Road Tips

Iron Barley - St. Louis

A place in the greater St. Louis area that has been on my radar for quite some time - Iron Barley - has gained a measure of national notoriety over the past couple three years after it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, and Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel.  I had first discovered Iron Barley in an article in (I believe it was) Gourmet magazine a number of years ago, but I had never gotten around to go have a meal there.  I had a meeting with a potential dealer on the south side of St. Louis recently and found out that Iron Barley was located just off of Interstate 55.  I made it a point to stop for lunch when I was down that way.

Iron Barley began in 2001 when longtime chef Tom Coghill decided to trade in his corporate chef's hat for a bandana and offer a down-home, Southern style of food fare in a unpretentious setting.  Coghill had been a chef at the Hyatt which was formerly at Union Station, then at the old Adam's Mark hotel in St. Louis.  He then went to Frazer's, an eclectic restaurant in the Benton Park area of St. Louis, just across Interstate 55 from the Anheuser-Busch brewery.  While at Frazer's, Coghill began to experiment with cooking food in an iron skillet using his co-workers as "guinea pigs".  Most of the concoctions that he came up with were done by the seat of his pants, but some of the better ideas he came up with showed up on the menu when he opened in May of 2003.  The name Iron Barley comes from Coghill's pairing of iron skillet-made food with his love for the finest in locally and Midwestern micro-brews that he offers at his place.

Pictured at right - Tom Coghill  (Picture courtesy Riverfront Times)

Coghill struggled for quite some time getting his little place the exposure that it needed.  He was having to cut hours and staff when Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives showed up in the fall of 2007 to film a segment on his funky little place.  Between the time the piece was filmed and when it was aired in March of 2008, Coghill was contemplating closing his doors.  But after it was shown on The Food Network, and the subsequent showing of his place on Man vs. Food, business has been brisk.  Coghill was quoted in an article in the Riverfront Times that his appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives "saved me".  

Coghill smokes his meats with oak wood giving it a backyard type of flavor with his chicken, seafood, beef and pork.  The "Sammiches" feature old style comfort food favorites such as a hot beef sandwich to the more bizarre Ballistic Elvis - strawberry jam with crunchy peanut butter, grilled bananas, and topped with American cheese and hot pepper flakes on Texas toast.  (For a couple bucks more, you can have it topped with bacon.)   And the Iron Barley is famous for their hot dogs, most significantly the Monte Cristo - 2 1/2 grilled hot dogs topped with strawberry jam and Swiss cheese.  I understand their chili dogs - also 2 1/2 grilled hot dogs with a liberal amount of homemade chili on top - are pretty damn good.

It was just before noon when I pulled up in front of the Iron Barley on E. Virginia Ave., just off Exit 203 on Interstate 55. (see map)  The neighborhood looks a little mixed and signs in front of the place warned people to not leave valuables in plain sight in your car.  I walked through the front door and it puts you in the bar area with the dining room off to the left.  The first thing that sort of took me aback was that it wasn't that large of a place. The dining room featured brick walls with barn board molding along the top.  The tables and chairs are nothing fancy - it's truly a bar that has food.  

The bar area at Iron Barley features a few tables and chairs along the wall with a seven seat bar on the opposite side.  The kitchen is in the back with a pick up window that allows you to see inside.  The decor at Iron Barley is probably best categorized as "funky chic".  I immediately liked it.  

I ended up sitting at the bar and picked up a menu that was sitting in a holder at the bar.  It was a basic menu printed on paper, nothing fancy, just like Iron Barley.  But the food is a different story.  Other than the aforementioned smoked meats, "sammiches" and hot dogs, Iron Barley has some soup and salads, lunch "sammiches" that are served up to 4:00 p.m. (Those include a strip steak sandwich topped with chili mayo, and a fried egg sandwich with two eggs topped with lettuce, tomato, bacon, American and provel cheeses with Russian dressing on toasted rye bread.)   The entrees at Iron Barley are an interesting mix of American and International foods such as Oak roasted pork chops, schnitzel and spaetzle, and a Spanish seafood stew called Zarzuela that has shrimp, mussels, clams, squid and pieces of whitefish in a tomato saffron sauce with wagon wheel pasta.  

My bartender/server came over to greet me and she told me of three specials they had that day - a homemade lasagna, chili mac and cheese (Iron Barley's homemade chili mixed with elbow macaroni and topped with cheese), and a barbecue brisket sandwich.  A homemade pasta salad came with the brisket sandwich along with their homemade caraway cole slaw.  I had looked through the menu before she came over and when she said "Barbecue brisket sandwich", I sort of forgot about everything else.  When I stepped out of my car, I could smell the pungent oak wood smoke in the air.  I took the brisket sandwich special.  Or wait - I mean, "SAMMICH"!

Not long after I ordered, my sandwich with sides was set down in front of me.  The sandwich was served open face on a toasted hoagie bun which was covered with a liberal amount of sliced brisket.  The sauce was cooked in with the sliced meat.   

From the first bite, I was hooked.  Now, I really wish that I could discern spices in food better than I do, but the taste of the sauce with the meat was very different from most other barbecue sauces that I had.  I could tell there was some chili powder in the barbecue sauce as it gave the taste of the meat a little kick.  But there were some other spices in the sauce that confounded me.  All I knew is that I liked it.  The brisket was thin and tender and I ate the beef off the bread to be able to experience the whole flavor.  

The caraway cole slaw had a sort of pinkish color to it, but it had a fine flavor with a hint of caraway.  But the  pasta salad was a big hit - large chunks of tomatoes and artichoke hearts with wagon wheel pasta in a creamy Italian dressing.  It had a great taste and went well with the smoky, spicy taste of the barbecue beef sandwich.   

Iron Barley also has a once a month Beer Club of tastings of local and Midwestern craft beers on their patio in the back.  The beers they have on tap, as well as in bottles, is an interesting mix.  I understand that their beer tasting - usually featuring five or six different beers - is a popular event. 

Iron Barley was everything that I hoped it would be.  Interesting food, eclectic beers, and a fun and funky sort of personality to the place.  I'm not certain I'm going to be able to sign up the dealer in South St. Louis, but I can see me coming back to the Iron Barley to try something else at some point.  I was extremely happy with my sandwich - whoops!  SAMMICH!  And the sides were very good, as well.  A trip to Iron Barley has been a long time coming for me and the wait was well worth it.

Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen - Webster Groves, MO

When I get together with the guys from one of my dealers in St. Louis, we usually go to Llewelyn's for some appetizers and beer along with some business discussion.  Before a recent trip to St. Louis, I contacted one of the guys at the store and let him know I would be coming down.  He said, "Oh, man!  We have to take you to a new place.  It's a Cajun-slash-barbecue place not far from our store."  The place he was talking about is called Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen.  

Actually, it's not a new place - it's been in business since 2006.  Bill Kunz and Dave Freese (not the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman) started the restaurant in what had originally been an old Streetside Records shop in the Old Orchard entertainment area of Webster Groves.  Previous to Highway 61 Roadhouse's opening, it housed a couple three restaurants in the building.  So while it isn't new to the general public, the guys from my dealer in St. Louis didn't know about the place until earlier this year.

After doing a couple demos for the guys, then listening to a couple audio systems they had set up in the store, we made our way to Highway 61 Roadhouse just south of Big Bend Boulevard on Old Orchard Ave. (see map) We made our way inside and found a table near the bar.  The table was not very large, even though there was only three of us, and it was very wobbly.  One of the guys reached under the table to put a folded wad of napkins under one of the legs.  The chairs weren't very comfortable, either.  One of the guys said, "The only thing bad about this place are the tables and chairs.  The tables are too small and they're not very stable." If that's the only thing bad about Highway 61 Roadhouse, then that was fine with me.  

The interior of the Roadhouse was sort of kitschy, but in a good way.  They have live music at Highway 61 Roadhouse - primarily blues with some jazz on Thursday nights.  I understand they'll have a zydeco band come to play in the place from time to time.  The main dining area had a stage on one end with a number of tables on the floor and booths along the wall.  There was an upstairs dining area that can be used for private functions and overflow dining.  The Roadhouse also has a expansive outside dining area on the south side of the building that wraps around to the front side.  The patio is open when the weather turns nice.  Since we had a pretty mild spring in the Midwest, the patio opened in March of this year.    

The bar area had a number of lighted old beer signs, as well as some kitschy items that were actually pretty interesting to see.  A couple flat screen televisions had a baseball game on the screen.  The back bar featured a lot of ornate wood and a chalk board that listed their draft beers.

Prior to going to the Roadhouse, I was told that they had Magic Hat 9 beer on tap.  Since I was first exposed to the beer at The Standard in Elmhurst, IL, I've found a number of places that offer the beer in the Midwest.  It's not available in Iowa as of yet, but I'm guessing that it will be soon.  All three of us signed up for a Magic Hat 9.  

Another waitress brought us over some menus and I took a look through the one I had.  The Roadhouse not only featured Cajun and barbecue specialties, but they also had soups and salads, a number of delectable appetizers, specialty pizzas, and a couple three pasta dishes including barbecued spaghetti.  They take a plate of pasta and top it with chunks of pulled pork and their homemade barbecue sauce.  I've seen barbecued spaghetti on menus before, but have never had it.  

The first thing one of the guys ordered was a couple baskets of Highway 61's smoked chicken wings.  They smoke the wings and then toss them in a container of the house "Voodoo" sauce.  And he also ordered some of their Louisiana barbecued shrimp - they take peeled shrimp and bake them in a pot that has a Worcestershire/butter sauce infused with herbs and spices.  

I was a little leery of the smoked wings, but when they were brought to the table I could smell the smoke on the meat and the wonderful sweet and spicy voodoo sauce that glazed the outside of the wings.  The sweetness of the sauce helped keep the spicy taste in check.  I'm not big on smoked chicken, but I have to say that the smoked chicken wings at Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen were delicious.  The smoked chicken wing platters are pictured below left.  I couldn't get a picture taken quick enough before one of the guys already had gnawed on a couple of wings.   

But the highlight was the barbecue shrimp (above right).  It was served in a small crock and had an ample amount of shrimp swimming in the Worcestershire/butter herb sauce.  French bread was served with the barbecue shrimp and dipping the bread in the sauce was just as good as eating the shrimp out of the crock.  It was heavenly in many ways.  

I wanted to try a cup of the gumbo before we ordered any more food.  The menu described the gumbo at the Roadhouse as a chicken and andouille sausage in dark spicy broth served with rice.  When she brought out the "cup" of gumbo, I immediately said, "Wait a minute.  I wanted a cup, not a bowl."

She said, "This is a cup."  I told her that if that was a cup, I'd hate to see how big their bowls were.  

One of the guys said, "The portions are huge here.  We generally can't eat everything on the plate."

The gumbo was also outstanding.  I think I make pretty damned good gumbo at home and I have to say that Highway 61's gumbo was one of the best I've had at a Cajun restaurant - or any restaurant, for that matter.  The gumbo featured large chunks of flavorful andouille sausage and tender chicken chunks.  I especially liked the roux-based broth.  It was thick and had a little spicy kick to the taste.  I jacked it up even more with ample amounts of Tabasco.  

We decided to order up a couple things for each of us to try "family style."  I was told the voodoo shrimp sandwich was absolutely one of the things to order.  They take peeled shrimp, roll them in flour with Cajun spices added to it, deep fried to a golden brown color, then shaken in a container with their voodoo sauce.  I sort of try to stay away from deep fried shrimp, but I was assured these things were to die for.  They then take the voodoo shrimp and put it on a hoagie bun, then top it with mozzarella cheese and applewood smoked bacon.  "The bacon is unbelievable," one of the guys told me.  "I don't know how they make their bacon, but the taste is unbelievable."  

For the other entree, we decided upon the smothered catfish - a farm-raised, lightly breaded and pan-fried catfish filet served on a bed of rice and then topped with ample amounts of Highway 61's shrimp and crawfish etoufee.  You also got to choose one side from a list that included red rice and beans, green beans, fried okra, sweet potato pie (Yep! As a side!), and even the barbecue spaghetti.  We ended up choosing the mac and cheese.  

Once the food hit the table, we weren't too certain we were hungry.  But the wonderful smells of the voodoo shrimp and the catfish smothered in the etoufee were overwhelming.  It's amazing how something that smells so good can make your full stomach suddenly find room for more food.  The voodoo shrimp was everything I was told it would be.  We picked the off some of the shrimp that hadn't been covered with the cheese and bacon.  Oh, my God, were they great!  I love that sweet and spicy voodoo sauce at Highway 61 Roadhouse!  But the killer taste sensation was the mozzarella cheese coated applewood smoked bacon slices.  I pulled one off the top of the shrimp and took a bite.  It was so sinfully great that I almost cried.  I did pull some of the cheese off the bacon and had a bite of the bacon on its own.  Just like it was described to me, the bacon was so flavorful and delectable.  One of the guys said, "They have a Sunday brunch here that I want to come to at some point.  I know they have the bacon on the menu for their brunch.  I could just gorge myself on the bacon."

The smothered catfish was also declared excellent by the guys.  I especially liked the crawfish and shrimp etoufee sauce.  It was a nice dark sauce - darker than most etoufee I've seen in the past.  It had a little kick to it.  I'm not big on catfish, so I focused on bites of the etoufee and rice.  On it's own, the etoufee and rice were worth getting the smothered catfish.

And surprisingly, the mac and cheese side was also very good.  It featured a lot of cheese with ample amounts of bread crumbs mixed in.  One of the guys basically took the mac and cheese and finished it off when myself and the other guy decided we were full.  We still had food on the table - about half of the smothered catfish was eaten, but most of the etoufee was gone.  And all the voodoo shrimp and bacon were gone off the sandwich, but only the tomatoes, lettuce and hoagie bun were left. 

I have to say that everything that I had at Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen was very good to excellent.  The service was good, as well.  I liked the ambiance and the decor was fun and interesting.  But the food was the winner at the Roadhouse.  The voodoo shrimp, the applewood smoked bacon, the smoked chicken wings, the barbecued shrimp - all top notch.  I get worried when restaurants have such an extensive menu, generally because I quickly find out that they don't do varied types of cuisine well.  But Highway 61 Roadhouse did everything all right in my book.

PM Barbecue - Chesterfield, MO

During a trip to St. Louis earlier this summer, I spent the night in west suburban Chesterfield.  With a plethora of dining options in the immediate area, I didn't really know what I wanted to get that evening.  Using Urbanspoon, I took a look at all the available cuisines in the immediate area.  Barbecue sounded good that evening and I decided to head over to a place called PM Barbecue to see what it was like.

Like many barbecue places, PM BBQ got its start when two friends, Paul Lamers and Mark Ruck, began to enter local barbecue competitions a few years ago.  They consistently won a number of competitions and began to sell their barbecue at the Wildwood Farmers Market in nearby Wildwood, MO.  As their following grew, they decided to open their own restaurant.  They did so in March of 2010 in the Chesterfield Towne Center in the Chesterfield valley.  (see map)

In fact, PM BBQ is located right next to El Maguey (see my entry on El Maguey here).  I remember the barbecue place from before as it was past 8 p.m. when I got to El Maguey on my last visit there and PM Barbecue was closed for the evening.  And because the popular upscale Wild Horse Grill is next door on the other side of PM BBQ, the parking area in front of the three restaurants was pretty packed when I pulled in around 6:30 p.m.

PM BBQ isn't all that big, but is sort of quaint and homey with antique signs and knick-knacks on the wall.  They have metal bucket light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  Older style wooden chairs and tables were throughout the dining area.

The menu for the restaurant is pretty basic.  They have a handful of sandwiches that include brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken and smoked turkey.  They feature smoked baby back ribs and smoked chicken as an entree.  Curiously, they don't offer either pulled pork or brisket as part of a dinner (although both can be bought in 1 pound packs when available).  And because of that, there is no sampler that would allow one to try two or three of the smoked meats PM BBQ offers.  

PM Barbecue cooks their meats in the Memphis style of barbecue - a homemade dry spice and herb rub is put on the meat and it's smoked low and slow for tenderness and taste.  They offer four different styles of barbecue sauce on the table - more on that in a little bit.

The menu board for the restaurant is located on the wall behind the front counter.  You place your order and pay for your food there, give them your name and they'll call it out if they're busy.  If they're not, like the night I was in there, they'll bring the food out to you.  Since they didn't offer any type of a sampler plate, I had to make up my mind between the brisket or pulled pork sandwich, or the baby back ribs.  I decided upon the brisket and I had my choice of two sides.  They offered baked beans, green beans, cole slaw, potato salad, fries, and homemade applesauce.  I got the baked beans and fries.  I almost got the green beans, but decided to get the fries to dip in the different sauces they have to offer.  

It was about 10 minutes after I ordered when the young man who took my order brought out my sandwich platter.  The brisket was piled on a wonderful soft bun and had a nice little pink smoke ring on the outside.  The French fries were pretty basic - thin and average.  But the baked beans were actually very good. They were thick and had nice chunks of brisket ends added in.  I usually have to add some sauce to most baked beans I have at some barbecue restaurants, but the beans at PM BBQ were very good on their own.  I did experiment by adding sauces to it and they were even better.

Ah, yes!  The sauces!  As I said, PM BBQ offers four different types of sauces - a sweet sauce that was rich and flavorful; a spicy sauce that had a great kick to the taste; a mustard sauce that was, well, 'eh!' (but I'm not big on mustard sauces); and a vinegar, red pepper and black pepper Carolina style sauce that was just fabulous.  It had a great peppery taste with a little spicy kick.  The combination of the vinegar and the peppers was a great taste sensation.  

I ate the brisket slices, adding the different barbecue sauces with each bite.  The brisket was tender, juicy and very flavorful even without the sauce.  The faint taste of the rub was prevalent in each bite.  The brisket was very, very good.  I used the bun to sop up additional barbecue sauce, primarily the Carolina vinegar/pepper sauce.  

Now, here's a little side story that helps illustrate why I hate to eat alone at times.  On the front door of PM Barbecue, they have a large cowbell that clangs when people go in and out.  It's just another rustic item that helps with the overall ambience of the place.  I was seated near the front door and a portly middle-aged lady came in the door, cowbell clanging.  She was sort of startled by it and she walked right up to me sitting there eating my dinner.  She loudly said to me, "Wow!  They have a cowbell on the door!"  (Like I really cared.)  Then she said, "Well, I hope they didn't take that off the cow they killed for the beef they serve here!"  Ugh!  Just leave me alone!  But I soon found out that she was one of those type of people who bothered everyone around her.  Thank God, she got her order to go and I was finished before she had a chance to bother me again on the way out.

PM BBQ was a pleasant surprise for me. The brisket was very, very good, but the sweet, spicy and Carolina sauces were the highlight of the meal.  The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of a sampler platter.  I would have loved to have tried a quarter rack of ribs and some pulled pork in addition to the brisket.  Although the fries were average, the baked beans were some of the best I've had at a barbecue joint.  Overall, PM BBQ was a pretty good value with very good barbecue.  

Lou Boccardi's - St. Louis

When I get the time when I go to St. Louis, I like to go to Urzi's Market on The Hill to pick up fresh spices, bread crumbs, fresh parmesan cheese and/or olive oil.  (See my entry on Urzi's here.)  Next door to Urzi's is a small Italian restaurant, Lou Boccardi's.  It's been there as long as I've been going to Urzi's, which is getting close to 15 years by now.  I've been in Urzi's at times when you could smell the pizza cooking next door.  I've always wanted to try a pizza at Lou Boccardi's.  On a trip to St. Louis just before Christmas last December, I needed to stop at Urzi's.  Since it was early in the afternoon and I needed to get some lunch, I stopped into Lou Boccardi's to try it out.  (See map)

Born and raised near Naples, Italy, just before the Second World War, Luigi Boccardi and his younger brother, Guiseppe, came to the United States hoping to find a better place in life.  They ended up in St. Louis helping a cousin work in an Italian restaurant.  Guiseppe - "Joe" - eventually opened a pizza restaurant in far southwest suburban Eureka in 1971.  Today, Joe Boccardi's has three restaurants around the greater St. Louis area. 

Luigi "Lou" Boccardi opened his little Italian restaurant on the Hill in 1972 using old family recipes.  Much of the pasta and the sauces were made in-house, and the pizza dough was made from scratch each day. Even their sausage was made in-house using a family recipe with specific spices. Lou Boccardi made thin-crust Neapolitan style pizzas that people from all over would come to try.  He was even known to freeze some of his pizzas and send them to people hundreds of miles away.  

Lou Boccardi passed away in 1985 and his daughter, Lilly, bought the business ten years later.  It's still the same as it was when it opened 40 years ago this year.  

It was around 1 p.m. through the middle of the week when I stopped into Lou Boccardi's.  The lady behind the bar asked me if I wanted to sit at the bar or at a table in the upper level.  I decided to sit at the bar since it was bright outside and I could easily read my St. Louis Post Dispatch that I brought in to read during lunch.  The bar area was decorated in festive Christmas ornaments and lights.  Large, antique wooden soldier nutcrackers stood at the far end of the bar by the window.   

Lou Boccardi's, compared to other restaurants on the Hill, is tiny.  Next to the bar area is a small eating area consisting of four or five small tables and chairs (above right).  The tables look like they'd be pretty small if you had four people eating pizza or Italian entrees on them.  

Upstairs are two small dining rooms off the side of the kitchen (right).  Both have the same small tables as the dining area off the side of the bar has.  The rooms were small, quaint and cozy.  It was like stepping back into a small Italian restaurant in the 40's or 50's.  

Looking through the menu, Lou Boccardi's is not unlike many of the other Italian restaurants on the Hill.  They have the main Italian dishes you'll normally find at any Italian restaurant.  But I was there for the pizza.  Through the week, Lou Boccardi's has a lunch special where you can order a 9" pizza and a side salad for $9.95.  I ordered my standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  The very pleasant lady asked me what dressing I wanted on my salad and I asked what were their house dressings.  She said, "Well, we have two.  We have a house Italian and a homemade celery - anchovy."

I said, "Wait a minute.  Celery and anchovy?"

She said, "Oh yes.  We puree the anchovies and celery in a little bit of olive oil.  It's really refreshing.  Some people don't like it, but I sure do."  I asked if I could get both on the side.  She said it would be no problem. 

I was a little apprehensive of the anchovy/celery dressing.  When she brought out the salad, the small tub of green dressing looked more like soupy guacamole.  I dipped a little of the lettuce into the dressing and I was pleasantly surprised with the taste.  It was very refreshing on the tongue.  I didn't get that fishy anchovy taste, nor did I get a overpowering celery taste to the dressing.  It was like the two canceled each other out and created this light, lively taste.  I tried some of the Italian dressing and it was similar to a lot of other sweet oil and vinegar dressings you find on the Hill.  I went with the anchovy/celery dressing, mopping the remaining bits of it out of the small container with a piece of fresh Italian bread.  

Not long after I finished my salad, the lady brought out a small rectangular baking pan that had my small pizza in it.  The pizza itself was more rectangular than round and large chunks of mushrooms (canned, not fresh) along with multiple slices of pepperoni were on top.  I had a hard time finding the sausage, however, and an even more hard time tasting them on the pizza.  They were there, but the sausage was very bland in taste.  

Another small problem with the pizza was that it was a typical St. Louis-style pizza with creamy provel cheese rather than mozzarella.  Honestly, I don't mind provel cheese on pizza, but I'd rather have mozzarella.  I told the lady when she asked how my pizza was after a couple pieces that I forgot that I was in St. Louis and they use provel on their pizzas here.  I asked if mozzarella was available - on my next visit - and she said, "Well, yeah, we can put mozzarella on there for you.  But it would be an additional charge."

I said, "An additional charge instead of provel?"

"No," she replied.  Then she changed her mind, "Yes!"  I was confusing her and she was confusing me.  She said, "You know, all these pizza places around here use provel."

I said, "Well, yes, but I know of a couple three around the Hill where you can request mozzarella instead of provel."

She said, "Really?  Where?"

I couldn't remember the name of the places at the time, but I've had mozzarella on pizzas at Milo's, Guido's, and Rigazzi's, all within walking distance from Lou Boccardi's.  

Now, I really want to say that I liked the pizza at Lou Boccardi's, but I really can't. The sauce was good, but I wasn't really in the mood for provel cheese that particular day.  The sausage was lifeless and bland, but the pepperoni slices had a nice spiciness to them.  The mushrooms were processed and didn't add much to the whole taste of the pizza.  But the crust was thin, but not so thin that it was "cheese on a cracker" as some thin-crust detractors like to call St. Louis-style pizza.  The pizza was just OK, at best - definitely not the best on the Hill. 

While I should go back and try it again with mozzarella cheese, I can think of about six or seven other places I'd rather go back to in St. Louis before I'd go back to Lou Boccardi's.  I really did like the quaint atmosphere at the restaurant, although it looked like it could be a little tight in there if the restaurant was full.   But the cozy atmosphere doesn't help if the food isn't good.  Now, the anchovy/celery dressing was outstanding.  I don't know about their pasta dishes, but I wasn't overly impressed with their pizza.  And that's too bad.  One of these days down the road I'll probably stop back into Lou Boccardi's to try a pizza with mozzarella cheese on it.  But it will be much further down the road.

 

El Maguey - Chesterfield, MO

I really can't tell you about the first time I ate at an El Maguey Mexican restaurant in the St. Louis area.  It may have been back in 1994 when I was working for a company based out of the far western St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield whose office was near the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in the Chesterfield Valley.  I just remember the food being very good and thinking that the pronunciation of the place was "El MAG-way".  

A few years later, I was working for a company based out of St. Peters, another far western suburb of St. Louis.  The sales manager of the company asked me if I wanted to go eat Mexican for lunch, someplace called "El Ma-GUY".  He said it was over in St. Charles, not far from the office.  When we went to the St. Charles location, I said, "Oh, I've eaten at one of these before!"  Only I thought it was pronounced El MAG-way."  

My sales manager looked at me like I was a complete Midwestern hick.  "It's El Ma-GUY!"  I am such an uncultured dweeb sometimes.  But, then, that was a long time ago...

On a recent trip to St. Louis, I found myself staying in the Chesterfield valley one evening and I found out that there was an El Maguey not far from the hotel.  I took a short trip over to the one off of Long Road in the Chesterfield Towne Center, right in the flight path of Spirit of St. Louis airport.  (see map)

I can't tell you how many El Maguey's there are in the St. Louis area.  I've seen them in Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield, MO.  I have eaten at - maybe - six different El Maguey's around the St. Louis area over the years - a couple of them I've been there multiple times in the past.  I was somewhat surprised that I'd never written about El Maguey before this.

The name of the restaurant comes from the name of a Mexican plant from which Mezcal is extracted from, then distilled.  The maguey plant is a close relative to the agave plant from which top-notch tequila is made from.  They extract the Mezcal from the heart of the agave plant known as the "pina".   Mezcal is the Mexican liquor in which the worm comes at the bottom of the bottle.  But not all Mezcal bottles have the worm - it started out as a mistake in the 30's when an infestation of larvae from a moth that lives in the maguey plant got into some of the bottles during the distilling and bottling process.  Some companies then used this as a marketing ploy and began to put the little larvae worms in the bottles with the Mezcal.  Today, most of the Mezcal that is produced comes from the Oaxaca region of Mexico.  Over 500 distilleries are located in Oaxaco.  I had Mezcal one time back in the 70's when I was much younger and much more stupid than I am today.  I think I saw Jesus that night...

I don't exactly know when the first El Maguey came into being, but today there are about 40 El Maguey franchise locations in Missouri and Kansas.  In doing some research for this entry, the name Martin Leon came up in connection with many of the El Maguey locations from St. Louis to Topeka, KS.  I don't know if he was the founder of the original El Maguey, but I'm guessing he has something to do with the overall corporate structure of the company.  

When I pulled into the parking lot of the Chesterfield Towne Center that one evening, I immediately remembered that I had eaten at this particular El Maguey location at one point and not all that long ago.  It is located less than 100 yards from where the company I used to work for back in the early to mid-90's was located.  But the land on which the Chesterfield Towne Center sits today was a large open field back then.  

The dining area of this particular El Maguey is open and spacious.  The well lit room features a number of tables in the center with booths lining the walls.  A young man greeted me when I came in and escorted me to a booth - I remember sitting in the exact same booth on my previous visit - and he handed me a menu.  

The first thing I did before he walked away was to order one of El Maguey's large margaritas.  I've always liked El Maguey's margaritas - the mix is not too sweet and syrupy like you find at a number of other Mexican restaurants.  And they always seem to pack it with a generous amount of tequila.  After mixing up this particular margarita and taking a sip, it confirmed my assertion - there was a LOT of tequila in this one.  

The menu at El Maguey is really not unlike many other Mexican restaurants that I've been to over the years.  We have a lot of Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois and the menu at El Maguey could literally be interchanged with some of them.  We used to joke that a Number 4 combination and a Number 22 combination on the menu at one of the Azteca locations in the Quad Cities is the same as the Number 4 and the Number 22 at El Maguey.  We figured that there had to be one guy who overlords all of the Mexican menus at places like El Maguey and Azteca.  

El Maguey features, of course, fajitas that include your choice of beef, chicken, shrimp or chorizo (or all four, if you want).  But they also feature a vegetarian fajita and something called the Fajitas del Mar - a seafood fajita entree that features tilapia, shrimp and crab meat.  I don't know if I've ever seen a seafood fajita entree on a menu at a Mexican restaurant.  I was seriously considering getting that.  They also feature a number of Mexican style steak entrees, as well as a number of chicken dishes.  Their quesadillas are very good and I do like their Quesadilla Jalisco which consists of El Maguey's succulent grilled shrimp mixed with beans.  There's something about El Maguey's shrimp that sets me off.  I don't know if it's the seasoning they use or the way they grill it, but the grilled shrimp I've had at any El Maguey is outstanding to my taste buds.

I looked at enchiladas (their Enchilada Maguey - filled with grilled shrimp - is to die for), their burritos (the Burrito Mexicano with pork is excellent, as well) and chimichangas.  They have a Carnitas Dinner entree that I've had and is also very good - they take seasoned slow-roasted pork and serve it with rice, beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and grilled onions.  And, of course, I had to go through their combinations - over 30 of them - all of which cost $8.25 each.

I was torn between getting something with shrimp and something with pork.  I did the best of both worlds with a  shrimp chimichanga and a pork taco a la carte.  The waiter asked if I wanted my taco with a hard corn shell or a soft flour shell.  I went with the soft shell that evening.  It wasn't long before both the taco and the chimichanga showed up at my table.  

The first thing I ate was the pork taco.  It was the slow roasted carnitas style of pork that I like at El Maguey and it was outstanding.  A little bit of lettuce and cheese was sprinkled on top and I didn't need to add any of El Maguey's very good salsa to the taco.  The succulent taste of the pork jumped out with each bite.  

After getting my pork fix for the evening, the shrimp chimichanga was next.  It was smaller than the pork or beef tipped chimichangas I've had at an El Maguey in the past.  There were - perhaps - 10 medium sized shrimp inside the flour tortilla wrap.  And the wrap was entirely too large for the chimichanga.  I was getting more of the tortilla with each bite than I was the shrimp, so much so that about halfway through eating the chimichanga that I just started picking the shrimp out of the inside of the chimichanga and eating it like that.  Like I say, there's something about the shrimp at an El Maguey's that just sets me off and these were no exception.  I wonder if I could just go into El Maguey and order a couple dozen grilled shrimp - no sides - and see what they'd charge me for it.  

The beans and rice were serviceable - not much to talk about there.  El Maguey's guacamole is above average and they never give me enough when I order a chimichanga from there.  I should just order some guacamole dip when I go there and quit bitchin' about not getting enough of the stuff.

El Maguey is always a predictable outcome for me.  The food is good and they have a number of items to choose from.  The service is good, as well.  The chips and salsa are good.  The margaritas are good.  If you're looking for "good" Mexican food, but nothing outstanding or flashy like you may find at more adventurous Mexican restaurants, El Maguey is going to suit your needs.  It's family friendly, fast and efficient, and I've never had a bad experience during all the years I've eaten at an El Maguey.  I can see where some people may not like the food, while others will rave about the place.  Put me in the middle, but more so to the "rave" end of the spectrum. 

Schlafly Bottleworks - St. Louis

I don't get to St. Louis as often as I'd like to any longer.  With the closing of Ultimate Electronics earlier this year, followed by the closing of the American TV stores in the St. Louis area this past summer, then soon after that, the announcement of the closing of one of my independent retailers, St. Louis is suddenly a dormant market for me.  I was in town to try to convince a former dealer of mine to come back on board with us and I had a chance to have lunch at the Schlafly Bottleworks on the southwest side of the city (see map).  

I've eaten at the Schlafly Tap Room before (see that entry here) and I remember the food being pretty good.  The Schlafly beer is above average, but a little too sweet for me at times.   Still, I do like their pale ale and their Oktoberfest beers.  Since it was late September when I was there, the Oktoberfest beer was on tap and flowing.

The condensed history of Schlafly's is pretty interesting.  In the late 80's, local lawyer Tom Schlafly was instrumental in getting Missouri laws changed to allow brew pubs in the state.  Once that went through, Schlafly teamed up with a local St. Louis man, Dan Kopman (left - picture courtesy St. Louis Business Journal) to realize his dream of opening a brewpub in St. Louis.  Kopman had studied in Scotland during his college years and became enthralled with all things beer.  He worked for a time for the Wells and Young's brewery, first in production, then in export sales.   

After moving back to St. Louis, Kopman hooked up with Schlafly primarily to just start a microbrewery, not a brew pub.  When it became apparent that they'd need the food to help supplement the cost of building a brewery, they decided to do the brew pub concept.  They looked at a handful of buildings just west of the downtown area before settling on a nearly 90 year old structure that once housed a printing company, but had largely been vacant for about 15 years.  They named their company the St. Louis Brewing Company, hired their first brewmaster in Dave Miller, then opened up the brewery and the Schlafly Tap Room.  

The steady growth of Schlafly beer products, primarily the bottling process, necessitated a larger brewing facility.  They were approaching 10,000 barrels brewed annually and Schlafly and Kopman figured they needed a facility that could do three to four times that capacity.  Kopman found a building that formerly housed grocery store at the corner of Southwest Ave. and Manchester and the partners bought the property.  They spent over $1 million dollars in setting up and renovating the building and the Schlafly Bottleworks opened in 2003.  

The bottling line at the Schlafly Bottleworks -  

With distribution now approaching 10 states in the Midwest and South (we began to get Schlafly beers in Iowa earlier this year), the capacity of the Bottleworks is fast approaching its capacity of 45,000 to 50,000 barrels annually.  In the summer of 2010, Schlafly contracted with the Stevens Point Brewery in Wisconsin to brew and can their Summer Lager beer.  And earlier this year, Kopman announced that they had signed an agreement with Nashville-based Blackstone Brewery to brew Schlafly beers to increase distribution in the Southeast.  The head brewer of Blackstone Brewery is Dave Miller, who left the Schlafly brewery to head up the brewery at the Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery when it opened.  Blackstone just opened a new facility that features a 30 barrel brewhouse similar to the size Schlafly has in St. Louis.    

Stephen Hale is the current brewmaster for Schlafly's, which produces six year-round brews and over 40 seasonal or special brews.  Still known to many as "the other brewery" in St. Louis, Schlafly is celebrating their 20th year of business with a limited series of four commemorative beers including an Imperial Pilsner and a Citrus Witbier.  

I've been to the Bottleworks for beers a couple three times in the past, but had never gone there for food.  The food menu consists of locally grown natural foods and produce.  They also feature pizza at the Schlafly Bottleworks with toppings such as bison, goat cheese and a host of fresh vegetables.  Their appetizers are well-known throughout the St. Louis area for such eclectic items as their sausage platter that features lamb, salsiccia (sweet St. Louis-style pork sausage), and andouille sausages; as well as their bison nachos.       

Schlafly Bottleworks has a large bar area (above left) that features just bartender service for food and drink, along with a dining room with full waitstaff service.  In the warmer months, the Bottleworks has a very nice beer garden that offers dining al fresco (above right).  Even though it was a beautiful fall day when I was there, I decided to eat inside at the bar. 

The guy seated next to me at the bar was eating one of Schlafly Bottleworks pizzas - a 10" thin crust pizza that had multitudes of toppings on it.  Since I was going out for dinner with my dealer that evening, I quickly knocked the pizza off my list of possibilities.  

Another thing that completely caught my attention on the menu was their meat loaf entree.  It featured bison, ground beef and andouille sausage mixed together and topped with an oatmeal stout tomato sauce.  That sounded great, but it also sounded way too filling for lunch.  I've got to go back to Schlafly Bottleworks for that at some point.  

I ended up opting for the bison burger - an 8 oz. lean bison patty on a brioche bun.  For extra measure, I had them put some bacon and Swiss cheese on top.  Cole slaw came with the bison burger.  In the meantime, I had already ordered the seasonal Oktoberfest beer they had on tap.  

 Here's the bison burger as it was presented to me.  Most bison burgers are usually too lean and they dry out from the cooking process.  I have to say the bison burger at the Bottleworks was one of the better ones I've ever had - coming very close to the bison burger at the Ted's Montana Grills that I've visited in the past. It had great flavor and was definitely helped by the cheese and the bacon on top.  The brioche bun was also very good.  

The cole slaw - eh!  It was pretty bland and I only had one bite of it before I decided that it wasn't all that great.  But I definitely finished all of the bison burger.  

After I finished my lunch, I took a quick walk around  the Schlafly Bottleworks to check out the merchandise they have to offer (below left).  In addition to shirts, sweatshirts and other nice items to wear, the Schlafly Bottleworks also sell their beers - at the same price as local grocery and liquor stores so not to undercut their distribution.  However, like nearly every other brewery that sells neat clothing, it was way too expensive for me.   

In the bottleworks is also a small museum that commemorates the history of brewing in St. Louis (above right).  There were old time pictures of breweries and the people who were the pioneers and legends of brewing beer in St. Louis.  An audio/video presentation was playing on one of the flat screen TV's regarding Schlafly beers and their brewery.  

Brewery tours are available at the Bottleworks and it would probably be a fun thing to do at some point.  It isn't all that long and then you have the chance to have some of their good beer and very good food at the end of the tour.  Even if you don't want to do the tour, the Schlafly Bottleworks is a unique destination to have a good in-house brewed beer, good food made with natural ingredients, and a laid-back atmosphere that allows you to chill out and enjoy your food and beer.  Later that evening, my dealer signed up to come back on board with my company's products and I was happy about that.  I was also happy because their store is not far from the Schlafly Bottleworks.  I foresee a number of evenings quaffing a few brews and having some good food.  

 

McGurk's Public House - O'Fallon, MO

When I used to work for my old company out in St. Peters, MO up to 2002, one of the places my ex-boss liked to take us to for a casual lunch or dinner was McGurk's Public House in downtown O'Fallon, MO (see map). Whether it was for a good sandwich or a nice meal, McGurk's Public House was sort of the defacto place to go since it was relatively close to my ex-boss' house in O'Fallon.

 

McGurk's Public House is closely related to John D. McGurk's Irish Pub and Garden in Soulard, one of the most authentic Irish pub's I've ever visited in the United States. Patrick Holloran, the son of McGurk's founder Jim Holloran, teamed up with Matthew McGuire, who was the principal owner of the former King Louie's restaurant on Chouteau Ave. in St. Louis, to open McGurk's about 11 years ago out in O'Fallon. The building that houses McGurk's Public House on S. Main in O'Fallon has been a watering hole for years and years. Holloran and McGuire fixed up the old building and put in an outdoor seating area out back, similar to the garden area at McGurk's Irish Pub.

 

It was a lovely Friday afternoon when I stopped into McGurk's Public House for a quick bite before heading back home. The outdoor seating area was packed with people enjoying the early spring sunshine and there was going to be a short wait if I wanted to sit out there. I decided not to wait and took a seat at the ornate bar at the very front of the restaurant. I looked over a menu knowing that I was probably going to get the reuben sandwich - always one of my favorites at McGurk's Public House - but wanted to remind myself of what else they had to offer.

 

My trip to McGurk's brought back a lot of fun memories of my time working for the company out of St. Peters. I'll never forget the night that we were having dinner there before Christmas and I had forgotten the Christmas present back in the Quad Cities that the company employees had all chipped in on to get for my ex-boss. My wife dutifully drove all the way back to the Quad Cities - four hours each way - to retrieve the present, an etched-stone decorative rock that was made special for the entrance to his home in O'Fallon.

 

Everyone knew that she had gone back for it, except my boss, and they were all doing their best to keep him out of the loop when he kept asking where my wife was, considering she brought me to the office earlier in the day and had come in to say "Hi" to everyone. She finally showed up at McGurk's Public House to a chorus of cheers and wild clapping from my former colleagues, everyone overly appreciative of the effort she did in being on the road over 8 hours that day to retrieve the present that I forgot to pack in the trunk. Even though we didn't give the present to my boss until two days later, my wife was "Queen for a Day" that night with everyone. We had a great time and a LOT of drinks at McGurk's Public House that evening.

 

And even though it had been a number of years since I was last in McGurk's Public House, I do remember the food being pretty good. I remember a very good rib-eye served at McGurk's, topped with their homemade steak butter. They also had a wonderful grilled Iowa pork chop that was served with a side of smoked bacon and gruyere cheese au gratin potato dish that was just out of sight. And from looking at the menu, I remember that they had a very good wedge salad that was unbelievably great for the price - $3.95 - that was a nice sized wedge served with Maytag Blue Cheese. I thought to myself that I needed to come back to McGurk's for dinner at some point.

 

But I was there for lunch and wasn't looking for a huge meal. While the McGurk Burger is pretty good - especially with Swiss cheese and bacon added - and the Dubliner sandwich (roasted pork with white cheddar cheese and Guinness braised onions) is also very good, I went with what I remembered to be one of the best reuben sandwiches I've had at a restaurant. I got a side of McGurk's onion rings to go along with it. I enjoyed a Smithwick's (or two) along with my lunch.

 

A waitress brought my sandwich out and I was ready to eat. The corned beef was cut thick and the Swiss cheese and sauerkraut was slathered on top. I like to order an extra side of 1000 Island dressing to dip my sandwich into. Honey mustard dressing was also served on the side to dip the onion rings into.

 

As I remembered, McGurk's Public House reuben sandwich was just outstanding. It was almost too much food as I couldn't finish the last couple bites of the sandwich and left a good portion of the onion rings on the plate. The corned beef was tender and flavorful, and the homemade swirled rye bread was just wonderful. It truly is one of the most outstanding reuben sandwiches I've ever had.

 

It had been too long since I'd been back to McGurk's Public House in O'Fallon. I don't get out that way all that much any longer, but I may have to make a special trip for dinner at some point. If you're out in St. Charles County and want a good meal at a good Irish bar, it's tough to beat McGurk's Public House.

Ozzie's Restaurant and Sports Bar - St. Louis

Being a big baseball nut, I was sorry to hear about the closing of the original Ozzie's Restaurant and Sports Bar out in Westport Plaza about a year and a half ago.  (See that post here.)  But almost as soon as I wrote that entry on Road Tips, I was informed by a number of people that Ozzie's would soon be reopening in downtown St. Louis in an area of rehabbed and gentrified buildings along Washington Ave. (see map)  It so happened that I had an appointment with a prospective dealer just down the street one day on a recent trip to St. Louis and I made it a point to have lunch at Ozzie's new location. 

The original Ozzie's out in the Westport Plaza featured a plethora of baseball memorabilia courtesy of Ozzie Smith, the former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop and Baseball Hall of Fame member.  It was the ultimate sports bar with televisions throughout the place and a menu that was above average for a typical sports bar.  Over the final couple three years of its existence out at Westport, the food had seemingly gone downhill and Ozzie's was getting a lot of pressure from another sports themed restaurant in the area, Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols' own Pujols 5.   

 

Ozzie Smith was associated by name only in the restaurant, and owner Ray Gallardo - who was the founder of the Casa Gallardo Mexican food restaurants based out of St. Louis - was the owner of the establishment.  Gallardo had a contract with Golub and Co., the Chicago-based owners and developers of Westport Plaza, which said his establishment would be the only sports-theme bar in the complex.  In 2006, Westport allowed Puhols to open a restaurant and told Gallardo that it would be an upscale restaurant with a sports theme.  It turned out that Puhols 5 was closer in theme, style and menu to Ozzie's than it was to an upscale sports restaurant such as Mike Shannon's.

After three years of losses that totaled nearly $500,000, Gallardo filed suit against Golub and Co. for allowing Puhols 5 to open.  He dropped the suit against the developers before he ultimately closed down the original Ozzie's after 20 years of business.  I believe, however, that Gallardo was counter-sued by the owners of Westport, but I never heard of what happened with that particular suit.

In the meantime, Gallardo's son, Roberto, spearheaded the move of the original Ozzie's to what was once an old garment manufacturing building in the Washington Ave. Lofts District in downtown St. Louis.  Ozzie's occupies the first two floors in the building with the main floor being the restaurant and the upper floor being a large party/reception/over-flow room that features a number of autographed jerseys from former Cardinal players on the wall, along with Smith's 13 Gold Glove awards in a large display cabinet along the front wall of the room.  

It was around 1:30 when I made it into Ozzie's.  Parking was available just up the street from the restaurant and I went in the front door.  Just behind the hostess stand was sort of an artsy display of baseballs suspended with wires.  It was actually kind of cool.  A hostess asked me if I wanted a table or if I wanted to sit at the bar.  I decided to sit at the bar and she handed me a menu and I made my way toward the left side of the large rectangular bar. 

 
As I sat down, I looked over to my immediate left and noticed that they had a television literally implanted into the bar (above right).  It had a plexiglas top over the screen which was angled down for better viewing as you sat there.  I thought it was a neat little touch to the place.  I took a quick look behind me at the wall of booths in the place and noticed that each of them had their own personal flat screen television.  A number of larger flat screens were distributed throughout the main floor at Ozzie's. 

It appeared the items on the menu weren't much different from what the original Ozzie's offered before.  Actually, it might be a little smaller than before, but Ozzie's still featured some burgers, sandwiches, the typical bar-type appetizers, salads, and a number of specialty entrees such as steaks, a marsala pork chop and a garlic and herb grilled chicken breast.  One thing that I don't quite remember from the original Ozzie's was breakfast served on the weekends.  The new Ozzie's location features breakfast on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. - something worth thinking about during an upcoming baseball weekend this summer. 

I just wanted to get something simple and I ordered up the marsala mushroom burger - a 1/2 pound burger topped with provelone cheese and a mushroom marsala sauce.  Lettuce, tomato and onion slices came with the burger and I got a side of Ozzie's seasoned fries.  I also ordered up a cold Budweiser to go with my burger for lunch. 

 

It was well past the lunch rush and there were only a few people in the place when I was there so my burger came up relatively quick.  I remember the burgers at the original Ozzie's to be pretty good and this one was just as good as I remember.  I was a little worried that the sweet marsala mushroom sauce would be a little overpowering, but it was a nice fit with the burger and the provolone cheese.  The burger was thick and juicy, full of flavor on its own.  The lightly toasted bun didn't disintegrate from the juicy nature of the burger and the somewhat sloppy marsala mushroom sauce.  It was a multiple napkin burger to say the least.

The burger, itself, was more than enough for lunch, but I tried a few of the fries.  They were OK, but the burger was much better.

Before I left, I went upstairs to the second floor room to look around. It was exceptionally bright up there due to two huge south-facing windowns letting in abundant sunshine into the room. I couldn't get a good enough shot of all the Gold Glove awards that Smith garnered during his illustrious career, but I was able to get a close-up shot of one. And it took my time looking around the room at the jerseys and other memorbilia that Ozzie's had up on the wall. Sitting in front of the display case with the Gold Glove awards, Ozzie's had three double sets of seats from the old Busch Stadium that Smith played in during his career.

I'm certainly glad that Ozzie's is back in business.  Not so much because I think the food is great (it's not - but it's good bar food) or the ambiance is all that inviting and cozy (it's not as nice as the old Ozzie's).  But it's Ozzie's - one of my all-time favorite sports bars.  While the new location appears to be a little smaller than the original, the upper floor offers more space for Cardinal fans to enjoy a few beers and some food before, during and after a Cardinals game.  It's a little bit of a walk from the new Busch Stadium - about 15 or 16 blocks in all - but it's not far from the Scottrade Center, home of the St. Louis Blues, major concerts and other sporting events.  Ozzie's was always a "must visit" when we came to Cardinals games in the past.  I'm sure we'll be back to Ozzie's at some point in the near future. 

(Update - This Ozzie's location has been closed and it reopened at the Lumiere Place Casino.) 

Hodak's - St. Louis

 

My Uncle Jack used to make what I thought was the best fried chicken in the whole world.  One or two times a month he'd get out his lard and beef suet, put it in his well worn electric skillet, batter up some chicken and fry the pieces to a dark golden brown.  Oh, man, was it good.  I was telling a friend of mine in the St. Louis area one time about my uncle's chicken and he said, "The next time you get to St. Louis, you've got to go into Hodak's and try their chicken."

Hodak's is a long-time restaurant landmark in St. Louis, one that has been around for nearly 50 years (and also one that I've driven past hundreds of times over the years).  It started out as a little tavern on the corner of 14th and Emmett where the owners, Tony and Helen, would occasionally bring in their own home-made fried chicken for the patrons to enjoy.  Progress, in the form of Interstate highways, forced Hodak's to move from their 14th and Emmett location (which, today, is right smack in the middle of the I-55/I-44 interchange) to 18th and Russell, where they began to serve their fried chicken full time.  More Interstate roadwork a few years later forced Hodak's to eventually move another three blocks to the Southwest to their present day location at Gravois and McNair.  (see map)

In 1988, Ralph and Charlene Hegel bought Hodak's and put in a few of their own little touches to the place.  Within the next few years they purchased properties around Hodak's to put in parking, expand their dining room to include a larger dining area in the back (pictured at right from Hodak's web site), and eventually put in a banquet room over the main dining room.  But fried chicken continued to be the main draw and even with the expansion over the years, lines still begin to form for lunch at Hodak's well before noon.

That's why I went around 8 p.m. on a cool Tuesday evening during a recent trip to St. Louis.  Even at that hour, there were still a good number of people in the place.  And even though tables and booths were available in both the original and in the expanded dining area, I opted to sit at the rectangular bar.  I ordered a Budweiser and asked for a menu, even though I knew I wanted to try their fried chicken.

Actually, the menu surprised me.  It was a pretty extensive menu other than chicken.  They featured steaks, pork chops, seafood, sandwiches, burgers - just about anything other than chicken if you don't want chicken that particular visit.  But I was there for the chicken and I ordered up the simple chicken platter - four pieces of chicken with a side of fries and cole slaw.

It was less than five minutes after I ordered that the chicken platter showed up. First of all, there was a ton of chicken - way too much for me to eat. It was a mixture of white and dark meat, and the pieces were huge and meaty. Now, I don't know my backs from my thighs because I usually just eat legs and wings when I get chicken. But I think I had all four of those pieces on my plate.

I bit into one of the pieces and it was piping hot like it had just come out of the fryer. The initial taste was eye-opening. The chicken meat was moist, but the batter they used on the outside was, well, I have to say that it was about as close to my Uncle Jack's fried chicken. It's been years since I last had it, but the taste sensation awoke memories of those Sunday afternoons of eating piece after piece of Jack's chicken and savoring every bite. Even though it was a lot of food, it was tough to put down the chicken.

The crinkle cut French fries were pretty basic, similar to what you'd find at most other restaurants like Hodak's. On the bar near me was ketchup and some of Hodak's barbecue sauce. I tried some of the spicy barbecue sauce on the French fries and it really helped zip up the taste. Actually, I probably found myself eating the fries more for the taste sensation of their sweet and zippy barbecue sauce than I did for the enjoyment of the fries.

The cole slaw at Hodak's was, well, sort of bland. A quick bite of that and I determined that it wasn't much too my liking. That's OK, between the chicken and the barbecue sauce drenched French fries, I was more than stuffed before 3/4's of the meal was gone from my plate. There was a lot of food for $7.25 and I definitely couldn't eat it all. But it certainly tasted great with the ice cold Budweiser that they poured from the bottle into a big frosty mug for me.

I was in one of my dealer's stores the next day and I told them that I had gone to Hodak's the night before. One of the guys said, "I grew up in Wisconsin and when I moved here over 25 years ago, I went to Hodak's for chicken. It was like this epiphany - 'You mean there's better chicken out there than Kentucky Fried Chicken?' "

The other guy - a lifelong St. Louis native - said, "Hodak's is good, but we went in there a while back and I don't know if they changed their seasoning in their batter or what. It didn't seem to be as much of what you like to describe as a 'taste explosion in your mouth' like it used to be." He still said that he liked it, but he didn't think it was as good as it used to be.

I thought the fried chicken at Hodak's was very good. I've read a bunch of reviews on line about Hodak's from a number of sites and I'm amazed at the number of people who think their chicken is just plain bad. Look, it's fried chicken, people. It's supposed to be greasy. It's not fine dining in the least at Hodak's. They're known for their chicken and it's kept people coming back for years and years. There should be no surprises that they actually deep fry their chicken (although a grilled chicken entree is available on the menu). This is the gateway to the South where fried anything is a staple!  My uncle grew up outside of St. Louis in Eureka and this is probably a recipe that has been handed down from generations to generations of families in the greater St. Louis area.  No, it's not overly healthy - but damn!  Healthy stuff doesn't taste this good!

Anthonino's Taverna - St. Louis

 
A shout out today to an old friend, Tim Lake, who used to live in St. Louis years ago and who now lives just outside of Birmingham, AL.  He's a regular reader of Road Tips and we had a back and forth about my post on Amaghetti's (see that post here) a while back.   I was trying to remember the name of the little place where I got a sandwich similar to Amaghetti's "Special" sandwich.  I finally remembered  the place - Mama Toscana's.  Tim was telling me of a place on the Hill that had good sandwiches and an "out of sight" gyro - Anthonino's Taverna.  I told him I didn't know where it was.  He said, "Oh, man!  As much as you're on The Hill, you've had to drive right by it." 

Turns out that I have driven past Anthonino's many times, but never stopped in.  On a recent trip to St. Louis I stopped in for lunch one day. 

Anthonino's Taverna is what you'd call an Italian/Greek restaurant and that's a reflection on the owners, Rosario and Anthony Scarato.  Their father is Italian, while their mother is Greek.  Both Scarato boys grew up in the restaurant business as their father, Bob, owned his own restaurant - Athen's Cafe - for 20 years.  Anthonino's (which is "Little Anthony" in Italian) began in 2004, housed in a building that was built back in the 1930's.  The Scarato's are on hand all the time and their father, sometimes helps out as the host. 

Anthonino's Taverna has a great neighborhood tavern feel to the place.  While it's not overly huge, there's a large bar as you come walking in with a number of tables along the big window up front.  The "L"-shaped dining room allows for small groups to push tables together, or for a quick bite for two on a date night.   The place is bright with a lot of festive paint colors on the walls. 

It was just after noon when I walked into Anthonino's.  One of the waitresses greeted me up front.  I told her it was just me and she said, "Would you like to sit at the bar?"  Well, sure!  That definitely worked for me.  50's and 60's - era  jazz was playing on the sound system in the place.

Anthonino's menu reflects the wide and varied recipes the two brothers bring to the table.  Their appetizer menu is deep with Italian staples like toasted ravioli, calimari and antipasti, but they also feature a number of Greek appetizers such as spanakopita - feta cheese and spinach wrapped in phyllo dough, slices of gyro meat with homemade tzatziki sauce, and baby dalmathes - grape leaves stuffed with seasoned rice along with feta, peppers and pita.  

Their salad menu features a house salad that is similar to those you'll find at many other Hill area restaurants, only they use a Greek dressing to top it off.  They also have a Caesar Salad and your choice of toppings for any of the salads including gyro meat, chicken or sauteed portabella mushrooms.  

Anthonino's has a full dinner menu consisting of both Italian and Greek specialties.  In fact, the readers of River Front Times in St. Louis voted Antonino's the best Greek restaurant in the St. Louis area for 2010.  But they also have a very large selection of Italian pasta specialties such as Tutti Mare, beef tortellini in both a marinara or a cream sauce with peas and capocola, and something called Pasta Puttanesca - pasta topped with tomatoes, capers, onions, kalamata olives, anchovies and oregano with garlic olive oil.  Oh, man!  My stomach is doing back flips as I'm writing this. 

As a surprise to me, Anthonino's also features hand-tossed pizzas on their menu including a number of specialty pizzas with a little Greek flair to them.  A larger group seated at a larger table back toward the restrooms had a couple pizzas on their tables for lunch.  While Anthonino's pizza isn't the thin crust like a St. Louis-style pizza, it's definitely not overly thick.  It looked delicious.

But I was after a gyro.  My friend, Tim, moved from St. Louis to near Cincinnati about five years ago before moving on to Birmingham.  His wife's family still lives in the St. Louis area and he told me, "Anthonino's has the best gyro I've ever had.  I have to stop each time we're back in St. Louis to get one."  He said he became hooked on them just after Anthonino's opened up over six years ago and said he's found nothing like them anywhere.

Anthonino's gyros are part of a lengthy sandwich menu featuring burgers, Italian and Greek sandwiches, fish sandwiches, and their own take on the submarine sandwich.  One thing Tim told me to do was to order the gyro with feta cheese.  And that's exactly what I ordered.  I had my choice of a side and I saw that for a $2.50 up-charge I could get one of Anthonino's house salad.  I took that instead of fries. 

The salad was, in a word, wonderful.  It had fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives, pepperocini and sweet red onions with fresh lettuce topped with a creamy feta cheese dressing.  I would have been happy just to get a large house salad it was so good.

 
Less than 10 minutes after I finished my salad, my gyro was brought out to me wrapped in foil and topped with a generous amount of feta cheese and tzatziki sauce with large slices of tomatoes and red onions mixed in.  It was huge!  I had to make cuts and eat the first part of it with my fork and knife.  But even after that I was having to take big bites just to get into the heart of the gyro. 

I wasn't overly enthused about the feta cheese on my gyro, however.  Too much feta can be overpowering and this was a little too much for me.  And some of the meat slices were a little charred like they had been left on the spit too long.  But the meat that was not overcooked was moist and tender and had a really good flavor to it.  And the pita bread shell they used at Anthonino's was also very good - great flavor and not too chewy. 

Was it the best gyro I've ever had?  Probably not - but, then again, it may be one of the most authentic gyros I've ever had.   Next time I go and get a gyro at Anthonino's I'll probably ask for a little bit of feta - that was almost too much for me. 

But overall, I really liked Anthonino's.  Not only for the gyro, but for the ambiance, the service and the overall neighborhood feel to the place.  From the moment I stepped into the place, I liked the warmness of the place.  It made me wish that I had a neighborhood bar/restaurant like Anthonino's within walking distance of where I live - or even just a short drive from my home.   There's a lot of great little bars and restaurants on the Hill, but Anthonino's Taverna has suddenly shot to the top of my list of the place I'd most like to get a beer and sandwich. 

17th St. Bar and Grill - O'Fallon, IL

I was in St. Louis recently doing some training sessions for dealers in the area.  I found myself out in O'Fallon, IL one evening completely wondering where I was going to have dinner that night.  I wasn't overly familiar with the area and have only spent a couple nights on the Illinois side of the river when I've come to St. Louis.  I've been told by a couple of people that there was a good steak house/supper club in O'Fallon and a place that had pretty good gyros not far from my hotel.  I finally a place that I've heard about many times in my travels, but had not been to - the 17th St. Bar and Grill.  The original 17th St. Bar and Grill is in Murphysboro in southern Illinois.  But I don't have any dealers that far south in Illinois that would allow me to get down there to try the place.  I was surprised to find a 17th St. Bar and Grill in O'Fallon not far from my hotel. 

The 17th St. Bar and Grill is run by Mike Mills who is rather famous in barbecue circles.  Mills is the only three time Grand World Champion of the prestigious Memphis in May contest - the Super Bowl of barbecue.  He won his awards in 1990, 1992 and 1994.  And he was only .02 points short of winning his fourth championship one year.  That alone should cement Mills' place among the the all-time greats of barbecue.  But Mills has also won four World Championships in barbecue (Mills' bio doesn't list where these events took place, but I'm guessing it was also at Memphis in May), and has won numerous local, state, regional, national and international contests for both his barbecue and his homemade barbecue sauce.  

Mills got his barbecue genes from his father, Leon, who used to host neighborhood cook-outs in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, MO.  The elder Mills' would dig a hole in the ground, put fire wood in the hole and placed a metal grate over the hole for a true barbecue pit.  This was long before any above ground barbecue cookers were available.   Leon Mills gained a reputation for not only his great barbecue, but his great barbecue sauce - a mustard/vinegar based sauce that was tangy and flavorful.  

Unfortunately, Leon Mills died at the age of 42 so it was up to his family to carry on his legacy.  Mills' wife, Faye, continued to make the homemade barbecue sauce.  It got to a point where enough people convinced her to bottle the sauce and sell it.  She was making the sauce at home for the original 17th St. Bar and Grill restaurant until it became too much for her to keep up with the demand.  I believe I read somewhere that 17th St. Bar and Grill goes through 500 gallons of sauce a week.

The 17th St. Bar and Grill was the culmination of a dream that Mills' father had before he died - he wanted to open his own restaurant to serve his style of barbecue.  Mike Mills opened his first barbecue restaurant in Murphysboro in 1985.  In 1988, along with some friends, Mills formed the Apple City Barbecue Team, a competitive barbecue team that would enter their first competition that year.  Their first effort garnered them 3rd place in the "best ribs" category at a contest in Murphysboro, but they soon found their way and began to win more competitions leading to their first Memphis in May championship in 1990.  

Mike Mills has been featured in a number of print article and has appeared on television numerous times.  In addition to the four 17th St. Bar and Grill locations, Mills also owns three Las Vegas area barbecue restaurants - Memphis Championship Barbecue - and also has been an adviser to owner of the the award winning Blue Smoke barbecue restaurant in New York City.  Mills has also co-authored a book - Peace, Love and Barbecue - that chronicles the passion he and other pitmasters have for their profession.  It features a number of recipes from the Mills family and other famous barbecue masters, as well as a number of stories about barbecuing. 

With a pedigree like that, you'd almost think that any barbecue aficionado would have to make a pilgrimage to one of Mills' restaurants.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find that his O'Fallon location was less than three miles from the hotel I was staying in that evening (see map).  I pulled into the place around 7:30 p.m. and was met by a girl at the hostess counter.  There was a large dining area, but a pretty large bar area, as well.  They had some post-season baseball on the television and I asked if it was OK to sit in the bar.  She said, "Sure!"  She guided me into the bar area and placed a menu on the bar for me to look through. 

 
The bartender that evening, Cassie, asked me what I wanted and I ordered up a Bud Light.  Unfortunately, the draft Bud Light wasn't all that cold.  First strike against any barbecue restaurant that serves beer - it has to be cold.  This was more like about 50 degrees.  Ehhh...

The menu at 17th St. Bar and Grill is wide and diverse with a large selection of appetizers, sandwiches and entrees featuring barbecued chicken, beef and pork.  In addition to Mills' award winning barbecued ribs, the 17th St. Bar and Grill also features steaks, pork chops and grilled seafood.  But I was there for the barbecue.  

After hunting around the rather large menu, I was able to find the combination section of the menu.  I always like to try a couple three things at a barbecue joint that is new to me.  And 17th St. Bar and Grill had the perfect combination for me - the Blue Ribbon Selection combo meal.  I was able to choose three different types of meat along with two of the restaurants numerous sides.  I ordered a combo of beef brisket, pulled pork shoulder and baby back ribs.  I was torn what to get for my sides as there were just too many to choose from.  They had french fries, hush-puppies, collard greens, red beans and rice, sauerkraut, steamed veggies, mac and cheese - the list went on and on.  I was completely confused because I really wanted to try about four or five sides.  Cassie told me the cole slaw was very good.  I took her on her word.  I also ordered up some of the 17th St. Bar and Grill baked beans.

Not long after I ordered, my food was brought out by a waitress.  The plate was large, but full of generous portions of the meat.  The cole slaw and baked beans were in their own serving dishes.  To my chagrin, Mills' original barbecue sauce was poured across the top of the meats.  I'd rather have my barbecue served dry and allow me to add whatever sauce that I wanted.  But I guess the Mills' sauce is their signature and they've been serving it that way for years.  (Mike Mills says the sauce is made from a recipe that's over 100 years old.) 

I tried the ribs first.  17th St. Bar and Grill also features a homemade rub called "Mike's Magic Dust" made from 18 different spices and herbs that Mills conjured up years ago.  They sprinkle the "magic dust" on the ribs before they cook them and the first thing I noticed is there's a lot of salt in it, because that's exactly how they tasted to me - too salty. 

The original Mills family sauce was good, but I'm not big on mustard/vinegar sauces.  (Mills uses white rice vinegar in his sauce - it doesn't have the acidic taste other vinegars have.)   Fortunately, they also had some of their "spicy" sauce that was sweeter, but it wasn't all that spicy.  You got a little kick in the taste buds, but not enough that it was overpowering.

The ribs were very good - the meat was flavorful and tender.  But the saltiness of the "magic dust" was almost a little too much for me.  I'm a guy that hardly puts salt on anything and the salt flavor on the ribs was tremendously heightened on my taste buds.  Any meat rub concoction with a medium amount of salt tastes too salty to me. 

The pulled pork was also a little bit salty to my taste, but it was still very good.  The sweet and spicy sauce helped cover the taste of the salt and was a good complement to the pulled pork. 

The brisket, however, was outstanding.  The thin cuts of beef had a nice little smoke ring at the top and the "magic dust" taste was minimal.  Coupled with the spicy sweet sauce, the taste sensation was the best of the three meats. 

The baked beans were good, especially when I added some of the sweet and spicy sauce to them.  But I was not impressed with the cole slaw.  It was rather bland and, well...  I just didn't care for it.  I'm sure some people - like Cassie - like it, but I wish I would have gotten something else. 

As I finished up my meal, it turned out that one of the managers of the 17th St. Bar and Grill was seated at the end of the bar talking to employees before she went home for the evening.  We struck up a conversation about this particular location and she told me that the building originally housed one of the Super Smokers barbecue restaurants - one of my all-time favorite barbecue joints in the St. Louis area that went out of business a few years back.  (Super Smokers has since re-opened out in St. Peters, MO not far from the old company that I used to work for years ago.) 

She told me that a couple of the former owners of Super Smokers helped Mike Mills procure the place and they opened the 17th St. Bar and Grill in O'Fallon in February of 2007.  She said that she used to work at the old Super Smokers location and that the pit master, Cassie the bartender, and one other person are still left from the old days. 

The Food Network's Food Feuds program pitted (sorry for the pun) 17th St. Bar and Grill up against              Pappy's Smokehouse earlier this fall.  (See my entry on Pappy's here.)  The episode just aired this past week and five judges from the St. Louis Barbecue Society along with host Michael Symon (a former Iron Chef America winner in 2007) named 17th St. Bar and Grill as having the best baby back ribs in St. Louis.  Symon thought that smoking method Mike Mills uses (about 210 degrees for six hours over fruit wood) made the meat on 17th Street's ribs more tender and flavorful.  He also liked the Magic Dust rub over Pappy's herb-based rub. 

  
I have mixed feelings about the 17th St. Bar and Grill.  I thought the baby back ribs were a bit too salty and I didn't care much for the Mills' family sauce - which is probably akin to saying their child is ugly.  But the pulled pork was very good and the brisket was just excellent.  And I did like the sweet and spicy sauce, as well.  I tried to buy some at the little shop they had in the lobby, but for some reason they were out of it.  

I would have to say that while I prefer Pappy's over 17th St. Bar and Grill, I can see why some people would say the opposite - they're both very good at what they do.  And that's not to say that I'll not go back to 17th St. Bar and Grill at some point - I definitely will.  But I'll probably stick with the brisket and not get the cole slaw on my next visit. 

(November 2013 Update - Citing that the restaurant was "not doing what it needed to do", Mike Mills announced that he would be closing his O'Fallon location at the end of November.  Mills also cited the Affordable Care Act as a reason he would be closing the restaurant.  The original Murphysboro location and the Marion, IL location will stay open.)    

Tucker's Place - St. Louis

I recently met a former colleague who is now a small business owner in the audio/video - custom installation field for lunch at Tucker's Place in West St. Louis County in the greater St. Louis metro area.  It had been years since I'd eaten at Tucker's Place and was somewhat pleasantly surprised to have him suggest meeting there.  

My first trip to Tucker's Place was for a dinner with a former boss and sales manager who were riding my butt about something around 16 years ago.  I don't quite remember why they were ganging up on me, but they must have figured that by treating me to a steak dinner it would light a fire under me.  I remember the steak was good, but nothing special.  I found out later on that Tucker's Place is a very economical and high value restaurant in the St. Louis area.  My boss at that time was notoriously cheap and it made perfect sense to me much later on that he would take me to Tucker's Place.  By the way, the steak dinner didn't work - I ended up leaving that company about six months later to take a better job with a competing rep firm based out of St. Peters, MO. 

There are three Tucker's Place restaurants in the greater St. Louis area.  The original one opened in Soulard in 1982 (see map) and there is another one in South County (see map).  Tucker's Place has won numerous local awards for best steak/steakhouse and best value restaurant over the past number of years.   

It was about 12:30 when I met up with my guest at Tucker's Place just off of Wood's Mills Road on Manchester (see map).  We both had appointments out in West County and he thought it would be a good place to meet for lunch.  We were met by a hostess who told us she had one table open for lunch, a small two-seater that was up against the wall in the dining room just off the bar area.  The place was packed with both business-types and older people who were looking for a good lunch at a low price. 

The lunch menu was pretty basic with a couple three steaks to choose from.  In addition to steaks, Tucker's Place is also known for their pork chops and grilled chicken breasts, as well as a handful of seafood entrees to choose from.  Each day, Tucker's Place features a special "sandwich of the day", but they have their mouth-watering burger available each day through the week.  The special that day was the Philly cheese steak sandwich.  That was tempting, but I ended up getting the cheeseburger for lunch - the Tucker Burger.  The Tucker Burger starts out with a 9 oz. ground beef patty, flame broiled to order and topped with your choice of cheese.   I ordered Pepper Jack cheese on my medium burger. 

My guest ordered up the Philly cheese steak sandwich.  We contemplated getting an order of (from what I remember) their mouthwatering beer-battered onion rings, but my guest thought that a sandwich and a salad would be good enough for him.  After gaining about 10 pounds back from the nearly 50 that I lost, I decided that it was probably best for me to go the salad route, as well.  We both ordered side salads with Tucker's Place's homemade lemon pepper dressing. 

I had noticed Tucker's Place also had pizza on their menu and as we were enjoying our salads, I noticed that a table near us had a pizza brought out to them.  It didn't look like the paper thin crust like you find at most St. Louis area pizza places, but it wasn't a thicker, spongy crust either.  Actually, it looked quite good.  I may have to go back to Tucker's Place to try the pizza at some point. 

After finishing our salads, of which the lemon pepper dressing over the fresh greens proved to be very tasty, our sandwiches came out.  My burger was served open faced with the top of a large sesame seeded kaiser roll off to the side.  There was a generous amount of pepper jack cheese on top of the burger patty.   A slice of tomato, some bib lettuce, pickles and a raw onion slice was served along with the burger.

 From the first bite, I was very impressed with the burger.  It was lean, yet still juicy.  The center was pink, but not too raw.  I would have called it more medium-rare than medium, but I wasn't going to complain.  The bun - which is a big determination as to the overall taste of any burger - was very good.  It was light, but chewy.  The only problem is that it didn't hold together very well and the burger got a little messy as each bite made it smaller.  I had to ask for more napkins from our waitress.  It was easily a three napkin burger. 

My guest's Philly cheese steak sandwich was declared to be "good".  He said that he's had better cheese steak sandwiches, but for the price ($8.45 for the sandwich, side salad and a glass of iced tea) he thought it was a great value.  I, too, thought my burger (same price, only I just had water for my lunch) was a very good value.  I've had burgers that were much higher priced that didn't come close to the taste and quality of the burger I had at Tucker's Place.

Tucker's Place has been a favorite of St. Louis area residents for a number of years.  The service is good, but not like you'd find at an upper scale restaurant, which is totally understandable.  My guest, who is about as big a "foodie" as I am, reiterated that the Tucker's Place restaurants are a great value with above average food.  Based on the steak that I had a number of years ago and the burger that I had on my last visit, I would have to agree.  It's not a 5 star restaurant, but I'd certainly give Tucker's Place 3 1/2 stars.

Courtesy Diner - St. Louis

Courtesy Diner in St. Louis can be categorized as nothing but an institution to late night partiers who are looking to ward off the impending next day hangover with some greasy food served at 3:00 a.m.  It's an endearing slice of culinary life to thousands of people who have eaten "Slingers", cheeseburgers and other greasy specialties over the years.  I've always wanted to try the Courtesy Diner at some point and I actually had a breakfast meeting recently at the one on Hampton, not far from Forest Park.  

There are two Courtesy Diner locations in St. Louis - the one on Hampton (see map); and the original location on Kingshighway (see map) which has been opened for, geez, from what I can tell, well over 50 years.  In doing some research for the Courtesy Diner, I found that it was once part of a chain of little places known as either Courtesy Sandwich Shop or Courtesy Chili.  There appeared to be around 30 Courtesy Sandwich Shops in New York, Maryland and a few other eastern states at one time or another.  There used to be a Courtesy Diner on S. Broadway in St. Louis until the late 90's.  The last one in the chain was the Kingshighway location, owned by Larry Rugg of Restaurants Unlimited, Inc. 

Rugg - who also owns the Country Fixin's Restaurant in Wentzville, MO,  a handful of Hen House Restaurants in Illinois, and the former O.T. Hodge Chili Shoppe in St. Louis' Union Station - opened the Hampton location in February of 1999 on the site of an old gas station.  He wanted to keep the concept constant with the location on Kingshighway - open 24/7 with breakfast served anytime, a great juke box, and good comfort food at reasonable prices.  It was an immediate hit with the late night dining crowd who came over from the bars in the Central West End to satisfy their alcohol fueled appetites.  

Courtesy Diner's signature dish is the Slinger - two eggs, hash browns and chili on a hamburger patty.   Some people like to order cheddar cheese and onions on top.  Or for the people who are really hungry, the Super Slinger comes with the above along with either beef burrito or a tamale on top of everything.  Actually, it sounds a lot like the Magic Mountain/Volcano from Ross' Restaurant in Bettendorf, IA which has become a late night staple for many of us here in the Quad Cities. 

Courtesy Diner's main menu consists of burgers, sandwiches, chicken fried steak, and about 10 different variations of chili served plain, with macaroni, with a burrito, with a tamale, or with hash browns.  Their breakfast anytime has - of course - the Slinger, as well as eggs, omelets, pancakes, french toast, and biscuits and gravy.  The menu is pretty straight forward and doesn't vary all that much.

I had a 9:00 a.m. meeting with a gentleman who was looking to get into the audio business with a concept of a home entertainment system.  We'd talked a couple times before and while he seemed enthusiastic about the concept, I didn't really know if it would work or not even with the drawn out business plan that he had forwarded to me before the meeting.  I told him that I was staying at the Hampton Inn in Forest Park and he suggested meeting up at the Courtesy Diner.  I was completely up for that. 

As I walked into the Courtesy Diner, it was pure Americana in the place.  John Mellencamp was playing on the juke box, a row of booths lined the windows while a row of stools sat in front of the counter.  It was clean and spiffy inside, and the place was lively with some families, two couples who had driven there on motorcycles, a handful of single people sitting at the counter and other various mid-morning visitors.  I took a booth in the far back of the restaurant.  The waitress, who had a sore foot, hobbled over to me to drop off menus and asked if I wanted coffee from the pot she was holding.   I told her, "No coffee, but I'm waiting on someone else."  She hobbled back to grab another menu and sort of tossed it on the table across from me.  She didn't have an attitude, I didn't think.  I'm sure she was not happy having to work on a sore foot.  You gotta take that in stride in places like Courtesy Diner. 

With Pink Floyd now playing on the juke box, my meeting guest showed up not long after that and we exchanged pleasantries as the waitress came over with the pot of coffee.  My guest heartily turned over his cup and said to me, "They actually have very good coffee here." 

My first breakfast at Courtesy Diner consisted of a couple eggs over easy with a side of bacon and whole wheat toast.  My guest got a bowl of their oatmeal - "I'm trying to watch my weight and Courtesy Diner has good oatmeal." 

While the eggs and bacon were nothing special, it was a good value at $3.75.  I had a large glass of milk that was $1.25, so my total breakfast was just over $5.00 with tax.  Along with my guest's oatmeal, coffee and a tip for the waitress hobbling around on a sore foot, the total bill came to just under $11 bucks.  Pretty reasonable for a breakfast meeting, I have to say.  One thing to note - take cash.  Courtesy Diner doesn't take credit cards. 

A couple days later, I decided to go back to Courtesy Diner by myself and try one of their omelets.  I ordered up a sausage and cheese omelet on this visit with a side of bacon and a glass of milk.  And while the omelet was good, it was far from the best I've ever had.  But it was served quickly and efficiently, allowing me to get on my way a lot quicker than I'd would had I gotten breakfast at a larger national chain. 

But it's the ambiance and history of the Courtesy Diner that makes the place unique.  If you know going in that the place is a greasy spoon restaurant, that helps add to the charm of the place.  While the Courtesy Diner isn't going to win many culinary awards, it's still a favorite with thousands of St. Louis area residents who want breakfast at either 2:30 in the afternoon or 2:30 in the morning.   I don't come across a lot of places like the Courtesy Diner in my travels, but I wouldn't mind if I did.  It's not fancy, the food is serviceable.  To use an over-used modern cliché - the Courtesy Diner is what it is. 

Amighetti's - St. Louis

We have some casual friends in the Quad Cities that we run in to from time to time who like to go to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play baseball. Each trip to St. Louis, they always stop at Amighetti's on The Hill for a sandwich. While in St. Louis earlier this year, I decided to stop in for a bite.

Actually, a couple years ago, I stopped into Amighetti's at night to have something to eat. I parked behind the building and walked in the back door. The lights were on, but there were about 7 or 8 older guys sitting around a table. They all looked up at me in unison. It was like I had walked into a mob sit-down meeting. I sort of stopped and asked, "Are you guys open?"

In a husky voice, a guy with a heavy Italian accent replied, "No, we're only open for food during the day." I apologized and did a quick about-face out the door. It was kind of funny and unnerving at the same time.

I did make an effort to get back at some point and I found myself near Amighetti's at the corner of Wilson and Marconi near the noon hour (see map). (There are also two other Amighetti's locations - one in suburban Hazelwood and another in Rock Hill in West County.) I parked in front of Amighetti's Bakery, the original Amighetti's since Louis Amighetti opened it in 1921. A small, traditional Italian style family bakery, Amighetti and his son, Louis, Jr - aka "Junior" - grew the business over the years making breads and pastries, while also making sandwiches that quickly became popular with their customers.

In the late 60's, Junior Amighetti opened a small sandwich shop on the other side of the corner from the bakery. Their signature sandwich - the Amighetti's Special - consists of ham, roast beef, Genoa salami, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, a pepperoncini and topped with Amighetti's secret recipe Italian dressing all on a freshly baked Italian bread. A number of other places have tried to copy Amighetti's Special sandwich, most notably the St. Louis-based grocery chain Schnuck's that has ready-to-eat sub sandwiches in their deli case call "The King of the Hill". I've had a King of the Hill from the Schnuck's not far from our house in Davenport and I can say that it's just OK. I was hoping the Amighetti's special would be better.

I ventured into Amighetti's and a small line had already formed to order at the counter. The dining area was small with a handful of tables. There is a nice outdoor seating area on the north side of the building along with a walk-up window to order. It was pretty hot outside and even though the patio area had a cloth tarp over the seating area to keep the sun out, I decided to sit inside.

The menu at Amighetti's is pretty basic featuring not only their special sandwich, but a number of "build-you-own" sandwiches, as well. Amighetti's also has a handful of salads and some basic pasta dishes to choose from. Everyone in line in front of me was ordering the Amighetti's Special sandwich, so it was no surprise to the young girl when I ordered the same thing when I got to the front of the line. I ordered a half Amigetti's Special with a bottle of water.

Now, the girl behind the counter was neither welcoming or rude - just sort of neutral in her mannerisms and demeanor. She wordlessly turned to a container holding a bunch of the sandwiches, grabbed a bottle of water from one of the other girls and told me how much I owed. With the sandwich and the water, it came to around $5.50 - not a bad price for lunch.

Since Amighetti's makes a lot of sandwiches in advance, the lettuce got a little limp and wilted. In fact, the whole sandwich looked like it was just slapped together with thin slices of meat, a slice of cheese, a couple tomato slices, a smattering of lettuce and onions and topped with a large pepperoncini. I couldn't even discern the homemade Italian dressing on the sandwich. The bread was soft and a little chewy, but didn't add much to the sandwich. It was basically like getting a "King of the Hill" at Schnuck's. I guess I was trying to figure out what was so special about the Amighetti Special sandwich our friends had been raving about for quite some time.

There are a lot of places to have lunch on the Hill and it's no doubt that Amighetti's does a good business for lunch. But I wasn't overly impressed with the Amighetti's Special. In fact, there's a meat market/deli on the west side of the Hill (I can't remember the name of it, but I can drive right to it) that made me a submarine sandwich very similar to the Amighetti's Special a couple years ago and I thought it was very good. It wasn't made in advance like the Amigetti's Special so the vegetables topped on the meat were fresh and not wilted. Amighetti's may be the original, but I think there's others that do it just as good, if not better, than they do.

Joanie's Pizzeria - St. Louis

Another shout out to my sister-in-law, Becky, who was telling me a while ago about Joanie's Pizzeria in the Soulard area of St. Louis.  She was incredulous that I'd never heard of Joanie's.  "I can't believe you've never been there after going to St. Louis for all these years, " she half-scolded me.  "I think it's the best pizza in town."  

Her sister, Katie, lives in the neighborhood and helps out at Joanie's from time to time.  Becky told me that there's a good chance I'd run into Katie at Joanie's.  While in St. Louis for a series of meetings and some product trainings earlier this summer, I stopped in for dinner at Joanie's.

Joanie Spurgeon is the "Joanie" behind Joanie's Pizzeria.  Since 1995, Spurgeon has been churning out pizzas topped with the freshest ingredients she can find.  Surgeon regularly ventures up the street to the Soulard Farmer's Market to get fresh produce and toppings for her pizzas.  Joanie's signature Pizza Margherita is topped with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella that I was told she gets from the Soulard Farmer's Market.   

(Update July 2015 - In late May of 2015, Joanie Spurgeon officially handed the reins over to her manager of 4 years Jeff Schneider.  She is still involved with the restaurant, but she felt that she really needed to start to slow down.  Schneider said that the core of the business will stay the same, but he had some ideas to spruce up the menu a bit.  We were there the weekend of July 18 and the pizza was still the same.  Picture at left courtesy Sauce Magazine.)

The other plus for Joanie's pizzas is that they use mozzarella cheese and not the St. Louis-style provel cheese on their pizza.  Some pizza places in St. Louis give you a choice of provel or mozzarella, some only have provel.  I couldn't find any reference anywhere that Joanie's offers a provel cheese pizza.  While I don't mind provel cheese on a pizza, I'd rather have mozzarella.

It was an early evening visit to Joanie's and I pulled up to the corner of Menard and Russell in Soulard (see map) and found a parking space just up the street from Joanie's.   The Cardinals were in town that evening and a number of people were gathering at Joanie's for a pre-game meal and to take Joanie's complementary shuttle to Busch Stadium.  I went in and was met by a waitress who wanted to know if I wanted to sit downstairs in the bar area - which was heavily filled with smoke (St. Louis County's smoking ban goes into effect early next year) or sit upstairs.  Another waitress said, "Hey, don't forget out back!"

Joanie's has a very nice little back patio area, as well.  It was sort of warm outside and I decided to head upstairs to have my pizza in the upstairs dining area.  There's two rooms upstairs, a larger room toward the front of the building and a smaller toward the back.  The waitress guided me to a small two-person table and dropped off a menu.  She took my beer order - while in St. Louis, I always order a Budweiser - and told me she'd be back to take my order when she dropped off the beer. 

Joanie's is also famous for their calzones - a Napoli-style stuffed pizza that features both mozzarella and ricotta cheese along with your choice of topping.  I love a good calzone, but I was there for pizza that night.

That's not to say that Joanie's Pizzeria is all about pizza and calzones.  They also feature a number of sandwiches including their own "Soulard Muffalatta" topped with Joanie's homemade olive spread.  I understand it gives the muffalatta over at the Blues City Deli a run for their money.

Joanie's also features basic pasta dishes such as lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, and chicken alfredo with penne noodles.  And the menu at Joanie's also has four different types of salads to choose from.  And through the week, Joanie's has a handful of lunch specials on the menu. 

There are three different types of pizza crust to choose from at Joanie's - thin, thick or double crust.  They have a 9" personal-sized pizza available for all three types of crust, as well as 12", 14" and a giant 16" pizza (double crust not available in 16").  I figured that a 12" would work for me - I was pretty hungry as I didn't have lunch earlier in the day.  Of course, I got my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza. 

By the time the waitress got back to take my order, I'd already downed the beer.  Not that the service was slow, but I DOWNED the beer.  It was a hot day, I'd just gone through a two-hour training earlier in the day and I needed a cold one.  I gave her my pizza order and told her that I definitely needed another beer.  She raised her eye brows and said, "Wow!  That went down quick!"  Anyone who knows me knows that the first beer usually goes down rather quickly. 

The decor in the upstairs dining room at Joanie's featured paintings of St. Louis landmarks such as the Fox Theater, Soulard Market and the infamous Eat Rite Diner.  Large windows looked out onto Menard Ave. and helped give the room some ambient light.  A couple flat screen panel televisions were turned on to ESPN providing a little bit of entertainment for those were were interested.   

 

About 20 minutes passed and my pizza made it to my table.  I'm telling you, I have to quit writing my entries early in the morning.  The above picture of the pizza is just making my stomach do jumping jacks.  The asymmetry of the pizza's shape showed that it was definitely hand-tossed and topped with ample amounts of pepperoni, fresh sliced mushrooms and Italian sausage.  Although the Italian sausage wasn't really in big chunks as I like it, it definitely wasn't ground up in to fine pieces like I find back home in the Quad Cities or out in Indianapolis. 

From the first bite, I was hooked.  It was a great pizza.  The crust wasn't crunchy, but it wasn't limp, either.  The mozzarella cheese was outstanding - some of the best mozzarella I've had on a pizza.  But the toppings are what made the pizza - the combination of Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom were all very fresh and flavorful.  Each piece was overflowing with toppings and flavor. 

As I was leaving, I went outside to take a couple pictures.  I stepped into the back patio and there was Joanie Spurgeon asking me if I needed any help.  I said, "No, I just ate upstairs. I just wanted to get a picture of the patio on my cell phone camera."

She asked, "So, how did you like it?"

I said, "It was very good.  I'm very impressed." 

Joanie said, "That's great!  Thank you!  So, you'll be back?"

I told her I would.  I liked everything about Joanie's - the pizza, the service, the atmosphere.  I'll be more happy when they ban smoking in St. Louis after the first of the year as the bar area downstairs was very smoky.  Nonetheless, Joanie's Pizzeria is probably in the top 3 of pizza places I've visited over the years in the St. Louis area.  I can't wait to go back later this fall to get another one. 

Square One Brewery - St. Louis

Before our annual baseball trip to St. Louis, my friend Scott had mentioned that his son, Greg, had eaten at the Square One Brewery near Lafayette Square on a couple three occasions and he thought the food was very good.  I had been past Square One a few times, primarily to eat at Arcelia's just down the street.  Scott reminded me the day before we left that he really wanted to try Square One during our visit to St. Louis.  I thought that was a good idea, so we stopped in to Square One for lunch and a few beers after our journey from the Quad Cities.

The Lafayette Square area in St. Louis has seen a steady rise in socio-culture activities and gentrification over the past three or four years.  One of the true historic areas of St. Louis, the neighborhood surrounding Lafayette square is a combination of stately homes, rehabbed apartments, curious shops, eclectic eateries and interesting taverns.  Square One, at the corner of Park Ave. and S. 18th St. (see map), is housed in a somewhat historic building that was originally built by Anheuser-Busch toward the start of the 20th century when local breweries would own their own taverns to exclusively sell their beer.  A similar tavern run by the locally immortal Griesedieck Brothers Brewery was situated just a block away.  

Over the years, the building has housed a number of tavern/restaurants with the most recent descendant being the Lafayette Pub and Grill.  A fire in June of 2004 closed down Lafayette Pub and Grill (they've since relocated to the Soulard area) and the building was eventually bought by local restaurateur and micro-brewer Steve Neukomm.  Neukomm, a 50-something man who recently sold the Augusta Brewing Company in Augusta, MO, had once operated a restaurant - Ronayne's - in the same location back in the 80's.  Neukomm purchased the assets and equipment of the old Heartland Brewing Company in 1999, then a year later he opened his first brew pub in the heart of Missouri's wine country west of St. Louis. 

In 2006, after a long restoration of the property, Neukomm opened Square One Brewery.  After awhile it became apparent to Neukomm that he was having trouble being in two places at once, so he sold the brew pub in Augusta earlier this year to concentrate on the Square One operation.  The hour and a half drive time between the two businesses was taking too much time out of his day. 

Actually, one of the big reasons Neukomm sold the Augusta Brewing Company was because of his burgeoning distillery that's part of Square One Brewery.  Neukomm became a licensed distiller in 2008 and has created a number of craft liquors that are sold at Square One.  And his liquors are getting noticed, as well.  At the recent Whiskey and Moonshine Distilling Conference put on by the American Distilling Institute in Louisville, Square One took home a silver medal for their Vermont Night whiskey liqueur.  Vermont Night is an oak-barrel aged whiskey infused with Vermont maple syrup, lemon, cloves, orange, cinnamon and vanilla beans.  I'm not big on sweet or fruity liqueurs, but that actually sounds sort of interesting. 

 
We parked just down the street from Square One around 1:30 in the afternoon.  It was a warm summer day in St. Louis with temperatures hovering around 90 with somewhat stifling humidity.  Scott and Marcia had called Greg to meet us at the restaurant and he was on his way when we checked in with the hostess in the bar area.  The bar area was this wonderfully ornate room with a huge walnut bar with an arched leaded-glass window directly behind the bar.  A row of about a dozen spigots adorned the front of the bar and a number of Square One specialty liquors occupied the back bar area.  

On the way down to St. Louis, I was in the sun most of the trip so I had the air-conditioning sort of cranked up to keep me cool.  Unfortunately for the ladies in the back seat, it got a little cold for them and when asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside on their patio, Marcia immediately opted for the outside.  Cindy said, "She needs to warm up!"  The hostess stuck us back in a corner that offered some shade, but after a while the sun had moved and I was soon getting roasted. 

 
The outdoor patio area featured a number of heavy tables with sturdy metal grated chairs.  Umbrellas were placed around the patio to help screen the sun that wasn't filtered already by the large trees outside the restaurant.  A nice little bar area was along the west wall, but the focal point of the patio was a waterfall wall that was encased in what was once an ornate doorway, probably from a nearby building that had been torn down or renovated.   

Just past a large wall of wood and glass-paned doors that appeared to fold out to offer a walk-out to the patio when the temperature was more agreeable was the main dining room for Square One.  It had a sky light with an ornate wood ceiling to go along with a nice wood floor.  It was tastefully decorated and the only hint of the place being a brewpub/micro-distillery were the huge distilling tanks on the other side of a glassed in room as you walked between the bar area and the main dining room.  Cindy had gone in to use the restroom and when she came out she told Marcia, "I think you made the right call.  It's rather cold in that dining room.  They've really got the AC cranked up in there!"

Our hostess had dropped off menus for us and set up placements for five at a table that was designed to seat four.  I took the corner, which wasn't a big deal - other than the sun starting to beat down on me - as the table was large enough for everyone to have enough room.

We didn't wait for Greg to show up before we ordered off the beer menu.  Square One features a rotation of over 50 different styles of beers throughout the year.  Twelve beers were on the list that day including a Spicy Blonde ale, a single malt Scotch ale, a nut brown ale, a Bavarian weizen, and an Imperial Stout.  They also featured a cask-drawn stout beer, as well.   I ordered the Park Ave. pale ale - an American pale ale that isn't quite as hoppy as their India Pale Ale (which was also on the beer menu).  Cindy got the same thing.  Scott opted for the Spicy Blonde (which Greg got as well after he showed up) and Marcia went with their Light Squared beer - a nice tasting lighter beer that goes down good in warm weather.

Cindy wanted to get an appetizer so she ordered up the goat cheese/artichoke/spinach dip.  The dip was served warm with a plate of small toasted bread and tortilla chips.  It was actually pretty good with large chunks of artichokes throughout the dip.

The dip was part of Square One's "microplate" section on their menu that featured a series of delectable items including pan seared crab cakes, beer pretzels, chicken wings and their version of nachos that included smoked flank steak with corn salsa, jalapenos, jack and cheddar cheese topped with lettuce and sour cream.  Seriously, I almost got that for my meal.

One other thing that caught my eye in the "microplate" section of the menu was the grilled mahi mahi fish tacos.  The waitress couldn't sufficiently describe them - how big they were or if it would be a full meal - so I passed on them for the time being and looked for something else to try. 

Greg said his favorite thing on the menu was the smoked flank steak Philly cheese steak sandwich.  They take strips of flank steak and smother it in Swiss and cheddar cheese and grilled onions, then place it on a baguette.  That's what both Scott and Greg ordered.

Cindy was torn between a number of items - she was looking at some of the fish dishes in the "Macroplate" section of the menu, which were basically the main entrees served at Square One.  They had a jerk mahi mahi that was grilled with jerk spices to give it a little kick (that sounded real good to me), a salmon entree that was grilled with a raspberry pecan butter (that didn't sound good to me), or good ol' fashioned fish and chips - beer battered grouper with french fries.

Cindy got to looking at the extensive sandwich selections they had on the menu and finally decided to get the tuna steak sandwich - a seared rare tuna steak topped with avocado, tomato, sprouts, and a smoked tomato aioli sauce and served with a side of Square One's pub chips.  Cindy told the waitress that she didn't want the chips, but asked if she could substitute a side salad with ranch dressing.  The waitress said there'd be a slight upcharge and Cindy was happy with that.  She opted to get the salad before the sandwich.

Square One features a number of salads and soups to choose from.  Greg said that the beer cheese soup was out of this world and Scott and he both got a cup of that.  It's served with a side of the pale ale to pour into the soup, truly making it a beer cheese soup.  Marcia was looking at a couple of the salads before finally choosing to get the grilled chicken salad sandwich - they take a grilled chicken breast and chop it up, then the add Gorgonzola cheese and pecans and a tarragon mayonnaise with the chicken, then place it on mixed greens on whole wheat bread.  I'm not big on chicken salad, but that sounded really interesting.

Me - I was torn between a number of things.  Each week, Square One features a burger on their menu - this week it was one of their 1/2 pound pub burgers topped with onion straws and barbecue sauce.  It didn't sound very inspiring to me.  They had a pulled barbecue pork sandwich that I thought about for a moment.   They had a Cuban pulled pork platter in the "Macroplate" section that was enticing me.  Their stout-braised pot roast caught my eye until I reminded myself that it was 90 degrees and it would probably sit in my stomach for hours on end.   The jerk chicken sandwich was appealing to me.  The turkey pub club sandwich would have been a great choice for a hot summer afternoon.

I was in a quandary as what to get when it came to me to order.  Finally, I settled on the reuben - thick slices of corned beef piled high on swirled marble rye and topped with lager-infused sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing.  I asked the waitress if I could get an order of their onion straws on the side instead of the fries.  She said, "Well, we only offer them as a garnish and not as a side."

I said, "But you would have enough to make a side, wouldn't you?"

She sort of stammered for a moment and said, "Yeah, but they're not offered as a side."  I told her they should be.  I know I sort of flummoxed her and threw her off her game, but I ended up getting the pub fries instead.  I also got a cup of their homemade chili.  I know - it was 90 degrees out and I was sweating like a whore in church sitting in the sun, but for some reason the description of their chili in the menu sounded great.

Cindy sort of chided me for hassling the waitress about the onion straws.  I said, "I guess I don't get it with some restaurants.  If they've got them in the kitchen, then they should be able to make them available as a side.  I don't care if it costs me a buck or two more above the price of my meal.  I wanted the onion straws."

Scott reminded me of a similar circumstance when we had all gone out to eat at Granite City back in Davenport one evening.  "I remember you'd asked for onion straws instead of fries and the waitress had to go back to check," he said.  "And she got 'em for you!"

After a bit, the waitress brought out my chili, the beer cheese soup for Scott and Greg, and Cindy's salad.  My chili consisted of three different types of beans with chopped smoked flank steak topped with cheese and onion straws.  Cindy said, "Well, thank God you got some onion straws as part of your meal!"  I made quick work of the chili, it was damn good.

Scott and Greg's beer cheese soup was served with a small amount of pale ale in what looked like little metal pitchers, the kind you'd used for pouring maple syrup on pancakes in upscale restaurants.  They just poured the beer in and went to town on the soup.  Scott said, "Oh, man, Greg.  You were right about this soup.  This is good stuff!"  I was sort of jealous that I didn't try the beer cheese soup.  Next time...

Cindy and Marcia were intrigued with the specialty liquors and liqueurs on the menu.  They featured a bloody mary made with Square One's made-in-house Spirits of St. Louis vodka.  She got one of those.  Cindy wanted to try the Citrus Mello Cello liqueur - it's Square One's take on an Italian Lemon Cello liqueur, only they make theirs out of rum and infuse it with blood oranges and Agave nectar.  Cindy said she liked the flavor, but that it was too sweet for her taste.   For me, I switched to Square One's India Pale Ale as I thought their Park Ave. pale was a little flat.  The Park Ave. pale was good, but the I.P.A. was much better.

 
Not long after we finished our soups and or salad, the sandwiches showed up at the table.  The description of the reuben in the menu didn't do it justice.  It was overly piled with thick slices of tender corned beef although they could have put a little more sauerkraut on the sandwich.  A ton of melted Swiss cheese covered the top of the corned beef and the marble-rye bread was thickly cut.  I could tell the Thousand Island dressing was homemade with large chunks of sweet pickles mixed in.  I got a side of the dressing to dip my sandwich in to as I like to do with reubens.  And my sandwich was very good and very filling.  Well, I'm sure a combination of a couple three pale ales, the cup of chili, and some of the dip with the toasted bread had something to do with it, as well.

Cindy's tuna sandwich looked lonely on her plate, but she showed me how it was lightly seared and rare inside.  She said it was very good.  I knew that I was going to have trouble finishing my sandwich with all that meat piled on there, so I offered her some of my fries.  She must have been very hungry as she eagerly grabbed some off my plate.

Scott and Greg's smoked flank steak Philly cheese steak was a monster sandwich.  Scott said, "Oh, boy.  This is really gonna be a gut bomb.  I may not be able to eat pizza later on tonight."   But he said it was "great".  Greg didn't steer his dad wrong with either the beer cheese soup or the flank steak Philly sandwich.

And Marcia said her grilled chicken salad sandwich was also very good.  I told her that I don't know if I've ever seen grilled chicken in a chicken salad sandwich before and she said, "Oh, I have.  But you certainly don't see it very often.  I'm guessing it might be a pain to make."

Before lunch, we talked about getting an after-lunch beer at a new place just across the street from Square One called the Lafayette Fire Company - a restaurant/bar that had opened just last year.  It looked pretty interesting from the outside.  However, after a couple three beers and the big sandwiches, Scott and I pretty much vetoed that idea.  We were absolutely stuffed.  But it will be one of those places that we'll have to check out on subsequent visits to St. Louis.

  I'm glad Scott reminded me about Square One Brewery just before our trip.  The food was a good value with large portions for all and it tasted very good.  The beer was above average, but I felt the Park Ave. pale was a little flat.  Drinkable, but not the best American pale ale that I've had.  But it was fine for a hot summer afternoon.  But I really liked the ambiance of Square One.  I could see myself sitting at the bar some rainy Saturday afternoon pouring down a few specialty beers and having a burger or sandwich.  Too bad it's not back home in Davenport.

 I'm beginning to really like the area around Lafayette Square and when I stay downtown as I sometimes do when I go to St. Louis, it's not that far of a drive to the Square One Brewery.  It's another good restaurant that I've now found to add to my list of places to eat when I'm trying to figure out what I want for dinner when I'm in St. Louis. 

A Return to Pi - St. Louis

After the debacle of my first visit to Pi earlier this year (read about that here), and the subsequent fall-out of my visit (read about that here), I can say that owner Chris Sommers did bend over backward to make up for the mistakes that were made on my original visit.  Recently, we were in St. Louis for a couple ballgames and we had dinner at the original Pi restaurant in the U City Loop on Delmar (see map). 

If you haven't read the original posts - or don't have the time to click the links to go back and see what happened - in a nutshell, they screwed up my pizza at the Pi location in the Central West End.  And they kept making it worse as they went along.  As one commenter wrote, "They should have just made you another pizza instead of trying to fix the one they screwed up."  Well, that's sort of how I felt.  I knew the problems I encountered in my first visit was an anomaly and I was going to eventually re-visit Pi at some point.  But I had no idea as to the fire storm my original post would cause. 

A regular "Road Tips" reader will link some of my St. Louis entries to the great restaurant forum - Eat at Joe's - in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  He linked the original post on Pi and the comments from the readers were somewhat explosive regarding my experience at Pi - both on the "Eat at Joe's" forum and on "Road Tips", as well.  One of the commenters on the Post-Dispatch forum was Pi owner Chris Sommers.  He was sincerely embarrassed for the situation and promised to have each of his employees read my entry and have it discussed at weekly meetings at his three restaurants.  

Through the gentleman who linked the original 'Road Tips" post to the "Eat at Joe's" forum, Chris Sommers sent me an e-mail that once again offered his apologies and invited me to come back to Pi and have a large pizza, four beers and a free dessert on him.  After a recent Cardinals game, our friends Scott and Marcia, Cindy and I went to Pi for a late dinner after a long day. 

We had parked at the Delmar Loop Metrolink parking lot and took the light rail system to the game earlier in the day.  By the time we got back, it was after 11 p.m.  It was still warm out and even though the large outside seating area in front of Pi looked inviting and very comfortable, we all voted to eat indoors in the air conditioning.  

There are two dining areas in the original Pi location.  There's a main dining area with a bar sort of cordoned off by a half wall next to it.  Another large dining room is off to the side of the main dining area.  The decor is sort of a mix of contemporary stylings and art deco.  Behind the bar is a large photograph mural of a bamboo forest.  Cindy said, "That looks like some of the bamboo forests we saw on Maui!"

 

 

 

 
The restaurant was not very busy as the hostess sat us at a table in the main dining room and gave us our menus.  She told us our waiter would be with us shortly.  We sort of looked through the menus and I was thinking that a cold beer would taste pretty good since it had been a while since I'd had my last one at the game.  I remembered that Pi only serves beer on tap - primarily Bell's, New Belgium and Schlafly products - - and I saw that they had the Bell's Two Hearted Ale on tap that evening.  That sounded damn good at the time.  

After a couple three minutes, the hostess brought us all a glass of water and set them on our table.  A couple more minutes passed - no waiter had shown up.  They didn't appear to be *that* busy and I began to worry that possibly - just possibly - we were in for another somewhat horrific experience at Pi.  I commented to the group, "Notice anything weird about this place?"

Marcia immediately said, "Yeah, no one's come over to greet us or take a drink order."  She also commented that she didn't think it was busy and wondered why no one had come over.  

A couple minutes later, a lanky young guy by the name of Elliott came by the table.  He sort of let out a breath of air and said, "Folks!  Sorry for the wait!  It seemed like all of my tables wanted their checks at once!  What can I get you folks to drink?"   Scott and I got the Bell's Two Hearted Ale and the girls got iced tea.   Elliott said he'd be right back with our drinks and to take our order.  

We decided that we were somewhat hungry, but not overly hungry.  Scott proposed that Marcia and he would get their own small pizza and I said, "Look, a large pizza will give each of us a couple pieces.  That's all I need."

Scott said, "Oh!  OK!  Well, that's all I really need, too."  We looked through the list of toppings that are available on a Pi pizza and three of us - all except Cindy - wanted mushrooms.  Cindy said that she could pick the mushrooms off her slices. 

Marcia wanted some sort of meat on the pizza - sausage or pepperoni.  I said, "We can get both!"  And Cindy proposed putting some roasted garlic on the pizza.  OK, we were ready.

When Elliott came back with the drinks, I told him that I had a letter from Chris Sommers, detailing the free pizza, beers and dessert.  He stood there for a moment, read the letter and said, "OK, then!  What can I get you?" 

We ordered up the large, deep dish pizza.  He said, "We're not that busy in the kitchen right now so we should be able to get this out pretty quick." 

After Elliott left to put in our order, Marcia observed that he didn't even flinch after reading the letter.  She said, "I was fully expecting him to say, 'Now, what's this?' or say, 'I have to go get a manager'.  He just read the letter and said, 'Well, OK!'  I was sort of expecting that he would have to get the OK from someone higher up before he took the order." 

Given that Chris Sommers commented on the "Eat at Joe's" forum that my original blog entry would be required reading by any who worked for him, I said, "I half expected someone to come over to the table and say, 'Oh, so it was YOU who wrote about your experience at the West End Pi."  I certainly hoped no one at Pi would make a big deal about this.  Elliott handled it beautifully.   

As Elliott said, our pizza didn't take much more than about 20 minutes from the time we ordered to the time we got it on the table.  This time, it did have all the toppings that we'd ordered and it was piping hot out of the oven. 

While I don't overly care for the San Francisco-style corn meal crust on the Pi pizza, I really do like the fresh ingredients - including the chunky tomato sauce they have on their pizza.  Marcia really liked the large chunk sausage on the pizza.  "This is really good sausage," she remarked.  And the garlic was very pungent and forward, but didn't detract from the overall taste.  It was a wonderful addition to my three staples of toppings that I get on pizza. 

Scott and Cindy both said they liked the pizza, although Cindy's somewhat spoiled when it comes to a good deep dish pizza.  "It was good," she said.  "But we've had much better pizza in Chicago."   

That late in the evening, two pieces of pizza was all I really needed.  I had a couple beers while Scott nursed his one beer along for the meal.   Elliott came back with the dessert menu - a number of ice-cream based desserts were available that evening.  But we all decided that the two pieces of pizza each were enough.  Besides, it was just coming up to midnight and we were ready to get back to the hotel.  As I said, it had been a long, hot day.  So Pi saved on one beer and one dessert from their generous offer to try their pizza again. 

After telling Elliott that we weren't going to get dessert this time - even though it would have been on the house - he cleared the remaining dishes off the table and took them away.  He came back a moment later and said, "OK, folks - the meal is on the house!  I'll be sure to tell Chris that you stopped in!" 

I knew that as successful as Pi as been in the nearly 2 1/2 years it's been in existence that my first visit was a minor bump in the road.  Sometimes it helps to complain that things aren't going well and sometimes it's good to have a travel/food blog that points out that the problems you faced during a visit.  I've never had as much attention lavished upon me since my first visit to Pi and I certainly appreciate the gesture put forth by Chris Sommers.  The next time I go to Pi, I'd really like to try one of their thin crust pizzas.  I can just imagine they're pretty damn good.  And I hope the service will be as exemplary as what Elliott showed us that evening.   

Newstead Tower Public House - St. Louis

(Update - Thanx to Joey H who informed me that Newstead Tower has recently closed.  But this burger is still available at their sister restaurant, Five Bistro.)

I have to apologize to whoever it was who gave me the suggestion of trying a burger at Newstead Tower Public House in St. Louis.  I try to give "shout-outs" to those of you who periodically read "Road Tips" when I get suggestions, but I struck out in trying to find where I'd gotten the suggestion.  Nonetheless, I did make it to Newstead Tower Public House on a recent visit to St. Louis.

Newstead Tower Public House calls itself a "gastropub", fashioned after similar public houses that serve food in the United Kingdom.  The gastropub concept has been popping up in larger metropolitan areas in America over the past couple three years and they usually offer unique foods to go along with a wide variety of beers to choose from.  Actually, the food takes precedent over beer in gastropubs.  

The owner and executive chef of Newstead Tower Public House is Anthony Devoti, who also runs the acclaimed Five Bistro restaurant just down the street.  (Update - Thanx to "St. Louis Steve", Five Bistro has moved to The Hill near Rigazzi's.)  Along with Five's chef Cory Shupe, Devoti brought his proven concept which features locally-grown foods and seasonal produce to Newstead Tower Public House when he first opened the restaurant in late 2007.

Newstead Tower Public House is only open for lunch Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; and opens for dinner only at 5 p.m. on Saturday's and Sunday's.  I was sort of lucky - I got in there just before they opened at 11:30 on a Wednesday.  The restaurant is located on Manchester Road in an area known as "The Grove" to the local residents (see map).  The building that houses Newstead Tower Public House underwent a radical renovation before the restaurant opened.  In fact, the whole neighborhood looked like it was getting some TLC from developers and property owners.  I went in the side door and took a seat at the bar.

The decor of Newstead Tower Public House was, well, spartan, at best.  One could probably squint and see a contemporary version of an English pub, but the interior was very minimal with a bar along the west wall and about a dozen or so tables in the dining area.  A large window ran the width of the south side of the bar looking out onto Manchester.  There were only a couple pictures hanging on the 3/4 wood paneled wall and three or four flat-panel televisions tuned to sports stations. 

I got a menu from the friendly bartender who didn't mind that I was a few minutes early.  I ordered up a Schlafly Pale Ale while I looked to see what all they had other than burgers.  Newstead Tower looked like the type of place that would have some interesting food - the menu cover, itself, was pretty interesting.  

The menu selections, while not all that extensive, were interesting, leaning more toward traditional English foods such as rarebit and fish and chips.  But they also had some intriguing items such as grilled farm trout, free range chicken and Prince Edward Island mussels.  I have a colleague in our main office in Montreal who is from Prince Edward Island and he claims - and I can personally attest - that the best mussels in the world are from P.E.I.  

But I was there for a burger.  Newstead Tower gets their beef from Fruitland American Beef  near Cape Girardeau, about 100 miles south of St. Louis.  Fruitland American Beef is well-known for their grass-fed beef which I'm neither here-nor-there in deciding if it's better than corn-fed beef.  Both are very good - different, but very good.  The burger at Newstead Tower is a 1/2 pound of lean ground chuck and you have your choice of caramelized onions, fresh grilled mushrooms or even a farm fresh fried egg along with five different choices of cheese. 

I ordered up a burger with Monterey pepperjack cheese and the grilled mushrooms.  Homemade potato chips come with the burger, but you can substitute pommes frites (what Europeans call French fries) for an additional $1.50.  Like I say, I was there for a burger and not necessarily the sides.  I ordered my burger medium. 

As I waited for my burger, people began to roll in for an early lunch.  It wasn't very long when the bartender brought my burger out.  Actually, he should have waited a little longer.

The burger, itself, was more rare than even-medium rare.  But I didn't know that until I had dressed it with the organic lettuce that comes with it, along with some homemade ketchup and a little bit of a stone-ground dijon mustard and then bit into the burger that was sandwiched between the top and bottom of a toasted and chewy homemade bun.  Now, I like rare beef, but I like my hamburgers to have a little bit more of a cooked quality to it.  I didn't have the heart to ask the bartender to take the burger back to the kitchen and get me another one - or at the very least to throw it back on the grill - especially since I'd already dressed it and had a couple bites. 

And actually, it wasn't all that bad.  The grilled mushrooms were flavorful and the cheese was a nice complement to the burger.  The homemade pickle slice was tangy, but I preferred not to stick it on my burger.  Other than the burger being severely undercooked for my liking, and the bun being a little more chewy than I care for, the Newstead Tower burger was very good.

The homemade potato chips, while light and flavorful, were way too salty for my taste.  I only had a couple three because of the high salt content, but if they weren't so salty I probably would have eaten more.  Then again, what's salty to me may be just right for others.  I hardly put salt on any food and I'm much more sensitive to salty foods.   

Newstead Tower won the Riverfront Times "Best Burger" award in 2008 and given the ingredients they use I'm not surprised.  Everything was fresh and flavorful, albeit the ground chuck was undercooked.  If I was a professional food critic, I'd have to go back again and make sure the burger was cooked before I could give it a better rating.  But don't take that as an indictment of the food at Newstead Tower Public House.  It's an upscale burger (and not cheap - $9.50 plus $3.00 for the cheese and mushrooms) and they feature quality menu items.  Burger and a beer ($4.50 for a pint of Schlafly) with a nice tip for the bartender used up a $20 dollar bill plus some accumulated change in my pocket.  I didn't expense it on my company credit card - I rarely do for lunch because they're so tolerant of my dinner tabs.  But next time I go back to Newstead Tower Public House to try a burger I may have to pull out the card.   

 

 

Pappy's Smokehouse - St. Louis

Since Pappy's Smokehouse opened in 2008, it has climbed to the top of nearly every "Best of" poll for barbecue in the St. Louis area.   This Midtown barbecue place - in the shadows of Harris-Stowe State University and a short walk from St. Louis University (see map) - features Memphis-style barbecue cooked in smokers up to 14 hours.  And when they run out of food for the day, they shut down.  Then they start the whole cycle again for the next day.  It's a great concept for barbecue - no reheating of one or two day old barbecue to serve to customers.

 

 

The man behind this concept is Mike "Smokey" Emerson, (pictured at right - courtesy Riverfront Times) a restaurant industry veteran who started out busing tables at the age of 13 working his way up the ladder at various restaurants until he helped open the high-end Del Pietro's Italian restaurant in the mid-70's.  Emerson then got a commercial sales gig, but got back into the restaurant business when he interviewed to be the General Manager of Super Smokers out in suburban Eureka.  (There used to be a Super Smokers right near the office of the old company I used to work at years ago out in St. Peters.  It was just fabulous, but that location closed long ago and I haven't been to the original Eureka restaurant.)

It was at Super Smokers that he got hooked up with barbecue expert Skip Steele, the co-owner and pit master at Super Smokers.  Steele was a world barbecue champion award winner and he took top spot for whole pig at the Memphis in May barbecue contest in 2000.  Emerson and Steele became very close as they shared a love for not only fine barbecue, but for hunting and fishing, as well.  Emerson used to barbecue with his older brother, Pappy, in his brother's back yard.  Pappy, who died in 2001, and Mike used to make tons of barbecue for whoever showed up.  Pappy's Smokehouse is named in honor of Mike Emerson's older brother. 

Steele sold his share of Super Smokers in 2007 and moved to Las Vegas to be the head chef/pit master at R.U.B. BBQ at the Rio casino and hotel.  But soon after Emerson - along with partners Brian Scoggins and John Matthews, as well as investor Mike Wegmann - opened Pappy's Smokehouse, Skip Steele was lured back to St. Louis to be the chef/pit master of the place.  Given how great Super Smokers was under Steele's pit watch, Pappy's has been a hit and has gained national recognition in just over two years in business.   (April 2013 Update - Scoggins left Pappy's to become one of the owners of Bogart's Smokehouse along with Skip Steele; and Emerson and Matthews bought out Wegmann's interest in Pappy's after contentuous period with Wegmann suing the two for breach of contract.)

I had tried to get into Pappy's Smokehouse on a couple of previous occasions, once just before noon and another time around 2 p.m.  Each time, the parking lot off to the side was full of cars and the line stretched out through the "L"-shaped restaurant toward the back door.  I wasn't quite willing to wait that long for barbecue, no matter how good it was.  However, on a recent trip to St. Louis, I planned on having a late lunch at Pappy's - after 3 p.m.  I figured the crowd at Pappy's wouldn't be as big at that point (it wasn't), but I'd also heard that they would sometimes start to run out of food around 4 p.m. (they hadn't).   

Pappy's Smokehouse is on Olive Street located right next to The U restaurant and bar, a favorite hang-out of college kids and sports fans.  Both Pappy's and The U share the parking lot, but Pappy's uses the share of spots in the daytime while The U will garner most of the crowd at night after Pappy's has closed.  

Out in front of Pappy's are two commercial smokers where the bulk of their barbecuing is done.  About the time when they start running out of food in the early evening, the next day's meat is beginning to cook - low and slow - at around 215 degrees.  They use both apple and cherry wood for their pork ribs and they're cooked dry with a spice rub.  Mike Emerson's motto is "We've got nothing to hide so the sauce is on the side."   On a typical day they'll cook up to 750 pounds of pork and 300 pounds of beef brisket.   

Pappy's also does a large catering business, as well.  Niki Puto, who was the former catering manager at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis, came over to Pappy's to head up their growing full-service, buffet-style catering business.  (Update - Puto also followed Brian Scoggins and Skip Steele over to Bogart's Smokehouse in 2011.)   

I was able to get right in to Pappy's when I walked in around 3:15.  Actually, the place was over half-full with people either having a late lunch like me or an early dinner.  Or they had been frustrated trying to get in during lunch in the past or had been in late in the day when they had already run out of barbecue.  In any event, there was a good sized crowd in the place in the middle of the afternoon.  

Blues music blared out of speakers located around the dining area.  The long part of the "L"-shaped building features conventional picnic tables as well as tables and chairs.  There is a small dining area up front by the counter with a few tables and chairs, as well as a high window ledge with high chairs to sit on.   Because of the popularity at Pappy's, management asks people not to sit first, then go order.  Pappy's isn't the kind of place where people will linger for a couple hours as they don't sell beer (What!?  Another barbecue place that doesn't sell beer!?), so tables turn over rather quickly. 

Pappy's menu - which is located above the counter where you order - consists of a wide-array of barbecued meats and sides.    They feature sandwiches such as pulled pork, pulled chicken, sliced brisket and turkey breast.  The food platters at Pappy's feature full and half-slabs of their pork ribs, pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken and turkey breast.  They have a number of sides including cole slaw, baked beans, fries, green beans, fried corn on the cob and applesauce.  But they're well know for their sweet potato fries.  Pappy's claims to be the biggest seller of sweet potato fries in the nation.  

Next to the menu board on the wall is a dry-erase board where they jot down what they're out of at that point of the day.  Thankfully, they weren't out of anything when I walked in.  I heard one of the workers in the dining area tell an older man that they usually run out of brisket first. 

They also feature a number of combinations, including one called "Heifer and Hog" - a combination of beef brisket slices and pulled pork served with thick white bread and two sides.  That's exactly what I wanted.  

I stepped up to the counter and a pleasant young lady with a good sense of humor took my order.  She asked me what sides I wanted and I decided to try their baked beans, but I was torn between getting their cole slaw or the sweet potato fries.  I finally opted for the cole slaw - I thought the sweet potato fries would be too much.  She said, "Good choice.  I like our cole slaw."  

I made the mistake of ordering a beer and she said, "I'm sorry, we don't have a liquor license."  I got confused because when I came in through the back door I saw a sign for Boulder Buffalo Gold beer.  But then I realized afterward that it was on the back door going into The U and not for Pappy's.  I got a water instead.  

She asked me for my name as they usually dish it up and bring it out to the table.  But since it was slow at that point, they handed my platter over the counter.  I got a seat at the window ledge with the high chairs and dug in.  

First of all, the brisket was absolutely fabulous.  The smoke ring around the meat was perfect.  The beef brisket was tender, flavorful and fresh.  On its own without any sauce, it was just excellent - some of the best brisket I've ever had.

The pulled pork was almost as good as the brisket.  The charred ends were chewy, but the inner pork was moist, tender and full of flavor.  They definitely know how to smoke their meat at Pappy's as there was just a hint of smoke taste in every bite, not enough to over power the natural taste of the meat like some barbecue places will do.  It was very good. 

When I did add sauce to the meat, it only helped enhance the taste.  Pappy's features three different types of sauce - their Original sauce that has a little bit of smooth pepper taste; Holly's Hot Sauce that they claim is pretty hot, but I found it to be slightly more spicy than their Original; and Sweet Baby Jane, a thick and rich, sweet/smoky Kansas City-style sauce.  I tried each of the sauce on a corner of the thick white bread and then began to experiment.  I thought that a mix of the Original and the Holly's Hot Sauce was a great combination. 

The baked beans on their own were good, but I really liked them better when I put some of the Sweet Baby Jane and the Holly's Hot sauce in them.  And the cole slaw was the sweet and sour kind that I like.  They weren't very creamy - also a big plus in my book.     

The meat portions were generous, the sides were in 6 oz. cups filled to the brim and the two large slices of white bread was more than enough.  I was able to finish the meats, but not the sides.  I'm going to have to try the sweet potato fries the next time I'm in.  And with a number of trips planned to St. Louis in the coming months, I will be back at Pappy's at some point.  From what I remember about Super Smokers when they had their location next to I-70 in St. Peters, that was the finest barbecue I've ever had in St. Louis.  But I have to say that Pappy's Smokehouse probably smoked 'em and replaced them as my favorite barbecue place in St. Louis.   But, of course, the common denominator here is Skip Steele.   Pappy's Smokehouse is, simply, barbecue heaven. 

The Aftermath of My Visit to Pi

Following my recent review on the upscale pizza place in St. Louis - Pi - my experience that I had that one evening has caused a little bit of a ruckus within the cyberworld community.  My entry raised voices both pro and con as to my attitude I took toward the place and my review of the pizza.  It's one of the most commented on entries I've had in my years of doing Road Tips - both on this site and also on a popular restaurant forum on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch web site. 

A number of months ago, a regular reader of this blog linked a review of a St. Louis eatery to the restaurant blog Eat at Joe's, a forum where St. Louis area residents talk about restaurants and other food stuff.  The forum is moderated by Joe Bonwich, the Post-Dispatch's food and restaurant writer.  Since then, Road Tips has been linked a number of times to the forum, primarily when I write about St. Louis area restaurants that I've visited.  I've garnered somewhat of a small following from the St. Louis area thanks to the occasional links to the Eat at Joe's forum and for that I'm eternally grateful. 

However, it was rather interesting reading some of the comments that I received on my blog site as well as the comments from people on the Eat at Joe's forum.  One of the more interesting comments was from Chris Sommers, the owner of Pi.  Here's what he wrote after my review of his restaurant was linked to the forum last week:

"Wow! He WAS very kind about our product after what reads like a complete disaster by my staff.

Truly embarrassing, and certainly will be discussed at our shift meetings for a while.

We certainly appreciate his kind words about the pizza.  But no one should have to suffer through such mayhem with an order.

Sincerely,

Chris Sommers Owner, Pi"

It was pointed out to me by the gentleman who posted the link to my review on that the reply by Chris Sommers was the first ever post by the Pi owner on the Eat at Joe's forum.  The gentleman who also posted the link informed me that he then got a letter in the form of an e-mail from Chris Sommers who thought he was the one who wrote the original post on Road Tips.  He told me, "Chris Sommers left me a message at STL.today believing I was you."  Here is a portion of that letter:

"I really appreciate you taking the time to visit and write about your experience at Pi.

But I am extremely sorry and embarrassed at your experience. My staff at that location is generally most professional and service oriented, so this particularly frustrates me.

You could have been much worse on us! Thanks for understanding and looking on the brightside around the pizza.

As I mentioned in my public reply, my staff has already been informed of this, and will be discussing this for the next week in their pre-shift notes. There are lots of things to learn from this experience, and I'm very sorry it happened to you.

Would love to have you back in the restaurant some time to get a pizza delivered quickly and correctly, leaving you some time for dessert.

Thanks again for the review and for going as easy on us as you did.

Chris     Owner, Pi"

Chris Sommers also included an invitation to come back to Pi and enjoy a pizza and a few beers on him.  I was planning on going back to Pi at some point, but I'll take him up on his generous invitation probably sooner than later. 

The other interesting thing through all this were the number of comments on both the Eat at Joe's forum and after the post on Road Tips.  The majority of people thought that I was too lenient and too forgiving for the service I received at Pi.  Quite honestly, other than the bacon bits on the pizza and the room temperature sauce on top, the pizza was very good.  Yes, they did screw up my order and they didn't bring me a beer in a timely fashion, but I wasn't going to get all up in arms about it.  I may have bitched a little more about the place if they hadn't taken the pizza off my bill or didn't apologize each time the screw up occurred. 

Unless the restaurant has absolutely no clue that they screwed up or becomes confrontational with me during the process of telling them how they screwed up, I'm not so willing to give them a pass.  I think the actions of the staff and management at Pi that evening and after the ordeal shows they were sincere in trying to make a wrong a right.   

There's really no use in pitching a fit in the restaurant over poor service or poor food when you're there.  That's what a blog is for... 

Pi - St. Louis

An influx of readers from the St. Louis area have given me a handful of suggestions of places to try when I'm in St. Louis on business.  One place that a couple people had suggested to me and I really wanted to try at some point is Pi - an upscale pizza restaurant with now three locations in the St. Louis area.  I have a good friend, Tom Kakert, the editor of the popular Iowa Hawkeyes internet site - Hawkeye Report - who ate at Pi recently with his wife (a St. Louis native) and her family.  He said the pizza was "excellent".   While I was in St. Louis recently, I decided to try out Pi.

 

 

 

Chris Sommers is the man behind the Pi concept and sort of the "face of the company" (picture right courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch).  He grew up living on St. Louis-thin crust style pizza, but fell in love with Chicago and San Francisco deep-dish style pizza as he got older.  With a degree in finance, Sommers teamed with partners Frank Uible and Ryan Mangiarlardo to open a unique pizza restaurant in the St. Louis that focused not only on fresh ingredients and a unique crust for their pizza, but would also focus on a more "green" concept by heavy linen napkins, china plates and serving beer on tap.  They made a concerted effort to reduce their environmental footprint in the restaurant.  And even before the city voted to ban smoking in restaurants starting in 2011, Pi was smoke-free from the first day it opened. 

The team found a location on Delmar near the Loop in University City in December of 2007 and set about to open their restaurant.  The working title of the project was called "pi", sort of an inside joke since pizza is round and pi is a mathematical constant.  Plus the rounded off numerical value of pi is 3.14 - the same area code of St. Louis. 

Sommers, Mangiarlardo and Uible opened the door of their first Pi restaurant on Delmar (see map) on - you guessed it - 3.14.08.  The place became an immediate hit with pizza lovers and critics alike.  What helped make the pizza so flavorful was not only the fresh toppings and chunky tomato sauce, but the crust.  Sommers fell in love the corn meal crust at Little Star Pizza in San Francisco.  Sommers, Mangiarlardo and Uible bought the rights to bring the pizza crust to St. Louis. 

Pi also made the national news during the presidential campaign in 2008.  Barack Obama was in St. Louis and during a speech he raved about the virtues of a Pi pizza.  Sommers had met Obama at a fund-raiser about a year earlier, then arranged for Obama to get some of their pizza before he made his campaign speech.  Obama liked the pizza so much that he continued to rave about how good the pizza was even after he was elected President of the United States.   He asked Sommers to come to Washington last spring to make pizza for Obama and his staff.  Sommers, Mangiarlardo and pastry-maker Anne Schuermann flew to Washington and made 10 deep-dish and 10 thin crust pizzas in the White House kitchen for Obama and approximately 50 staff members.

This caused a fire storm in Obama's hometown of Chicago - the home of the deep dish pizza.  Newspaper columnists and pizza owners in Chicago were outraged that Obama had a St. Louis deep-dish pizza restaurant come to Washington to make what is an icon in Chicago culinary circles.  Sommers became embroiled in a little hot water himself as he had to fend off some criticisms of spending tax payer dollars to fly he and his small staff to Washington to make pizza.  It turned out that Sommers and his crew flew to Washington on their own dime and didn't accept a penny for the pizzas.  The storm blew over quickly, although I understand there's a simmering rivalry between some pizza afficiandos in St. Louis and Chicago as to who now has the best deep dish pizza.

With the notoriety of his Obama connection, along with the fact that it was a unique restaurant to St. Louis that served very good food, Pi opened a second location in Kirkwood on Manchester near Lindbergh (see map), and a new location in the trendy Central West End section of St. Louis.  The Central West End location also features a coffee house that opens at 6 a.m. daily to serve gourmet coffees and upscale pastries.  

I was staying near Forest Park one evening recently and I decided to go to the Central West End Pi for a small deep-dish pizza.  The restaurant is located on the northeast corner of Euclid and McPherson (see map) and there's really only street parking near the place.  There is a pay lot just up the street on Euclid that charges $4.00 for unlimited parking.   

Pi was hopping with a number of Gen X to Gen Y people congregating around the spacious bar just inside the front door.  I've heard that the wait to get into Pi was as much as 45 to 60 minutes some evenings.  But tables were available around 8:30 p.m. on this visit.  I was tempted to sit at the bar, but the host told me, "It's pretty loud around the bar.  You may want to sit in the dining room."  He took me to the dimly lit part of the restaurant and I picked out a small table near a light where I could read my St. Louis Post Dispatch.  Quite honestly, it wasn't much quieter in the dining area. 

The building Pi occupies most recently housed the Sapphire Pan Asian restaurant.   They gutted the restaurant and gave it an old-time feel to the place with large wood beams, large windows that open to the street, and an upper floor area that works as an overflow cocktail area.  No wonder it was so loud.  

As I quickly perused the menu on the table, my waiter for the evening - Bob or Jim, I couldn't remember his name - came over to ask for my order.  He looked at me and said, "Man, I envy you.  You're gonna sit here and read the sports section and drink a beer.  That's what I want to do."  

I ordered a Budweiser - hey, when you're in St. Louis.  But he informed me that they only served Schlafly or Bell's products on tap.  I perked up and said, "Oh, well great!  I'll have a Bell's pale ale!"  I also ordered my pizza when he was there.  I got a small (9") deep-dish sausage (they use natural Berkshire pork sausage, no fennel Italian sausage - a minor strike in my book), pepperoni and mushroom.  He didn't write down the order, but I trusted him to remember.  

That was a mistake.  

Deep-dish pizzas take a while to bake, so about 25 minutes and a couple beers after I placed my order, a young lady brought my pizza to the table.  She asked, "Bacon, pepperoni and mushroom, sir?"

I said, "Nnnnoooo, I had a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom." 

She sort of looked at the pizza and said, "Let me take this back and check for sure."  

My waiter came back about two minutes later and he apologized.  "Sorry for the screw up.  We're gonna make you another pizza as soon as possible."  I didn't mind, actually.  I wasn't in any large hurry, although I was kind of tired.  But I figured for their screw up I was going to - at least - get a couple beers for free.  

He then asked me if I wanted to try some of the mis-made pizza, "just to see if you like it."  I declined.  Now, bacon does taste good on a lot of things, but two things I cannot handle very well is bacon on pizza and on salads.  I don't get heartburn very often, but I do get it when I have bacon on pizza and salads.  Don't know why, but it just happens.

About 10 minutes later, another waiter brought out another pizza.  He asked, "Pepperoni and mushroom?"  Nooo...  I had sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  He retreated back to the kitchen. 

My original waiter came back out and said, "I'm so sorry, man.  We're tryin' here."  He got me another beer while I waited.  

Finally about 10 minutes later a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom deep-dish pizza finally showed up on my table.  I thought, "That was sort of quick for a deep dish pizza."  But, I was ready to eat.

I'm not a huge fan of corn meal crust, but the pizza toppings trumped the taste of the corn meal.  The sauce was chunky and the mozzarella was stringy, but there was something sort of weird about the pizza.  It wasn't piping hot like you'd expect a pizza to be once it came out of the oven.  In fact, the sauce was sort of - well, room temperature.  But the chunks of sausage were large and plentiful, the fresh chopped mushrooms were small and there didn't seem to be a lot of pepperoni on the pizza.  It was good, but there was still something weird about the pizza.

I ordered a fourth beer from my original waiter and started on my third piece.  After I bit into that slice, I finally figured out what was so weird about the taste.  There were still bacon chunks on my pizza.  Then I figured why it got to my table so quickly and wasn't piping hot.  All they did was take the original pizza, tried to scrape off the bacon bits and then put sausage and new sauce on top.  That explained the near room temperature sauce on the pizza.  But the bacon chunks they couldn't get off the pizza were embedded into the crust.

I quit eating the pizza right after that piece.  I was hoping to take a couple three slices back to my room with me to have for breakfast the next day.  But I can't handle bacon on pizza.  I wasn't going to make a big deal about it, but they were going to end up making things right. 

I finally realized as I kept sitting there that the waiter had completely forgotten to bring my beer.  That was fine, I was ready to go.  10 minutes after I ordered my beer, another waiter brought my glass over to me and I said, "You know what?  I ordered that about 10 minutes ago and you're just getting it to me now.  I really don't want it."  (Yes, I know that has to shock some of you - I turned down a beer.)  But, quite honestly, I was tired and my first experience at Pi was going from unpleasant to bad in a hurry. 

He asked me if I wanted the remaining pieces of pizza boxed up and I said, "No, you guys screwed up my pizza from the get-go and there's bacon chunks still on this pizza.  I don't want it."  He apologized and took away the beer and the pizza.

Suddenly, I was the 800-pound gorilla in the room.  The staff knew I wasn't happy and there was a long pregnant pause of about five minutes before my original waiter came over and handed me the check.  He said, "Sir, we're not going to charge you for the pizza.  I'm so sorry for the inconvenience."

I said, "Well, I appreciate that.  But it appears that you guys took my original pizza, tried to get the bacon off of it, then put sausage and new sauce on top."

He said, "Oh, sir, we'd never do that."

I picked up the bacon bits I'd picked out of my mouth and out of the crust of the pizza that I had put on my plate.  I said, "OK, then, explain why these bacon bits were on the pizza and the sauce seemed to be more room temperature than piping hot out of the oven?"  I really wasn't trying to be difficult, because he was a good guy and it wasn't his fault.  But I thought it was sort of a shoddy way for whoever in the kitchen to try to make a wrong a right.

He had no answer for me when he grabbed my credit card so I could pay for the three beers.  I didn't care - free pizza or free beers, at least they took care of me.

He came back with my card and printed receipts and apologized profusely to me.  He said, "One of the managers would like to speak with you before you leave."

Shortly after that, a young lady named Kristy came up and introduced herself as one of the managers.   She said, "Sir, I understand that we fouled up your order tonight.  I'm so sorry for our mistake."  She asked me if I wanted a free dessert to help compensate for my problems, but I declined.  And I understand that Pi's desserts are pretty good.

She said she hoped my experience that evening wouldn't cause me to not come back in the future.  No, I don't think it will.  I'll give Pi a shot again.  They really did bend over backward to appease me, even though I did figure out they tried to hide a second mistake from me. 

I mean, other than the bacon and the room-temp sauce, the pizza was pretty good.  It definitely rivaled some of the finer places in Chicago - most notably Gino's East, which also features a corn meal crust.  I liked Pi better than Gino's East, but not as much as Lou Malnati's, Burt's or Pequod's Pizza - three of my favorite deep dish places in Chicago (but not necessarily in that order).   In any event, people in St. Louis don't have to drive nearly 300 miles north to experience good deep dish pizza any longer. 

(Update - Chris Sommers literally bent over backward to get me to come back and enjoy a pizza at Pi.  Read about that experience here.) 

Trailhead Brewing Company - St. Charles, MO

A night after going to Lewis and Clark's, I decided to go to their sister restaurant - Trailhead Brewing Company - in historic downtown St. Charles (see map).  When I worked for my former company based in St. Peters, we spent a lot of time at Trailhead Brewing Company.  And after I left the company over 7 years ago, I still caught up with some of my former colleagues at Trailhead when I'd make it to St. Louis.  But the company ended up closing, former colleagues moved away or got other jobs, and it had been a long, long time since I was last in. 

Trailhead Brewing Company opened in 1995 in an old building that once housed the Old Grist Mill.  The land the restaurant sits upon is said to be the "trailhead" point for the Lewis and Clark expedition.  As St. Charles grew as an important trading center in the 1800's, it was known as a trailhead for fur traders, settlers and other people heading west.  Today, Trailhead Brewing Company marks the eastern trailhead of the Katy Trail, a recreational trail that ends 225 miles away in Clinton, MO.

Trailhead Brewing Company is a very popular place with a large square bar and a couple of dining areas in the place.  The bar was packed with people when I got there that evening, so there was no place to sit and be able to watch TV and get dinner.  I opted for a table in the upper dining room.  The hostess took me up there, sat me at a table and handed me a menu.  The waiter came over and asked if I wanted a beer to get started.  It had been such a long time since I'd been there that I had to look over the beer menu just to remember what they had.  I ended up getting a Trailhead Red Amber for my first beer. 

Trailhead Brewing Company's menu is sort of extensive with a number of appetizers and about five pizzas to choose from.  They also have a number of soups and salads, along with some house specialties that include ribs, fish and chips and a sausage platter.  And just as I remembered, Trailhead has large selection of sandwiches including burgers, prime rib sandwiches and grilled chicken sandwiches.  

But I was looking at the entrees that evening, even though the spicy hot beef sandwich was getting my attention.  Trailhead Brewing Company has three different sizes of slow roasted prime rib, and an interesting "jerk"-seasoned grilled Mahi Mahi.  But the slow smoked, then grilled center-cut pork loin medallions kept calling me.  That what I ended up ordering when the waiter came back with my beer.  The medallions were served on a bed of rice and I got a choice of a side, as well as a salad.  They had maple infused sweet potatoes that evening.  Ooo, I'm a sucker for maple and sweet potatoes.  Putting them together sounded so joyfully sinful.  For good measure, I also ordered a cup of Trailhead's chili in which they put smoked beef brisket chunks.  I remembered that as being pretty good.

The Trailhead Red Amber beer was, well, sort of disappointing.  It tasted rather flat and didn't have the forward taste that I've come to expect from an amber beer.  It just wasn't very good.  I knew I wouldn't be ordering that again for my second beer.

The salad was a generous plate of greens topped with Trialhead's homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  Nothing spectacular, but it was serviceable.  But the chili was everything I remember it was.  It featured nice sized chunks of smoked brisket and it had a great taste to it.  Looking back, had I just gotten a bowl of chili for dinner that could have been more than enough. 

The waiter came by to pick up my salad plate and my empty cup of chili.  I ordered up one of Trailhead's Trailblazer Blond ales, about the lightest thing they had on their beer menu.  I do like their Missouri Brown dark ale (has a nice blend of caramel and coffee taste to it), but it's a little too heavy for me.  As is their Old Courthouse Stout.  Stout beers and I don't get along, anyhow.  And I certainly wasn't going to order up the Riverboat Raspberry beer.  Ordering a fruity beer is not part of my drinking agenda.  

My pork medallions came out along with my beer and I dug in.  The pork was actually a little over-grilled making the meat a little tough, and the barbecue sauce really overpowered the taste of the meat.  The barbecue sauce that Trailhead Brewing Company uses is all right, but it's nothing exciting.    The highlight on my plate were the maple sweet potatoes.  Oh man, were they great! 

The Trailblazer Blond was OK, better than the amber, but not by much.  It had a light flavor, but I should have probably ordered a Bud Light.   I have sort of an unwritten rule that I have at brewpubs - drink what they make, even if it isn't all that great. 

The Trailhead Brewing Company was exactly what I remembered it to be.  Average food and average beer all served in a unique 1800-style building that is cozy and comforting.  Like I say, I do remember their burgers and some of their sandwiches being pretty good and maybe I'll stop back for lunch some day to give them another try.  But with all the choices in the St. Louis/St. Charles County area for places to eat for dinner, it may be quite sometime before I make it back to Trailhead Brewing Company for an evening meal. 

Lewis and Clark's - St. Charles, MO

A good friend of mine works for the St. Louis Rams and we try to get together to catch up on old times when we both have the time when I'm in St. Louis.  I happened to be staying out in St. Charles one evening and the Rams' offices are in Earth City, just across the Missouri River.  We both were able to find the time to get together for a casual dinner at Lewis and Clark's in historic downtown St. Charles.

When I worked for a company in St. Peters for a number of years, Lewis and Clark's was always one of our favorite places to dine for lunch or dinner.  The decor and cozy dining rooms are reminiscent of an old English-style pub.  A number of years ago, Rod Thomas bought the building that houses the restaurant for about $60,000 and envisioned a restaurant on the site.  He poured another $350,000 into the building and lined up investors to go in with him on a restaurant.  When a proposed deal fell through, Thomas took out ads in local newspapers to try and attract another investor.

Bob Kirkwood was running the old Classic Carriage and Car Co. in St. Charles when he saw the ad.  He met with Thomas, saw the building and immediately signed on.  Along with two veteran restaurant renovators, Philip Golm and Ken Surprenant, Kirkwood and Thomas are the principal owners of Lewis and Clark's.  They also own the Trailhead Brewing Company, another popular restaurant/brewpub in downtown St. Charles, with Kirkwood as the managing partner for both properties.   

Now, one thing that Lewis and Clark's is famous for is their white chili (click here for the recipe).  I'm not enamored with the stuff, but my wife just loves it.  It's made with white beans, chicken and instead of a tomato-base for a traditional chili, you use chicken broth.  Lewis and Clark's were inundated with so many requests for the recipe that they printed it up and would hand them out to people when asked.  That's how Cindy got the recipe a number of years ago.  She tried to make it at home and it didn't turn out very well.  

I've noticed that white chili is featured on a number of menus across the greater St. Louis area.   I honestly don't know if Lewis and Clark's were the first to have white chili in St. Louis, but theirs was the first place that I'd ever seen white chili on any menu.  I'm sorry, I just don't care for the taste.  

I was able to find a parking spot on the street just down S. Main Street from Lewis and Clark's (see map).  My buddy, Mike, was a little late showing up, so I had a beer in the old style bar at the place.  It wasn't much longer before he showed up and we were shown to a table on the second level.  We got our menus and took a quick look at what they had that evening.   In addition to soups, appetizers and salads, Lewis and Clark's features a number of sandwiches and burgers, and a number of main entrees that feature beef, chicken, pasta and seafood.  It's not a huge menu, but there always seems to be something that's good that I can find on the menu.

I hadn't been to Lewis and Clark's for quite sometime, but one thing I do remember is that they had a wonderful beef tenderloin kabob where they'd marinate the meat, and grill it along with vegetables on a skewer.  The only problem is that they sometimes run out of it as they only make a certain number of them a day.  It wasn't a very busy night for the restaurant, so I was hoping I'd be able to get one.  The waiter went and checked with the kitchen and came back to inform me that they did still have some.  So, that's what I ordered, along with a side salad with their homemade Parmesan peppercorn dressing.

Mike ordered a turkey sandwich with fries.  He said, "Since Rams Park is just over the river, we come over here quite a bit for lunch.  I've got hooked on their turkey sandwich." 

We caught up on things while we waited for our food.  I've known Mike since his days back in Iowa City when he was working for the University of Iowa.  Mike and I were co-best men at our buddy, Billy Wilson's, wedding a number of years ago.  Mike was telling me that Bill and his wife, Ronda, had been down the weekend before for a Rams game and then they all went to see Bruce Springsteen that evening.  Mike and Billy are huge Springsteen fans and have traveled long distances to see "The Boss" play.  The talk at the table centered on the canceling of a Springsteen concert the night before in Kansas City due to the tragic death of one of Springsteen's crew members, who was also a cousin to "The Boss".  Mike said, "Yeah, that was wild, huh?  I can almost imagine how a bunch of those fans felt when they show up and the show's canceled." 

My salad came out and the bowl was generously filled with fresh greens and topped with Lewis and Clark's tangy, yet not overly zippy Parmesan peppercorn dressing.   It was big enough that I wasn't quite fully finished with my salad when our main entrees showed up at the table. 

The beef tenderloin kabobs were just as good as I remember.  The chunks of tenderloin were a little over-cooked for my taste, but still tender enough to enjoy.  And the grilled veggies on the skewer were still crunchy and fresh.  There was more than enough food on the skewer to make it a good, full meal.  

Mike said his turkey sandwich was "good, as always".  The turkey sandwich features smoked turkey breast, thinly sliced and topped with cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo and guacamole.  It's served on toasted whole wheat bread.  It did look really good.  But I was overly happy with my beef tenderloin kabob.   

I've found in my travels that sometimes when I haven't been to a restaurant in a number of years, I'm disappointed in my return visit.  I can't say that about my visit to Lewis and Clark's.  It was just as good as I remember.  It's been too long since I was last in and I need to keep them on my radar during my future visits to the St. Louis area.   I remember their burgers and sandwiches as being very good, but, then again, I can't really remember ever having a bad meal at Lewis and Clark's.  

Lotawata Creek Southern Grill - Fairview Heights, IL

While in the St. Louis area recently to do some training for Ultimate Electronics, I was out in the east part of Metro St. Louis in Fairview Heights for an evening.  Since it was late and not wanting to look for anything exotic, I opted for the Lotawata Creek Southern Grill that wasn't far from the hotel where I was staying.   I was able to get a table right away.   

I don't know much about Lotawata Creek Southern Grill.  There's very little information I can find on the internet about the place.  I have no idea how long it's been in business, who the owners or chefs are, or even the premise behind the restaurant.  I do know that they don't take reservations and that they have a pretty extensive menu.  I'm always worried about a restaurant that has a wide selection of different types of food and doesn't focus on one or two general cuisines.  More often than not, they do everything OK, but nothing very well. 

 

I made it to Lotawata Creek around 8 p.m..  It's located just off Interstate 64 and Illinois St. on a frontage road in the northern part of Fairview Heights (see map).  The interior of Lotawata Creek is reminiscent of an old warehouse with brick walls and large windows.  There's a lot of paraphernalia, signage and posters on the walls, including a huge canoe.  While it wasn't quite as busy looking as you see at some T.G.I. Friday's, it was still sort of interesting to look at. 

I ordered a beer as I looked through the menu.  The waitress brought back my beer and a basket of homemade bread.  That was a nice touch.  And the restaurant had a little bit of everything on their menu - steaks and prime rib, barbecue, Southern specialities, fish and seafood, sandwiches, burgers, salads.  They also had what they called a classics part of their menu that included some interesting entrees such as Italian meatloaf, Chicken Chattanooga and pork chops topped with a Jack Daniels-infused peppercorn sauce.  The more I read through the menu, the more intrigued I became.  It was becoming tough to choose what I wanted.

The waitress came back and told me they had a couple of specials that evening.   One feature was beef tenderloin medallions, served on a bed of garlic Parmesan mushrooms and topped with the Jack Daniels peppercorn sauce.  All right, stop right there.  That's all I needed to hear.  The other special was some seafood dish, but I wasn't interested.  Along with my beef medallions I got my pick of two sides.  They make their own mashed potatoes from scratch.  They had corn on the cob, green beans, cole slaw.  I settled on their barbecue baked beans and red beans and rice.

When the food showed up, I was somewhat taken aback by the portion.  They weren't small.  I thought, "There's no way I'm going to finish all of this."  But I certainly made a significant dent in the food.  

The tenderloin medallion was more medium-rare than the rare-plus that I ordered, but that was fine.  The meat was tender and the Jack Daniels peppercorn sauce was a wonderful companion with the beef.  The garlic Parmesan mushrooms were very good.  They had great texture, a nice garlic zip to them and the cheese wasn't overpowering.  I was immediately impressed and pleasantly surprised.  

The sides were OK.  The baked beans were much better than the red beans and rice.  I should have asked for some Tabasco and a side of barbecue sauce to help spice up the sides a little better.  But overall the meal was well above average.  As I said, I was overly surprised.

The waitress asked if I needed a box to take home my leftovers.  Since I was traveling, there was no way.  But for $18.99, I got a LOT of food.  Almost too much food.  If you go to Lotawata Creek Southern Grill, make sure you're hungry.  They serve you a lot of food - good food - at a very good value. 

 

Crown Candy Kitchen - St. Louis

An old dealer friend of mine, Tony Leone, who used to run the now-defunct Sound Central in St. Louis is a big food guy, as I am.  One time a few years ago, he asked me, "Hey, do you like chili dogs?"  Well, who doesn't like a good chili dog?!  He was telling me about this old time ice cream parlor in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood called Crown Candy Kitchen that, he said, had great chili dogs.  He told me that I really needed to give them a try at some point.

 

 

 

 

 

I never really thought about it again until I saw a segment on "Man Vs. Food" on The Travel Channel where Adam Richman was trying to down 120 ounces of Crown Candy Kitchen's thick and rich malts (see right).  I thought, "Wait a minute!  That's the place Tony told me to try for chili dogs!"  So when I was in St. Louis recently, I made a point to go to Crown Candy Kitchen for a couple chili dogs.

Crown Candy Kitchen dates back to 1913 when friends Harry Karandzieff and Pete Jugaloff, two Greek immigrants, opened up the small confectionery shop.  The sleepy little shop persevered through two World Wars and The Great Depression.  In the early 50's, Harry's son, George, took over the little ice cream shop.  During George's ownership, Crown Candy Kitchen became one of the favorite destinations for St. Louisians looking for a good malt or milk shake.   Today, George's sons Andy, Mike and Tim run the business, with a little help from a group of fourth generation Karandzieff sons. 

Crown Candy Kitchen is located in an area known as Old North St. Louis (see map).  Now, I have to tell you, the area around Crown Candy Kitchen is decrepit and run down.  There were buildings where the bricks were missing out of the walls of buildings.  There were buildings with boarded up windows with graffiti on them.  I was a little leery of even parking on the street before I got to Crown Candy Kitchen. 

When I pulled up, I noticed that some of the buildings in the area were getting a makeover.  There was a little bit of vibrancy to the neighborhood directly around Crown Candy Kitchen.  A number of cars were parked on the street near the place and I had suddenly had no trepidation with going to get a couple chili dogs there. 

It was just after 1 p.m. when I got into Crown Candy Kitchen.  Understandably, the place was packed by a lunchtime crowd.  In addition to ice cream sundaes, malts and shakes, and homemade chocolate candy, Crown Candy Kitchen has a soup and sandwich menu.  I found one empty booth in the back corner and a waitress came along to see if I needed any time to look through the menu.  I found the chili dog on the menu - Wow!  It must be really good!  It was $7.50!  OK, let's give it a shot.

As I waited for my chili dog, I took a good look around Crown Candy Kitchen.  It is the quintessential old-style ice cream parlor.  There were old Coca-Cola ads and memorabilia, tons of candy jars, and a vintage jukebox greeted you as you came in.  The booths were not very comfortable, but they added to the charm of the place.  There were people coming and going throughout the time I was there.  It was one busy place.  And it was really kind of neat.

The waitress brought out a couple small bags of oyster crackers, telling me that my chili dog would be out momentarily.  I opened one of the bags and had a couple crackers.  They were horribly stale.  Ugh!

My chili dog made it to my table.  It was served in a bowl and you needed a fork to eat it.  That's OK.  I'll eat a chili dog any way it's served to me.  Of course, the chili was the key component in the meal.  And it was... OK.  Nothing special, nothing to get all excited about.  The chili was sort of thick and bland.  The grilled beef hot dog was... OK.  It tasted fine, but I have to say - I've had much better chili and chili dogs.  It was like the chili had been sitting simmering on the stove for a few days.  I'm not certain that - no, let me rephrase that.  The chili dog was NOT worth $7.50.  I've gotten three chili dogs at some places for less than $7.50.  And they were much better than the one at Crown Candy Kitchen.

I'm sort of glad I went by myself and didn't meet Tony at Crown Candy Kitchen for a chili dog.  I was highly disappointed with it.  I'm sure since he grew up in St. Louis and probably had their chili dogs for years he thought they were great.  Oh, I'm not saying that Crown Candy Kitchen was bad - it is still a must visit if you're in the St. Louis area.  It's a very neat place and I'm sure their ice cream, malts and candies are excellent.  I know I'll have to take Cindy there for a shake the next time we're in town together.  But as far as their chili dogs go, I'd give Crown Candy Kitchen two stars for taste and one star for value.

Lukas Liquor Superstore - Ellisville, MO

In my post from last fall - Beer Hunting in Kansas City - I mentioned Lukas Liquor in Overland Park as a great place to find some eclectic beers.  Actually, the first Lukas Liquor Superstore that I visited was the one in suburban St. Louis at the corner of Manchester Rd. and Clarkson Rd. (see map).  I was in the St. Louis area recently and it was toward the end of the Oktoberfest season, so I wanted to check out what Lukas Liquor had to offer.  (Click here to go to Lukas Liquor - St. Louis web site.)

The Lukas Liquor in suburban Ellisville sports 24,000 square feet in floor space.  They boast over 6000 different wines, 1500 different liquors and 900 different beers.  Although it's been sort of out of the way for me in the past, now that we've put Focal speakers into Ultimate Electronics stores, there's an U.E. just down the road from Lukas Liquors.  I had to do a training at the store one morning, then I stopped in to Lukas Liquors afterward. 

I had picked up a number of good Oktoberfest beers when I was up in the Twin Cities a couple weeks earlier.  (I found a great liquor/beer store up there that I'll be telling you about very soon.)  But one beer that I was missing was Boulevard's Bob's 47 Oktoberfest beer.  I had seen it in Kansas City, but decided to try and get it when I got back home.  Well, it turned out that the local distributor for Boulevard didn't bring in the Bob's 47 this fall, for some unknown reason.  It's one of my favorite Oktoberfest beers, if not my favorite. 

I got into Lukas Liquor around 10:30 and started to look around at their beer selection.  They had just two six packs of the Bob's 47 left.  I asked one of the very helpful staff at Lukas Liquor if they had any left in back.  He checked and said, "Nope, sorry.  It's getting toward the end of Oktoberfest beers.  I'm sure we've sold all we can get our hands on to this point." 

I put the two "sixers" in the cart and started to look at some of Lukas Liquors other beers, just to see if there was anything that I couldn't live without.  Now, I remember Lukas Liquors as featuring some pretty obscure breweries in the past.  It was sort of exciting to go in and see something that I thought would be interesting to try.  On this trip, however, I was sort of surprised that there were more "mainstream" small and craft breweries on the shelves and not some of the mysterious eclectic beers that I remember them having.  They had a lot of varieties from Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and Leinenkugel, to name a few.  But I didn't really seem to find to the more inconspicuous, interesting microbrews like they had in the past.

Another staff member came up and asked if I was looking for anything specific.  I said, "I remember you guys used to have a lot of small obscure breweries that were pretty interesting.  I don't see quite that many on your shelves."

He said, "Well, the economy has dictated some of that.  A number of small breweries have gone under.  Those that are left are having distribution issues because distributors don't want to deal with low volume sellers.  And places like us are looking at maximizing our turns.  We have to give more shelf space to the beers that people like and perform well.  We just can't afford to have beers that don't sell on a regular basis." 

It's all purely understandable.  These guys aren't in the business of finding a number of no-name breweries and taking a chance that a number of people like me are going to come in on a regular basis and try something new.  They need to have beers that are proven sellers. 

But, still, Lukas Liquor Superstore has a wide selection of beers to choose from.  You just won't find the small breweries represented like they once were at Lukas Liquor.  Their prices are good, the wine selection is also top-notch, and you can be sure to be able to find something good each time you go in.  I'll keep going back just to check and see what they have to offer.  You never know...

Good Bye to Ozzie's

The recent demise of Ozzie's sports bar in the Westport Plaza area of St. Louis was a personal blow to me.  It was one of my all-time favorite sports bars, anywhere.  I'd been going to Ozzie's since the mid-90's and for a long time it was a good place to get a pretty good meal, drink cold beer and to watch sporting events on one of the 50+ televisions they had throughout the bar.  But things had changed for the worse over the past few years for the place.  I thought the food began to suffer.  A couple of recent times I'd been in, the beer was nowhere close to being ice cold like I once remember.  Then the economy and competition in the Westport area caught up with Ozzie's and they were forced to shut their doors in late October. 

(To read my original post on Ozzie's, click here.) 

I was in St. Louis the week after Ozzie's shut down.  In fact, I was thinking about going there for lunch one day to grab a burger, but it turned out it would have been quite a trek in some heavy rain to get over there.  I ended up just getting a burger at a Fuddrucker's in South County.  I would have been devastated walking up to Ozzie's and finding the doors locked. 

For those of you not in the know, Ozzie's was named after the former St. Louis Cardinals and Hall of Fame shortstop, Ozzie Smith.   St. Louis restaurateur Ray Gallardo (who founded and owned the Casa Gallardo restaurants) opened the restaurant in 1988.  Smith decorated the restaurant with some of his numerous awards, along with other memorabilia from the Cardinals, St. Louis Rams and St. Louis Blues.  The place was an immediate hit with the people of St. Louis and a "must see" for Cardinals fans who would come from all over to see the Cards play in the summertime.  While the food wasn't all that great, it was more of the atmosphere that kept people coming back year after year. 

When I worked for a company in suburban St. Louis a number of years ago, Ozzie's was always one of the more favorite places for me to go to grab a quick sandwich or to catch a game that I wanted to see.  When we'd have sales managers from vendors come into St. Louis for meetings, invariably at some point we'd end up at Ozzie's.  I still run into guys at trade shows that I knew from years ago who bring up their visit to Ozzie's.  Ozzie's had a couple of private rooms that we'd take over from time to time and that, along with all the memorabilia throughout the place, made a lasting impression on some of the people we'd take there. 

Ozzie's menu was wide and varied, very typical of a high-profile sports bar.  They had a little bit of everything - appetizers, sandwiches, steaks, ribs, Mexican food, pasta.  While they didn't do anything great, it was adequate enough for what it was.  I did like their burgers and they had a dynamite blackened chicken sandwich.  And I did like their brisket sandwich, as well.  But most of the main entree choices were pedestrian, at best.   But the surroundings and memorabilia trumped the average food, in my book. 

The economic climate in St. Louis over the past few years has been deteriorating and that, undoubtedly, cut into Ozzie's bottom line.  But many people point to the establishment of Pujols 5 in Westport Plaza as the beginning of the end for Ozzie's.  Pujols 5 is named after the Cardinals great first baseman, Albert Pujols (left).  Before Pujols 5 opened up, Ozzie's management was told that it was going to be more of an upscale restaurant on the level of Mike Shannon's than a sports bar like Ozzie's.  Based on that information, Gallardo's management company signed a lease extension through 2015 and borrowed $150,000 to upgrade Ozzie's restaurant.   

It turned out that Pujols 5 (which I've not been to yet) was more like Ozzie's in terms of a sports bar and grill than an upscale restaurant.  At least, that's what Ozzie's alleges in a lawsuit that was filed last spring against the owners of Westport Plaza.  Ozzie's claims that with over 40 hi-def televisions, a menu that is more similar to Ozzie's than to Mike Shannon's, and the fact that they advertise themselves as the "newest and hottest of America's sports restaurants," Pujols 5 was, indeed, a sports bar and it violated the lease agreement.   

Westport Plaza's owners countersued Ozzie's for non-payment of rent.  As Ozzie's closed up, the lawsuit against Westport Plaza was dropped, but the countersuit against Ozzie's goes on.  Ozzie's held an auction after they closed to sell off some of the memorabilia, fixtures and equipment.  The owners of Westport Plaza now claim the auction was not authorized due to their lawsuit against Ozzie's management.  I'm sure it's going to get more messy as time goes on.  Stay tuned. 

With revenues falling and Pujols popularity helping drive people to the restaurant named after him, Ozzie's began to slip.  The food was noticeably more weak than I remember during the first few times I'd gone to the restaurant.  On our annual trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals a couple years ago, we stopped into Ozzie's for a cold beer before the game.  But we were served slightly below room temperature beer.  I'd noticed the previous few times that I had been in, the beer coolers weren't very cold.  It just didn't seem to be the same place I'd once remembered. 

Sports bars come and go.  Some last longer than others.  Ozzie's lasted longer than most.  It had a good thing going for a number of years.   Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by a bigger name in St. Louis sports these days and that, undoubtedly, led to their demise.  However, the name Ozzie Smith will continue to live in the hearts and minds of St. Louis fans for years and years, even if his namesake restaurant will not. 

(Update - Ozzie's has reopened at a new location in downtown St. Louis (see map).  I've yet to make it into the new Ozzie's, but plan to during an upcoming trip to St. Louis.)

Milo's Bocce Garden - St. Louis

I love The Hill in St. Louis.  The restaurants, the specialty food stores, the history.  Whenever I'm in St. Louis I have to make a stop on The Hill.  On a recent trip to St. Louis, I wanted to go have lunch at Zia's.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up in front of Zia's and found it to be closed - due to a fire that happened earlier in August.  I sort of wondered what was going on as there was ample parking on the street around the restaurant and it was before 1 p.m.

I still had to go to Urzi's Market to pick up some spices and their great Italian seasons mix.  As I was walking in, there was this great smell - it was pizza - and it was from the restaurant next door.  Quite honestly, I've been to Urzi's dozens of times and have never paid attention to the little restaurant just next door.  But the smell of pizza was unmistakeable.  Suddenly, my taste buds changed gears from the "Zia's salad and toasted ravioli" mode to the "pizza" mode.  

As I was paying for my spices at the counter, I was talking with the young lady who was ringing up my purchases.  I said, "Does this place next door do a good pizza?"

She said, "Honestly, I don't know.  I've never eaten there."

I said, "I've had the pizza at Guido's and I've had the pizza at Rigazzi's.  I just wondered if this place next door had good pizza."

She said, "You know who has good pizza on The Hill?  Milo's."  

I said, "Milo's?  Where's Milo's?" 

She said, "Caddy-cornered from the church.  Across from Amaghetti's." 

I said, "I know where Amaghetti's is.  I'll go look for it." 

When I drove up, I found Milo's (see map).  Oh, Milo's!  The little bocce ball tavern that I've been by a ton of times, have always wanted to go into, but never had.  They have pizza at Milo's?  Good pizza?  All right, I'll give it a shot. 

Milo's appears to be one of those little neighborhood bars that I love so much.  On my numerous trips to The Hill, I've often wondered what Milo's was all about.  Some nights, the beer garden out back is just packed, while other times it looks as empty as my beer cooler late on a Saturday night.  But from the outside, it just seemed it had some nice character to the place.  I was more than willing to give it a try, but I hesitated for a moment outside Amaghetti's as I've never tried their place for lunch before, either.  But pizza was calling my name and I went into Milo's. 

It turns out the garden area out back is what makes Milo's so famous with the locals, especailly in the summer time.  It's where Milo's hosts games of bocce, an ancient Italian game that sort of resembles lawn bowling.  Milo's has 3 leagues that run from April into November.  The bocce area is covered and they can play in all types of weather.  A nice little beer garden surrounds the bocce courts. 

In 1977, Tom Savio bought what was the old Wil-Mar Lounge on the Northwest corner of Wilson and Marconi on The Hill and named it Milo's.  His goal was to make it a family style neighborhood tavern where the locals would congregate and socialize over a few beers, good food and a wholesome atmosphere.  Not long after Tom bought the building, the new St. Ambrose Catholic Church was built on the opposite corner of Wilson and Marconi.  I saw an article at Milo's that said the place is one of the very few bars, not only in St. Louis, but in the world that was less than 100 feet from a church.  

In 1989, Joe Vollmer came in as a partner to Savio and he convinced his new partner to build the bocce courts out back.  They promptly did and Milo's has been the center of the bocce universe in St. Louis ever since.  

Make no mistake - Milo's is a tavern, but it's far from a dive.  It has wood-paneled walls with the required beer lights and St. Louis Cardinals posters on the wall.  It has a number of televisions that are usually turned to sports, when they're playing games.  That day I was in there they were tuned to networks like CNN and The Weather Channel.  There is a game room off to the side with a number of video games. 

I sat at the bar and ordered a Budweiser and got a menu.  Then it hit me - I only had about 18 bucks in my pocket.  I thought, "Crap.  If they don't take credit cards, all I can get is a beer and then I'll have to move on."  When the bartender came back, I asked her if they took credit cards.  She said, "We sure do, sweetie."  Whew!  I sure didn't want to go elsewhere for lunch at that point.

While Milo's menu also features a number of appetizers - including their signature wings - and sandwiches, they do feature pizza.  You get your choice of either provel or mozzarella as your first topping, then you can either get one of their specialty pizzas, or get your own toppings.  The crust is thin, but not cracker-thin.  A 9" cheese pizza is $7.00 and it's $1.75 per ingredient that's added to the top.  

Before I ordered my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza, something on the menu - and on the plate of a guy near me - caught my eye.  It was Milo's "Special" sandwich - generous amounts of roast beef and salami on an Italian hoagie roll, topped with provel cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and finished off with a vinegar and oil dressing.  That looked yummy, too.  But my mind was set on pizza, and that's what I ordered.   

Even though it was past 1 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, there was still a sizeable lunch crowd in Milo's that day.  Milo's also serves a daily lunch special and that helps bring in the crowds through the week.  I instantly fell in love with Milo's with the atmosphere and the number of neighborhood people who were greeting one another as they'd walk past tables.  

About 20 minutes after I'd ordered, my pizza showed up in front of me.  The toppings were plentiful and it was the big chunks of sweet Italian sausage that all pizzas should have - not that stupid ground sausage like they do in the Quad Cities.  And from my first bite, I liked it.  The sauce wasn't as sweet as Guido's (which I think is too sweet).  I also liked the thin crust better at Milo's than I did on the Rigazzi's pizza.  The sausage and pepperoni had a nice little bite to it and the mushrooms seemed to be fresh.  The young lady over at Urzi's was right - it was a very good pizza, quite possibly the best of the ones that I've tried on The Hill.  It was surprisingly good. 

With three beers and the pizza, the bill came to about $23 bucks with the tip.  Sort of expensive for lunch, but it was well worth it.  I've found a new favorite tavern in St. Louis and they even serve pretty damn good pizza.  When we come back down to St. Louis next year for a baseball game with our friends, we'll have to stop back at Milo's - even if it's just for a beer.  Hell, before that, I'll stop back in to Milo's when I come back to St. Louis on business! 

Culpeppers - St. Louis

Culpeppers is an 8 location local St. Louis chain that features pretty good St. Louis style pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and other food.   Culpeppers touts themselves as the "favorite St. Louis grill and bar" and they have a loyal following that has continued since the first Culpeppers was opened back in the mid-30's right after the repeal of Prohibition.  It had been quite some time since I'd been at a Culpeppers, and I set up a lunch date with my former boss for whom I worked up to the point when I took my current job with Audio Plus Services over seven years ago. 

The original Culpeppers opened in 1935 at the corner of Maryland and Euclid in the Central West End of St. Louis (see map).  That original location is still going strong today.  My old company was out in St. Peters, almost equidistant from the Culpeppers in St. Charles (see map) and from the one in O'Fallon, MO (see map).  We seemed to eat at the one in O'Fallon more often because it wasn't far from my ex-boss' former home.   

Culpeppers is known for their good burgers, sandwiches and salads, but they're probably best known for having some of the best - if not THE best chicken wings in St. Louis.  The pizza is above average for a St. Louis style pizza and is a good choice if you're in the mood.  Culpeppers menu also features steaks, pasta and some seafood.  It's difficult to find anything that isn't appealing on their menu. 

I left my old company on civil terms, even though a messy divorce and other factors ended up closing the doors of the firm a couple years after I left.  I've stayed in contact with my old boss and he continues to work in the audio/video industry.  We like to get together to check notes, talk about industry trends and to help each other with leads and the like.  I was in St. Louis earlier this summer and I set up the lunch for around 1 p.m.  I had to go out to the St. Charles area for a meeting and called and left messages for my ex-boss to meet me for lunch at Culpeppers.  I got a cryptic text message back from him that said, "Culpeppers - fine". 

I got there around 1 p.m. and sat at the bar waiting for my ex-boss to show up.  I continued to wait for a half-hour.  I tried calling him a couple times, text messaging him, as well.  I even e-mailed him from my Blackberry to see if he'd possibly gone to the O'Fallon location.  I didn't hear anything back from him.  That wasn't overly unexpected - he has garnered a reputation for making appointments and not keeping them.  (He contacted me the next day and apologized, saying that he had an appointment that had taken a little longer than expected.) 

I ended up asking the bartender for a menu around 1:45.  It had been a number of years - probably well over seven or eight years - since I'd last eaten at a Culpeppers in St. Louis.  But I do remember their bacon cheeseburger was one of the better ones in the area.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with pepper jack cheese.  In place of either waffle or steak fries, I also ordered one of Culpeppers very good house salads - a generous bowl of chopped lettuce, cherry tomatoes, olives and red onion slices topped with Culpeppers' wonderful homemade Ranch dressing.  

A Culpeppers burger begins as a half-pound USDA Choice beef patty, charbroiled and then served on a sesame seed bun.  They're usually a meal in themselves.  It had been quite sometime since I'd had a burger from Culpeppers, but I certainly remembered the taste when I took my initial bite.  While the pepper jack cheese wasn't all that spicy, the bacon was flavorful and helped add to the taste sensation of the burger.  While it may not be the best burger in St. Louis (I'm having trouble finding a place better than O'Connell's Pub or Burger Bar), it's an above-average burger.  It works in a pinch when you need something for lunch or a casual dinner.

In all honesty, Culpeppers isn't much different than any number of national chains that permeate the landscape with their varied menus that are designed to whet the appetite of any diner.   And while I usually disdain those big, souless chains, I'd eat at a locally owned chain restaurant like Culpeppers.  They do everything pretty well, not great, but well enough to keep them in business for nearly 75 years. 

 

Blues City Deli - St. Louis

I promised I'd give my sister-in-law, Becky, a "shout-out" for suggesting the Blues City Deli in St. Louis if it were good.  She said, "Oh, goody!  Well, I know you'll like it, so I'll be looking for my name in your blog."

She also told me that she couldn't believe I'd A) never been there before; and B) that I'd never even heard of Blues City Deli before.  She said, "Good God, you'll love the place.  It's got all these old time posters and pictures of old blues performers all over the wall.  And they've got those muffuletta sandwiches that you like so much.  You've got to go there and let me know what you think."   

BluesCity Deli gets its name as sort of a homage to the blues music tradition and history in the St. Louis area.  But the food on the menu at Blues City Deli also pays tribute to other blues hot spots such as Memphis and New Orleans.  Not only is owner Vince Valenza a student of blues music, he is also a musician (drummer) who has played blues and roots music for a number of years.  Blues City Deli features live blues music twice a week on Thursday evenings and on Saturday afternoons.  Sometimes, you'll find Vince Valenza back on the drums playing with the blues artists that show up.  

Valenza opened Blues City Deli in 2004 with little culinary education.  He knew over 20 years ago that he'd love to open a restaurant, but didn't know the first thing about running one.  A friend of his ran an Italian restaurant on the north side of St. Louis and Valenza asked him if he could come to work part time to learn the restaurant business.  Valenza did everything - bussed tables, washed dishes, waited on the tables, worked on the prep tables, purchased food, whatever it took for him to learn the business.  

While on a business trip to New Orleans, Valenza saw that the music scene and food were bonded together.  That's when he first realized the concept that would one day become Blues City Deli.  Valenza's dream became reality when he opened on November 6, 2004.  Since then, he's garnered a loyal following of municipal, professional and blue collar workers who flock to his little deli during lunch. 

Blues City Deli is located south and west of the downtown St. Louis area in the Benton Park neighborhood, not far from Soulard and the Anheuser-Busch brewery (see map).  It has limited hours, primarily opening at 11 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m., except on Thursdays when it closes at 8 p.m.  I believe he may stay open later through the week during the summer months. 

It was about 11:30 a.m. when I made my way to Blues City Deli.  I was warned that a line forms early and that a 15 to 20 minute wait is normal during the lunch rush.  Lines snaking out the door are common.  I was able to find a parking spot on the street, just in front of a St. Louis Fire Department truck where a battalion of firefighters were picking up a bunch of sandwiches to go.  A short line had formed inside the very small deli and by the time I'd ordered and gotten my food, it had grown to 20 people deep.  

Standing at the counter was Vince Valenza, always adorned with his bowler/fedora style hat.  Vince is known to chat up the customers, make suggestions to add to their sandwiches and to talk about some of the memorabilia that he has on his walls.  And Becky was right - the old posters, pictures and other memorabilia was pretty interesting.  I found myself being surprised or amazed at some of what was on the wall.  It was sort of like Vince had his own museum inside the deli.   

The menu board is located on the wall behind the small counter.  There's a number of people feverishly working in the kitchen area making up sandwiches and salads.  It's what I would call organized chaos going on behind Vince Valenza as he took the orders.  

Even though there were a number of delectable and intriguing sandwiches to choose from, I'd already had my heart set on the muffuletta sandwich.  The "Valenza Special" muffuletta is an 8" sandwich with Genoa salami, ham, mortadella, provolone and mozzarella cheese, topped with Blue City Deli's own olive salad spread and then placed on fresh baked round Italian bread.  A whole one would have been way too much for me, so I ordered a half from Vince.  I got a bottle of water from the cooler by the counter to go with the sandwich.  All together, the bill came to under $9.00 bucks.  Vince game me a number tag to hold on to so they'd be able to identify me when my sandwich was ready.

While I waited for the sandwich, I took a look around at all the posters and pictures on the wall.  It was sort of tough to get close to some of the pictures and a lot of tables and chairs - quickly filling up with people - were jammed into the small space Blues City Deli occupies.  I made the conscious decision to come back some time, preferably in the middle of the afternoon, to be able to look more closely at the memorabilia and hopefully it wouldn't be as busy.  That way I'd be able to ask Vince about some of the things that he had and the stories behind them.  

One of the workers came out with my sandwich and handed it to me.  I weaseled my way out the door, past the ever growing line of people standing in wait.  I found a table out on the sidewalk and took a seat. 

It's been years since I had what I would call an authentic muffuletta sandwich.  And that was at the "home" of muffuletta's - the Central Grocery in New Orleans.  I've had a number of muffuletta's since then, but none of them ever came close to the one I had at Central Grocery.  Until now.  The muffuletta at Blues City Deli was very good.  Sometimes, the bread is too doughy and hard in other muffulettas I've had and it detracts from the taste of the meats, cheeses and olive spread.  The muffuletta bread at Blues City Deli was chewy, yet light.  The toppings of meat and cheese were plentiful.  But what made the sandwich was the homemade olive salad spread.   The olives were very fresh, it was good and oily, and there was plenty of it on the muffaletta.  It may have been the best muffuletta I've had since my first one in New Orleans all those years ago.

A half muffuletta at Blue City Deli was still too much for me.  Actually, one of the quarters of a regular muffuletta would have been enough for me.  I was able to eat one, eat part of another and then call it a day.  Since I was traveling I didn't have a way to store the muffuletta, and there was such a long line of customers stretching out the door and down the sidewalk that I didn't want to go back in, butt in line and ask for a container.  

Since my first visit to Blues City Deli, I've been in St. Louis a couple more times this summer.  Both times, I found myself near Blues City Deli during the lunch hour.  And when I pulled up in front, there was a line that was probably 25 to 30 people deep stretching out the door, down the sidewalk and down the side of the building.  I didn't have time to stop and wait that long for a sandwich.  Although, it was certainly tempting.  

So, yes, Becky.  It was good.  Very good.  And I loved the stuff on the walls.  Thanks for the tip.  I can't wait to get back to Blues City Deli to try one of their other sandwiches and to take a closer look at the stuff Vince has on the wall.  But I'm going to wait until after 2 p.m. to do so. 

Outlaw Blues - O'Fallon, IL

I was in the far eastern suburbs of St. Louis recently spending the night before I did a training for American TV the next morning.  Near my hotel was a Texas Roadhouse and a Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was late when I got in and I wasn't up for doing any research to find any "new" place to eat, so I headed over that direction, fully intending to make up my mind between the two when I pulled up.  But something caught my eye as I turned the corner - a restaurant about the size of the other two by the name of Outlaw Blues.  (see map)  I thought, "Huh!  Well, let me see what this is all about."

Outlaw Blues bills itself as a restaurant and saloon, with barbecue and southern-style food being the main draw.  They primarily do steaks, ribs, fried chicken, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, salads - a little bit of everything.  The menu was pretty full and diverse. 

Steve and Karen Edwards opened Outlaw Blues in November of 2008.  The Edwards also own Farmer's Restaurant in nearby Highland, and are part owners of Ravanelli's Restaurant with two locations in Collinsville and Granite City.  Steve Edwards wanted to have a restaurant that featured both Memphis-style and New Orleans-style barbecue.  And he wanted to have a restaurant that had a big bar.  He certainly accomplished his goals with Outlaw Blues.  

I got into Outlaw Blues around 8:30 on a Monday evening.  I was greeted by a hostess who wanted to know if I wanted a seat in the dining room.  I looked into the bar area and decided I wanted to sit in there.  There were a handful of people in the dining room, and a couple people in the bar.  I was greeted by the very friendly bartender and I ordered up a Schlafly pale ale, which they had on tap.  

So much on the menu sounded so good.  I get a little skeptical with a restaurant that has a vast and varied menu.  Those are usually the restaurants that can do everything well, but they don't do anything very well.  I was sort of interested in trying their barbecue, but their comfort food - including a meat loaf entree - was sort of enticing. 

I saw something that caught my eye at the bottom of one of the menu pages - the Perfect Pair.  You could get two pieces of Southern fried chicken and either some pulled pork or a 1/3 slab of baby back ribs.  Then they had the trifecta at the end - fried chicken, pulled pork AND a 1/3 slab of ribs.  Oh, boy.  I get to try a little bit of everything.  And I got two sides to go along with it.  

To my horror, I found that Outlaw Blues didn't feature baked beans as a side.  A barbecue place that has no baked beans?  What the hell is this?  Baked beans are a staple in barbecue joints.  Well, Outlaw Blues wasn't quite a "joint", but I would have thought they would have had baked beans.  Instead, I took red beans and rice, and a side of pickled beets.  (I don't see pickled beets on the menu very often.  Cindy got me hooked on pickled beets when she'd bring home jars of them from her grandma years ago.)

The bartender, a petite Asian girl, came over to take my order.  I ordered up the "trifecta" and she asked me, "What kind of chicken meat do you want?  White or dark?"

Now, I'm a fully grown man.  I don't have the faintest idea as to which pieces of the chicken are white or dark.  All I know are "thighs", "wings", "legs", etc.  I have no idea which is which.  I've never learned the difference.  I said, "Can I just get a couple of legs?"  She said she'd make sure that's what I got.      

It was a beautiful evening and Outlaw Blues features an outdoor dining area.  I contemplated going out there, but I was comfortable at the bar and they had something on TV that was pretty interesting.  Plus, the bartender - whose name I completely forgot - was very attentive.  When my beer glass had one last swallow, she was over asking me if I needed another.  Of course, there were only two other people sitting at the bar.

The bartender brought out my food.  She said, "The cook gave you three legs.  I hope that's OK."  I told her I could live with it. 

All right - where do I start?  Well, I had to try the fried chicken first.  The batter was flavorful and the legs were meaty.  They were very good.  I could have easily just gotten the chicken and been happy.  I don't think the chicken was quite as good as what I had in Savannah, but it was still very good. 

The pulled pork and the baby back ribs were very good.  The ribs were meaty, as well, and the pulled pork was tender and moist.  The barbecue sauce was nothing special.  It was a tomato base and didn't have a lot of pizazz to it.  It really did nothing to add to the flavor of both the pulled pork and baby back ribs.

The red beans and rice were - eh!  Nothing special.  But the pickled beets were absolutely wonderful.  They were sweet and didn't have that earthy taste you get from some beets.  And I was also served corn bread with maple butter.  I'm not big on corn bread, but this was very good.  The sweet maple butter was a wonderful complement to the bread. 

All in all the meal was good to very good.  Surprisingly, good to very good.  Pleasantly surprisingly good to very good.  I was a little disappointed in the barbecue sauce, plus the fact Outlaw Blues didn't offer baked beans as a side.  The red beans and rice were nothing special.  But the Southern fried chicken, pulled pork, and ribs were very good.  The pickled beets were excellent.  And I enjoyed the corn bread with the maple butter.  While Outlaw Blues does a little bit of everything, they do it well above average.  I was impressed with Outlaw Blues.  I hope the Edwards make a go of it.

(Update - Well, it appeared the Edwards didn't make a go of Outlaw Blues.  They closed the doors in March of 2011.  However, the place reopened as the third location of Edwards' Ravenelli's Restaurant.  They still have the great fried chicken on the menu, but all the barbecue and Cajun foods are now gone.) 

Soulard Farmers Market - St. Louis

 

During our trip to St. Louis, we took our friends Scott and Marcia to the Soulard Farmers Market, (see map) one of the oldest continuous public markets in the United States and the oldest farmers market west of the Mississippi.  They had heard about Soulard Market, but had never been there before.  We decided to run down there to walk around and see what they had to offer.  We all like the farmer's markets back in the Quad Cities.  The Soulard Market - which is open year round Wednesday's thru Saturday's - puts those markets to shame.

Soulard Farmers Market is the lone survivor of a number of public markets that dotted the St. Louis area in the late 1700's, and well into the 1800's.  When Pierre LaClede began to plot out the original plans for the village of St. Louis in 1764, he set aside space - a whole block - just above the river in the center of town.  At first, the market was situated in an open field, but structures were later built to house some of the market.

Soulard Farmers Market was created in 1838 when Julia Soulard donated two undeveloped half-blocks to the city of St. Louis.  Her instructions were that the property had to be used as a public market in perpetuity, or it would be reclaimed by her heirs.  Given that the historic Soulard area south of downtown St. Louis is one of the more attractive areas in which to live in the city, the city would be crazy to shut down the market.

Even though their logo and signage says that the Soulard Farmers Market began in 1779, there's no historical data that supports that date.  In 1779, the small riverside village of St. Louis was nothing more than a walled fortress nearly a mile away from the present day spot of the Soulard Market.  It made no sense that villagers would walk a mile into the wilderness to shop at a market when the well-established Market Square stood in the center of the village.  No one has been able to come up with any historical facts that show the Soulard Market was in place in 1779.  It's nothing more than a myth, but one that they still blatantly run with.

Soulard Market boasts over 90 vendors selling everything from clothing, to jewelry, to fruits and vegetables, to bakery goods, to fish and seafood, to exotic meats, to spices and coffee, to...  Well, just about anything!  While most of the vendors are not true farmers in the sense of the word, the Soulard Market does boast 10 vendors who are truly farmers/growers.  These farmers/growers are at the market on a seasonal basis, while many of the other vendors will be there year round. 

One of the best things about the Soulard Market is that if you have a hankering for a bloody mary or a beer, they have places where you can buy 'em.   This is one of those places - Julia's Market Cafe.  A bloody mary did sound good, but Cindy didn't think it would be wise to be carrying around a drink in the crowded market place.  She was probably right. 

 

And the place does get crowded.  We got to the market just before 10 a.m. and it was already jammed with people.  We had a little trouble finding a place to park on the streets in the Soulard area.  But there are always people coming and going from parking spots in the area, so we didn't have to wait too long to find a space.  While many people came to shop, a number of people were just milling around, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the market. 

 

 

 

 

One of the more neat things I saw at the market was this automatic donut machine that made little donuts.  The raw donut dough was pushed out of a reservoir into a small stream of hot oil.  The donuts travel down stream to a flipper which turns 'em over, continuing down stream to another flipper that gets 'em out of the hot oil and onto a tray.  I have to tell you there's nothing better than hot, fresh donuts.  But I'm still trying to watch my weight.  

 

The center wing area of the Soulard Market houses a handful of eclectic shops.  This is the Frandeka Meat, Fish and Pet Shop.  Yeah, pet shop.  I don't think they kill the pets for food, but they do offer quail and duck.  So I'm guessing there's some raising of the ducklings and then whacking them for their meat that is going on.  Still, Frandeka's has some pretty interesting and ethnic meats and fish to choose from. 

 
 

Also in the center wing is Schmitz Spice Shop.  I love going into this place.  Not only do they have a wide array of spices to choose from, they have - maybe - 50 different types of coffee beans that one can buy.   I'm not a coffee drinker, but I just love the smell of coffee.  The hazelnut coffee is one of my favorites.  The overall smell and scents in Schmitz Spice Shop is alone worth going to the Soulard Farmers Market.

 

 

 

Baking goods were all over the market place.  This is the Black Bear Bakery on the southeast wing of the marketplace.   The fresh baked breads, rolls and pastries were mouthwatering.  But, once again, I abstained from buying anything preferring to add calories via Anheuser-Busch products over the weekend.  

 

 

One thing we did buy were some cherries.  A lot of cherries.  If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you've learned that I developed a case of gout after my second surgery.  Cherries are a great antidote for gout and I was still getting some aftershocks from time to time.  We bought three pounds of cherries to take home.  Unfortunately, we had 'em stored in a paper sack in our refrigerator in our room and they instantly began to mold.  We had to toss 'em out when we got home.  Bummer, because they were very good.

One other thing we bought was a load of blueberries.  Fortunately, these made it back home intact and we were able to freeze a good portion of them.  Also good for gout and an excellent anti-oxydent, these blueberries taste as good when they're unthawed as when I first popped 'em in my mouth after we bought them.  These blueberries have a sweet and tart taste to them.  I love blueberries on top of ice cream, but I'm not eating a lot of ice cream these days.   Eating them all by themselves is just as good.

 

And the Soulard Farmers Market offers a number of fresh cut flower bouquets to choose from.  This is a beautiful array of roses that Cindy fell in love with.  She wanted to buy one of the multi-colored rose bouquets, but we didn't have a vase to put them in.  In addition to the fresh cut flowers, vendors offer a variety of annual and perennial flowers and plants, as well as fresh herb plants.  

 

 

All in all, the Soulard Farmers Market is a very interesting place to visit.   Even if you don't buy anything, the vibrancy of the market is worth going.  On a Saturday morning, it's loud and hectic and crowded and spirited.  Even if you don't like huge crowds, it's worth the trip.   

During our trip to St. Louis, we took our friends Scott and Marcia to the Soulard Farmers Market, (see map) one of the oldest continuous public markets in the United States and the oldest farmers market west of the Mississippi.  They had heard about Soulard Market, but had never been there before.  We decided to run down there to walk around and see what they had to offer.  We all like the farmer's markets back in the Quad Cities.  The Soulard Market - which is open year round Wednesday's thru Saturday's - puts those markets to shame.

Soulard Farmers Market is the lone survivor of a number of public markets that dotted the St. Louis area in the late 1700's, and well into the 1800's.  When Pierre LaClede began to plot out the original plans for the village of St. Louis in 1764, he set aside space - a whole block - just above the river in the center of town.  At first, the market was situated in an open field, but structures were later built to house some of the market.

Soulard Farmers Market was created in 1838 when Julia Soulard donated two undeveloped half-blocks to the city of St. Louis.  Her instructions were that the property had to be used as a public market in perpetuity, or it would be reclaimed by her heirs.  Given that the historic Soulard area south of downtown St. Louis is one of the more attractive areas in which to live in the city, the city would be crazy to shut down the market.

Even though their logo and signage says that the Soulard Farmers Market began in 1779, there's no historical data that supports that date.  In 1779, the small riverside village of St. Louis was nothing more than a walled fortress nearly a mile away from the present day spot of the Soulard Market.  It made no sense that villagers would walk a mile into the wilderness to shop at a market when the well-established Market Square stood in the center of the village.  No one has been able to come up with any historical facts that show the Soulard Market was in place in 1779.  It's nothing more than a myth, but one that they still blatantly run with.

Soulard Market boasts over 90 vendors selling everything from clothing, to jewelry, to fruits and vegetables, to bakery goods, to fish and seafood, to exotic meats, to spices and coffee, to...  Well, just about anything!  While most of the vendors are not true farmers in the sense of the word, the Soulard Market does boast 10 vendors who are truly farmers/growers.  These farmers/growers are at the market on a seasonal basis, while many of the other vendors will be there year round. 

One of the best things about the Soulard Market is that if you have a hankering for a bloody mary or a beer, they have places where you can buy 'em.   This is one of those places - Julia's Market Cafe.  A bloody mary did sound good, but Cindy didn't think it would be wise to be carrying around a drink in the crowded market place.  She was probably right. 

 

And the place does get crowded.  We got to the market just before 10 a.m. and it was already jammed with people.  We had a little trouble finding a place to park on the streets in the Soulard area.  But there are always people coming and going from parking spots in the area, so we didn't have to wait too long to find a space.  While many people came to shop, a number of people were just milling around, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the market. 

 

 

 

 

One of the more neat things I saw at the market was this automatic donut machine that made little donuts.  The raw donut dough was pushed out of a reservoir into a small stream of hot oil.  The donuts travel down stream to a flipper which turns 'em over, continuing down stream to another flipper that gets 'em out of the hot oil and onto a tray.  I have to tell you there's nothing better than hot, fresh donuts.  But I'm still trying to watch my weight.  

 

The center wing area of the Soulard Market houses a handful of eclectic shops.  This is the Frandeka Meat, Fish and Pet Shop.  Yeah, pet shop.  I don't think they kill the pets for food, but they do offer quail and duck.  So I'm guessing there's some raising of the ducklings and then whacking them for their meat that is going on.  Still, Frandeka's has some pretty interesting and ethnic meats and fish to choose from. 

 
 

Also in the center wing is Schmitz Spice Shop.  I love going into this place.  Not only do they have a wide array of spices to choose from, they have - maybe - 50 different types of coffee beans that one can buy.   I'm not a coffee drinker, but I just love the smell of coffee.  The hazelnut coffee is one of my favorites.  The overall smell and scents in Schmitz Spice Shop is alone worth going to the Soulard Farmers Market.

 

 

 

Baking goods were all over the market place.  This is the Black Bear Bakery on the southeast wing of the marketplace.   The fresh baked breads, rolls and pastries were mouthwatering.  But, once again, I abstained from buying anything preferring to add calories via Anheuser-Busch products over the weekend.  

 

 

One thing we did buy were some cherries.  A lot of cherries.  If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you've learned that I developed a case of gout after my second surgery.  Cherries are a great antidote for gout and I was still getting some aftershocks from time to time.  We bought three pounds of cherries to take home.  Unfortunately, we had 'em stored in a paper sack in our refrigerator in our room and they instantly began to mold.  We had to toss 'em out when we got home.  Bummer, because they were very good.

One other thing we bought was a load of blueberries.  Fortunately, these made it back home intact and we were able to freeze a good portion of them.  Also good for gout and an excellent anti-oxydent, these blueberries taste as good when they're unthawed as when I first popped 'em in my mouth after we bought them.  These blueberries have a sweet and tart taste to them.  I love blueberries on top of ice cream, but I'm not eating a lot of ice cream these days.   Eating them all by themselves is just as good.

 

And the Soulard Farmers Market offers a number of fresh cut flower bouquets to choose from.  This is a beautiful array of roses that Cindy fell in love with.  She wanted to buy one of the multi-colored rose bouquets, but we didn't have a vase to put them in.  In addition to the fresh cut flowers, vendors offer a variety of annual and perennial flowers and plants, as well as fresh herb plants.  

 

 

All in all, the Soulard Farmers Market is a very interesting place to visit.   Even if you don't buy anything, the vibrancy of the market is worth going.  On a Saturday morning, it's loud and hectic and crowded and spirited.  Even if you don't like huge crowds, it's worth the trip.   

During our trip to St. Louis, we took our friends Scott and Marcia to the Soulard Farmers Market, (see map) one of the oldest continuous public markets in the United States and the oldest farmers market west of the Mississippi.  They had heard about Soulard Market, but had never been there before.  We decided to run down there to walk around and see what they had to offer.  We all like the farmer's markets back in the Quad Cities.  The Soulard Market - which is open year round Wednesday's thru Saturday's - puts those markets to shame.

Soulard Farmers Market is the lone survivor of a number of public markets that dotted the St. Louis area in the late 1700's, and well into the 1800's.  When Pierre LaClede began to plot out the original plans for the village of St. Louis in 1764, he set aside space - a whole block - just above the river in the center of town.  At first, the market was situated in an open field, but structures were later built to house some of the market.

Soulard Farmers Market was created in 1838 when Julia Soulard donated two undeveloped half-blocks to the city of St. Louis.  Her instructions were that the property had to be used as a public market in perpetuity, or it would be reclaimed by her heirs.  Given that the historic Soulard area south of downtown St. Louis is one of the more attractive areas in which to live in the city, the city would be crazy to shut down the market.

Even though their logo and signage says that the Soulard Farmers Market began in 1779, there's no historical data that supports that date.  In 1779, the small riverside village of St. Louis was nothing more than a walled fortress nearly a mile away from the present day spot of the Soulard Market.  It made no sense that villagers would walk a mile into the wilderness to shop at a market when the well-established Market Square stood in the center of the village.  No one has been able to come up with any historical facts that show the Soulard Market was in place in 1779.  It's nothing more than a myth, but one that they still blatantly run with.

Soulard Market boasts over 90 vendors selling everything from clothing, to jewelry, to fruits and vegetables, to bakery goods, to fish and seafood, to exotic meats, to spices and coffee, to...  Well, just about anything!  While most of the vendors are not true farmers in the sense of the word, the Soulard Market does boast 10 vendors who are truly farmers/growers.  These farmers/growers are at the market on a seasonal basis, while many of the other vendors will be there year round. 

One of the best things about the Soulard Market is that if you have a hankering for a bloody mary or a beer, they have places where you can buy 'em.   This is one of those places - Julia's Market Cafe.  A bloody mary did sound good, but Cindy didn't think it would be wise to be carrying around a drink in the crowded market place.  She was probably right. 

 

And the place does get crowded.  We got to the market just before 10 a.m. and it was already jammed with people.  We had a little trouble finding a place to park on the streets in the Soulard area.  But there are always people coming and going from parking spots in the area, so we didn't have to wait too long to find a space.  While many people came to shop, a number of people were just milling around, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the market. 

 

 

 

 

One of the more neat things I saw at the market was this automatic donut machine that made little donuts.  The raw donut dough was pushed out of a reservoir into a small stream of hot oil.  The donuts travel down stream to a flipper which turns 'em over, continuing down stream to another flipper that gets 'em out of the hot oil and onto a tray.  I have to tell you there's nothing better than hot, fresh donuts.  But I'm still trying to watch my weight.  

 

The center wing area of the Soulard Market houses a handful of eclectic shops.  This is the Frandeka Meat, Fish and Pet Shop.  Yeah, pet shop.  I don't think they kill the pets for food, but they do offer quail and duck.  So I'm guessing there's some raising of the ducklings and then whacking them for their meat that is going on.  Still, Frandeka's has some pretty interesting and ethnic meats and fish to choose from. 

 
 

Also in the center wing is Schmitz Spice Shop.  I love going into this place.  Not only do they have a wide array of spices to choose from, they have - maybe - 50 different types of coffee beans that one can buy.   I'm not a coffee drinker, but I just love the smell of coffee.  The hazelnut coffee is one of my favorites.  The overall smell and scents in Schmitz Spice Shop is alone worth going to the Soulard Farmers Market.

 

 

 

Baking goods were all over the market place.  This is the Black Bear Bakery on the southeast wing of the marketplace.   The fresh baked breads, rolls and pastries were mouthwatering.  But, once again, I abstained from buying anything preferring to add calories via Anheuser-Busch products over the weekend.  

 

 

One thing we did buy were some cherries.  A lot of cherries.  If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you've learned that I developed a case of gout after my second surgery.  Cherries are a great antidote for gout and I was still getting some aftershocks from time to time.  We bought three pounds of cherries to take home.  Unfortunately, we had 'em stored in a paper sack in our refrigerator in our room and they instantly began to mold.  We had to toss 'em out when we got home.  Bummer, because they were very good.

One other thing we bought was a load of blueberries.  Fortunately, these made it back home intact and we were able to freeze a good portion of them.  Also good for gout and an excellent anti-oxydent, these blueberries taste as good when they're unthawed as when I first popped 'em in my mouth after we bought them.  These blueberries have a sweet and tart taste to them.  I love blueberries on top of ice cream, but I'm not eating a lot of ice cream these days.   Eating them all by themselves is just as good.

 

And the Soulard Farmers Market offers a number of fresh cut flower bouquets to choose from.  This is a beautiful array of roses that Cindy fell in love with.  She wanted to buy one of the multi-colored rose bouquets, but we didn't have a vase to put them in.  In addition to the fresh cut flowers, vendors offer a variety of annual and perennial flowers and plants, as well as fresh herb plants.  

 

 

All in all, the Soulard Farmers Market is a very interesting place to visit.   Even if you don't buy anything, the vibrancy of the market is worth going.  On a Saturday morning, it's loud and hectic and crowded and spirited.  Even if you don't like huge crowds, it's worth the trip.   

Mike Shannon's - St. Louis

We made our annual trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals earlier this summer with our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder. Actually, I was already in St. Louis on business, so Scott and Marcia drove Cindy down with them. After the Friday night game, we decided to eat dinner at a place that we've always wanted to try - Mike Shannon's. It's just a short walk from Busch Stadium over to Mike Shannon's, a popular place for fans and ballplayers, alike, after a game.

Mike Shannon is a former Cardinal baseball player who has been the lead announcer for their radio broadcasts since 2002. Before that, he was paired for 30 years with the great Jack Buck before Buck's death in 2001. Shannon is a native of St. Louis, was a big sports star while in high school before going on to the University of Missouri to play both football and baseball. Shannon was a budding superstar in football when he decided to quit school and sign a professional baseball contract with the Cardinals. Shannon has said in the past that he probably would have stayed at Mizzou and played football had the salaries in professional football been better back in the 50's. But baseball paid more back then. And that still wasn't very much.

Mike Shannon's style of announcing is down-home and folksy, but he is also known for his malaprop's. Some of his doozies over the years are:

"The Yankees and the Mets are playing at Shea tonight. After four innings, New York leads 3-2."

"We have Rick Ankiel on the mound tonight, pitching on his twenty-first birthday. Yessir, folks, this young man, just as of today, is old enough to vote!"

"The outfield is deep and playing him straight-away, and the infield is the same, except first, second, third, and short are playing him to pull."

But he's also come up with some good lines along the way, such as:

"A hit up the middle right now would be like a nice ham sandwich and a cold, frosty one."

"I said something yesterday about letting sleeping dogs lie, and this time the dog's on the porch grabbing the newspaper and stealing the baby!"

"He was trying to hit a three-run homer with the bases empty. To my knowledge, no one in the history of the game has ever done that. But it could happen someday. You never know in this world of baseball."

Cardinal fans take Mike Shannon in stride and acknowledge his deficiencies behind the mic. But don't let a fan from another team criticize Shannon. Then the Cardinal fans turn venomous. They'll say, "Yes, Shannon's an idiot, but he's OUR idiot!"

After watching the Cardinals get smoked by the Colorado Rockies, we walked over to Mike Shannon's for an after game dinner. Shannon's is located in the former Mark Twain Bank building at the corner of 7th and Market. (See map) Mike Shannon's moved to their present location in 2006 just as the new Busch Stadium was getting ready to open. Their old location - in which they were in for about 20 years - was just a block away, across Kiener Plaza at 7th and Chestnut. Mike Shannon's also boasts The Outfield in what used to be an enclosed parking area on the back side of the building facing Busch Stadium.

While Mike Shannon does show up from time to time, he really doesn't have much to do with the day-to-day operation of the business. For that, he relies upon his daughter, Pat Shannon-Van Matre (right), who has been in charge of the restaurant for over 10 years. Her son, Gary Van Matre, is the general manager for Shannon's. Nick Zotos, who worked as an executive chef for the upscale steak house chain Smith and Wollensky for a number of years, is the executive chef at Shannon's.

Although Mike Shannon's is a pretty fancy place, the maitre d' welcomed us to the place even though we had Cardinals t-shirts and shorts on. We were seated in the large dining room with ceiling to floor windows looking out into Kiener Plaza. The tables were large and covered with fine linen. The chairs were comfy. As we were seated, a man came out and placed our napkins on our laps for us. This was a real high brow joint, I'm tellin' you.

We looked through the menu and while we knew the prices would be high, even I choked a little bit at some of the prices. Their beef tenderloin filet was $48 bucks. Whoa. They also had a 34 oz. "club cut" bone-on rib eye that was $80 dollars! Oh man! They had a number of sides including baked and mashed potatoes, wild rice, asparagus, onion strings, creamed spinach - all of which were $8 dollars. Except for the Lobster macaroni and cheese. That was $12 bucks. Of course, Cindy spotted the Lobster mac and cheese and asked if we could get that as a side.

Our waiter came over and took drink orders and gave us a run down of their specials that evening. Actually, their appetizers including something called "Tuna - Two Ways", as well as carpaccio, calimari and Cajun shrimp all sounded interesting. But the one thing I wanted to see was the "64", a large amount of chilled seafood served over crushed ice. And Shannon's wanted $64 bucks for that. Nope, not tonight.

Over in the corner of the restaurant, a radio crew had set up for the after game radio show that Mike Shannon does on Friday nights after home games. It wasn't long after we got there that Mike Shannon, himself, showed up and walked over to the table to talk with the guys. I've seen Shannon a number of times from far away, but never up this close. I was actually amazed at how big of a guy he is. (6'3", about 220.) He's in his early 70's and looks like he could still go out and smack a fastball up against the wall.

We ordered up our food. Cindy and Marcia each got the beef medallions - small tenderloins topped with Bleu cheese, with a truffled marscapone potato cake, with confit Roma tomato. Scott got the 16 oz. bone-in New York strip steak, and I went with the 16 oz. dry-aged organic rib eye. I also got a wedge salad to go with the steak. Oh, and we had to order the Lobster mac and cheese to satisfy Cindy's curiosity.

During the radio broadcast, another gentleman in a cowboy hat walked into Shannon's and made his way over to the round table where Shannon was conducting his radio show. It turns out it was Tracy Ringolsby, a former writer for the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News, and one of the founders of Baseball America. Ringolsby also founded and writes columns for Inside the Rockies, a web site devoted to the Colorado Rockies baseball team, and is also enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame with his 2005 J.G. Taylor Spink Award given to baseball writers who excel in their writing. Our table was across the room and we couldn't hear the conversations going on, but we could hear the occasional loud laughter coming from the table.

I got my wedge salad and dug in. I have to say it was very, very good. The bleu cheese was very flavorful, as were the small bits of real bacon on the top of the wedge. Even though it was a good sized wedge, I made short work of the salad.

During a break in the broadcast, Mike Shannon got up and started to go around to individual tables to great the customers. He came over to our table and said, "Did you folks go to that sorry game tonight?"

Scott said, "Oh, yeah. Only I wouldn't use the term 'sorry'. I was thinking of something stronger than that."

Mike Shannon got a hearty laugh on that one. "Yeah, me too," he laughed. "Only it wouldn't be for mixed company."

It wasn't long after I finished my wedge salad that our steaks showed up. We were all pretty hungry, so we dug right in. Right away, Cindy declared the beef medallions to be "great!" She marveled at how tender and flavorful they were. Marcia agreed wholeheartedly with Cindy's assessment.

Scott literally tore into his bone-in strip steak and was very impressed with the taste. My organic rib eye. It was good. Not the best steak I ever had, but very good. I don't know if it was worth the $34 bucks or whatever they charged for it, but the ambiance and service was definitely worth it.

Cindy had me try a couple bites of the Lobster mac and cheese. It featured bites of real lobster meat mixed in with macaroni noodles and a multi-cheese sauce. It thought it was OK, nothing to write home about. It was very rich and all I needed was a couple bites before I knew that it was probably overpriced for what it was.

As we finished up our meal, Mike Shannon was wrapping up his radio show. He stopped by our table and asked how our dinner was. We made some more small talk and I said, "Hey, Mike! Can we get your picture?"

Scott, who is a huge Cardinals fan, jumped up to get his picture taken with Mike Shannon. We had Cindy's camera for the weekend - the nice little Panasonic "point-and-shoot" that we had taken with us to Savannah on vacation. It takes good pictures. But for some reason, I couldn't get the flash to go off - even when I thought I had it on the flash setting. I took three pictures of Shannon and Scott standing there, each time the flash didn't go off. Finally, Shannon said, "I've got to go, folks." And he followed a lady (who may have been his daughter) outside to an SUV parked in front of the restaurant in a loading zone. Shannon hopped in the passenger side and took off. I tried to clean up the pictures a bit and this was the best one of Mike Shannon and Scott. It didn't turn out too bad, but that light behind them screwed up the pic.

Before we left, we took a look around different parts of the restaurant to look at all the baseball memorabilia they had on display. Shannon's also features a couple of "private" rooms where baseball players, celebrities and dignitaries can eat without fans coming up and hounding them for autographs. Shannon's also has a large and very vibrant bar area to the right of the main entrance. There were a lot of people in there after the game. It's also known to Cardinals fans as a popular watering hole for some of the Cardinals players after the game.

All in all, Mike Shannon's was very good. Very expensive - but very good. I know that Scott had been wanting to go to Shannon's for dinner for quite sometime. (We tried to get into Mike Shannon's old location a few years ago for lunch, but they weren't open that day.) The service was wonderful, the decor was very classy, the memorabilia was to die for if you're a baseball fan. And on top of all that, we got to meet and talk with Mike Shannon. If you're a big Cardinals - or even baseball fan - Shannon's is a great place to visit. But if you're looking for a good to very good meal and money is no object, Shannon's is tough to beat.

Rigazzi's - St. Louis

I'm not certain, but I may have eaten at Rigazzi's one time long ago when I first started to travel to St. Louis for business back in the mid-80's.  I remember going to a restaurant that was right next to Kingshighway and then going upstairs to dine.  Well, Rigazzi's is right next to Kingshighway just south of Interstate 44 (see map) and they do have an upstairs dining area.  But it was so long ago that I can't remember if this was the same place. 

But on my continued quest to find all the good Italian restaurants in St. Louis, I decided to give Rigazzi's a try one evening a couple months ago after I got into St. Louis from Springfield, MO.  I popped off the Kingshighway exit on I-44 and took a quick right and then a left.  I drove a block and Rigazzi's was right on the corner of Daggett and Boardman St.  I was able to find parking on the street, right in between two cop cars.  I hoped they were in there for dinner and not on a call.

Rigazzi's has been around since 1957 when Lou Aiazzi and John Riganti combined their names to form a restaurant partnership on the Hill in St. Louis.  Riganti eventually left the business and Lou Aiazzi and his wife, Josephine, ran the restaurant.  Lou Aiazzi died in 1974 and his 18-year-old son, Mark, stepped in to run the family business.  Mark Aiazzi continues to run Rigazzi's today, helped along with long-time chef Jim Murphy.  Josephine Aiazzi continues to come into the restaurant nearly every day. 

Rigazzi's suffered a devastating fire in 2000 losing a lot of sports memorabilia and other historic items in the process.  Aiazzi rebuilt the restaurant and tried to keep it's old world feel to the place.  There's a lot of sports memorabilia back on the walls at Rigazzi's celebrating the local sports teams in the St. Louis area.  

Rigazzi's has sort of a "beer hall" feel to the place.  In the large dining area on the main floor, there are a number of booths along with a handful of long tables that can accommodate up to 12 people at some tables.  Smaller tables can be pushed together for even larger groups.  Actually, it seems a little cramped with all those tables in the dining area. 

It was about 8:30 when I finally got into Rigazzi's.  I was seated at a booth in the dining room and given a menu by my waiter.  He automatically asked if I'd like a "frozen fishbowl" of beer - Rigazzi's trademark drink.  It's actually a large beer schooner - 32 ounces in size - that's frozen and filled with beer.  I thought that sounded pretty good so I had him bring me one with Budweiser in it. 

While I was still trying to diet, I knew I could have one night of gluttony a week.  This was going to be the night.  While I still didn't want pasta, I took a look at a number of their entrees before I ordered my food.  Rigazzi's is famous for their chicken dishes including a mouth-watering Grilled Garlic Chicken Mozzarella, as well as their Chicken Parmiciano - two chicken breasts topped with a red meat sauce and mozzarella, then baked.  I also took a quick gander at the Chicken Pepperoni - chicken breasts in a marinara sauce, topped with pepperoni slices and mozzarella.  They all sounded great. 

But just before I was getting ready to order, a couple next to me had a pizza delivered to their table.  Ohhhhh, it looked great!  Suddenly, I got to looking at the pizza menu instead of chicken.  Rigazzi's pizza was the thin St. Louis style and you could get it with Provel or mozzarella cheese.  I was beginning to get torn between the pizza and the Chicken Parmiciano. 

When the waiter came back to the table I did a mental "coin flip" and decided to go with the pizza.  A small Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  He took the order and ran off.  Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't specified mozzarella cheese in place of Provel.  I kept looking for my waiter to see if I could get that changed, but he never came back.  About five minutes later he showed up and I flagged him down.  I said, "You know, I forgot to say I wanted mozzarella on my pizza instead of Provel.  Is it too late to change?"

He said, "I'm sure it is, but I'll check any way."

He came back a couple minutes later and said, "Sorry, it's in the oven."

I said, "Oh, that's OK.  I'll eat it with Provel this time." 

About fifteen minutes later, the pizza came to my table.  It had the big chunks of sausage that I like.  And they didn't spare the pepperoni or mushrooms either.  The sauce was very good, a little sweet, but still good.  And the Provel, while more creamy than a good stringy mozzarella, didn't detract from the overall taste of the pizza.  Some people don't care for Provel cheese.  I don't mind it and sometimes get a hankering for it.  But I really wish I would have gotten the pizza with mozzarella.  Next time. 

I wasn't able to finish the whole pizza.  I had the waiter bring a "to-go" box for the five or six pieces I had left.  My waiter was efficient, but somewhat robotic.  It was my opinion that the wait staff needed one or two more people working the room.  But it was the middle of the week and there seemed to be a lot of families coming in for dinner - even for as late as it was.

Before I left, I hung around the bar area of Rigazzi's to look at the sports pictures, jerseys, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia on the walls.  Rigazzi's is one of those places where I wouldn't mind having to wait for a table because I could be easily entertained by all the stuff they had on display in the bar. 

Well, we're going back to St. Louis this summer for our annual baseball trip and I'm sure I can talk the group into a pizza at Rigazzi's some night.  I would like to go back and try one of the chicken entrees at some point. But I think on my next visit I'll be getting a pizza again, only with mozzarella this time. 

Brio Tuscan Grille - St. Louis

Last fall, I had a lunch meeting with a good friend and former colleague, Rick Furgerson, at Brio Tuscan Grille at the upscale Plaza Frontenac shopping mall in St. Louis (see map).  Rick now co-owns his own custom installation business with another good friend and former colleague, Steve Gollaher.  I set up a lunch meeting with both of them, but only Rick could show up as Steve was busy on an install. 

Brio Tuscan Grille is part of the Bravo Development group's upscale Italian restaurants located in 17 states across the U.S.  There are 31 Brio locations with a 32nd ready to open later this spring.  Bravo Development also owns the Bravo Cucina Italiana restaurants of which there are 44 locations.  For my entry on the Bravo Cucina Italiana restaurant in suburban Kansas City, click here.  Like the Bravo locations, Brio Tuscan Grilles are usually located in or near newer and/or upscale shopping malls in a given market.

It was a very nice late fall day when I met up with Rick at Brio Tuscan Grille in St. Louis.  We decided to enjoy the day and we had lunch outside on patio.  Brio is a very popular place at lunch time and the inside of the restaurant was nearly full, as was the outside patio.  We took a table next to the building and began to catch up on personal stuff before getting down to business. 

The lunch menu at Brio Tuscan Grille is filled with soups, salads, sandwiches and some pasta dishes.  The dinner menu at Brio is more complex with a number of full Tuscan style entrees consisting of pasta, chicken, seafood, lamb, pork and beef.   The wine list is pretty good with some good prices on some of my more favorite wines.  

One of Brio's signature dishes for both lunch and dinner is the Chicken Under the Brick - a grilled chicken breast that is flattened by a hot brick and then topped with a marsala wine sauce, and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables.  I ordered that up for my selection.  Rick has had some health problems over the past few years and his days of eating heavy pasta and cream sauces is long gone.   Rick got the roasted chicken salad - a chicken breast roasted in an oak-fired oven, pulled apart and topped on a salad with cherry tomatoes, Gorgonzola and a balsamic dressing.  

We enjoyed the late fall afternoon while we waited for our lunch.  Our waiter was very thorough and very attentive.  He didn't make a nuisance of himself, but he was always on the spot to fill water or tea glasses.  He was working hard for his tip.  

Our lunches came and I have to say that I was happy with my Chicken Under the Brick.  The chicken breast was cooked perfectly, it wasn't dried out and was still juicy and tender.  The marsala wine sauce was sort of weak compared to other marsala sauces I've had, but it was still good.  It didn't overpower the taste of the chicken breast.

Rick's salad also looked pretty good.  The oakwood oven roasted chicken had a distinct and pleasant smell that I could catch from across the table.  Rick was happy with his lunch.  

We spent, probably, 90 minutes at the table in total, talking about work, talking about products and catching up on each other's lives.  Our waiter wasn't in any hurry to turn the table as it was well past 1 p.m. and the lunch rush was over.  I paid the bill - a tad under $40 bucks with a healthy tip - long before we got up to leave.  And the waiter continued to stop back and fill water glasses for us.  I've found that at many places (such as at Bravo in suburban Kansas City), if you pay the bill and stick around, the waiter just quits waiting on you.  I ended up putting down a couple more bucks on the table for the waiter at Brio just for being so attentive.  

While I'm not big on chains, I have to say that I did like Brio and would go back at any point in time for another meal.  It might not be in St. Louis where there are dozens of great Italian restaurants in the area, but it could be at another city when I'm looking for a good meal and don't feel like trying to find a good place where the locals eat. 

The Highlander Pub and Grille - St. Louis

One thing I've noticed over my years of going to the St. Louis area is the volatile nature of many of the Krieger's Sports Grille locations.  Volatile, in that they seem to go out of business quickly after they've opened up a location.  During a recent quick trip to St. Louis, I was looking forward to getting into the Hampton Inn-Forest Park and grabbing a quick meal at the Krieger's next to the hotel.  Upon my arrival, I was surprised to see the Krieger's was now The Highlander Pub and Grille.  Well, let's say I was surprised and not surprised, given the history of Krieger locations. 

The Highlander Pub and Grille bills itself as an authentic Celtic experience.  Although it's very similar in layout and design to the old Krieger's, they're doing their best to make it look like an Irish bar.  They still have the large projection screens behind the bar, and there's still televisions all around the place like Krieger's had.  But the walls are all a nice dark forest green and they also now have some Irish decorations throughout the place.  It still wasn't all that convincing to me.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a 40-something bartender by the name of Karen.  I asked her when the Highlander changed from a Krieger's and she said,  "It wasn't all that long ago.  Krieger's shut down earlier this year (2008) and we soft-opened in the summer." 

She gave me a menu and I started to look through it.  She asked me if I wanted a wine menu and I said I wasn't going to have wine that evening.  I ordered up a Smithwick's on tap for the meantime. 

Then for shits and grins, I asked for the wine list anyhow, just to see what they had to offer.  Actually, I was pretty impressed with what they had.  They had a pretty good selection of wines, primarily from California, that ran from about $15 bucks a bottle up to $90 a bottle.  I thought to myself, "Well, this is certainly NOT Krieger's any longer."  I'm not certain Krieger's had any wine other than a couple three different house wines for people who didn't want beer or mixed drinks. 

Actually, the menu looked even better than what Krieger's had to offer.  OK, so this wasn't Krieger's.  I had to get that out of my head.  It's a new restaurant.  No longer Krieger's.  Oh, they still had the same St. Louis-style pizza on the menu that Krieger's had.  But as Karen told me, "We still have pizza only because we have these big pizza ovens and pizza making equipment in the kitchen." 

She said they have a late-night menu at The Highlander which features their pizza.  She said, "We were beginning to get a lot of people coming in after a Cardinals game to get something to eat.  The pizzas are big with the late-night crowd."

Not only does The Highlander have the usual Irish bar food - sandwiches, burgers, appetizers and salads - they also have some pretty interesting main entrees.  And the prices didn't seem to be all that bad.  They had steaks, pasta, seafood, pork chops, ribs and chicken dishes.  One thing that they continued to have from the old Krieger's menu is a Cajun-seafood fettuccine.  I remember getting that at the old Krieger's and I remember that it wasn't all that bad. 

After a few minutes, I decided to try something they called Chicken Flamingo - a full chicken breast rolled in Italian breading and grilled.  It's topped with a white wine, lemon and butter sauce and served with broccoli and provel cheese.  Not only did it sound interesting, it sounded absolutely yummy.  I had a choice of potato or rice and she told me the twice baked potatoes were very good that evening.  I couldn't pass that up.  I also got a small house salad with provel cheese, pepperocini, tomato and pimento, then topped with The Highlander's sweet Italian dressing.  It was very similar to what you would find at any restaurant on The Hill. 

After eating the very good salad and getting another Smithwick's, Karen brought out the Chicken Flamingo to me.  It looked just awesome swimming in the creamy white wine, lemon and butter sauce.  And one bite into the chicken told me that this was so much better than what Krieger's ever had to offer.  It was very, very good.  The chicken was tender, but not dried out like you can get from direct grilled chicken.  There was a hint of a burnt taste to the bread crumbs, but it didn't detract from the overall taste of the chicken and sauce combination.  And the twice-baked potato was as good as advertised.

Karen stopped by about halfway through my meal and asked how things were.  I said, "This is a spot-hitter."

She laughed.  "Spot-hitter!  I like that," she exclaimed. 

When I finished my meal, Karen asked me if I wanted to finish off the meal with some dessert.  She was tempting me with Key Lime Pie or a Turtle Cheesecake, but I'd had enough.  I didn't want to have to go to bed completely stuffed.  I was satiated and ready to wind down for the evening. 

With tip, my bill for my meal and three beers came to a little over $35 bucks.  Karen took good care of me and she was rewarded handsomely.  I was very surprised about the food and service at The Highlander Pub and Grille.  It was much better in both aspects than Krieger's ever was.  It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

The 16 Dollar Burger - Burger Bar - St. Louis

Hubert Keller is a French born and educated chef whose claim to fame in the culinary world is the renown Fleur de Lys restaurants in San Francisco and Las Vegas.  However, Keller is also somewhat of an innovative man who jumped into the world of casual dining with the Burger Bar which opened in Las Vegas in 2004.  I'd heard about the Burger Bar in Las Vegas and had wanted to try it, but either never had the chance or the time to do so.

Luckily, for me, Keller's second Burger Bar opened late last year at the Lumiere Place casino and hotel along the riverfront in St. Louis (see map).  The St. Louis Burger Bar is a mix of casual and class with dark wood paneling, a nice bar area and cozy booths throughout in a mid-20th century motif.  I met a friend of mine for lunch at Burger Bar at Lumiere for a good burger one Friday earlier this summer. 

The Burger Bar at the casino is in the far southeastern corner of the place.  There is an entrance near the restaurant, but it's a long way from the parking lot.  If you go through the main doors of the casino, you have to walk all the way around the perimeter of the casino floor to get to the Burger Bar.  And when you do walk that way, you'll pass Keller's other restaurant on the property, the upscale SLeeK steak house.   

 

The overall concept of Burger Bar is not all that unique, but the meat, buns and toppings are somewhat unique.  You choose from various kinds of beef, turkey, lamb or veggie burgers.  They have five different types of buns and a dozen different varieties of cheese to choose from.  And they have interesting toppings from black truffles, to beet root pickles, to grilled lobster meat.  You can also get pan-seared foie gras, if you like.  One of the interesting beef burgers they have to offer is American-raised Kobe beef.  It is the best of the three beef offerings Burger Bar has on their burger menu. 

The only problem is that a Kobe beef burger at Burger Bar runs $16.00 without the toppings.  But as my guest said, "C'mon!  At least it's not the Rossini!"  He did have a point.  The Rossini is a Kobe beef burger with foie gras, truffles, a Madiera sauce.  It was *only* $60 dollars.   Quite honestly, I thought a basic Kobe beef burger would have been much more expensive.   

I ordered up a Kobe beef burger, medium, on an onion bun, topped with pepperjack cheese and jalapenos.  My guest got the Kobe beef burger on ciabatta bread, topped with Swiss cheese and chopped oyster mushrooms.  We both got fries - I got the skinny fries and my guest got the fat fries, basically Burger Bar's idea of steak fries.  And we both got a bottle of Budweiser to wash it all back. 

The waitresses were all young, good looking and hip.  It wasn't all that busy so the waitress we had was pretty attentive.  And it wasn't long before another waitress brought out our burgers and fries. 

My Kobe beef pepperjack cheeseburger was cooked a perfect medium.  And the burger had a good moist texture to it, as well.  The jalapenos weren't all that hot, but made for a nice little kick to the taste of the burger.  The fries - I should have gotten the fat fries.  The skinny fries were lifeless and not all that tasty.  But the burger more than made up for it.  Onions, a tomato slice and lettuce accompanied the burger on the side. 

My friend's Kobe Swiss cheese burger topped with the grilled mushrooms was reported to be also excellent in taste and quality.   I thought the ciabatta bread was a unique twist to the burger.  He told me it was fresh and chewy.  As much as I liked the in-house-made onion bun, the ciabatta bread on his burger did look good. 

With the pepperjack cheese and jalapenos, my Kobe beef burger ended up to be $17.45 before tax.   Now, you can get just a regular burger that sells for $8.00, or they have specially raised Black Angus beef burgers that start at $9.00.  But I'm glad I gave the Kobe beef burger a try.  I don't know if I'll have another one when I go back to Burger Bar, but it will certainly be tempting.  Hey, you gotta try it at least once.

(Update - After five years at Lumiere Place, Keller decided not to renew the lease for Burger Bar and the doors closed just before Christmas in 2012.  The Las Vegas location is still open and, I'm told, is doing very well.)

Ted Drewes - St. Louis

Ted Drewes is a St. Louis institution.  They sell custard ice cream out of two locations on the south-side of St. Louis and have been doing so for over 75 years.  They've been featured on a number of travel and food shows on cable television over the years.  It's a must-stop when we're in St. Louis for Cardinal games. 

Ted Drewes, Sr. was a tennis star who came from the St. Louis area.  He opened his first ice cream stand in Florida in 1930 and then came back to open two locations in St. Louis the following year.  Only one of the two original stores, the one on South Grand (see map) is in business today.  In 1941, Drewes put in a second location on Chippewa Ave. (see map), which was also Route 66 that went from Chicago to L.A.  Over the years, the Chippewa location expanded and became the defacto flagship store for Ted Drewes. 

Ted Drewes, Jr. took over the family business in the 50's.  He had been approached many times to franchise the Ted Drewes custard, but each time he has declined.  He said that franchising "cheapens" the product and you lose control of the quality of the custard.  Good for him.

In the winter time when the custard stands were closed, Ted Drewes, Jr. would sell Christmas trees in the lots of the two locations.  Each fall, Drewes would go to Nova Scotia to hand pick fir trees to be cut down and shipped to St. Louis to sell in his two lots.  The Chippewa location now stays open up through Christmas to sell custard along with the Christmas trees.

Ted Drewes is famous for their custard ice cream, which is only available in vanilla.  They add flavorings to the vanilla custard to make the different varieties of flavors.  One of the famous offerings from Ted Drewes are their "concretes" - a combination of the vanilla custard, flavors and other ingredients that are then thick-blended and served in a cup.  The cup is turned upside down before being served to the customer to show that the custard is thick and rich. 

When we were in St. Louis earlier this year, we stopped at the Ted Drewes on S. Grand.  I felt kind of bad as our friends, Scott and Marcia, spent a good portion of the late morning and early afternoon running us around to get the old ROKNROL Impala to a place to get it worked on and then to take us out to the airport so I could rent a car.  I asked them if they wanted to join us for a Ted Drewes, like we always do out of habit, but they begged off saying they needed to get back to Iowa. 

Cindy and I then went and had lunch at Arcelia's and we were getting ready to leave and go back to Iowa.  Cindy said, "Aren't we going to Ted Drewes?"  I wasn't all that hungry after a nice lunch at Arcelia's, but Ted Drewes did sound kinda good. 

There was already a steady stream of customers coming into the Ted Drewes stand on S. Grand around 2 p.m.  The stand and parking lot at the S. Grand location is about 50% smaller than the one on Chippewa.  And this one doesn't do the business the one on Chippewa does, that's for sure. 

Here's the menu board for Ted Drewes.  I get the same thing each time I go - the Lime Concrete.  Cindy is partial to the Hawaiian - pineapple, coconut, bananas and macadamia nuts.  I don't care for coconut or bananas so I'd probably starve to death if I was on a deserted island.  But she seems to really like it.  I've always wanted to try the Terra Mizzou - which is a take-off on the Italian tiramisu and inserting the nickname for the University of Missouri into the title.  It's an addition of some sort of secret coffee flavored chocolate and pistachios.  I'm going to try it someday, but I just love the Lime Concretes. 

We both got smalls and our orders were up in less than three minutes.  It took us about 10 minutes to eat them, they're that good.  I almost ordered a second one, but decided against it.  We contemplated grabbing a couple for Scott and Marcia and putting them on ice to take back home to them, but it would have meant running to find a cooler somewhere and then packing them in ice to bring back.  And that wouldn't have been any guarantee they would have stayed fully hard by the time we got back home four hours later.  But we also determined that a Ted Drewes had to be eating in the parking lot at the stand where you got it.

Ted Drewes is tough to beat.  We have Whitey's here in the Quad Cities, but they only offer a couple of custard items.  The rich taste, the thick texture, the head-ache from eating it too fast makes Ted Drewes what it is.  It is a slice of heaven in the Midwest.

Charlie Gitto's - St. Louis

During our recent trip to St. Louis, I told my wife and our friends, Scott and Marcia, that I really wanted to eat some place where we've never eaten before.  They all readily agreed to that plan.  One of the places I've always wanted to try, but never had before, was the revered Italian restaurant Charlie Gitto's, located on the famous Hill in St. Louis.  (see map)

Charlie Gitto's (Gitto is pronounced JEE-to) began in March of 1981 when Charlie Gitto, Jr. opened the doors of his restaurant in what was the former site of Angelo's Restaurant.  His father, Charlie Gitto, ran the venerable Charlie Gitto's Pasta House in downtown St. Louis - a restaurant that is still operated today by the senior Gitto and his daughter, Karen.  Charlie, Jr. cut his teeth in the restaurant business working in all capacities while growing up.  A childhood friend, Michael Garozzo, eventually moved to Kansas City and opened up the Garozzo's Italian restaurants.  Garozzo and Gitto, Jr. have combined forces to open Mike and Charlie's Italian Restaurant in the Harrah's Casino in North Kansas City.

Charlie Gitto's on The Hill is a very nice, upscale restaurant.  We got reservations for four at 7:30 and we had a short wait at the bar waiting for our table.  The place is pretty classy with vested bartenders, waiters and waitresses.  We were casually dressed in shorts and we didn't feel like we were out of place one bit.  There's dark wood paneling throughout and a lot of elegant light fixtures.  The heavy tables are topped with linen table cloths and the lighting is very subdued.  

It turned out that they sat us at a table next to where we were standing at the bar.  As we were maneuvering around to the table, I heard some commotion at a neighboring table.  It turned out it was our friends, Dave and Pat Heusmann, along with Pat's parents.  It was a very unexpected and rather strange small world happening.  Scott knew they were going to be in St. Louis that evening, but didn't know where they'd be.  He knew that Pat's parents would be with them, so he didn't even attempt to make plans to get together.  It just turned out that we all decided - independently - to eat at Charlie Gitto's that night.

We carried on with the Heusmann's for about 10 to 15 minutes before their food showed up.  And we thought we'd better look at the menu so we could order our dinner.  Of course, we had to get an order of toasted ravioli, a must-have every time we eat out in St. Louis.

One of the specials that evening was a sea bass, grilled and served on a bed of risotto.  Both Cindy and Marcia thought that sounded good and they both ordered that.  Scott looked at a couple of things and decided upon the rigatoni pasta with ground Italian sausage in a marinara sauce.

Man, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what I wanted.  I thought about the tortellini filled with bolognese meat and served with peas, prosciutto and mushrooms in a nice Parmesan cheese sauce.  They also had a seafood Fettuccine made with a spicy three-pepper cream sauce.  I looked at the Chicken Saltimbocca, topped with prosciutto and Fontana cheese and drizzle with a sage marsala sauce.  God, I was having a lot of problems.

I finally settled on the veal marsala and I asked if I could get a small side of the tortellini.  The waiter was more than happy to make that happen for me.  

By the time we had finished our salads, the Heusmann's were into the dessert.  Dave was just in heaven. He said, "Oh, man.  You guys have to save room for this stuff." They were having tiramisu.

Our main entrees showed up and the food looked great.  And it was as good as advertised.  Everyone liked their entrees.  Cindy gave me a bite of the grilled sea bass and it was delicious.  My veal marsala was very good.  Not the best I'd ever had, but it certainly didn't suck.  And I'm glad I was able to get the tortellini.  It was fabulous.  The creamy Parmesan cheese sauce was out of this world.

The tortellini was also pretty rich and I was getting full fast.  According to the Heusmann's I had to save room for dessert.  I wasn't certain I could do that.  But when push came to shove, I ordered up some tiramisu.  Cindy and Marcia got the walnut bread pudding.  While we all shared the tiramisu, I didn't try any of the walnut bread pudding as I'm not keen on walnuts.  But it did look good. 

After we finished our dessert, I got up to go to the bathroom.  I noticed Charlie Gitto's had a very nice outdoor dining area.  It was a nice night and had I known they had the outside area, I would have requested seats out there.  But then we wouldn't have run into the Heusmann's.

I then noticed a large dining area toward the back of the restaurant, and beyond that was a smaller area where you could have private dining.  If I'm not mistaken, they called it the "Lasorda Room" after the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Tommy Lasorda, who visited the restaurant each time he was in St. Louis.  Lasorda once said about the food at Charlie Gitto's, "I don't get full.  My arms get tired."

Before we left, both Scott and I picked up a book they had for sale at the bar - The Hill: Its History - Its Recipes written by Eleanore Berra Marfisi.  The Berra name is very common among families on the Hill.  The great former catcher for the New York Yankees, Yogi Berra, is from the Hill.  In fact, there's a Berra Park on the Hill and I always thought it was named after Yogi Berra.  Turns out it was named for Louis (Midge) Berra, a political activist who helped bring some prominence to the Hill area.

While Charlie Gitto's wasn't all that cheap (about $250 for the four of us including wine, dessert and drinks), it was a very pleasant dining experience.  It's one of the best Italian restaurants on the hill and with the competition it faces day in and day out, Charlie Gitto's has to be on the top of their game at all times.  We certainly weren't disappointed in the food that evening.  Or with the service, for that matter.  Everyone at Charlie Gitto's was friendly, helpful and easy going.  I highly recommend Charlie Gitto's if you ever make it to St. Louis. 

Busch Stadium - 2008

We made our somewhat annual trip to St. Louis to catch the Cardinals play baseball at Busch Stadium a while back.  I say "somewhat" because our schedules wouldn't work out last year with Cindy's appendectomy and other events going on in our lives.  In fact, our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder almost didn't make the trip down because of flooding in their basement that incurred after a major rainstorm the night before we were to leave to go to St. Louis.  Cindy and I drove to St. Louis to make sure we had the tickets for the Friday night and Saturday games.  Scott and Marcia finally decided about 1 p.m. on Friday that they did all they could do and drove down to meet us.

Cindy and I first stopped off at the Edward Jones Dome to meet up with our friend, Mike Naughton, who is the Vice-President of Finance and Ticketing for the St. Louis Rams.  Mike was the one who got us the tickets for the two games we were going to see.  We talked with Mike for about a half hour.  He usually isn't at the dome's offices, but happened to be there this afternoon.  We were talking about ticket scalping and how the state of Missouri had recently passed a law allowing the sales of already sold tickets to fans of Missouri sports teams.  To hear an interview Mike had with Paul Harris on KMOX on the legalization of scalping in Missouri, click here. 

We eventually hooked up with Scott and Marcia at The Outfield, the outdoor bar area of Mike Shannon's restaurant in St. Louis.  The Outfield is fast becoming one of my favorite places to go to before and after a Cardinals game.  Beers are $3.00 a bottle, which isn't bad considering the location of the bar in proximity to the stadium.  And the waitresses and female bartenders are top notch lookers.  Actually, we should try some of the bars on the south side of the stadium sometime, like Al Hrabosky's.

I've seen a few of these new novelty items - large fists that act as a bottle holder and cooler, usually with a team logo on the top of the hand.  I think they're kind of cool, but would probably be a pain in the butt to lug around.  Plus, I'm sure your hand would get pretty warm in the thing, especially on hot days.

After our last trip to Busch Stadium a couple years ago, I was reminded by my cousin, Tom Wehrle, that the Wehrle kids had bought a commemorative brick for their dad, Jack, who grew up in Eureka, MO and was a lifelong Cardinals fan.  Tom gave me the coordinates of where we could find the brick.  After a little bit of hunting, we found it.  It was pretty cool to see.

Our seats at Busch Stadium were prime seats for Friday night's game.  We were in the front row of the second deck in an area called the Redbird Club.  We had access to the club, which was very similar to the Cadillac Club at Soldier Field.  (To get a 360 degree tour of the Redbird Club, click here.)  It had bar facilities, different types of food to buy, and has an air-conditioned lounge that wraps around above the home plate area of the stadium.  They were great seats and you had a good view of the field, as well as part of the skyline in downtown St. Louis. 

It was kind of a coolish, damp evening in St. Louis when the game began.  It had rained earlier in the day, but the weather cooperated enough to allow the game to get in.  But it was comfortable compared to other times we've gone to games in St. Louis.  And I liked the location of the seats as we were able to follow a lot of the action by being able to focus on the field as a whole as the Cards played the Philadelphia Phillies.

Once again, satisfying my scoreboard fetish.  Actually, I think they improved the scoreboard at Busch Stadium from the last time we were there a couple years ago.  It seemed to have more information than the initial scoreboard the had in 2006.  But it's still not my favorite scoreboard in the major leagues. 

After a couple three innings, the sun began to make an appearance just before setting in the western sky.  It lit up the Gateway Arch and a number of the taller buildings downtown including the Millennium Hotel, the round building to the side of the Arch.  It also played havoc with people in the upper deck in right field who were forced to look directly into the sun for about 20 minutes before it went down behind the other side of the stadium.  After a while, the clouds had moved out and it was a great evening to watch baseball.

Unfortunately for the home team, it wasn't their night.  Here's a picture of the field and beyond just after Philadelphia scored nine runs in the 4th inning to make the score 13-1.  The Phillies went on to score four more runs to make it 17-1 before we finally decided to call it a night after the top of the sixth.  The Phillies eventually blew out the Cardinals 20-2.  The Cards got lit up pretty good that night.

The next day was just picture perfect.  Beautiful blue skies, light wind, temperatures in the low to mid 80's.  And the humidity, which can be stifling in St. Louis in the summertime, was virtually non-existent.  It was a mid-afternoon game against the Phillies and we had seats down the left field line, underneath the second deck and out of the sun.  While it wasn't quite the Redbird Club, we were happy with the location of the seats. 

Here's a pitch in the first inning from the Cardinals' Kyle Lohse to the Phillies' Chase Utley.  God, I love this Panasonic camera we have.  If you click on the picture, you can see the ball literally suspended in mid-air about 10 feet in front of home plate.  It takes great action shots for no more of a camera than what it is. 

It was a much better game than the game the night before.  The Cardinals staked Lohse to a 3-0 lead after three innings.  Lohse withstood a Pat Burrell two-run homer in the fourth and pitched eight strong innings giving up just the two runs and four hits as the Cards won 3-2.  And it was a quick game - beginning right around 2:55 and ending at 5:06. 

We had dinner reservations at 7:30 that evening, so we had some time to kill after the game.  We decided to head over to The Outfield for a few beers and to let the traffic clear out.  On the way over, I took this picture of the site of the former Busch Stadium, which was torn a couple years ago.  It's still nothing but a big hole in the middle of the lot - derisively called "Lake DeWitt" by the citizens of St. Louis after Cardinals' CEO Bill DeWitt.  DeWitt proposed a "Ballpark Village" complete with shops, restaurants, office buildings and condominiums on the site when plans were initially drawn up for the new Busch Stadium the Cardinals are in. 

Development of the "Ballpark Village" has never gotten off the ground due to a number of factors, including a soft market.  But the Cardinals are going to have to do something with the site before next summer when they host the All-Star Game.  Actually, I would have thought much of the site would have been filled in by now, but it looks the same as it did in this picture I took two years ago from the north side of the new Busch Stadium.  That's The Outfield bar in the middle background of the photo.

As we left The Outfield around 6:00 p.m. to go to our parking spot, we stopped off at the northwest corner of the stadium to look at the new statues of former Cardinal players on display.   Here are the statues of three of my all-time favorite Cardinal players - Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Stan Musial.  To read the "Brush with Greatness" entry when I met and spent a good portion of the afternoon with Bob Gibson one time, click here. 

And here's a the big Stan Musial statue just outside the west main entrance of Busch Stadium.  My uncle Jack adored Stan Musial.  I was too young to remember Stan Musial playing, but from newsreel clips and other replays I've seen over the years, he became one of my all-time favorite Cardinal players, if not my favorite.  Stan the Man.

Here's a short clip from YouTube with the legendary Jack Buck talking about Stan Musial with some footage of Musial playing in his prime. 

I'm slowly warming up to the new Busch Stadium.  It had more of a "lived-in" feel to it on this visit than it did a couple years ago.  It's not perfect, but it's home to some of the best and most knowledgeable baseball fans in the country.  It's always fun to go to a game in St. Louis and the most sad thing is when the final out is made in the ninth inning.  There are times I could just sit and watch baseball for hours.  And Busch Stadium isn't a bad place to see a game.

Guido's Pizzeria and Tapas - St. Louis

Another one of those places that I've driven by many times and always wondered about is Guido's Pizzeria and Tapas on The Hill in St. Louis (see map). It looks like one of the many delightful neighborhood restaurants that The Hill is famous for. So one evening while I was in St. Louis recently, I thought I'd stop in and give it a try.

I walked in and looked at the small bar area wondering if I would be able to eat at the bar. But the seats - about 10 of them - were all taken. I was soon met at the host stand by Miguel Carretero, the owner. It was about 9 p.m. and I asked, "Is it too late to get dinner?"

He said, "No sir. We're open until 11 p.m. Come on in, we'll get you fed."

Miguel's father, Segundo, was from Spain and emigrated with his family to the U.S. in the 60's. After working for the upscale Tony's restaurant in downtown St. Louis for 18 years, Segundo Carretero opened up his own place - Guido's, which was Miguel's nickname his friends had placed upon him. (He was named Guido after the Saturday Night Live character Father Guido Sarducci whom Miguel supposedly looked like). Over the years, the Carretero's opened three Guido's around the city specializing primarily in Italian food.

In 2000, the Carretero's consolidated their restaurants into one Guido's on The Hill. Miguel Carretero decided that he'd like to introduce the Spanish bar food known as tapas to St. Louis to celebrate the family's Spanish heritage. Initially on Friday and Saturday nights, Miguel's mother, Genoveva, made the tapas. Now, the tapas are available on a nightly basis.

But I was more interested in trying their pizza. Miguel Carretero showed me to a table in their brightly lit dining room and gave me a menu. He said my waiter, Charles, would be with me in a moment.

There were a handful of people in the place, including a couple guys who were talking in Spanish with Miguel at a table, and a group of about 10 who were eating tapas and talking in Spanish at a table near me. I figured they may be Spanish natives as they were all eating tapas at the table.

I was sort of impressed with the variety of tapas they had on the menu. Our daughter, Sara, lived and studied in Spain for nearly a year and I knew she'd be impressed, too, with what they had for their tapas. Considering they only started out with about 6 or 8 items when they first began to offer tapas when they opened at this location, they had one whole menu page devoted to cold and hot tapas - about 30 items in all. The tapas were tempting, but I wanted pizza that night.

Guido's pizza is the thin crust variety St. Louis-style pizza is famous for. However, you have your choice of either using the St. Louis-style Provel cheese, or going with mozzarella. I decided that I'd go with a 12" (which is a medium size) Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - my old stand-by - with mozzarella. Charles took my order and said it would be ready in about 20 minutes.

And right at about 20 minutes later, my pizza showed up. It had the bubbly, crunchy crust that I like. The sausage on top were the big chunks - just as I like it. The pepperoni and mushrooms were very flavorful and fresh - just as I like it. And the sauce was a wonderful blend of sweet and tangy, maybe just a little too sweet, though. It was a great pizza, quite possibly the best one I've ever had in St. Louis. It was no problem finishing the whole thing.

After I finished, as I was getting up to leave, Miguel Carretero excused himself from a conversation and walked over to me to see if everything was fine. I told him, "It was great. Your pizza was wonderful. The sauce is just a little too sweet for me, but I still like it."

He said the sauce was homemade and was from a family recipe his mother came up with. I wasn't going to argue with him. It was a minor quibble on my part.

He asked if it was my first time in and I said it was, but I'd driven by many times. He asked if I was from the area and I said, no, I was from Iowa. He said, "Iowa!? You in town on business?"

I told him I was and he said, "Well, I hope you come back to see us when you come back to St. Louis."

I said, "Well, as often as I make it to St. Louis, you'll probably see me in here a few times in the future."

Guido's Pizzeria and Tapas was just named the Best Cheap Italian Food restaurant by the Riverfront Times, the local St. Louis weekly entertainment paper. I'm glad I finally went in. The price of my pizza was reasonable, the taste was wonderful, the service impeccable and I really felt that Miguel Carretero cared about his clientele. Now that I know how good the pizza is at Guido's, I'll be back. And I may even want to try the tapas at some point, too.

(Update March 2012 - And I have been back to Guido's a number of times. Although the pizza sauce is still a little too sweet for my taste, the pizza and other food at Guido's continues to be top notch. And a good value.)

Arcelia's - St. Louis

Finding great Mexican food on the road can be so hard sometimes.  It's really difficult to find a good authentic place for Mexican food that isn't "American-ized".  During a recent trip to St. Louis, I had a free night for dinner and I wanted Mexican.  Good Mexican.  Authentic Mexican.  I ended up finding a little gem in the Lafayette Square area called Arcelia's.  (see map)

Arcelia Sanchez (left) was born in a small town on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.  She emigrated with her husband to the U.S. and became a cook at a number of notable Mexican restaurants in the St. Louis area, bringing a lot of her hometown recipes with her. 

In 1990, along with her son, David, Arcelia opened her first restaurant in the Soulard area of St. Louis.  It was a very small place, but it did a lot of business.  With business booming, Arcelia's moved to its present day location across from Lafayette Square.  It has been named as the Best Mexican Restaurant by The Riverfront Times, St. Louis' weekly free entertainment paper. 

Unfortunately, Arcelia died in 2003 from injuries and complications she suffered in a car accident.  Family members have continued to run the restaurant in her spirit.

I found Arcelia's rather easily and parked my car on the street down from the restaurant.  There's a little seating area outside that a few people were seated at a couple tables eating dinner.  They were speaking Spanish, which is always a good thing when you're looking for good Mexican food.

It was about 8:30 and Arcelia's closes at 9 p.m. on Monday thru Thursday, so there wasn't a lot of people in the place. (They're also closed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m thru the week, as well.)  I was told I could sit anywhere, so I chose a booth about halfway back. 

Service was a little slow, but finally a lady who looked to be well into her 50's came over with a menu.  I ordered a Sol beer while I looked to see what they had.  Another person brought me some chips and salsa.  The salsa was definitely homemade and had a great kick to it.

I saw a lot of interesting stuff on the menu.  Now, this food was REALLY authentic Mexican.  And with so many different things to choose from and try, I didn't know which way to go.

For example, they had Albondigas - spicy Mexican meatballs served over rice with a Mexican gravy; Arroz con Pollo - pulled chicken meat served over rice with a Mexican vegetable sauce; and Nopales - a stir fried cactus served with tomatoes and onions.  Now, that really sounded interesting. 

The also had something called an Empanada - a pastry folded and stuffed with beef and cheese.  I'd never heard of that before.  They also had a sour cream enchilada with pepper strips with onions and cilantro.  Man, there was just too much to choose from.  I really wanted to try it all.

Suddenly, I saw that there was something they called the "Trio combinación" - pick three items for $12.95.  That gave me the latitude to try different things.  So, I went with the Empanada, a pork tamale and a soft corn shell beef taco.

My food was brought out in about 10 minutes and it was a plate full including refried beans and rice.  I didn't know where to start, so I took on the beef taco, first.  It was very good.  Good flavor to the beef.  Fully authentic Mexican flavor all around. 

Secondly, I tried a bite of the pork tamale.  Oh man!  Was that ever good.  It may have been one of the best tamales I've ever had - and I've had some very good ones over the years. 

But I had to try the Empanada.  I cut into the flaky outer shell and pulled out a big chunk of beef that simmering in sauce inside the crust.  Oh - MY - GAAAAWD!!!   It was one of the best tasting things I'd ever had in my life.  It was just outstanding.  I quickly forgot about my tamale and devoured the Empanada.  I'm thinking, "Where have these been all my life?"

I was barely able to finish the tamale and I have to tell you, for $12.95 that was a boat load of GREAT food.  The food was just all incredibly great. 

Arcelia's isn't much to look at on the inside.  I gathered from reading some of the reviews they had on the wall inside Arcelia's that it's definitely a family run endeavor.  But I love places like this.  Arcelia's is definitely a "must-go" if you want Mexican food in St. Louis.          

(Update June 2011 - I went to Arcelia's for lunch on a recent visit to St. Louis but found that it was closed.  It closed either late in 2010 or early 2011.  However, I found out that the restaurant has been purchased by Pat Shelton who said she hopes to have the restaurant open by Labor Day.  Arcelia Sanchez's granddaughter, Kim Reid will be on board running the kitchen using the original recipes from Arcelia herself including that outrageously great Empanada.)

(Update March 2012 - I stopped by Arcelia's this past fall and while there were people inside the restaurant, they were not open.  According to their web site, they say they are opening soon.  I understand that some of the building renovations they had to do took a little longer than planned, primarily due to the fact that the Lafayette Square area house that Arcelia's is housed in is part of a historical district and needed to adhere to strict renovation guidelines.)

(Update June 2013 - During a recent trip to St. Louis, I found that Arcelia's had opened again in the Soulard area on S. 12th Street. (see map).  The new Arcelia's is owned and operated by Arcelia's daughter, Marta Ramirez, and uses the same recipes as the original Arcelia's in Lafayette Square.)

Schlafly Tap Room - St. Louis

I was driving to St. Louis a couple weeks ago to have a meeting and dinner with one of my dealers in town.  Driving through Peoria, I noticed my "Low Tire Pressure" light came on.  I reset it, thinking the tires were running at a different RPM because of the rain-slick roads.  When it came on again about five miles later, I thought I'd better pull over and check it out.

I pulled over to a convenience store/gas station and, sure as shit, I had a tire that was rapidly going flat.  Thinking that I'd rather have AAA fix the tire, considering that I was in a dress shirt and slacks, I pulled the car into the parking lot of the Par-a-Dice Casino and called the road service.  As soon as I got a hold of AAA to come out to fix the tire (I DO pay a lot for AAA's services), I called my dealer and told him I'd be late.  He begged off for the meeting and dinner, knowing full well that I wouldn't be in town until about 8 p.m.

After getting the tire repaired at a local Goodyear store, I was back on the road and knowing I'd have a free night in St. Louis, I began to wonder where I'd have dinner that night.  Dinner at one of the great Italian restaurants on The Hill is a good option.  I thought about a great steak at Citizen Kane's.  I thought about getting Mexican food or just a good ol' St. Louis style pizza.  And I remembered there's a couple of good restaurants near the Hampton Inn Union Station where I was staying at that night.

Pulling into the hotel, I was still wondering where I was going to eat.  I wasn't overly hungry.  But I was in dire need of a cold beer and something good to eat.  After I got into my room, I looked at one of the in-room guides and my eyes caught an ad for Schlafly's Brewery Tap Room.  I'd always liked Schlafly's beer and I knew their brewery/brew pub was nearby.  I did a quick Mapquest search and found that it was less than four blocks away as the crow flies, easy walking distance from the hotel (see map).  But also knowing how dicey the neighborhood could be after dark, I decided to drive over. 

There's only two cities in the United States whose names are truly synonymous with beer - Milwaukee and St. Louis.  While Milwaukee has a number of brew pubs throughout the city, St. Louis only has a couple brew pubs - Morgan Street Brewery located in Laclede's Landing; and Schlafly's.  That's it in St. Louis proper. 

Now, there is a rich history of breweries in St. Louis and I always thought Schlafly's was one of those old time St. Louis breweries that went out of existence, but was brought back by entrepreneurs when the microbrewery craze hit in the 1990's.  In doing research for this blog entry, I found that was not the case.

Tom Schlafly (right) was a lawyer in St. Louis who was instrumental in getting Missouri laws changed in the late 80's to allow the existence of brew pubs in the state.  Schlafly teamed with Dan Kopman, a local brewmaster who worked in breweries in the United Kingdom, to open the St. Louis Brewery, the corporate parent of Schlafly's beer.  Their goal was to bring back the German-styled brewing tradition that St. Louis was known for before Anheuser-Busch became the literal 800-pound gorilla. 

Schlafly and Kopman bought a nearly 90-year-old building north and west of historic Union Station.  The building had been empty for nearly 20 years.  Prior to that, it housed a printing company for nearly 65 years.  They set about to attain their goal of becoming the first brew pub in Missouri.   

Schlafly's Tap Room brew pub opened on Dec. 26, 1991 and Schlafly's served only two beers - their Pale Ale and their Hefeweisen wheat beers.  Immediately, Schlafly's was a hit among beer connoisseurs looking for something more interesting to drink than Budweiser or Michelob in St. Louis. 

Schlafly's offers six year-round beers to choose from, as well as over 30 seasonal beers brewed at different times of the year.  Most of their seasonal beers are cask-conditioned double-fermented draft beers, hand-pumped to the bar from Schlafly's cellar which is constantly at 55 degrees.  Schlafly's offers their Pale Ale as a cask-conditioned beer on tap.  It's good stuff.   

Even though it's not in a great neighborhood, Schlafly's Tap Room has adequate - and safe - parking directly behind the building.  As you walk in from the parking lot, there is a bar to the left that features pool tables and dart boards, along with televisions.  There's also the Schlafly gift shop located in that area.      

The Tap Room is toward the front of the building and to the right.  There is an outdoor seating area that is open when the weather is nice. 

I really wanted to watch some baseball while I had my dinner, but the game room part of Schlafly's doesn't serve food.  And the Tap Room doesn't have televisions.  So, I sat at the bar with my newspaper and ordered a Pale Ale and a menu.  The Tap Room was dimly lit and even though they had a number of large windows on the east side facing the street, and on the north side that faced the outdoor dining area, it was still pretty dark in the place.  That's OK - it gave it kind of a nice, intimate feel even though it was a pretty large room. 

The menu was pretty extensive featuring a number of appetizers, salads and sandwiches.  However, there were three or four entrees that caught my eye.

The first was a traditional British steak and mushroom pie - steak slices, onions, carrots and mushrooms cooked in Schlafly's Oatmeal Stout beer - and then topped with either a choice of a puff pastry or Schlafly's beer biscuits. 

The second one was the Tap Room's Fried Steak - breaded fried steak topped with gravy and served with a side of their fresh mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans.  That sounded really good.

The other thing I saw was the chicken andouille pasta - grilled chicken breast chunks served on a bed of linguine with andouille sausage in a cream tomato sauce.  Given the amount of great Italian restaurants in St. Louis, I thought it would be blasphemous to have Italian food in a brew pub.  But it still sounded delicious.

But what I went with was the Tap Room's weiner schnitzel - a pan-fried breaded pork cutlet topped with a spinach, gouda cheese and bacon sauce; served with fresh mashed potatoes and braised red cabbage.  That sounded like it could be a real spot-hitter.

Since all the food at the Tap Room is made from scratch, prepare to wait at least 20 to 30 minutes to get your food.  Just sit back and enjoy another beer while you're waiting for your food to show up.  I guarantee it will be worth the wait.

When the bartender brought out my weiner schnitzel, the breading looked like it was severely overcooked.  It was pretty crunchy and dark.  But when I cut into the pork cutlet, it was very moist and the taste of the breading was far from burnt.  It was very good.  As were the mashed potatoes and the red cabbage.  Along with my dinner, I got one of Schlafly's Pilsner beers - a very nice mix of German and Czech heritage flavors that went perfectly with my meal.

My meal and three beers came to about $28 bucks.  And even though I felt the bartender could have been a little more attentive, I gave him five bucks as a tip.  The place was about 1/3 full - a lot of that was one table of about 20 guys - and the ornate old bar only had six or seven people around it. 

Schlafly's also has a second restaurant location at their brewery in the southwest part of St. Louis (see map).  Called The Bottleworks, it features a significantly different menu than the Tap Room.  As with the Tap Room, the Bottleworks offers lunch and dinner seven days a week, and they also have live music from time to time (as does the Tap Room).  And brewery tours are available at The Bottleworks.

Schlafly's beers are available at bars and restaurants throughout the St. Louis area.  Their beers are available in a number of stores in the area, as well.  But because their bottled beer isn't Pasteurized, it can't be out in extreme heat for very long.  It's best to buy the beer cold and get it into a cooler on ice immediately.

Schlafly's beers are very good, and the Tap Room is a very good place to get a meal in St. Louis.  Although it's not in a great neighborhood, it's still safe enough to visit the place at any time.  I would certainly recommend a visit to Schlafly's Tap Room during a visit to St. Louis.   

Krieger's Sports Grill - St. Louis

I had to travel on a Sunday night to St. Louis recently.  It turned out that it was opening night for the St. Louis Cardinals and I didn't want to stay downtown with all the people there.  I ended up booking a room at the Hampton Inn - Forest Park.  Since I got there kind of late, I went next door to Krieger's Sports Grill for dinner.

Krieger's first opened in 1991 in suburban Chesterfield by Brian Krieger and his partner, Vito Churco.  Krieger ran the day-to-day operation and Churco was the business and marketing guy.  A year later, they recruited Churco's cousin, Sal Alu, into the business.  The three are still in charge today.

In 2002, Krieger's began to franchise locations throughout the St. Louis and southern Illinois area.  There are now 9 company owned locations and 5 franchisee locations, including one in Des Moines.  They're looking to expand franchises into Kansas City, Wichita, Springfield, MO and other mid-sized cities in the Midwest. 

Krieger's has a pretty extensive menu.  They're mainly known for their St. Louis style pizza - thin crust with fresh toppings covered with Provel cheese.  But they also have good burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers, along with main entrees including pasta, steaks, chicken and ribs.

The Forest Park location next to the new Hampton Inn is the newest of the Krieger's restaurants.  I don't know if it's a franchise location or not, but it appears similar to the other Krieger's I've been in.  It seems to be bigger than most of the other Krieger's though.  And the crowd it gathers - at least on a Sunday night - is a decidedly younger crowd.

I settled in at the bar to watch the baseball game with a packed house of younger adults.  Like the other Krieger's there's tons of televisions throughout the place and there's a projection screen above the bar.  I sat and ordered a beer and a menu from the very busy wait staff behind the bar.

A guy seated next to me was having a Krieger's cheeseburger, which smelled and looked very good.  But a girl on the other side of me was sharing a Krieger's St. Louis style pizza with her friend.  I was torn.  I hadn't had a good St. Louis style pizza for quite a while, but I wasn't certain I wanted a pizza that evening.

Now, St. Louis style pizza is an acquired taste.  The crust is cracker thin, and the Provel cheese is more creamy than the rich, stringy texture of mozzarella.  (For my previous observations on St. Louis style pizza and other pizza places in St. Louis, click b.)  I had a former colleague who I worked with in St. Louis call St. Louis style pizza as "cheese on a cracker". 

But I like it and that's what I ordered.

Actually, Krieger's St. Louis style pizza is OK - not the best I've had - but it's consistently OK.  And this one was no exception.  The toppings - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - were a little sparse, but the cheese was creamy and the crust was crunchy thin, just the way I like it. 

With the Cardinals getting spanked by the New York Mets at the new Busch Stadium just down the road, the crowd began to dwindle out of Krieger's by about 9 p.m.  I couldn't eat a whole small pizza, so I had the girl put it in a box for me to take back to my room.  I ate the remaining three pieces on my way to Springfield the next day.

Krieger's is the one of the best sports bars in St. Louis.  Their menu may not be as eclectic as what you find at Ozzie's, but the food is still pretty good.  I've drank many a beer at various Krieger's around the St. Louis area and I'm sure I'll drink many more.    

(Update - This particular Krieger's is now the Highlander Pub and Grill.  See my entry on that place here.  There are only two Krieger's left in the St. Louis area - one in St. Louis and what is, I believe, the original Krieger's in Chesterfield.  I've been to the one in Chesterfield probably two or three times since this entry was made in 2007 and it's still pretty much the same above average food and service.  It's a great place to catch a sporting event.)

LoRusso's Cucina - St. Louis

While recently traveling with Dominic Baker, the chief engineer and international sales manager for Focal loudspeakers, we took one of my better dealers in the St. Louis area out to dinner.  The dealer suggested LoRusso's Cucina on the famous "Hill" in St. Louis.  I had never been to - or heard of - LoRusso's Cucina.  But according to one of the guys, it's one of the best Italian restaurants in the city. 

Rich LoRusso is a third generation Sicilian whose grandmother baked bread in a backyard oven on the Hill when Rich was a young boy.  With is wife, Terri, they opened LoRusso's in 1986.  They bill the restaurant "Not Your Usual Italian Restaurant". 

Although part of the Hill, LoRusso's is further west of the bulk of the Hill area restaurants.  Located on Watson Road west of Hampton and near Arsenal (see map), it's no wonder why I'd never seen or heard of LoRusso's in the past.  Well, I was excited to try a new Italian restaurant in St. Louis. 

LoRusso's has ample parking on the west side of their building.  And it's well lit, too.  It's a short walk to the front door of LoRusso's.  Once inside, you're greeted by a hostess just inside the front door.  Actually, Terri LoRusso was the one who seated us at a table for six just inside the main dining room. 

The atmosphere is similar to many Italian restaurants/supper clubs that I've eaten at in the past.  Lots of dark wood walls, dimly lit, but not too dark.  The tables are spacious and give you a lot of room, but not too large where you can't carry on a conversation with the person directly across from you. 

The dinner menu is vast and varied.  They also feature a number of nightly specials of either a seafood or pasta dish.  That evening their seafood special was a pan-seared scallop dish served with a white wine and lemon sauce.  That sounded good. 

In fact, a lot of stuff sounded good.  The tutto mare is always a great St. Louis Italian dish and I'm sure LoRusso's did a fine one.  They also had a tortellini with tomatoes, peppers and chicken dish that evening for their pasta special.  Their regular tortellini looked great, too.  And they had a cannelloni dish with tubes of pasta stuffed with beef, veal and spinach.  Oh, man!  I was having troubles and I wasn't even halfway through looking at the menu.

The rest of the menu featured chicken, beef, and veal entrees.  I was so torn on what to get, it all sounded so wonderful.

But before we ordered, we decided to get a bunch of appetizers.  Being that it was Dominic's first trip to St. Louis, we had to order the local favorite, toasted raviolis.  And we also ordered a couple plates of the Scampi Spinachi - jumbo shrimp grilled, then served over a bed of cooked spinach leaves and drizzled with a spicy lobster broth.  And we also ordered up the Calamari and a plate of the grilled eggplant - thin strips of eggplant lightly grilled and served with roasted peppers, mozzarella, olives and sprinkled with asiago cheese.  We were hungry.

When it came to ordering dinner, I let everyone order before me - mainly because I STILL didn't know what to get.  One of our guests ordered the scallops special, and another ordered the tortellini special.  One guy ordered the tenderloin Mudega - marinated and breaded tenderloin medallions topped with prosciutto, wild mushrooms and a white wine sauce.  And the other guy ordered the Ziti con Vodka - ziti served with Italian sausage in a spicy vodka sauce. 

Dominic ordered the Pescatore Linguini - linguini with shrimp, scallops, mussels in a tomato sauce.  And when it came to me, I was still in the dark as what to order.  Our waitress finally talked me into getting one of their house specialties, the Chicken Joshua - a marinated chicken breast, grilled and topped with Fontana cheese, served with grilled asparagus with a tomato white wine sauce drizzled on top.  Sounded great. 

In the meantime, I also ordered a couple bottles of wine from LoRusso's very extensive wine list.  We got a couple of the 2001 Jordan Cabernet's from the reserve wine list - a great old standby wine that never fails to please.  And it was reasonably priced at $80 a bottle.  I've seen this priced at well over $100, upwards to $130 a bottle, in restaurants. 

The food came and the presentation looked great.  We all dug in.  Everyone said their food was superior.  Except me - it always happens.  The chicken was overcooked and tough.  The asparagus was limp and tasteless.  It was not a good meal. 

But the rest of the dishes looked and smelled wonderful.  And from the expressions of satisfaction from everyone, it turns out I had the dud meal of the evening. 

I wasn't going to complain, but one of the guys - the one who recommended the place - told the waitress that my dinner was sub-par.  He said, "I've eaten here for over 15 years and have never gotten a bad meal at this place.  This guy brought us here this evening and his meal was not up to LoRusso standards." 

I was somewhat embarrassed that he made a fuss, but he said, "No, no.  Rich is the kind of guy who would rather be told about a bad meal than to have one slide by." 

The waitress left and Terri LoRusso came over to apologize.  She said that Rich was not the chef that evening, it was their second line chef.  I told her that it was no big deal, the chicken was a little over-cooked (actually, it was WAY over-cooked).  She asked if she could comp us on desserts and we couldn't say no - although we were all just stuffed. 

She had the waitress bring out the dessert tray and she tempted us with tiramisu, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and other scrumptious looking items.  I went with the tiramisu, which - I was told - is made by an old lady especially for LoRusso's.  It was good, but not as good as the tiramisu at Missouri Baking Company. 

The bill for the six of us - including wine - came to just under $500 with tip.  These guys deserved the meal.  They're a good dealer for me and good guys.  We had a great time and even though my dinner was not that great, I'll be back to LoRusso's.  But I won't be ordering the Chicken Joshua.

(Update - I have since been back to LoRusso's on a couple of occasions and DID NOT get the Chicken Joshua.  I got a pasta dish one time that was outstanding and in the summer of 2011 my wife and I went there with our friends and their son after a Cardinals game.  I had the meatloaf special that evening that rivaled the taste sensations of my meat loaf.  Everyone raved about their food.  The Chicken Joshua from my first visit was obviously an anomaly and I was going to do a proper update - complete with pictures - but I accidently dumped all the pictures from LoRusso's as I was trying to save them on my computer from my phone.) 

O'Connell's Pub - Redux

I drove thru St. Louis on my way home from Springfield, MO recently and decided to have a late lunch at O'Connell's Pub again.  Since it's just off of I-44 at Kingshighway, it was easy to get to (see map).  Plus, I wanted to stop at some of the food shops on the Hill to get some items, so it all worked out.

On my previous visit when I took a couple guys there for lunch, I had the burger which was good.  But one of the guys got the roast beef sandwich with lean, rare beef piled high on a hoagie bun, served with au jus over the top.  It looked killer.  Then again, so did the roast pork sandwich, with the pork piled high on a similar hoagie bun smothered in gravy that the other guy got.  And they told me they were both wonderful tasting. 

However, I was in on a Friday and the special at "Oc's" on Friday's is fish and chips, so the chance of getting the roast pork sandwich went out the window.  I went for the roast beef sandwich and ordered it the way my guest ordered it the time before, "Roast beef sandwich, rare, juice."   And an ice-cold Budweiser. 

When the sandwich came, it was piled high with thick cut rare roast beef.  The beef was a little chewy and not as tender as it looked on my last visit.  In fact, I sort of got heartburn from the sandwich - it was a lot of beef, that's for sure. 

The beef sandwich was *OK*.  I'm glad I tried it, but I probably won't order it again when I go back to Oc's.  It will more than likely be back to a good ol' O'Connell's cheese burger. 

Urzi's Italian Market - St. Louis

The third of the triumvirate of places I stop at while I'm on the Hill in St. Louis is Urzi's Italian Market (see map).  Urzi's is a small market on the south edge of the Hill across the street from Cunetto House of Pasta.  They offer everything from pastas, meats, cheeses, spices, wine, sauces, and breads all geared toward Italian food. 

Urzi's started over 50 years ago just down the street from their present day location.  It was called Urzi's Blue Ridge Italian Market and some of the locals still call it "The Blue Ridge" when they refer to Urzi's.  The son of the original owner, Joe Urzi, took over from his father in the 80's and he's been running the place ever since with his wife, Diane. 

I stumbled onto Urzi's a few years ago when I was looking for a little Italian market for spices and sauces.  I'll tell you - Urzi's has a wide variety of fresh spices (below left).  They have the best granulated garlic that I've ever found.  And they have a special Italian seasoning mix that I use in all different types of foods that I make from red sauces to sprinkling on steamed broccoli to adding it to the flour when I'm making chicken fingers.  I usually buy a big container of it as I find myself going through it all the time.  Diane Urzi told me that she has an Italian restaurant in the Chicago area that she ships pounds of the seasoning to.   

And they have a wide variety of Italian specialty foods to choose from, as well.  One whole aisle along the wall is dedicated to olive oils, balsamic vinegars and rich marinara sauces (above right).  I just love going into that place and getting ideas for what to make at home.  

My last trip into Urzi's was tinged with some sadness as I was informed by Mimi over at The Missouri Baking Company that Joe Urzi had died unexpectedly in early September.  He had been fighting a cold, and typical of a hard-working guy he didn't go into the doctor until it was too late.  He was taken to the hospital the night of August 30 and died on August 31. 

I last saw Joe about a couple days before he died.  And that kind of spooked me out a little.  He was only 53 years old.  You could always see Joe behind the meat counter, his apron on and working feverishly on something.  But he always had time to stop and answer questions or give suggestions.  He loved the fact that I was from Iowa and would always stop in to pick something up.   

I picked up a few things and Diane checked me out at the register.  I told her that I was so sorry to hear about Joe's passing and she said that it was quite a shock to her and her kids.  She said, "I still think he's in the back from time to time."

She said that she had been trying to get Joe to go to the doctor, but he kept saying he was too busy.  She said, "It was a viral infection and we just got him in too late."   

Diane said that she is going to carry on running the place with the help of family and friends.  Well, she knows that she has a repeat customer in me.  With all the great Italian foodstuffs they have to offer, Urzi's Italian Market is a must-stop every time I go to St. Louis.  

Missouri Baking Company - St. Louis

One of my largest guilty pleasures in life is the Missouri Baking Company located on The Hill in St. Louis (see map).  Since 1923, the Missouri Baking Company has been making some of the finest Italian baked goods this side of Italy.

Missouri Baking Company was founded by three brothers, the Gambaro's - Stephano, Luigi and Giuseppe.  Stephano's sons, Pasquale (Lino) and Ben, and a daughter, JoAnn, worked at the bakery while they were young and eventually took over the business. 

Initially, the family only intended to sell to restaurants in the area.  However, they found that the general public was interested in their delectible baked goods and they opened up a retail location at the corner of Edwards and Wilson on The Hill.  

Today, Lino (pictured left) and Ben - ages 91 and 87 - still stick around the business and help. Ben's children, Chris and Mimi, run the day-to-day operations.  Ben's wife, who is 85, works at the front counter with her daughter while Chris is the head baker.  

(Update - Lino passed away on August 15, 2007.  He had been working at the bakery during the morning, then left to go home and rest.  When he never made it home, his nephew went looking for him.  He was found dead in his car near the bakery.  And I believe Ben is fully retired from the place.)  

The Missouri Baking Company is like any little bakery that you'd find in any Midwestern city.  The only exception is that you won't find a donut or any thing deep oil fried any where in the place. They have that great smell when you walk in.  Situated in their display cases are cookies, rolls, desserts and pastries that look just scrumptious. 

It's always busy at Missouri Baking Company so I took my number and looked over the offerings in the case.  To my horror, they had no tiramisu.  That was the main reason I was in there.  Well, that and to get a loaf of their great Italian bread.  

When the lady called my number, I went up to the counter and said, "Please don't tell me that you don't have any tiramisu."

She got this pained look on her face and said, "I just sold the last two pieces a little while ago."

I know I immediately got a pained look on MY face and I said, "Oh boy...  And I wanted to take some back to Iowa."

She said, "Hang on a second.  Let me go check in the back." 

She left for a moment and then came back.  She said, "I had to ask very nicely, but he just got some tiramisu out and he said that he'd cut you some pieces."  

I thanked her profusely for doing that and she said, "Aw, I just know how to talk to him."  It turned out that I was talking to Mimi Lordo, one of the co-owners; and she was cajoling her brother, Chris Gambaro, the other co-owner. 

I told her that I stop at Missouri Baking Company nearly every time that I come to St. Louis for their outstanding tiramisu.  She said, "How do you transport the tiramisu?" 

I told her that I usually drive and I keep a cooler with ice in the trunk to make sure the tiramisu doesn't melt on the way home.  She was mightily impressed.  I said, "Your tiramisu is the best I've ever had.  That includes other bakeries and great Italian restaurants that I've eaten in over the years.  That's why I bring a cooler with me when I come to St. Louis."

Mimi gave me a quick little family history of the Missouri Baking Company.  She pointed out her father and uncle standing in the back - wearing their pointed little baker hats and white aprons.  She then introduced me to her mother who was working the front counter.  Remember these people are all in their mid-80's to early 90's. 

I've always loved the Missouri Baking Company, not only because their desserts, pastries and cookies are so sinfully good; but because the place is so old world in it's feel.  And now meeting some of the family who run the place makes me feel like I'm a neighborhood guy from The Hill.   

When I brought the tiramisu home that evening, I got cussed by my wife who is trying to lose the weight.  But she still ate it.

 

 

Doesn't it look great?  It's probably the best tiramisu that I've ever had... 

O'Connell's Pub - St. Louis

It had been a long, long time since I'd been to O'Connell's Pub in St. Louis for a great cheeseburger.  When we were in St. Louis this summer, while Scott Schroeder and I went to the ballgame, Cindy and Marcia Schroeder went to the Missouri Botanical Garden and then had lunch at O'Connell's.  I was jealous and vowed to get back to O'Connell's sometime soon. 

O'Connell's has a rich history, but the building they're housed in has an even more storied past. 

O'Connell's began in the early 60's in the Gaslight Square District of St. Louis.  The Gaslight District was the home for many theaters that featured some of the top performers of the day.  When the theaters closed and the area turned into urban blight, O'Connell's moved to their present day location at the corner of Shaw Ave. and South Kingshighway near on the outskirts of The Hill (see map).

The building that O'Connell's is in was built in 1905 by the Anheuser-Busch brewing company as a bar that served their beers.  In the late 90's, commercials featuring A-B chairman August Busch III talking about the heritage and history of the brewery were filmed at the bar of O'Connell's.  O'Connell's has been in their present location since 1972. 

O'Connell's is famous for their burgers - a ground sirloin, hand-pattied burger that is juicy and thick.  It's been a long time since I'd had a burger at O'Connell's, so when I had a chance to meet a couple guys there for lunch recently I wholeheartedly agreed to go there. 

We met up early - about a quarter to 12 - mainly because the lunch time crowd gets the place filled up rather quickly.  It's not a huge place - it probably seats around 100 people.  Just after noon, the line to get into the dining room was about 15 to 20 people deep.

I love the old bar at O'Connell's.  The two guys bartending looked like they were aging hippies, but were having a lot of fun.  Our waitress was young, but efficient and pleasant.  She was just trying to get people in and out as soon as possible to turn the tables.

I've been wanting to try the burger again since I was out in Denver.  One of my dealers from St. Louis was the one who turned me on to Duffy's Cherry Cricket for their great burgers.  When I asked him and his colleagues if Duffy's burgers were better than O'Connell's (or "Oc's", as the locals call the place), they said that, hands down, Duffy's was better.  I had to try an "Oc's" burger to make sure.

My two dining partners went a different direction.  One of the guys, obviously a regular, went with the "Roast beef, rare, juice."  The other guy went with the lunch special - a roast pork sandwich.  Both sounded great, but I was set on the burger. 

When our lunch came, even though I knew the burger would be good, I knew I'd made the wrong choice.  The guy with the roast beef sandwich had this huge pile of lean rare roast beef served on a hoagie, topped with a generous amount of au jus sauce.  It looked fabulous and he said it tasted great.

The other guy's pork sandwich looked almost as equally as good - a bunch of sliced pork on a hoagie with a ton of gravy over the top.  You had to eat it with a knife and fork. 

My burger was very good.  It was thick and juicy with a great taste quality.  The bun was also soft and chewy and helped give the burger a great taste.  I still can't say good as the burger's at Duffy's Cherry Cricket in Denver, that's for sure.  But it was still one of the best in St. Louis (O'Connell's regularly wins the Best Burger category in local voting). 

But I have to tell you - I got the short end of the stick.  The burger may have been very good, but the roast beef sandwich is going to be the next thing I order at "Oc's".  And if they have the pork sandwich as a lunch special the next time after that, I'll have that.  Both just looked killer and the reaction of my dining partners seconded my observation. 

O'Connell's has limited parking, especially during the noon hour, but the wait is well worth it if the dining room is full. 

(Update - I did go back to O'Connell's not long after this particular visit to get a roast beef sandwich.  Click here to read that entry.)

Smokin' Al's Barbecue - St. Louis

I got into St. Louis one night recently and I was tired and hungry.  I decided to give Smokin' Al's Barbecue a try, given that it was just around the corner from my hotel. 

Smokin' Al's is located on Hampton Ave. (see map) near Forest Park.  They've been in business for about five years and have won the best barbecue in St. Louis for four straight years in a poll conducted by the local restaurant review magazine, Sauce. 

Smokin' Al's is a funky little place, not much to see on the outside or the inside.  They have two cookers set up outside.  One is out in front, the other one - much larger - is in sort of a recessed pit along the back side of the building.  The wood they were using was sort of a sweet smelling wood.  Definitely not hickory or mesquite.

Their menu is typical for most barbecue places.  Slabs of ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken - things like that.  And, thank God - they serve cold beer. 

It was getting late when I walked in - about 20 after 8.  They close at 8:30 thru the week.  You have to order at the front counter and I asked if I had to get this to go.  The girl behind the counter said, "Oh, no.  You don't have to leave.  We'll be here cleaning up well after 8:30."

I ordered the combo platter of pulled pork and brisket, and got a two rib sampler to go with it.  I got two sides with the combo platter so I went with their baked beans and french fries.  And I got a couple of ice-cold Budweiser's to go along with them.

Smokin' Al's serves their ribs in what they call "St. Louis-style", with the sauce on them.  Actually, I was led to believe that St. Louis-style ribs were they way they cut the ribs and not how they served them.  OK, whatever.  It furthered my contention that there are no such things as St. Louis-style ribs. 

The girl called my number and I went and got the food.  The brisket and pork were piled high on buttered Texas toast, and the two rib sampler was laid on Texas toast, as well.  They were covered with Smokin' Al's hot "Wolf Sauce".  The sides of baked beans and french fries were generous, too. 

But the one thing it lacked was a zip to the sauce.  It was sort of vinegary, but didn't have the zest that I like in a barbecue sauce.  The beans were completely different from the sauce - they were swimming in a brown sauce, heavy on molasses. 

The pulled pork was good, the brisket was better.  The ribs were, well, I've had a LOT better ribs than what they had at Smokin' Al's.  They weren't too meaty, and they weren't very tender.  The smokiness in the meat wasn't as much as I thought it would be.  And the sauce, I felt, was a little too neutral with the ribs.

Actually, I thought the best part of the meal were the french fries.  They had some sort of an herb on them and they were cooked to perfection.  You got the full potato tasted to them and they were hard not to eat.  I usually don't eat french fries, but these were damn good. 

The meal with a couple of beers came to about $16.75, which I didn't think was too bad.  But if people in St. Louis think that Smokin' Al's is the best barbecue in the city, I think they're sadly mistaken.  My next trip to a barbecue place in St. Louis will be to Super Smokers.  Hands down, the best barbecue in St. Louis, in my opinion.

(Update - Smokin' Al's didn't make it.  I went to get some barbecue there recently and found that they were closed.  Their web site is still up and I'm wondering if they do catering work, but the restaurant is definitely closed.)