I was visiting one of my dealers in St. Louis earlier in the summer and he was telling me about this place that he had gone to in Little Rock, AR when he was there delivering a big system for a customer. He was raving about the number of beers on tap this place had and how he was mesmerized looking at all the beers they had to offer. He couldn't remember the name of the place, but a quick look on the Internet came up with the rather funky name - Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. We found that it was a regional chain and then his eyes got big as he exclaimed, "Holy crap! They have one here in St. Louis! It's right down by the ballpark!" Cindy and I took some time this summer to head down to St. Louis for a ballgame on our own and knowing that the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium was just down the way from Busch Stadium, we decided to walk over there after the game was over.
Shannon Wynne opened the first Flying Saucer Draft Emporium in 1995. Wynne, quite frankly, came from money. His father founded Six Flags amusement parks in Texas. Before his 30th birthday, Wynne opened the 8.0 (Eight-Oh) nightclub in Fort Worth. From there, Wynne developed and owned a number of bars and nightclubs in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
The first Flying Saucer Draught Emporium opened in Fort Worth and from there Wynne began to open similar locations in Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Missouri. When the St. Louis location opened in March of 2013, it was the 16th Flying Saucer. (Wynne also owns the Flying Fish restaurants with 8 locations in Texas and Arkansas.)
We walked out of Busch Stadium, past the Stan Musial statue on the west side of the stadium and a block down Spruce Street to the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. (see map) The game got over around 10:00 p.m. so there weren't a lot of people in the place who were having a late dinner like us.
Sure enough, the bar area had a number of beer taps on the wall behind the bar. Dozens of taps of domestic and imported beers were lined up and a large number of bottled beers were in refrigerated cases off to the side of taps.
We took a seat in a booth just past the bar.
There were a number of flat panel televisions on the wall of the place as well as what appeared to be a number of antique saucer dishes. Oh, yeah - we caught the message.
Our server for the evening, Laura, came over to greet us and to drop off a couple of menus. The servers at the Flying Saucer were sort of urban-hipster chicks, not dressed up in the "breast-urant" type of clothing that seems to be what a lot of girls are wearing at similar establishments. Laura asked if we wanted anything to drink and Cindy got an iced tea. I looked through the beer menu and was sort of surprised that they didn't have any of the Kona beers available. I've found that a number of bars near the stadium have at least Kona Longboard Lager available. Looking for other beers, I selected a Lagunitas IPA that was available in a bottle.
She left for a moment and came back to say, "We're out of the Lagunitas IPA. Can I get you something else?" Taking a quick look at the beer menu, I found that they had a Deschutes Mirror Pond pale ale on tap. She went away and came back with Cindy's iced tea and told me, "We ran out of the Deschutes pale ale earlier tonight." By this time, I was exasperated. This has happened to me at other places that have touted their "great" beer selection, but didn't seem to have the beers that I wanted. Looking at the beer menu - again - I found a Bell's Midwestern Pale Ale. She said, "I know we have that. I just served one to a guy a few moments ago." Indeed, they did have that.
The food menu at Flying Saucer in St. Louis is, well, limited. There's the usual bar appetizers - wings, chicken strips, beef nachos, chips with queso cheese - but they also had bacon wrapped jalapenos that were stuffed with seasoned beef and chorizo, as well as housemade pretzels and corn-battered bratwursts. For main course food, it was pretty basic - sandwiches and burgers. They did have shepherd's pie, a bratwurst entree and pizzas that were called Saucer Pie's that featured what I would call eclectic toppings such as applewood smoked bacon, spicy beef, arugula, avocados and roasted red peppers.
I thought about getting the shepherd's pie, but I ended up ordering the French dip. It came with fries and au jus on the side. The roast beef was thinly cut and piled high on a crisp hoagie bun. Quite frankly, it was just all right. Not bad, but not great. The au jus was highly salty and for a guy like me who doesn't eat a lot of salt it was a little overpowering.
Cindy ordered the smoked turkey sandwich and instead of fries she got a side salad with the jalapeno vinaigrette that she thought she'd try. The sandwich was topped with avocado and Swiss cheese with lettuce and tomato slices finished with a jalapeno/pesto mayo on a La Baccia bun. She said the sandwich, too, was just "all right". She did offer me a bite of her salad with the jalapeno vinaigrette. It was a bit spicy, but not overpowering. Actually, the dressing was quite good.
A couple weeks after we'd dined at the Flying Saucer, I told my dealer in St. Louis that we had gone there and told him that even though they had a bunch of beers to choose from the first two I ordered were out of stock and that the food was just all right. He said, "Yeah, I know. We went there about a month ago (before we went) and they pulled the same thing - out of a couple beers that we ordered. And I thought the one in Little Rock was much better than the one in St. Louis in terms of beer selection."
If you're into places with a good beer selection the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in St. Louis is worth a visit. The food was just average - at best - and there isn't much of a food menu. Go for the beer - that is, if they have what you're looking for - and eat somewhere else.
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