Bishop's Post in Chesterfield 12-10-12

I'd say we give this one a 2/5 stars.  

In the 35+ years we lived in Missouri, this establishment has been many things...Crazy Fish, Andriana's Steakhouse...we've tried them all.

Now, it is Bishop's Post.  The sign at the front said "Classic Comfort Fare"  To me that is comfort food, like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and noodles, etc.  

There was one meatloaf dish and one friend chicken dish on the menu.  Most of the menu is full of steak and seafood.  It is not a place to go if you are looking for a lot of what I would call "comfort food" dishes.  It is also too pricey for regular comfort food.

I started with a Honey Kissed cosmo.  It was a little odd, as it is made with peach/orange blossom vodka and has a big smell of peach.  

Then I had a small cup of gumbo.  That was really quite good.  It was more filled with meat than seafood.  I'd rather have seafood, but it was seasoned really well and very yummy. 

I had done my homework with the wine list and we ordered a red blend that has a very odd name: Gundlach Bundschu.  It is a 160 yr old family of winemakers in Sonoma Calif.  This red blend is good and not terribly expensive.  

 

 The problem was me when it came to most of the food here.  They have several dishes that many people might like:

Seared sea scallops on angel hair pesto pasta.  I don't love pesto pasta.  

Pan seared halibut on smoked tomato risotto.  I don't like smoked items...sometimes the smoke is too strong and ruins the taste of the entire dish.

The "special" was shrimp, scallops, and lobster linguine with a Dijon cream sauce.  I don't like mustard.  I asked them if they could do any other sauce...they suggested alfredo.  I said no, it would cover the subtle taste of the fish.  

So, I got their Shrimp and Scallop Pasta.  It had sun dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and herbed olive oil over pasta and the seafood.  It was not very good.  The oil was just that...oil.  It had no taste.  The pasta tasted like pasta with olive oil on it.  Butter would have been boring but better.  They need to learn to make a seafood stock and with a little white wine and butter turn the seafood stock into a seafood sauce.  Alas...they didn't.  So, I ended up eating the seafood out of the dish and leaving a lot of the pasta.  

Bonus points for them.  While I was enjoying my dessert, the general manager came over and said, "I notice you didn't eat much of your pasta.  Can I ask why?"  I told him the oil sauce was just too bland...even with sundried tomatoes and Kalamata olives.  He was nice, but I doubt they change it.  I had crème Brule for dessert. 

Mike had a fairly good experience with his dinner.  He ordered the prime rib.  He knew he wanted extra to take home for leftovers, so he ordered the biggest piece they had.  It came with twice baked potato, Yorkshire pudding (which, as you know is not pudding but a starch that should have had some kind of gravy for it) and green beans.  The meat and beans were good.  He said the potato tasted like maybe they made a huge batch of twice baked potatoes a couple of days ago and then kept them in the refrigerator and just heated them up in the microwave for dinner tonight.  

For dessert Mike had some gooey butter cake and ice cream...with a cappuccino (of course).  

The restaurant was fairly nice.  The wait staff was fine.  The wine list was rather small.  I found the overall menu small and lacking variety (they had asparagus in almost every dish...I had to ask for it not to be put in my pasta).  The gumbo was really quite good, but there really was nothing that made me need to return to this restaurant.  

On a side note...they do have a lovely, HUGE outdoor patio that is mostly covered for summer dining.  

Prasino-Streets of St. Charles 12-3-22

 I'd give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I have talked to other people at school who LOVE this restuarant.

There are things I like about this restaurant.  I like the semi-nice/semi-casual vibe of the restaurant.  You could dress up but we came in jeans and were fine.  Mike was in a hoodie and felt underdressed for a Sat. night.  

I like the decor.  There are distinct areas that you can eat: at the bar, at the hightop tables in the bar area (louder, TV screens), or in the dining room.  I liked being given a choice.  

I like that they take reservations.  

I thought they had an adequate wine list.  I'm not even being a wine-snob here.  They have this big room with wine coolers on 3 sides.  It is all very "wine-ish."  So, they look like they are trying to be a wine restaurant and they they have a kind of small adequate wine list.  It is fine...but not if you are trying to impress people and seem like some big deal with wine drinkers.

The thing I found confusing is their menu.  It just doesn't have any kind of rhyme or reason.  It has burgers and wraps with a couple steaks, a seafood, and a pasta.  That's all OK together.  But then they have a section of a bunch of different tacos.  That is weird.  But then they also have a section of a bunch of different sushi.  None of the sushi is vegetarian or without raw fish.  So, it isn't a complete list (kind of like their wine list).  If you know and like sushi (and I do). these few sushi rolls seem rather incomplete and sorely out of place with no other japanese items (miso soup, sake wine, etc.).  

Mike and I had just driven 7 hours home from Nebraska and drove straight to this restaurant, so we were tired and hungry.

We ordered cocktails, which were fine...but my glass was mostly ice and not much "cocktail."  We ordered a bottle of Decoy cabernet.  The waiter couldn't wrap his head around the fact that we wanted all the drinks to come out together, even though we weren't going to drink the wine until we had dinner.  We tried to explain that we wanted the wine opened and allow to "breathe" but this seemed foreign to him. 

He ordered a steak sandwich and fries.  The waiter had to explain to him that the steak was chopped up and then put on the sandwich.  I thought that was weird.  We laughed about it with the waiter.  Did someone actually think there was just a whole steak on a bun??  He said, "Yes, that's what some people expect."  After all of that...Mike liked this sandwich.  They edges had been crisped up on the grill and the meat was flavorful.  The french fries were really more like potatoes that had been oven roasted and then dusted in a heavy dose of paprika.  Mike didn't really care for them.  He would have liked regular fries better.  

I ordered the lobster ravioli.  It was just OK.  I don't know why anyone puts something with such a delicate taste like lobster in a cream sauce.  The sauce overpowers the taste and you can barely taste the lobster.  The pasta was nicely made and was still firm enough.  The escarole in the sauce gave some color but nothing else (it added no taste or texture).  The squash in the sauce added a little sweetness and texture to a rather "soft" dish.  The little pile of cheese in the center just melted into one lump and couldn't be spread out.  That was disappointing.  

Overall this restaurant was OK.  We didn't eat anything that was so amazing that it made us want to come back soon.  

Tubby's Pub n Grub in St. Charles 11-12-2022

 3/5 Stars

We were looking for a casual place for a Sat. night.  Lauren Mitchell, at school, had recently told me several places in St. Charles that she liked. This was one of them.

It is in the end of Parkway Lanes bowling alley.  It is separate enough that it totally seems like a restaurant.  We sat in the first room and it has no entrance to the bowling alley.  

They are known for their steak dinners.  So, that is what Mike had.  For something like $25 he had a NY Strip steak, baked potato and a side salad.  He said it was good.  But sometimes we go out to Wentzville to West Allen Grill on Sat. nights and for the same price as this steak, he can get a big piece of prime rib with the same sides.  He likes that better.  

I had the fried shrimp dinner.  It was OK.  The french fries didn't have much taste.  They were hand cut and that is nice but they were greasy and had no salt on them.  The shrimp was just OK.  

The beer was cheap.  Mike got a beer glass full of Budweiser for 2.75.  That is cheap.  

This was not bad, but there are places that are just as cheap that are better.  

China Bistro inside of Pan Asia Grocery Store at 141 and Manchester 11-11-2022

 Mike and I knew that on Veterans Day many restaurants feed Veterans for free and the places are packed.  We tried to stay away from that type of restaurant.  

I had recently read an article about the 26 Best Places to Eat in STL right now.  The first one was this Chinese restaurant tucked into a corner of an Asian grocery story.

It was cold and windy as we made our way into the store.  All the people in line were super friendly.  The workers weren't friendly, but they weren't "not friendly" they were all just working super hard and super fast.  This place has about a dozen or so tables, but they also do a huge amount of take out orders.  

Mike had read that this place has the best BBQ pork fried rice in the area.  So, that's what he got.  It was $8.  He was happy with it.  He said it had plenty of pork and just enough vegetables.  Everything was fresh and you could tell that it had just been made in a wok.  It came out quickly and it was steaming hot.

I ordered spicy seafood soup with thick noodles.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  I wasn't unhappy.  It was HUGE.  There were scallops, shrimp, and squid in the soup.  There were carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, and a bit of cabbage in there, too.  The broth was somewhat spicy, but it seemed a little watery.  The noodles were good...not too thick or large.

This is a very authentic Chinese restaurant, so they don't have things like beef and broccoli or general Zao's chicken.  But they do have a lot more things I'd like to try.  I'm not a big Peking duck fan, but they do have that and you can just get a few slices with some vegetables and rice.  

It is also super fun to walk around the grocery store.  Check out the fish counter!!  

We will totally come back here.  It is exactly 30 minutes from our house.  So, not too far for decent Chinese food. 

Bartelino's Osteria 11-5-22

 We were on our way to the Fox and had planned on eating at a restaurant in Kirkwood that didn't take reservations (Billy G's).  But when we arrived in Kirkwood, we knew something was up.  It was the annual Wine Walk.  There were hundreds of people walking from restaurant to restaurant and store to store to sample a wide variety of wines.  The parking lots were packed and at 5 pm the restaurants had an hour wait.  

So, we left and tried to think of some place that would be nice but would still let us in.  We tried a couple other places farther down Kirkwood Rd, but they, too, were completely booked.  

So, we went down Hwy 44 and went to the closest "Hill" restaurant...Bartelino's Osteria.  I don't know why we don't eat here more often.  I think because it is now attached to a hotel we don't think of it as very "nice."  We are wrong.  The food is good and the people are good at their jobs.  

They were packed but when we told them we didn't have a reservation...they quickly shuffled things around and made room for us.  When we told the waitress we had time for dinner, but we were going to the Fox, she was super attentive.

Their wine list is pretty standard, but it has some nice selections.  We ordered a bottle of Requiem Cabernet.  

I ordered spaghetti with salsiccia (Italian sausage).  I actually really liked their sauce.  It was slightly sweet and it had good flavor.  The sausages were a little over cooked but eating them with the pasta and the red sauce made that not very noticeable.

Mike got veal parm.  He also ordered a side salad.  The salad was pretty big.  He was afraid if he finished the whole thing he wouldn't want any of his veal.  I ate a few bites.  It was good...a little over-dressed.  Mike said his veal was really very good.  

Again, I don't know why we've never given this place a chance.  It isn't a quite, intimate place because it is big and busy with all the hotel people, but the food is way better than a lot of quite places.  The service is great.  We will come back again, when we have more time...and maybe more people. 

Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville 11-4-22

 Laurie and Beth still (since the pandemic) like to eat outside.  Beth has always liked to eat outside, even before the pandemic.  So, she often picks places that have patios.  

Last Friday night we met at Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville.  The temperature was nice but the wind was super gusty.  As long as we held things like menus down, we were OK.

We started with chips and salsa and margaritas.  Mike got an original on the rocks and Laurie, Beth and I split a pitcher of blood orange margaritas.  They were good, but they didn't taste like blood orange at all.  They tasted like pink lemonade.  Oh, well...

Laurie and I both ordered the Voodoo shrimp bowl (shrimp. veggies, beans, rice, spicy sauce).   We each tweaked it a bit.  I didn't want the sautéed veggies (as I don't like bell peppers) and Laurie didn't want the beans.  So, the waitress (who was GREAT) said she'd give me Laurie's beans and give Laurie my veggies.  I really liked it.  It was quite spicy.  The shrimp were good.  

Beth had the fajita bowl.  It was very like Laurie's and mine, but it didn't have anything that would be considered "spicy."  She said it was good...and not spicy. 

Mike had a couple tacos with some rice on the side.  He said said they were fine...nothing surprising. 

The most excitement happened after the meal.  We were sitting around talking and throughout the evening the wind had continued to strengthen.  When they had arrived, Laurie and Beth had the umbrella to our table unfurled.  One of these new wind gusts happened to catch our umbrella, lift it up about 10 feet in the air and bring it back down nearly impaling Laurie and Beth.  Mike jumped up to push it out of the way and Beth deflected it with her arm (which I'm sure was sore the next day) but we were all fine.  There were many apologies from our server (who couldn't have been nicer), but that was our cue that it was time to go home.  

Salty's was good, not great.  Just don't sit under the umbrellas when there are huge wind gusts!

The Corner Pub and Grill-O'Fallon 11-3-22

 We have been living without an oven since May (it is now November!).  It was supposed to get fixed today and it turned into a big fiasco and Mike ended up yelling at MANY people.  Needless to say we needed to go out for dinner (I had planned something that used the oven...ugh!!).  

This is very close to our house (under 10 minutes).  

Mike and I arrived at about 5:55.  They have Happy Hour until 6, so I ordered the OG Classic.  It is made with strawberry vodka, triple sec, lemonade and lime.  It was very good.

There were two specials on Thursday night: fried chicken dinner and fish tacos.  We decided to try them both.

I had the fish tacos.  They come with guacamole and street corn salsa in the bottom of the soft corn tortillas.  This was too much goo.  It all fell out when you tried to eat it.  It wasn't bad, but none of that added much to the taste.  The fish was fine and the avocado drizzle that goes on top had a nice spice to it.  It would have been better if they had filled the bottom with a little cabbage slaw and not so much goo.  

Mike had the fried chicken dinner.  It came with a leg, a wing, a thigh, and a breast (that's a lot), slaw, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  The slaw was standard.  The chicken was fried well; it was still moist inside.  The problem was that the coating on the outside had no seasoning.  It was very bland.  It really needed some salt!  Mike said the mashed potatoes seemed like they were trying to copy KFC and didn't do a very good job.  

This was our first time here.  There were a lot of choices on the menu.  I think we will come back and try different things.