There is nothing more dangerous than a writer with no edits.

I feel bad sometimes as I look at my blog and wonder where the posts have gone.  I feel a bit nostalgic as I wonder where my passion for writing a blog 2-3 times a week has gone.  Have I lost a love and passion for real food?  Have I lost a need for finding and tasting interesting things?  Have I lost a feeling of allowing writing to be so easy as my own thoughts on paper (or on a keyboard)?  No, I think the main reason that I don't do so much now is actually because of time.  I do not own a TARDIS.

I have never owned a time machine nor been able to travel and contain time.  So, the possibility of myself to be able to be a full time father, a full time sales and accounting person as well as do my new hobby and still have time to go out and about and write about some restaurant that St. Louis is told to follow like sheep, is just not on my mind right now.

Contrary to what some may think, I am not paid to eat out.  I am not under the salary force of any magazine, website or institution so no one is paying me to write about certain things.  In that same sense, no one is paying me to not write about certain things.  There has always been this loyalty to the truth, which I write by that very little other writers in the metropolitan area live by.  The truth being what a restaurant really is like.  I want every person who reads my reviews to be able to feel as though they had been there in my same circumstance.  I do not want to read about how someone was specially greeted by the manager and sat at the best table where they were given the best food and then everything was on the house because their arrival was predetermined and arranged.  I don't want to hear about how someone called and called and had whole conversations with a group of chefs about where their favorite places are and then make sure they have advertisements with my company before they have their reviews posted.  The fact remains, as it does in any city, that if you wish to be paid for writing about a restaurant or item, you cannot piss off the sponsors.  It seems like a very simple idea.  The sponsor pays the company, the company pays you to eat at the sponsor's location, and you need to write something good about the sponsor so they are happy and maybe pay more.  It makes complete sense and if I was a sell-out, I would ask for advertising and then write post after post about those sponsors and make them out to be the best in the world.  The problem with this concept is: I have too much integrity for the truth to sell-out.

I have read online reviews of restaurants which rave and rave about how perfect everything is only to go there and have a horrible dining experience.  Why did this restaurant get such good reviews?  Well first of all, in the online version of the magazine, they have links, banners and ads on the site.  In the tangible magazine, they have 1/2 to full page ads, which can be as much as $1,000 a run.  Like any good business, the site would not dare say anything about someone who just paid them $1,000 to promote their restaurant as that would be completely the opposite of the original intention.  Also, the online negative reviews were hidden and removed.  There are a lot of online reviewing sites but most of them give the reviewed location or company a chance to remove the negative ones, making them in the best possible light even though they are not.

In this case, as you read above, the restaurant I was thinking of is always listed as one of the best 'burger' places in town.  It is hailed as also being a great LGBT friendly location as well.  They have ads in almost ever St. Louis magazine and on their sites.  The problems is though, the food is so-so and the service is difficult.  In my mind, if the service is horrible but the food is good, then I'd be happy to come back.  If the food is bad and the service is amazing, I'd even come back to be pampered.  But if the service and food is bad and the only savings grace you have as a unique restaurant is the fact that your mascot is a cross dresser, then I don't count that as saving your ass.  This isn't an anti LGBT post or sexist or chauvinistic or anything having to do with people, but only food.  I have been in a local bar where the female staff wear costumes like Tinkerbell and even serve customers in bikinis. You could have the best looking staff wearing next to nothing but if it has nothing to do with your food and your food and service still suck, it will not save you from me.

It may save you from the droves of men that fit that demographic.  About a year ago I was picked up as the first ever food writer for a website which normally only did sports and sports news.  They wanted to try having a food writer and so I started writing about places that I go to.  I don't go to super fancy locations but the places I go to require you to wear a bit more than a T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops and a hat.  During the year which I had submitted articles for this site, it was becoming more and more clear to me, from the trolls as well, that the majority of readers of my articles were actually men looking for the best place in St. Louis that served the best food, for the cheapest price, the cheapest beer, and the best looking girls.  And you know what?  That doesn't fill what I write about.  I like beer, and I like to get great food for a low price, and having a wait staff that is clean-cut, nice-looking and in a uniform certainly helps, but usually the places that have great food don't have half-naked girls running around.  (Although the last time I did eat the food in the VIP section of the Penthouse Club in Sauget, the food was pretty decent and there were half-naked girls running around.)  The owner of the site told me that they were moving in a different direction after a year, which is code for "the readers don't want to spend more than $10 for a meal".  But as a food writer who actually has some restaurant experience, I don't want to stick to the $10 beer and hot wings every day for every meal.  I want to explore and taste new things and that often means that I need to go to new places and try the food, even if it is more than $10.


But food writing is also a large editorial and is entirely opinion based.  Traditionally it is, at least.  I like to add a bit more though.  I know that from my dark days working on that cook's line at Home Town Buffet, making cheap food for old people to push down their throats, I know that if you have a frier full of grease and set at 385 degrees, you can drop and cook 2 whole chickens in about 13 minutes.  I know that you can cook chicken strips in a frier for about 3 minutes.  I know that French fries take about as long and I know that you can cook a whole sheet tray of baked chicken in an oven at roughly the same temperature in less than an hour.  I have some basic education and know how long a steak should take.  I know how a sous vide machine works and how some basic molecular gastronomy techniques are used.  I can't be fooled easily because I still experiement and cook food at home.  So, me going to a bar or restaurant, that specializes in chicken wings, and having to wait for 50 minutes to get them delivered to my table, cold, is not an excuse.

Here is a fun fact for you:  While working 8 and 1/2 years for Buffets, Inc.  I developed some basic understanding of the Spanish language.  I did take Spanish for two years in high school but didn't really full grasp it until I worked at the restaurants, where most of the staff was illegal Mexicans.  Am I calling them out, will I cause a scandal?  I doubt it.  Were they really illegal?  Well, let's say this:  one instance had the general manager asking two employees who were related about their SS card because they had the exact same number.  Secondly, about once a year, we would get tipped off that there was an INS agent coming in and on those days, half of our staff called in sick. So, when you speak Mexican Spanish, drive a car with a temporary license plate for 2 years, live in an apartment with 10 other people in St. Louis, can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance in English and call in sick when the manager has a meeting with a representative from Immigration,  I would call you an illegal immigrant. But I digress...  I learned Spanish from them.  So, while I was dating my now wife and even after we married, anytime I would go to a Mexican restaurant, and my family asked for a table, I would listen to the banter, I would hear what they were saying about us.  I would also make suggestions.  For instance at one restaurant they claimed that they could not seat my group of 6, and we had to wait 20-30 minutes.  Well, in Spanish, I suggested that we could take those two tables if they turned them and pushed them together.  I will never forget the look on the face of the hostess, because right there she realized that I A: knew what I was talking about and B: knew what she was saying.  It would be like if you want to the local nail salon and could understand the language that the Vietnamese women use.  You could understand all of their banter and you could find out if they were saying anything about you.  Imagine how honest they would become, all of a sudden, if you said something in their language.

So, back to my point, going to a place that says they have great burgers and getting an okay burger is not a good thing.  The best part of my hobby, is that I can write about it as it is.  The restaurant I went to was called Hamburger Mary's.  Sorry, I don't have pictures.  In fact, the place was so dimly lit that I bet it helped the food look better than it actually was.  My wife and I entered, and were sat upstairs, surrounded by tables full of women.  The bar which was about 6 feet away from us, had one bartender who came over and was also our server.  After greeting us, we told him that we were actually stopping in for a quick bite and had a show in an hour at the FOX.  Ordering a coke, a burger and fries and a grilled piece of chicken, didn't seem like it would take forever or should take forever, but it did.  The restaurant had two levels.  The top level, by us, was where the bathrooms, bar, and 4 televisions on the wall were located.  There was 4 different movies playing at the same time.  There was music and talking and it was a very loud place.  My wife and I waited for almost 45 minutes before our food arrived.  It was the most boring burger I have ever had.  The burger tasted like you took regular ground 85/15 beef from the supermarket and cooked it.  It didn't even have salt or pepper.  My poor wife, ordered some grilled chicken sandwich and the chicken had nothing on it as well.  I know people, even health nuts, like their grilled chicken to have some flavor so it doesn't taste like you are eating a piece of cardboard.  This had no salt, no sauce of any kind, and no pepper.  Here is the thing, my wife and I were starving, attempting to fill our bellies before a two show at the FOX.  So, we wanted to eat the food, but it was so bad that we didn't.  We didn't even take it to go!  It was just bad.  How does that rate?  Well, in my book that is a 0 out of 5 stars.

What does that mean for you?  Well, if I was paid to write by any of the St. Louis magazines, websites or organizations, you would not know how bad the food is there, until after you got ripped off as well.  This also means, that I can help relate the truths that the restaurants who DO NOT pay out for ads are like.  One of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis is called Basso and they are by the Cheshire.  They have all of the makings of a restaurant that is highly praised by the news and media outlets, yet they are not.  Instead, the magazines, websites and news shows seek instead to draw attention to Niche and Sydney Street.  Now those two restaurants are good, I'm not saying they are not, but what everyone else fails to understand is that Basso is here as well.  There has been a lot of press recently because the head chefs of Niche and Sydney Street are nominated for a James Beard Award, which is like the Emmy of the food world.  Every news outlet, every magazine and website are talking about how great this is to have these two chefs represent St. Louis and bring home a James Beard Award for this city.  They say things like "this is awesome", "we deserve this", and people saying they have a life-long dream of eating at a James Beard Award recipient's restaurant.  But, we have a James Beard Award winning Chef at a restaurant in St. Louis already.  I have just honestly mentioned this to all of these posts and my mention gets ignored.  What does the chefs of these other two restaurants have over these magazines and website?  I bet you that if these two chefs didn't win this award, the above sources would be depressed suggesting that St. Louis will never be recognized for their food.  Yet we have an award winning chef here already!  I don't understand, but maybe it has to do with politics.  Maybe Basso is so good of a restaurant that they don't feel that they need to give food away to the owners of those magazines and site to get good reviews.  It is amazing how the mediocre restaurants, like Hamburger Mary's or Brazikat, get pushed and represented as the best in the area because they paid the most for the biggest ad. 

I know that the restaurant scene in St. Louis is highly political.  I was reassured of that truth upon my first conversation with Chef John Johnson, but at the same time, that political correct view of which restaurants are allowed to be on top and which ones stay on the bottom does not work well with the same concept turned to reflect actual quality.

(And this is why I am dangerous.) 

Overall though, as work and time permits, I do wish to write about more things, like new food ideas and new restaurants.  I feel that you can always come to me for the real story of some of these restaurants and not the controlled suggestions that these outlets claim to be the truth.  Although, maybe you can't handle the truth.

Bad restaurant with NO responsibility

How many shows have you watched, where the restaurant owners complain that they are losing money and think that it might have to do with the service?  Everything from Restaurant Impossible to Mystery Diners to others, shows and whole organizations spend time to help failing restaurants.  Most restaurant owners are so passionate about their cause, that they do not wish to end it.  Unless you are in St. Louis where restaurant owners have no care about their food or service and will do anything to make a buck, like this guy:

So, recently my wife and I spent time and money at Brazikat, which is supposed to be like a churrascaria.  Let me tell you this, the place is a joke.  From online reviews, it is seen that on the nights that the owner is there, the service and food is impeccable.  On other nights, when the owner is not there, everything slips.  Horrible service had our waiter complaining about the number of people in his section and then didn't get us plates or even tongs or the red/green card to start the food coming to our table.  The salad bar looked like a bus of vegetarians dismantled it and then the restaurant failed to restock it.  The food came out either over cooked or under cooked.  You could have two different preparations of prime rib and one would have been so salty and over cooked that it was all gristle and the other one was still bloody with NO seasoning at all!  The place is an utter joke.  Then, when my wife and I were finished, we complained to the manager on duty.  The first thing she did was ask who our waiter was, in an attempt to likely throw him under the bus.

A good manager would try to do something that could make us come back or recommend it but this manager actually looked my wife right in the eyes and asked "so what do you want me to do?"  My wife also mentioned to her that we have a large family and we like to go out all together.  This meant that if we were happy, we would have had a party of 10-20 people there on a regular basis.  But, as my wife said that we wouldn't bring our groups there, the manager looked at us and said "so?"   With that level of customer service, I wouldn't let that woman manage a lemonade stand.  I tried to contact or leave a message with the owner but it would seem that that real owner doesn't know how to use email or a phone, so that went bust.  What is sad as well, is that this place fills up fast on Saturday nights, so we had an hour wait, because we didn't make a reservation.  Even more so, even if we had a reservation they likely would have ignored it.  I am just am amazed at how bad a restaurant can be and then act like it is no big deal.  The blind sheep of Clayton, jump at anything new and because it is new, they believe it to be the best, when it is not even mediocre.

Here is a good example:  The waiter brings us this dish, which he says is a "Brazilian staple" and it is mashed potatoes with cheese.

Now, you may notice something strange amount this dish, being the fact that the cheese is NOT melted at all.  That would further indicate that the mashed potatoes are likely cold and you would be correct.  The potatoes were cold as in, not warm or even hot.  The cheese was cold as well.  So, in a tropical climate where meat is very salty because the use salt as a preservative due to the lack of large refrigeration units, you have cold mashed potatoes and cold, un-melted cheese, and this dish is supposed to be a staple, a regular, everyone has one of these, items?  I doubt it.

But, a "Brazilian Steak house" should have great, large pieces of meat given by the Gauchos, right?  Well...., if you had a tunnel vision like cataract in your eye and everything that was small looked huge, then you would be correct.  One guy came by and off of his sword he gave us this:

This is not a huge piece, look at that size.  That is a normal sized dinner plate, fork and knife.  So, the piece of ultra-rare, still moo'ing beef is about the size of a Kennedy half-dollar.  Now, just about every piece of meat was this size so while it is all-you-can-eat, you will be there for years trying to eat your fill of tiny pieces of meat.

Who loves candied bananas?  Well, at just about every Brazilian restaurant I have been to, they make them all the same way: they cut the lengthwise, and cook them with sugar or syrup, until they are almost spoon tender and sweet.  Well, here at Brazikat, they do things differently.  The bananas came out in a tiny dish and looked like this:

This is a tiny plate.  Just count the banana slices: one, two....eleven.  So, eleven slices isn't even a whole banana.  So, where is the rest?  Did I mention that while the banana slice at the 3 o'clock position looks like it has browned, the others were all raw?  Yeah, it just wasn't there.

I straight up give this place a 0 out of 5 stars.  I've never given a place such a low score, but the waiter giving bad service, the manager being a bitch, the food for anemic people and the design being done and organized by a blind person made me think that this is one of the worst places in St. Louis.

And..............I'm back

A lot has happened in this past month so far and attempting to find time to even get on here and type things up, is becoming difficult.  I have good news and bad news.  The good news, is that my other hobby, which is playing around with making jewelry, has apparently gotten some people to like it enough that I have items for sale at the Club Tattoo location in Las Vegas.  I did sell things in the St. Louis Curio Shoppe in downtown St. Louis, but the store in Las Vegas means that my items can be sold for more and I will get a lot more people to view my work.  I do know, that this site doesn't pay me at all, so at least the jewelry helps.

Now, as if designing and choosing 30 items, packing them up and shipping them to Las Vegas from the St. Louis area in 3 days wasn't close enough, try keeping the food writing going on while doing that.  So, I think the first thing that I have to spring back is a new energy drink flavor.  I am slightly addicted to energy drinks so when I see a new one, that isn't full of High Fructose Corn Syrup, I'll buy it and try it.  This is one such instance.  Also, since I have had a mojito in my life and have a friend from Cuba, I thought it would be fitting.

So what does it taste like?  Is it good?  No.  It tastes like the regular Monster fruity flavor with a strong fake lime flavor and it has something else.  I know what they were trying for, making a refreshing lime flavored Monster drink, but in the end, don't make new flavors if they are not good.

Now, while wandering the streets of St. Louis, particularly around the Hospital area, I saw a food truck.  It was one called Sarah's Cake Stop and the truck sold pre-made cupcakes, cakes and cookies.  You know, having a truck drive around, selling sweet sugary things from the side of it sounds like a really good idea. This company makes everything in their main location and then packs it up for moving and selling.  I felt hungry so I got a quick cupcake, of each kind they had.

So, the one in the upper right corner was a gluten free one, a flourless chocolate cake, which tasted fine to me.  What I liked about each and every one of these, is that the icing was more of a whipped cream icing.  It was light, fluffy and wasn't laden with this heavy-ness like regular powdered sugar and water can provide.  They were very moist as well.  The flavors were very spot on as there was a carrot cake one and a red devil cake and vanilla/maple flavored and so forth.   Even though I do make cupcakes at home from time to time, I wasn't filled with this feeling of "oh I can do that", which sometimes permeates my mind when looking at other people's versions of baked goods, but I can say that everything tasted really good for what it was supposed to be.  This isn't like another cupcake company in the area whose cupcakes are just not that tasty, because Sarah's Cake Stop isn't all about hype but instead about the flavor.  A lot of some of the best of St. Louis didn't make it to a television show or didn't pay to run giant ads and articles in periodicals.  A lot of the best of this city, is hidden and you have to brush aside the hype and the junk to see it.  This truck, and more importantly the people of the company, make very good cupcakes and for their price, I am happy.  I would give their cupcakes a 4 out of 5 stars, for being very good and if you see them on the street, you should take a stop and try them out.

Best food in a mall....?

So last weekend, we took a trip to West County Mall, to walk around and try to get over all of this cold weather and snow.  When we finished shopping, we had to think about what we were going to do for dinner. We avoid the Elephant Bar outside because of the lack of seating space and the dim atmosphere.  While California Pizza Kitchen has good pizzas and a good kid's menu, it is near impossible to get a seat within 30 minutes, around dinner time.  So, anyways, we start looking around and end up walking into the Food Court.

Generally, we try to avoid the Food Court like the plague for two main reasons:

A: Teen girls
B: Food quality is bad chains or just bad.

When the Asian food restaurant of randomness has their bowl of noodles and meats where the second ingredient is MSG and 3rd ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, we tend to avoid those for their unhealthy foods.  The kids don't want Subway every day and so we looked around.  I was looking around until I saw this:

This place is like a breath of fresh air in a dimly lit mall food court.  This place is great and the food is delicious.  Taco's & More does have tacos and all sorts of things and out of everything there, I order the gyro and the falafel.  The gyro platter was huge:

It was also deconstructed to allow for the buyer to make their own sandwich.  Every part of this, everything on the plate tasted great, like I had gone to a Greek restaurant and ordered it or went to that cool Greek food truck, in St. Louis.  Everything was really good.  I liked it all.  I'd say a good 3 out of 5 stars on this one.

The falafel plate was good as well.  They were properly sized, seasoned and cooked.  Sometimes when you get falafel at other places, it can be dried out on the inside and basically taste like sawdust.  This was the complete opposite.  These were moist on the inside and the moistness was not oil from the frying.  These were good, and definitely better than any food I had expected in a food court.  I'd give them a 3 out of 5.

Now, if you are in the mall and want to try it, then go visit them.  They are a local company, they are just now getting ready to open some locations in the city and will get more of their shops out there in the area.

Best burger in a long time

(I think the last time I had a burger this good, was from the White Palace, downtown.)

I had my kids at the Science Center, for one last trip with me for their summer vacation and I decided to take them to lunch.  We drove down to the usual spot, which meant around the Wells Fargo buildings. There was a number of trucks there, but they were all ones I have been to, except this new one.  I saw a colorful looking food truck with a big burger painted on the side.  It was called the "Man that's good" truck.  Take a look at these guys as they have had this truck for less than 4 months!  And while the truck may not have as professional of a paint job as some of the others surrounding it, I would bet that the food on this truck, was phenomenally better than on the other ones.  There is some real love cooked with this food.

Here is the thing, burgers are their specialty and I ordered my youngest son the grilled cheese sandwich, which he ate half of on the walk from this food truck to our car parked about 50 meters away.  My other son had a cheeseburger which he inhaled when we had returned to my office and he had sat down to eat it.  I had ordered their big burger, which was a large burger with cheese, bacon and a homemade onion relish.  I asked for mine without cheese and they delivered this:

 Look at that above and tell me that your mouth is NOT beginning to water!  That looks absolutely delicious. They told me that while the fries were not homemade, the burgers were ground and seasoned and cooked by them.  That relish only exists on the big burger and it is so perfect with everything.  The buns, tasted as if they brushed them with butter and then after grilling them, sprinkled them with garlic powder.  They did that to the kids cheeseburger as well, which my son loved.  When I got to the office, I started to slice bits of this burger off and pass it around to people who just said "wow".  The burger is amazing.  An easy 4 out of 5, because not only was it really good, but it tasted different and so much better than the really good burgers I have seen before.

The thing is, if you see this truck, get the burgers!

https://www.facebook.com/manthatsgoodmobile

A secret food truck feast

There was a food truck feast this past Saturday, but you would never have known it.  First off, it was announced in a small ad in the RFT magazine.  Secondly, it could have been a better arranged event.  Here is the thing: it was held partially be the Four Hands Brewery, which was on 8th street downtown.  The brewery has parking places in back of the building; about 8.  So, this event, was to have about 10 food trucks, live music and food and beer and all sorts of goodies, as well as the first fashion truck.  This is a good idea, but could have been a billion times better, had there been parking.  The closest parking, was on 8th street, but after those two blocks of parking filled up, the only answer left was more street parking.  Parking was done on the streets as far West as near St. Raymond's church.  Parking doesn't seem like an issue at first, but there was something gnawing at me: the vacant "event parking" lots nearby.  There was three, large empty lots within a shotput's throw of the event.

This meant that just a quick forethought on the event organizers, could have had those spots not only available, but for rent for just a few bucks.  Even if they charged a single $1, per car, they would have cleaned up with their 50-60 spots, versus not having them open at all.  Now, besides the parking and the tables setup for 50 people when there was over 200 people there at any one time, I'd say everything else was good.

My family and I tried as much as we could.  It was also important to see that some of the foods we ordered, were not only child friendly, but were inhaled by those same children.  We ordered a grilled cheese sandwich from Sarah's Meltdown: https://www.facebook.com/sarahsmeltdown .  We had ordered a grilled cheese in which my boys inhaled.  I think my wife was able to get a single bite of it before each boy grabbed half of it, and ate all they could.  It was definitely cheesy and I'd say as far as child friendly things, that was an easy 3 and 1/2 out of 5.

Next, my son ordered a dish from the Completely Sauced truck.  They say that they serve Creole Cuisine.  So, my son orders their nachos, which I wasn't happy about because I was expecting chips and cheese which sound great to a 6 year old, but isn't really note-worthy from a food truck.  These nachos were not nachos. They were $7.50 and it was this huge paper basket of sweet potato chips with what seemed like beef, green onions, and this amazing sauce.  So, I sat there, after having a sample and watched my 6 year old, take a fork and eat and eat and eat.  My skinny little 6 year old, ate the whole thing, which was probably 2 pounds of food!  The flavor of the sauce, reminded me a lot of the flavor of a sauce that Guerrilla Street food had on one of their dishes.  It was fantastic at an easy 4 out of 5 stars.

There was a Greek truck there called "My Big Fat Greek Food Truck" and I had to ask and order from them.  First off, I found out that they do everything there and even the woman, whom I spoke with, makes the yogurt fresh and then the woman makes the Tzatziki sauce from scratch, using that home-made yogurt.  They cook the meats, they spice and make the herb mix for pita bread.  I ordered the gyro and some baklava.  The baklava was made from scratch and made extra sweet with what tasted like honey.  It was so good and so moist and the woman said that everything, but the phyllo dough, was done by them. The baklava was a 4 out of 5 as in, you have to order it.  The gyro was huge and was great with the raw onions and tomatoes.  The sauce was great and the beef/lamb was delicious.  The woman there actually told me that at one time, they offered a pork gyro, but  no one liked it.  Weird.  So, the gyro was huge and was enough that I had to save it a few hours later and eat it again for dinner.  The meat was perfectly spiced and the first half of the sandwich was perfect and making me happy.  I think it wasn't until I got to the second half that I thought that the meat was getting salty and spicy.  I think there was actually a chili rub or spicy paprika or something that lent some heat, on the pita bread.  All in all, it was very good and I'd give both of these items a 4 out of 5 as you have to order them.

There was a truck that was called "The Sweet Divine".  The side of the truck mentioned that they had won Cupcake Wars.

What they specialized in, was cupcakes and they had this clever stand out front with what each cupcake looked like along with a description.  They had some interesting flavors and out of the 6 available, we had chosen 4.  Our four flavors were a Salted Caramel, which had an overly salty cake and a smooth and rich caramel sauce.  The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough one had a very rich chocolate cake with a small spot in the bottom with some cake that tasted like cookie dough.  There was a simple icing on top and some small chocolate chips also.  The Neapolitan had flavors of chocolate and vanilla and strawberry that tasted just like a scoop of the ice cream.  It was right every-way. The best they had was one called "The Drunken Pig".  It was a beer flavored cake with a simple vanilla icing and pieces of crumbled cooked bacon on top.  The thing was awesome.  The cake part tasted like a really, really yeast-y, like a good beer and then the bacon on top worked with everything.  Now, there were four cupcakes, but every one was worth getting.  It was an easy 4 out of 5 and each was awesome.

Now we also picked up a Nutella crepe' from Rooster:

It was as good as a Nutella crepe' can get at a 3 and 1/2 out of 5.

We also got a large sushi burrito wrapped type thing that my wife got and thought was delicious.  It was from Chop Shop and I forget which one it was, but it was huge and perfectly done.  It also came with some Wasabi spiced popcorn.  I'd say that it was a 4 out of 5.

There you have it.  This was a quick run through of about 6 food places and what I thought of them.  If you see any of these driving around, I suggest that you flag them down and give them your money,.

The Hot Aztec downtown...

I know, I got your attention didn't I?  I'm sorry, there is no hot Aztec girl downtown.  (Or hot Aztec guy, if that is your angle.)  The Hot Aztec is a food truck, the OTHER taco truck or Mexican food truck downtown.  This one is difficult to miss as it is painted a pink and purple motif.  This truck can easily be seen driving anywhere downtown; possible even through the thickest of winter fog.

I really don't and won't argue and compare and contrast this Mexican food truck with the other Mexican food truck I checked out last week.  I think that should be something for you to see for yourself.  All I can do is tell you about my experience and what the food was like here.

The Hot Aztec is a family owned and operated food truck serving family recipes that are Mexican street food items.  Hot Aztec uses only organic or local ingredients, if they can get them.  Also, the food items are also biodegradable.  I did like how the Hot Aztec people set up a sandwich board, and used that to show some explanations of what some traditional Mexican ingredients are.  If you are going to order a taco and it has something called "Cotija cheese", you can see the definition and then understand what it is and whether or not you want it.  Pretty good idea.

Now, after looking at the menu items, I made a decision.  I picked the al pastor.  This dish, is just the same name as one I ordered in a Mexican restaurant in the Lake of the Ozarks.  The dish is supposed to be a baked chicken, perfectly seasoned and served with some grilled onions and pineapple.  This is what I received for $4.

It was a taco, made on two corn tortillas, and with little cubes of juicy, perfectly cooked and seasoned chicken, with some chopped onions, grilled pineapple and cilantro.  It was good.  It was just as I remember it supposed to have tasted and was right on the money.  Everything was cooked fine and I had no issue with it and it was an easy 3 out of 5 stars for me.

Unfortunately, this is all I had a chance of trying.  They have more menu items and serve items for breakfast as well so I will have to come back and try more.  The only issue I have with them, is that they say that they serve "authentic Mexican street food" on their Facebook page and yet on the showmefoodtrucks.com page, they say that they serve "gourmet Mexican cuisine!".  Then they suggest that you will not find the "beans and rice Mexican food...", which is sad because I tend to enjoy the beans and rice more-so than the proteins.  Still, I suggest checking the Hot Aztec out because from what I can tell, they do change their menu from time to time.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Aztec/294502627247572

Cheese... by: Chef John Johnson

Let's start with every one's favorite.....CHEESE!!!!

One of my favorite things to do is to make making mozzarella cheese. Making Mozzarella is usually a two part process. First making the curd which is made from fresh milk and cannot be made from the processed mild that we get from the stores today. You can buy the curd direct from some local dairies or on line like I do.

http://www.dibruno.com/fresh-mozzarella-curd.html
Traditionally once you have the curd you can begin by warming the curd with warm water so you can begin to stretch the curd and create the long strands that define good mozzarella.  Once the curd is stretched you can begin to form the size ball you want. The name of the mozzarella is determined by the size of the ball. The word mozzarella actually refers to the tearing away of the ball from the curd.

Here is where I get a chance to play in the kitchen. Instead of using warm water and salt I like to use different flavors and herbs to not only enhance my cheese but to create something that no one else has. Playing with different combinations like:Vanilla Port, roasted garlic, ginger beer, and my most current tomato basil.

Replacing the warm water with fresh squeezed tomato water adding basil stems and salt I warm the liquid to 175 degrees and warm my curd in this before stretching the curd and forming the mozzarella balls. Creating flavored mozzarella with an unlimited palette of combinations. For all the Foodies out there this would make a great interactive wine party. If you plan it I just may have to see if i can come and help.

Playing with your food is not a bad thing anymore!




-Chef John Johnson is the Executive Chef for the restaurants at both the Lumiere Place and River City Casinos

The sleeping union station

Almost two years ago, I wrote about the decline of food locations in the St. Louis Union Station.  http://tasty-magazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/loss-of-good-food-places-in-union.html It is much of the same but perhaps a bit better now.  I am sure that everyone has some memory of going into Saint Louis Union Station and seeing it busy with shops, shoppers and restaurants.

One of the worst sites, is seeing a large sign indicating an area known as Pullman Market, which was opened in 1881 by the Pullman Palace Car Company.  The  market was used as an open air market for items and foods for travelers to get on the way to their train and their journey.  As I wrote about last year, I complained at how the station was THE place to go and be at the time.  Now, it is empty.  I know that the manager of PR emailed me and felt that I was basically performing treason against St. Louis by suggesting that this "world visited landmark" actually be nothing but a flea market, homeless shelter and a hotel on the far end.   But that is what it is, or was.  St. Louis Union Station really is not a world visited landmark and with nothing there that anyone would be willing to visit or see from anywhere around the world, even 15 minutes away, I just feel like it has been betrayed by the owners.  The owners and people who run this place have the ability to make it THE place to go, once again, but choose not to.

Anyway, this time, I did notice some changes.  First of all, the hotel last year was a chain hotel and now the hotel is called "The Union Station Hotel", which is fine, I guess.  They still have the ballrooms and they still have the rooms overlook most of the interior and exterior of the station.  I think that it is a cool idea and maybe someday I'll get a room and see what it is like in there.

There is a nice sign up now, saying what food places are inside and the fudgery is still there, albeit operated by a single person who does not singing or dancing.  Here is the thing though, Landry's Seafood House and the Hard Rock Cafe' are outside of the station.  They are technically within the parking lot of the Union Station.  So, you don't even have to go inside.  I don't see this as a boon to the station because if they want people to come through, now they can stay outside and not even come in.

The Einstein Bros. Bagels place is no where near the other food areas but on the first floor, near the hotel rooms and mainly for the people staying at the hotel.  But all of those other places are located in the food-court area, on the second floor.  There are a few places to the one side and then chairs and tables on the other side.  What I saw, was no one eating there.  I saw some people sitting near each other chatting and on their cell phones.  I saw a group of workers gathering trash from the trash cans.  I even saw four homeless people setting their luggage aside and playing cards on a table.

The best place there is gone:

Nothing else could ever take the place of O.T. Hodges chili parlor.  Even the Hooters which was on the top floor is gone.  How does a Hooters go out of business?

The problem I have, which I expressed last time, was that it seems as if no one wants to do anything to make this place a better place.  If you want to attract families and people to the hotel, then make an attraction there.  The old, historic but homeless and trashy union station is not an attraction.  No one comes to St. Louis to see Union Station.  They come for other things now.  I'm just torn because the station is beautiful:

I just feel like offering some consulting services for like $1,000 and then give them some ideas guaranteed to fill the center and make it a thing again.  Does anyone still go to inside the union station for food?

Mexican style

Until today, I was a food truck virgin.  I knew that there has been a huge number of food trucks stalking the workers of St. Louis for a few years now and there is even one street dedicated to the food trucks serving people downtown.  What I never did, was experience them. I don't work anywhere near downtown, so when these food trucks are out and about, it is impossible for me to leave work and track them down to get a bite.  Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to spend some time in downtown St. Louis from about 9am to 1:30pm., which was a perfect chance to check some of these out.  I always wanted to try a food truck and my thought was that every chance I get, I will try one out and talk about it.  I tried two out this morning but will only focus on one of them.

While relaxing and taking pictures for fun in the City Garden, I saw the Taco Truck.  The Taco Truck is owned by Tomas Pedro and serves what I think is authentic Mexican food.  It is not your Taco Bell tacos being served here, but real Mexican food that tastes fresh and delicious.

It was my first time there and I just wanted to try the food, so I ordered the Mexican Tacos with steak and within minutes I was handed a large container with 3 tasty tacos, some fresh limes and some fresh pico de gallo.  I had what I thought was a good amount, for $7.00 even.

Without mentioning other taco locations or other Mexican restaurants, it is important to note that some places sell tacos this same size and weight for about $3 each.  This would make the meal from Taco Truck equivalent to a $9 meal at other spots.  So, the amount of food for the amount of money was a good deal. Now, the pico de gallo was good and tasty.  Everything tasted like it should, so the vegetables were fresh and crunchy and you could tell that it didn't come from a can.  The steak was juicy, tender and well seasoned. The onions were perfectly browned and tender and yummy.  The tortillas were warmed up and everything was easy to eat with little to no food falling out while munching on these.  Oh yeah, you have to try their hot sauce and a good squirt of fresh lime juice on them.  The lime juice picks up a citrus side of the cilantro and the whole thing explodes with happiness in your mouth. This was good, and furthermore: it was really good.

You can find Tomas Pedro and his Taco Truck, Monday through Friday on Market Street downtown.  While there are other places to get Mexican food downtown, I seriously would recommend skipping them and doing all of your business at the Taco Truck.

Now, you can find out what is happening or where the Taco Truck is by checking their Twitter: https://twitter.com/tacotruckstl

And don't forget to visit their facebook page for more information and photos:
http://www.facebook.com/tacotruckstl

      
      

Is yelp censoring bad reviews?

I went for fun and checked on a restaurant that I have never been to, nor will I ever go to.  The Jumpin Jupiter got on my black list last year for allowing one of their star performers to use a copyright photo, from my wife, on their website.  When my wife asked that it be removed, the owner of the Jumpin Jupiter announced that any photo on his site was his and that my wife is never allowed into his club.  We messaged him back that the photo was actually her's and he is at risk of being sued and after pointing it out again, he finally realized that he had been mistaken and had taken the photo down.  While this could have all worked out okay, having the owner complain and ban my wife from his club before it was even open because he was breaking the law, seems like a bit much for me.  So, I was curious as to how it was doing.  I went to yelp, since it was the first result in the search and found many good reviews.  This site listed 11 good reviews, in which people gave this venue a mix of 4-5 stars out of 5.

What got my attention though, was a link at the bottom of the page.  The link, was to the hidden 19 reviews that were "filtered out".  http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/rifxI1dZRqMWrPWbKSdvyw?fsid=GXhCNKdyyIp42e-n57__Qg

Why were these filtered out?  3 out of the 19 filtered out, were good reviews, giving the venue a 4-5 star rating.  But the other 16 were all negative.  It made me wonder and ask: why were all of the negative reviews filtered out?

Okay, let me see if I can summarize all of the "filtered out" reviews:

1. cold food, expensive and slow service
2. cold food, slow and bad service
3. cold food, slow waitresses, bad service and a manager who never was seen
4. bad food, cold food, bad service, arrogant servers, manager never was seen
5. budlight is not a domestic beer, prices not explained, coupons and ads not explained, expensive, slow service, manager claimed to be a police officer and then became aggressive towards the guests
6. cold food and slow service
7. slow service
8. manager insulted them, the shows ran late and bad service
9. bad music
10.  This one was a 4/5 star rating, and they did say that the dancers were good, which is why it got 4/5.  But, the show ran late, manager look "high" and was unresponsive, slow service
11. loved everything about it, 5/5 stars
12. an $8 a drink "service fee" was added to the bill when using a Groupon coupon.
13. bad food, bad service, messed up reservations of 6 couples and then put them way in the back
14. food was never served after ordering and waitresses complained to the guests
15. food came in very small portions, dancers were cheesy, dinner was not worth $50
16. show was just okay, not great, the food was horrible
17. perfect service and good food 5/5 stars
18.  clown sucked, MC sucked, cheese plate sucked, some tickets were $100 and others were $10 for the same thing
19. thought the decor and show was good, didn't try anything on the menu though, 5/5 stars

Here is the thing though, I would guess that since the reviews that were not filtered, are all positive reviews, that the owners went through and requested that not a single mixed or negative review can be seen about their place.  This is sad, because it is false advertising.  They are making this place out to be something that it is not.  The sad part is, I cannot even get into this place nor do I want to spend my money there and see if any of these complains hold water.  As I said from the beginning, I already was yelled at from the owner before it even opened, for him stealing images that belonged to someone else.  Why would I give him money?


PS:  Farmhaus has 117 reviews, 10 of which were "filtered" and out of those filtered reviews, 6 out of the 10 were still 4 or 5 out of 5 stars.  So, I guess the answer would be to find out if Farmhaus has any bad or reviews of 2 or less in their "unfiltered" page.  Farmhause had 9 negative reviews on their page.  Nine out of 117 reviews isn't bad, and the fact that one restaurant had them "filtered out" and the other did not, makes me think that the property owner can request to have them "filtered out".  Farmhaus did not "hide" or "filter" out the bad reviews, they show them right on their main review page.  If my idea of true, then this can be why some places have great reviews when they hide their poor reviews.

where is the culinary culture in Saint Louis?

This isn't an anti-Saint Louis bash, but more of how people can take such a great city and destroy it.  I lived most of my life in Saint Louis and I have to say that it is a great place to live.  It is not as violent as people think as only a few areas are the gang warfare areas but outside of those areas, it is safe and quiet.  It is hot in summer and frigid in winter and nice in between.

St. Louis is home to a multitude of farms and great foods and livestock.  As early as 1779, the Soulard Market allowed farmers to bring their fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products to the city to sell to anyone at rock bottom prices.  Some of the foods now are also organic and others are regular and all are for sale there.  Soulard Market is also the oldest food market West of the Mississippi.

Now, with what is there above, I have some issues with how people are treating Saint Louis:

1.  Saint Louis is not a food-mecca.  There is no super fancy restaurant in STL that requires many months of phone-ahead reservations.  I have tried to make reservations twice now, on a day or day before of a Saturday and both times I was told that the earliest seating I could get would be as early as 9:30 or even 10pm.  I'm sorry, but if you have a restaurant with only enough seating to sit 20-30 people, and you cannot seat anyone in before 9pm, then you need a bigger restaurant.  This is not Las Vegas, New York or even San Francisco.  No foot writer, foodie, blogger or critic is going to recommend your restaurant when they cannot get in.  Two times attempting to make a reservation at some restaurants in town, makes me think that I may not want to even review it.  I'm sorry, but of course the food writers of the RFT or Feast can get in, because they tell them ahead of time that they are a food writer.  There is an idea of being secretive about this job or you get different treatment.

2.  I've been a to a couple of restaurants in STL and the good ones have great food but the big issue is: I have only been to a very small group of restaurants in STL that have good food AND good service.  STL is not a food town, as much as everyone likes to think it is.  (Including me).  There are no restaurants making headway and doing anything so mind-bendingly impossibly new and shocking that it is changing the way food is served or cooked.  I have noticed that in these restaurants, there is a balance.  The balance is this: if the food is great, the service is not.  If the service is great, the food is not.  There are the few that have both great service and food and the other bottom few that are bad on both.  But, in Saint Louis here, people treat working at a restaurant as just a summer job or a college or high school job.  It is no big deal and they just deal with the masses and the food and such, until they get off so they can get on with their social life.  There is no passion anymore in food or serving food.  Likely because there are too many restaurants in STL.

3.  Two things here, aimed at a certain food writer.  First of all, he is only famous because he wrote a book describing his experience in the food industry form his point of view.  Yes, his story had drama, drugs, and rock and roll.  But, it was an isolated incident and not every chef does drugs, smokes or is full of drama.  This idea gives chefs a stereotype.  Combine that idea with the cost of cooking schools and you give chefs the same idea of doctors: coming out of school with more bills than they can handle.  So, chefs then try to make it and open restaurants that make money to pay off the bills.  But they make bad choices, like making cupcakes and selling them for more than $3 a piece.  Or deciding to spend their life in a coffee house making desserts while wondering why the coffee house has erratic hours and is closed most of the time. If someone would open a cafe making the cool stuff I make, then it would work.  (Are you an investor looking to open something new and different in STL, contact me).

4.  I am not complaining or ranting about the current food society and culture magazines for the metro area, but not everyone can afford winery trips.  I know that you have a periodical that reaches over 5,000 people and out of those people, maybe 100 can afford the high prices stuff you write about.  So, which is better: Is it better to write to those few people who are either retired or millionaires living in STL about food and culture?  Or is it better to write to the millions of people under the age of 60 who don't live in Clayton or Ladue and are interested in what restaurant has the best grilled cheese or the best BBQ?

5.  No one uses anything local.  A few years ago, my wife and I went to Sleek, in the casino and on the menu, with each dish was a description as to what is in it as well as where the food came from.  The waiter was also good at describing the process of cooking and also where the food was from.  What got me was that none of the ingredients came from St. Louis.  Not even a single pea came from Soulard Market.  As mentioned up there ^, you have a huge outdoor market with the best farmers in the area.  You also have small community farms and other gardens in the area and here you have a restaurant, preaching how it uses local ingredients and the closest to STL that it could find was from Eureka!?!  The dish with the ingredients from Eureka, used baby potatoes and carrots.  I am growing carrots on my front porch right now!  Why couldn't the restaurant grow them?  Or why couldn't the chef grow them at his house?  On the other side of the river, in Columbia, surrounded by farmers selling food at their stands on the side of the road, I am perplexed at why restaurants use food that is delivered from California.  I know that there is some mark-up in cost and so forth so if a restaurant doesn't buy local they can buy from Florida and raise the cost of the dish to make up for the cost of the food.  But, wouldn't it be better if the food was bought just down the street and then that same dish could be sold for a few dollars cheaper?

6.  In Saint Louis, for some reason, food is tied with entertainment, although it is not.  In Saint Louis, there used be a section of the city called the Gaslight District, where people would get entertainment at restaurants while eating.  This type of restaurant that combined the both of them died out and was replaced by night clubs, which served food.  For instance, I had a friend who worked at a Vodka bar that was supposed to serve food but didn't until a year later because they had problems with their kitchen.  Their classy and designer interior was buzz-worthy and in food articles by local periodicals, their food was reviewed, but yet it was not available to the general public.  This meant that this bar and many others like it, while serving food, didn't really want to.  People in STL don't go to a night club to eat, they go to dance, or take pictures and tweet and foursquare or facebook each other.  It is even so much that across the river in Sauget, the strip club called The Penthouse Club, has a full kitchen in their VIP area with good food.  Nothing fancy, although it considers itself a steak house, but you get food and the entertainment of a nice girl walking by or sitting and chatting with you for a bit.  This type of dining with entertainment doesn't work everywhere and sometimes works in Las Vegas, but not always.  Now, I know that there is a new spot opening soon which is supposed to be bringing a Vaudville-type show with a dinner course of food.  Although, according to what I have seen so far, the prices resemble those of Las Vegas.  I remember seeing advertised around Facebook that tickets for a dinner show would be as much as $100 a person, not including drinks.  The issue with this place in general is this: it is not really a supper club.  Supper clubs became famous during the 30's and 40's as a one stop shop where someone would come for cocktails and stay through dinner with nightclub entertainment.  It wasn't for the rich though and everyone could afford going as they were mainly tourist attractions.

7.  Star power?  Where is the STL star power or celebrity chef?  Most likely not in STL, since STL's idea of a culinary school is one that is less than 10 years old.  On top of that, as I expressed earlier, it looks like the Associates in cooking is about $37,000.  Who has that kind of money?  Also, if you are opening a restaurant or wanting to star on Top Chef, no one will know where you learned unless you went to the CIA.  The other issue being that being a celebrity chef in STL is different than being a celebrity chef in other cities.  Here, the local news anchor is a celebrity.  For all I know, since I write a food blog, I could be a celebrity.  When they had celebrities vote for the food competition at Iron Fork, they used writers for the RFT and local news anchors.  So, what I am suggesting really is that there are some famous chefs that should choose STL as their spot.  When you go to NYC, you don't eat at Joe Smith's restaurant down the street.  You eat at places like Bobby Flay's, Morimoto's or even Joel Robuchon's.  What is there in STL?  The last celebrity chef, Larry Fargone, left and closed his restaurant a year ago.  So, what is there left?

Maybe, one day, me and a bunch of investors will change the way Saint Louis is viewed by foodies and food experts.  Maybe one day I'll have my small cafe where I serve fried sage leaves with bacon ice cream or a wine bar with small and tasty sugar free appetizers.  Who knows.  I just know that as I grow older, I see more and more restaurants open and more and more of them close after a few years because they are guilty of a few things like the above.  St. Louis, is not a big city.  It may have been until the 1960's, or even until the 1950's, but now it seems that it is just a spot for restaurants and night clubs to open up one year and close the next.  Investors move their restaurants further and further away from the downtown areas and make you drive further and further to get to anywhere.  I just wish St. Louis would do something with their culinary culture.  Perhaps start an Iron Chef or Chopped competition once every year or so. 

I love Schlafly's

Schlafly's Taproom is one of the hidden mini breweries in St. Louis that no one thinks about until its too late. When people think of getting a bite to eat with great food and fresh brewed beer, they still think of anywhere in St. Louis which serves But Schlafly brews their own beer. You may have seen their bottles in a store near you and what makes them even more different is that they have a restaurant where you can eat some food while enjoying their beer.

Their restaurant is inside of the same location where they brew their beer, just on the side with the restaurant. One cold day just last month in February, I stopped in for dinner and some drinks and this is what happened.


I wanted to order the beer bread which was all out and ordered the french fries instead. The fries came right out with a dipping selection of a creamy ranch style sauce and something that tasted like ketchup mixed with hot sauce, providing a nice kick to the normally tasty potatoes cooked up. Nothing too fancy and nothing too salty as it was just a simple dish and an easy 2 & 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Next came a main course dish: bangers and mash. Here you can see the mound of red skin mashed potatoes surrounded by two large brats, a tower of super crispy onion rings on top and a wonderfully delicious red onion gravy. The potatoes were wonderfully chunky and flavorful, the brats were tasty and meaty, without any bone chips or gristle, the onion rings were light, flaky, crunchy and not at all greasy and the gravy reminded me of a "brown sauce" or a reduced veal stock sauce. This dish, a good 4 out of 5 stars.

This accompanied with a nice glass of cold Irish stout beer was an awesome use of a cold weather day. So, go to Shlafly's and enjoy their food. Their location is below.

2100 Locust Street (at 21st)
St. Louis, MO 63103
314.241.BEER

Bravo for Bravo!

For most of st. louis, when someone mentions Italian food, the first they think of is The Hill. The Hill is a location of St. Louis where many of Italian immigrants settled and took up residence. The area is towards downtown and is filled with restaurants and grocers. If someone mentions Italian food and it is not on The Hill, then it is most likely a restaurant called the Olive Garden. Olive Garden doesn't serve bad food, the place is always busy, has okay service and is a great place to take small kids. But, its not, well...... as far as Italian food is concerned, if Olive Garden was a 4, then Bravo is an 8.

Bravo is the new Italian restaurant that is in the recently finished extension at the West County Mall and shares the outside area with a clothing store, a bar and a seafood restaurant. The inside of Bravo is reminiscent of the interior of the Cheesecake Factory, which shows off high ceilings, rustic decoration and interesting artwork. Bravo has this in the bar area and in the restaurant, you are instantly drawn to the large columns and stone work, suspended from the ceiling. The kitchen is completely open with the Sous Chef placing and taking the orders through the kitchen lines. There is also a nice sized brick oven there next to the prep side that looked like a giant stone igloo with fire inside.

I started my meal off with the Flatbread Roma which was a fire roasted flatbread with some tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and some olive oil. As simple as it was, it was delicious. It was perfectly balanced and it had a quality that made you just want to eat up the whole thing. This appetizer received a 3 out of 5 stars.I then ordered a salad: the Insalata Rustica which was a salad made up of Romaine, arugula, radicchio, cherries, pears, nuts and panchetta, all with a balsamic dressing. It was a good salad as when most people make a balsamic dressing, even Mr. Hubert Keller's Sleek suffered from this fallacy, they make it with too much vinegar, making an awful concoction chemically comparing itself to formula 451. Here though, the dressing was perfectly balanced and like the best salads, there was a sweet to sour balance as the cherries and pears and nuts helped balance out the meat and the plant leaves. This salad gets a 3 out of 5 stars from me.

After the salad, came a main course and I didn't want to eat too much or order something I couldn't finish so I decided to go for one of their sandwiches. I went for the mini-sliders that were meatball sandwiches. They were small, cute, tasty and little meatball sandwiches. They were overall very perfect for what I was going for and garnered about 3 stars.
The waitstaff and the decor helped pull this place into a 3 1/3 stars out of 5 for this Italian place. Overall prices were reasonable, there was no smoking and it looked like that during nice weather, they would have outdoor seating. Definitely better than the Olive Garden and about as good as most places on The Hill.