppers.  It was good.  

They tell you that their plates come at 500 degrees and not to touch them.  I don't actually think this is such a good idea.  It literally is continuing to cook your food from the bottom.  It also sometimes overcooks the stuff on the plate and makes it not look so nice.  

Mike ordered a filet.  It was expensive, but it was done correctly.  See how it kind of looks like a cooking pan on the bottom of the plate??

So, the weird thing about Ruth's Chris (and it is an expensive thing, too) is that none of their entrees come with a side.  You have to order your sides a la carte.  The side are huge, so you need to find something you both like to share.  We ordered hashbrown potatoes.  They look like an entire skillet of hashbrowns was prepared in oil and butter.  Mike asked for them to have cheese and sour cream on them.  They were good, the outside was crispy and the inside was soft, but boy did they have a lot of butter.  I had indigestion later in the evening because of them.

We decided to split a dessert.  Mike got his usual cappucino and we split a creme brule.  It was good, but typical of a steakhouse.  

This is a fancy, expensive place that rich people like to frequent.  The parking sucks.  They have valet and VIP parking out front (which was filled with Lambroginis and Ferraris!).  Super rich people who frequent this place have lockers in the front of the restaurant where they can keep their bottles of wine/alcohol and cigars.  I'm sure it is where people like Cardinal baseball and executives of big companies go.  It is not a place we will frequent, but now we know what it is like and I won't be wondering about it every time I go by.  

Madrina in Webster Groves 3-9-24

I would give this place a 3/5

I had read about a new Italian restaurant opening up in Webster Groves.  I had read the reviews in the St. Louis newspaper.  Everyone seemed to love Madrina.  I just can't decide what kind of Italian restaurant it is.  I don't know if it is because it is only a few minutes away from all the Italian restaurants on the hill, so it has to carve out its own identity, or what, but other than having Italian names on the courses, having a bunch of Italian wines and serving 3 (that's right, only 3) pasta dishes, it didn't seem very Italian.

I will have to say that I really thought they'd done a nice job on the interior of this space.  It isn't very big, but it didn't feel cramped.  We had reservations for 6 p.m. but we arrived at 5:45 and used the valet parking, so we were inside early.  We got a drink at the bar.  When our table was ready it was actually only a few steps from the bar.  Usually you'd think this would be a louder area...not so.  It was just fine.  

The menu is rather sparse.  They have fish and steak specials but don't have traditional Italian pasta dishes.  We started with the Misto Fritto, which is fried calamari, shrimp, artichokes and some fried fennel.  This dish was very good, the items were lightly dusted with a seasoned flower and flash fried.  I'd never had fried fennel before and it was yummy.  It was served with a buttermilk ranch dressing.  Meh. 

Mike ordered a salad that was called House on the Hill.  It was mostly iceberg lettuce with way too much rope provel cheese.  It has some artichoke hearts and tomatoes off to the side.  The dressing was supposed to be a vinagrette but it didn't have much taste and it seemed to separate as there was a pool of watery leftovers under his lettuce when he finished. The artichoke hearts weren't pickled in a vinegar.  They must have been pickled in something with water??  I ate one and it just tasted blah. 

They had a big wine list with both domestic and Italian reds.  I also give them kudos because I think they may have had a sommalier  on staff, as I saw a lady helping a couple tables with their wine selections.  Good for them.  We chose a California cabernet called In Sheeps Clothing.  It was kind of blah.  It was not fruit forward.  I thought it was a little smoky when I first tasted it, but those tastes seem to die when you tried it with food.  Not bad, but not one of our favorites.  

For dinner you order an entree and everything (like sides, etc.) is a la carte.  Which I've always thought is kind of a pain.  So, Mike ordered the special of the evening which was a beef spedini and then he ordered some fried fingerling potatoes.  He liked the beef, but it is difficult not to overcook little cubes of meat on a stick.  It wasn't overcooked, but it wasn't medium any longer, either.  It had a sort of chimichurri made out of basil and garlic that Mike scraped off and he said it overpowered the flavor of the meat.  The sauce was brown soy based sauce.  

I had a simple bowl of linguini and clams.  There just weren't that many pasta choices and I had heard their scallops were great, but we were at an Italian restaurant and I wanted to try their pasta.  It was fine.  There just isn't much to linguini clams.  The pasta tasted homemade, so that's good.  The clams were fine.  There really wasn't much sauce/broth.  There really just isn't much to this dish: linguini, clams, garlic, clam juice and a little olive oil and parsley.  It's simple and not very complex.  I wonder why they chose this as one of the 3 pasta dishes.  

They only offered 2 desserts: tiramisu and cannoli.  That's it.  They literally bring over a dessert menu with 2 things on it!  Mike chose tiramisu.  It was actually quite good.  It wasn't a coffee tiramisu and it wasn't an amaretto tiramisu.  It was just custard, whipped cream and lady fingers.  I don't know what they used to soften the lady fingers but it was a nice simple custard dish.  

Because they have such a small menu, I just don't know that we feel the need to come back here.  There are better places for steak and fish, and there are definitely better Italian restaurants.  

Westchester in Chesterfield 3-2-24

I would give this restaurant a 4.5/5

It had been a while, so we decided to go back to the Westchester in Chesterfield.  We had been there a couple times, but they have turned into a legit fine dining restaurant.  Now, they have wine dinners that are WAY out of our price range.  

They must have a happy hour deal from about 3-5/6, because when we entered at 5, the bar was packed and not one table had anyone at it...we were the first.  We started with a cocktail.  I had looked at the wine list online and thank goodness it was exactly the same in the restaurant.  This is a place that has many bottles of wine over $100.  That's not us.  We started with soup.  Mike got the French Onion and I tried their soup of the day, which was almost like a beef stew turned into a soup with a Thai chili flavoring.  It was called Thai beef soup.  It was delicious!

For our wine we actually chose the cheapest cabernet on the menu and it was perfectly fine with out meal.  It was called Cultivar.  We both liked it fine with our food.  

Mike had a filet, green beans, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes and some shredded brussel sprouts (that he didn't like, because he doesn't really like brussel sprouts).  The rest he ate ALL of.

I had the "Seafood Stew."  I know, it looks like a ciopino, but it is an Asian take on that famous Italian stew.  Pretty much the same ingredients but instead of just tomatoes and garlic in the broth, this one gets green curry and it is served with jasmine rice.  It was ever so slightly spicy and it was super yummy!

For dessert we split a very fancy creme brule that came with two lovely macrons.  It was easily enought for two.  

Taqueria Bronco on Cherokee Street in St. Louis 2-22-24

I had wanted to see the Orchid Festival at the Botanical Gardens and Mike read that it was margarita day, so we decided to go see the orchids and then go to a really authentic Mexican restaurant down on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.  The people and the food were very authentic, but I don't think the margaritas were any more authentic than the kind that come out of a bottle at our local Mexican restaurants.

Taqueria Bronco is run by a hispanic family that have not learned much English, yet.  It was difficult for the waitress to convey to us that the tacos only have onions and cilantro on them (not the American style of lettuce and cheese).  

We started with margaritas, chips and salsa/guac and some nachos.  There guac is very chunky and fresh.  Mike doesn't like guac and this was too much for just me, but I enjoyed it.

Mike had the carnitas tacos and I had shrimp tacos.  They were good.  They weren't huge, but we were plenty filled up with the chips and nachos.  The menu was difficult to follow, and I think this is such a legit Mexican restaurant that you could probably tell them what you want and they'd make it. 

B.C.'s Kitchen 2-3-24

We had tried to go to a different restaurant in Lake St. Louis but they don't seem to take reservations and the wait was WAY LONG, so we came over to an old standard, B.C.'s kitchen.

We ended up waiting here for almost an hour, too.  So, the wait was bad everywhere.

We had a cocktail and then ordered a bottle of Bonanza Cabernet.  We have had it before and liked it.  It was good.

Mike had the lasagna special for supper and I had my standard: bowl of gumbo.  Mike really thought the lasagna was good tonight.  My gumbo was good as usual.  

B.C.'s Kitchen is a nicer place to eat that is 5 minutes from home.