During our trip to St. Louis and Memphis a few weeks ago, we had planned on staying in Cape Girardeau, MO for the last night of the trip before we'd drive home the next day. We had planned on getting a nice meal at a place in Cape Girardeau, however, after we got into Cape Girardeau that afternoon we found that there was really no "fine dining" restaurant in the area. We decided to skip Cape Girardeau and head on up to St. Louis for the night. I knew exactly where I wanted to go that night - a quaint steakhouse in the Kirkwood area of St. Louis - Citizen Kane's.
I've known about Citizen Kane's for a number of years. My first visit was when I worked for a company in the west suburbs of St. Louis and a manufacturer took us out for dinner there in the late 1990's. My second visit was a little over 10 years ago when I took a prospective dealer out to dinner there. The dinner must not have impressed him enough - he never signed up with us. Since it had been so long since I was last in there, I decided to take my wife there that particular evening.
There is a Kane behind Citizen Kane's. Frank Kane opened his steak place housed in a quaint Victorian home on Clinton Place just off of S. Kirkwood Ave. in 1993. (see map) (S. Lindbergh Ave. becomes Kirkwood Ave. when it goes through Kirkwood.) He had trouble at first - no bank wanted to finance his project. Finally, with three houses as collateral, a local bank gave him a $75,000 loan to buy the 1880's vintage Victorian private home for his restaurant.
Kane wanted his restaurant to be a "special occasion" place where people came for anniversaries or birthdays, but he didn't want it to be too fancy where people could come in casual attire as well as in a coat and tie. The restaurant is truly a Kane family enterprise - four of Frank Kane's children work in the restaurant along side their father.
It's interesting that Citizen Kane's had been open for 21 years - it was the 21st anniversary of our first date when my wife and I went there for dinner that evening. We'd made reservations on our way up from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis and they were able to accommodate us for our 8:00 p.m. request. It was raining very hard on the trip to the restaurant, but the downpour had turned into a drizzle when we pulled into Citizen Kane's that evening. Free valet parking is available at Citizen Kane's.
We were greeted at the hostess stand by a young woman who was able to get us seated right away. The main dining room at Citizen Kane's is on the second floor of the refurbished Victorian home. A small dining area is located on the first floor as well as a bar area. People with disabilities are accommodated on the first floor.
We were seated in the big dining room toward the back of the upstairs and given menus. Windows facing the north and east sides allowed us a spectacular view of the lightning moving away from the greater St. Louis area. The dimly lit room made it hard to read the menu, but made for a cozy and romantic dining experience.
Our server for the evening, an effervescent and outgoing young lady by the name of Stephanie, came over to greet us. She wanted to know what we wanted to start out with for drinks and I told her that we'd probably get wine, but asked for a Budweiser "to cut the dust". Cindy got an amaretto sour to start off.
The majority of items on the menu are steaks, but they also have a fresh seafood "catch of the day", as well as a T-bone pork chop and a pasta dish called "Chicken Xanadu" - a nod to the name of the estate of the fictional character Charles Kane, the protagonist in the classic film Citizen Kane - that features grilled chicken, bow tie pasta and roasted red peppers in an olive oil and garlic sauce.
Stephanie tried to tempt us with some of the delicious appetizers at Citizen Kane's. The sauteed mushroom platter is especially yummy - they're cooked in a combination of white wine, garlic and herbs. I love mushrooms, my wife does not. A platter of the sauteed mushrooms as an appetizer would have been a waste as I wouldn't have been able to finish the whole plate.
We decided that we were ready to order up food. Cindy ordered the beef tenderloin medallions with the housemade bearnaise sauce and a side of the creamed spinach. She had her choice between getting a salad or soup for a starter and she chose the lentil bean soup.
I went with the traditional filet steak - rare. For a side, I got the garlic mashed potatoes. I also asked for a side of their housemade brandy peppercorn sauce. And for a starter, I ordered a dinner salad. But I was asking Stephanie about a dressing that I had on a previous visit. "It was like a sweet vinaigrette with blue cheese crumbles," I said.
She said, "Oh, yes! That would be the sweet vinaigrette with blue cheese crumbles." She sort of smirked in a playful way and Cindy and I both got a laugh out of that.
For wine that evening, I found a Ricardo Santos Malbec from the Mendoza region in Argentina. When she brought the bottle out, I noticed that it was a 2012, but was listed as a 2011 on the wine list. I pointed that out to her, she checked the wine list and saw that it, indeed, was listed as a 2011. She asked me if I wanted to take a look at the wine list and to see if there was another wine I may like. I told her, no, this would be fine. She was a bit embarrassed and very apologetic for the difference.
The wine was very good - it was full bodied with a nice ending that went well with the steak we had. We have gotten deep into Malbec wines from Argentina over the past couple three years. Unfortunately, a lot of other people have too as prices on Malbec's have risen steadily since we first started finding them awhile back.
The dressing on the house salad was exactly what I remembered it to be. It had that sweet "St. Louis-style" Italian dressing taste and the pungent and forward tasting blue cheese crumbles were a great opposite to the sweet dressing.
Cindy's lentil bean soup with thick and hearty - I thought it would have been a great base for chili. Cindy allowed me take a couple bites of it because she was worried that it was so thick and rich that it would have spoiled her dinner.
Another server brought out our steaks. My filet was about 10 ounces in size and had a nice grilled outer layer. The server asked me to cut into the steak to make sure that it was to my liking. It had a red and cool center - the perfect rare for me. And the taste was exquisite. Tender, juicy and flavorful, the steak was lightly seasoned with a steak seasoning that Citizen Kane's is famous for.
Cindy's beef tenderloin medallion entree featured two smaller cuts of beef tenderloin with the bearnaise sauce. She got hers medium and they were easy to cut and still juicy to the taste.
I tried some of my steak with the brandy peppercorn sauce and found it to be a bit overpowering in taste. It the steak was a bad cut of meat, the sauce would have possibly helped in taste. But in this case it really blocked the great taste of the steak. And my garlic mashed potatoes were sort of "meh!" in taste. But I was there for the steak.
Cindy was sorry she didn't get her bearnaise on the side. She, too, thought it was overpowering the taste of the steak she had. She said her creamed spinach side was also just "OK".
After polishing off the steaks and leaving a good portion of the sides - including the sauces - Stephanie brought out dessert menus for us to go through. Honestly, we had a large breakfast, somewhat of a late lunch and the steak and salad was settling fine in the stomach. Besides, they didn't have a lot that I was interested in - a traditional New York-style cheesecake, a chocolate chip cheesecake with a pecan and graham cracker crust, and a couple of cakes - a carrot cake (I don't care for carrot cake) and a triple chocolate cake (I could take or leave chocolate cake).
But Cindy decided that we needed to get the caramel Kahlua flan - a custard flan infused with brown sugar, Kahlua liqueur and caramel, then served with a light sweet sryup drizzled on top. It was extremely sweet and - oh! - so rich. I had three or four bites before I gave up. The flan went very well with the full flavored Malbec that we finished with our dessert.
It's easy to see why Citizen Kane's is one of the most popular fine dining destinations in the greater St. Louis area. The food is consistently good, the service is always top notch, and the cozy and comfortable surroundings of the dining room make for a wonderful dining experience. The meals I've had there over the years have always been top notch. This visit was no exception and my wife was very impressed with the place. And as we all know - if the wife's happy, everyone is happy.
Fine dining in Cape: "Celebrations". You might also like supper club style "Ray's of Kelso."
Posted by: JoeyH | November 12, 2014 at 12:35 PM