Trattoria Marcella 11-16-24

 It has been years since we've been to Trattoria Marcella.  All I remember is that they have lobster risotto.  

We arrived at about 4:55 and there was an entire family of about a dozen people (all in one group) waiting outside to get in in front of us.  You could see the people inside, but they let us all wait for the full 5 or 6 minutes (in the cold) before opening the doors.  That is not a great first impression.

Then, we were put in a way back room.  Mike didn't like that.  We were some of the first people there and we by-passed the main dining room.  I don't know why.  

Our waiter told us that one of the specials for the night was the lobster risotto.  As I get older, stuff with cream sometimes makes me have a stomachache, so I decided against it.  We had a cocktail.  I ordered some Italian kind of orange martini.  It was OK, it was too strong alcohol taste.  

Then we asked for a bottle of Edge cabernet to be opened.  It was good, we liked it...but red wine goes so well with red sauce (and chocolate dessert)!

Mike ordered a salad, and that was fine. Then he got the spaghetti and meatballs.  He said it was OK, but when he went to eat the leftovers 2 days later, he said he had decided that he didn't really like their sauce and we didn't need to go back there.  

I ordered the eggplant parm appetizer as my entree.  I usually love eggplant.  This was their "new" way of preparing it.  It was layered with cheese, like a lasagna.  It was not near as good as it would have been if it had just been fried and put out on the plate.  I also don't understand how this is supposed to be an appetizer.  It was totally unsharable.  I took 1/2 of it home for leftovers and ended up not eating it.  

The most redeeming thing of the night were the desserts.  Mike and I usually split dessert.  He gets one and I eat 2 bites and I'm done.  But he wanted tiramissou and I wanted the chocolate creme brule.  So, we each got dessert.  His was very coffee forward.  He liked that.  Mine tasted just like my mom's chocolate pie (which I love).  So, the food wasn't our favorite, but the desserts we a nice end to the meal.

Brasserie by Niche 11-9-24

 It has been several years since we have been at Brasserie.  It was pouring rain when we arrived and parked on the street.  They do have valet parking, just don't have a 5:00 reseration and expect the valet to be up and running yet.  He gets going by about 5:15.  

We started with a cocktail and then ordered a bottle of red French wine called Volcae.  It was good.  

Our waiter was super great.  He was about our age and he was super knowledgeable.  Mike ordered the braised beef with mashed potatoes and jus.  My photo of it sucks but he loved it.  He said it is just like really well cooked roast with a great jus.  I got the mussels.  They were good as always.  

Then we decided to get dessert.  They have a "black and white" creme brullet.  It has a chocolate ganache on the bottom of the ramiken.  Then the cream mixture is poured on top.  The entire thing is topped with a classic black and white cookie.  It was really yummy!

Sam's Steakhouse 10-26-24

 It had been years since we'd been to Sam's Steakhouse in South St. Louis county.  It was nicer than I remember.  It definitely has a following.  We ended up getting a table that was off of the bar area (we could see into the bar area).  Mike didn't like that, he would have rather been in the main dining area.  We watched the musician guy set up and sing a little.  He was just a guy with a computer and a mic.  He was just OK, but the regulars thought he was amazing.  

Sam's is mostly a "nice" place and people there are 40+ age.  For the most part they were dressed up.  I saw a few people in jeans, but not many.

We had cocktails and bread.  It is such a St. Louis thing to think of the bread as an appetizer.  I wanted to save my bread to eat with my dinner, but the bus boys kept trying to take our bread away before our dinner arrived. 

We ordered a bottle of kind of expensive cabernet call The Counselor.  It was good, but when you get to ratings like 4.2 and 4.3, the extra cost is kind of lost on Mike and me.  We don't have sophisticated enough palates to tell the difference once it gets past 4.0.

For dinner Mike chose the prime rib (of course) and I got crab cakes.  Our food was good and I'd say we would come back here again.  We just need to remember that we like this place.  

Annie Gunn's 8-3-24

 I don't know that I need to write ANOTHER review of Annie Gunn's but I did have something different on the menu, so what the heck.

I usually over eat and then am mad at myself because I ate too much and spent too much on dinner.  So this time, we got the cheese plate and I only got soup for dinner.  Much better plan!

I didn't take a photo of the cheese plate, it was great as usual.  Mike got steak frites and I got their famous potato soup.  It was really good and enough to be a meal.  

Annie Gunn's...good as always.  

Napoli Sea (Streets of St. Charles) 7-11-24

 It was my birthday and I got to pick, so, of course, I picked seafoo

We had a fun time at Napoli Sea.

We had never been there before, but when looking online I found out that you have the option of making reservation for upstairs or downstairs.  The upstairs has a glass bannister, so you look out over the rest of the restaurant and bar.  That is kind of cool.  So, we had a table for two right on the bannister.  

The restaurant is much smaller than I thought it was by looking online.  The upstairs probably only has 6-8 tables.  Downstairs the bar fills about 1/2 of the entire restaurant.  I know it was a weeknight, but there was a nice crowd.  I can see that it might be difficult to get a reservation on a weekend, as there just aren't that many tables to fill.  I would say sitting at the bar and ordering would be a good option if you can't get a reseravation.

So, they bring you a pretzel bread appetizer while you wait.  

They have some crazy cocktails, so we each tried one.  Mike got the "Doc" of the Bay which has Blue Curacao, Midori, light rum, pinapple juice, club soda and a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry

I don't remember what I got, but I do remember that they had cool ice cubes that had scuba gear on them. (see photo below) 

I ordered the ceviche appetizer.  It was way too big for one person, but it was super yummy and had these lovely buttered crackers that were warm.  As I was eating it, one of the servers realized I had some ceviche left and was going to run out of crackers, so they ever so quietly placed on my side of the table a small dish that had about 5 more warm buttered crackers.  THAT is a good serving team!

They do have actual menu items, but they have a large platter that they can show you all the fresh fish items they have and tell you all the ways they can prepare that.  I got the scallops, which were lovely.  Mike got a lovely fried grouper, which he actually liked.  

Just because it was my birthday and because I wasn't driving, I decided to try one more cocktail, because it was just too intriguing on the menu.  It was a pepperoncini martini.  It is exactly what it sounds like.  It was made with pepperoncini juice.  It was spicy and very full of alcohol and if I would have had any more alcohol, I would have not been standing!  

Because it was my birthday they would have given me a small piece of cake, but we don't really like cake, so we ordered a key lime tart and they put the candle in it.  I was almost too full and I'd had too much alcohol (because we also had wine with dinner!) to eat much of this, but it was tart and good.  

The food here is good.  The wait staff it good.  It is expensive, but I'd definitely come back. 

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.