I am a Highlander...

And so the Highlander was hungry and thirsty and found himself a good lunch meal at the Highlands Brewing company in Kirkwood.  My friend and I decided we needed a drink along with some good food and as we didn't have the hour to wait to get a table at the Bottleworks, we decided to go to Kirkwood and enjoy the Highlands Brewing company.  The place is nice as they do brew their own beers, all for draft.  We first sat down and I tried their 5 beer flight and unlike other places that have beer samplers, I had the opportunity to choose what beers became part of the sampler.

Next we had to have some appetizers.  I ordered the fresh chips and an order of fried greenbeans.

The chips were simply made, good chips where all of them were cooked all of the way through, unlike other bars that serve fresh made chips.  They had some Parmesan cheese on them and they were lightly salted.  They were also served with a Santa Fe ranch sauce.  The sauce really didn't go well with the chips and they tasted great with a few splashes of malt vinegar.  The chips were better than other Saint Louis bars/pubs and I give them about a 3 out of 5 stars.

The fried green beans, I had to get as I never heard of them before, outside of that traditional German casarole.  The beans were coated with the same beer batter that they often use on onion rings and then fried, just so the beans were still crisp and very tender and the coating was crunchy.  They were very good and I would give them a 4 out of 5.

We then ordered and I had a simple burger.  The reason for the burger as while it may have sounded like a Scottish restaurant, there was more Italian things on the menu.  Who goes into a bar for Chicken Marsela?  I ordered their burger, without the cheese, because by default, it was a cheese burger.  I also ordered it medium, so I expected some amount of pink.  When I go it though, it was beyond well done, with some areas on the outside charred.  Normally this is a good thing, but in my experience, places char the outside of a burger when they want to hide something: in this case, the burger had no flavoring.  The burger was okay, as in, it wasn't cooked the way I wanted it and it tasted like a very dried out hamburger.  A 2 out of 5 stars in my book.

Now, overall, I would give the place a 3 out of 5 stars as the only things that were really good were the starters.  My friend ordered a Reuben sandwich and it hardly had any thousand island dressing and tasted okay but wasn't great.

A great themed restaurant with no theme....

This past Friday night, I had an opportunity to review and experience the River City Casino's finest food and beer establishment: the 1904 Beer house. This beer house was supposed to be of a 1904 old time, river boat, theme and the only thing that established that idea was huge chandeliers and some pictures of some old steam and paddle boats. The restaurant has dark and stained wood on the bar, huge marble slabs for the table tops, and hard wooden floors and chairs.  The male servers and wait staff wore dark overalls with white shirts and the ladies wore a red, white and blue colored dress, like the St. Paulie girl on the beer bottle.  The bartenders, had just basic black shirts and pants on.

The menu isn't that large and can be quickly looked over as there isn't anything that seems to stand out as it was trying to be traditional American, I would assume, but some things were of different nationalities.  My group of 4 foodies, including myself, decided to order all appetizers and some other things to see how everything tasted.

What you see here, in a clockwise direction is: onion rings, pretzels with cheese sauce, sausage pizza, fried Rubens, and German spaghetti.  The onion rings were your basic onion rings.  They had a similar crunchy breading to that of Steak N'Shake. So, while I enjoy them, I wasn't overly enjoyed by them.  They get a 3 out of 5 from me.  The pretzels were large, thick and tasty.  They were cooked all the way through which is tough for pretzels that large.  They were perfectly done on the outside and with just the right salty flavor as well.  I didn't make it to the pizza, as I tried everything else, but my friend who had eaten it said it was great, giving it a 3.5 out of 5.  The fired Rubens were tiny balls of meat and cheese and such and then rolled together in a bread crumb breading and then deep fried.  They have a 1000 island dipping sauce and overall, I really liked them.  They were not mind blowing but the first I have seen of this type so they get a 4 out of 5 for me.

This was the German spaghetti and was not an appetizer but a normal entree'.  It was a huge portion and had basil, garlic, cheese, cream, mushrooms and sirloin tips in there.  It reminded me of a proper beef Strogonoff, with the sour cream sauce but this one perhaps has some white wine and garlic and butter. I tried some and it was delicious.  I'd probably give the pasta dish a good 3.5 out of 5 stars as well.  That large thing was probably about a pound of bread.  The bread had a minimal flavor as it was a tool for soaking up broth or sauce more than anything.

These slider-looking burgers were actually Kobe beef burgers.  The burgers were quite large as the Kobe was in more of a meatball shape.  They were deliciously cooked and probably just seasoned with salt and pepper.  They were juicy and worked well as a burger as my father had said :"That was the best tasting burger I have ever had."  I thought they were good as well and get a 4 out of 5 from me.

My father ordered the sausage and cheese board and this is it. Several kinds of cheese, sausages and olive along with a mustard and ketchup sauce is what this entails.  Everything was good but none of it was over the top or super delicious, as it was a general meat and cheese tray.  It was good though with creamy light cheeses and a good selection of Italian meats like pepperoni and prosciutto.  I would give this a 3 out of 5.

  Lastly we have the German deviled eggs with a Creole seasoning.  What these were though, were the very basic deviled eggs with bacon on top.  The seasoning tasted like paprika and the mix in the eggs were just very basic and didn't taste anything special or fancy.  I'd give these eggs just a simple 2.5 out of 5 as their addition of bacon tried to move it up further trying to back up on the bacon.  Bacon does make everything better, but you can't make a normal item and put bacon on it to make it better.  The eggs get a 2 out of 5 for me.

Overall the night was a lot of fun and the food was good, especially when paired up with a good selection of their beers and drinks.  All the food was reasonably priced and since it was located just outside of the gaming area, children could technically come into the restaurant as well.  It is definitely a good place to go for a meal, a snack or a drink.

5 guys with pictures

Last time I wasn't ready but on Friday when my family had the whole day off of work and school, we decided to take the day at the Botanical Garden. We had to eat somewhere and I was in the mood for a burger, a big, thick, juicy burger. So, I drove my family about 7 minutes away and delivered them to the care of 5 guys. I did a review in the past and while I think that first impressions are essential, I believe that the same expectations should be met on further trips as well.This time, with my camera in hand, I had a burger with different toppings, two kinds of fries and my wife got a burger and the kids got a bacon covered hot dog.
So right out, my burger was great, a good 3 &1/2 out of 5, my kids' hot dog which I tried was a good Hebrew National dog which was a 3 & 1/2 stars as well and I have some photos to show why the french fries are so tasty but so bad for you. What you see here, is the inside of the bag, with a regular, not large, order of french fries.
French fries are french fries and while I have had shoe string and thick steak cut, these are okay at maybe a 2 & 1/2 out of 5 stars. But here are the photos and there you go.

Five guys with no pictures

I was in the Kirkwood area, right by the hotels on Watson, and I was getting hungry. Instead of my first gut instinct of going to the Chipotle', located across from the Hancock Fabrics, I tried something new. Right up the road from that center, across the Lindbergh/Kirkwood road, from the Steak N' Shake, was a new restaurant called Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

Just walking up to the restaurant, you could see that it was pristine and clean inside, much like the Jimmy John's with their clean tile walls and super bright areas. There was white tiles on the walls, from the floor to the ceiling, like a diner, with a border going across with red and white checkerboard, about half way up. The order line was bordered by bags and bags of potatoes, which they apparently use, directly. Instead of having them out front as just a show or a prop, this place uses the vegetable, unlike other prop happy diners.

In this place, you order your food, then move on, grab a bowl of peanuts, find a seat and wait for your food to be called. I ordered a little hamburger and a regular fries, Cajun style. Now, for those of you wanting to go there, you should note that the "little hamburger' is not a kid's burger or a slider; it is just a single patty on a bun. So, I order this single patty burger, with lettuce, grilled onions, tomato, pickles, hot sauce and mayo. The condiments are all free and the burger starts cooking. The french fries, are ordered in two sizes, regular and large. The cup, which looks like it could hold about 16 ounces of liquid, is enough fries to feed two people. I thought that looked a bit weak, but went along with it.

After sitting and enjoying some salted in the shell roasted peanuts, they called my number and I went up for my food. I took a large paper bag back to my seat. I could tell it was good, because there was grease spots starting to eat through the bag. When I opened the bag, I was taken back, as for what I had paid for and ordered was not in this bag. What I pulled out first, was a huge hamburger, wrapped old-school style in a simple piece of foil. It was huge, perfectly cooked and juicy and had everything I ordered on it. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! I was half expecting the mediocre hamburgers that tend to come out of most diners, like they all do it the same as they have done since the 50's but this was entirely different. It was as filling as a giant Red Robin burger but with more tasty-ness.

As for the french fries, that shocked me the most, as out of the bag I pulled the cup filled with spicy seasoned cut fries, as they were spilling over the rim and inside of the bag, left over was at least 2-3 more handfuls of french fries. This isn't like the 2 or 3 extra french fries that you may find at the bottom of the bag from McDonald's, but this was easily about a pound of french fries, extra. You hear me? EXTRA! I love extra food and even more so, I love extra tasty food.

The burger and fries, be it separately gained a 4 1/2 stars out of 5 and 4 stars out of 5, in my book. The restaurant service was incredible nice, there was no smoking inside, everything was clean, and it was great overall, an easy 4 out of 5 in service.

If you are in the area, you have to stop by, although the food is not for those watching their weight, but for those who love food and love the taste of food. Lastly, as I said that I have no pictures, because when I normally review a restaurant, I bring a camera, but because I didn't think anything of running an errand after work and stopping off for dinner, I didn't bring my camera. But, if you still don't trust me, go there and eat for yourself.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
1500 S. Kirkwood
Sunset Hills, MO, 63127