Catching up is fun to do

While wanting to write about everything I see and taste, sometimes there isn't enough to write a whole article about.  So, I like to come up with these little bits where I have a few things in one.  First off, a few weeks ago my wife and family and I got a chance to try out a newer restaurant in Kirkwood called Crushed Red Pepper.  The place took up the spot where the San Sai restaurant used to be.  The restaurant lets you go inside and order your own personal pizza, and then you customize it and they make it and deliver it to your table.  Well, they did make some good pizzas.  I think it will work well as a nice restaurant but there was only one problem: the woman, taking my order, behind the computer, entered things in that never made it to my plate.  For example, my pizza originally on the menu had Gorgonzola cheese on it: which I do not like. So, I asked her if I could replace that cheese with another.  It was all approved by her and when she read it back to us, everything sounded correct.  But it was not delivered correctly.  There is no communication between the person taking the orders and the people filling them out.  My wife could have told the cashier that she didn't want anything to eat and then told the two guys making the salads that she ordered something and they would have made it.  So, food was good but the service was just okay.  I'd give this food and the restaurant a 3 out of 5.

Next, last Thursday we had gone to a Crazy Bowls and Wraps restaurant on Tesson Ferry, near the hospital. I had ordered a big bowl of items and chicken, my wife ordered a bowl and my kids both wanted some plain noodles.  I noticed that on the menu, on the wall, it mentioned that you could get noodles as one of your starch options.  So, we thought, that we could get chicken and noodles and everyone would be happy. That was not the case.  The man at the cash register/computer told us that the option of just noodles and chicken was not possible.  The manager came over and said "oh yeah, we can do that."  Then he stepped away and the cashier told us again, "we don't do that."  How lovely.  So, we get our food after a bit and we all try it.  I have to say, that I have never, ever tasted anything so plain and bland.  My food, as well as my wife's and my kids, was so bland, it was as if they just took fresh or steamed vegetables and threw them in a bowl with some plain rice.  I mean, it was bad.  It was actually so bad, that we all thought of and talked of leaving and going a block away to St. Louis Bread Co., and eating our fill.  My kids didn't like it, I was having an open mind and I didn't like, it was just so bland.  I'd have to give the food and service a 1 out of 5.

Now, something that was really good, was my bacon and egg which I had at a store in the Ozarks.

What I had purchased, from this candy store, was a milk chocolate covered bacon strip with a white chocolate 'egg'.  The white chocolate egg was hard as it was about a half of an inch thick of solid white chocolate.  The chocolate covered bacon is always a quick favorite.  With every bite, you taste the smoke, the salt, the pork fat and then you taste the sugar and chocolate.  It is a match made in heaven like rosemary and bread or peanut butter and bananas.  It was awesome and was like a 4 out of 5 stars.

3.14

Many years ago, my wife and I went to both the Manchester location and the Delmar location of Pi.  They were several months apart and I don't think either one of us was way too impressed with the pizza or prices. Now, recently we went back, with a large group and the 2 kids we had and 4 adults thought would be enough to get a good variety.  So, we tried an appetizer and two pizza pies.  What I did forget, was just how large those pies are.  I completely forgot that they were super thick deep dish, like a Chicago style pizza.

So, we started off with these little Pi Bites.  These things have about 6 of them and they have cheese, prosciutto and rosemary and then they were breaded with bread crumbs and then deep fried.  They were not greasy and were cooked nicely so they did not have molten lava cheese on the inside.  They were served, stacked and had a very sweet sauce on the side in a little dish.  I'd say that they were good and the price of $7.95, for 6, which is what I think a bit steep as other restaurants have entree dishes starting at that price.  I'd give them a 3 out of 5.

I then ordered the Kirkwood, which is a deep dish pizza with mozzarella, sausage, red peppers and basil and then had a gallon of red sauce on top of that.  The pizza was huge and larger than I remember.  It was thick, sweet and meaty.  I would give the Kirkwood a good 3 out of 5 stars as it seems an easy choice for a go-to pizza for everyone.

We also ordered the Delmar, which is a pizza with mozzarella, cheddar, chicken, BBQ sauce, peppers, red onion and cilantro, all in a giant deep dish pizza.  The pie was colorful and flavorful.  It tasted good and the vegetables, unlike the Kirkwood, were still a bit under cooked so they were half way between cooked and under cooked.  It was in that space between mushy and crunchy where things were sitting and left you wondering if they were supposed to be crunchy or supposed to be soft and tender.  Either way, there was a lot of flavors going on and in one case, my case, I thought that there was too many different flavors and you couldn't really taste one because it was masked by another.  I'd give this one a 2 out of 5 stars as while it was okay, I wouldn't order it again.

Now, while prices are high on the pizzas, there is definitely enough for leftovers for many days.  This isn't a Pointer-saurus, I doubt that there is anyone who can finish a whole deep dish pizza and walk out.  So, ordering one or two for a party of people is a perfect idea and gives people a choice between the two.  In an age where you can get a large pizza for $5, this does make anyone who is a bit budget conscious, to find a reason to eat here.  But, if you are looking for hormone free chicken on your BBQ pizza or organic and Amish raised, Monsanto GMO free, and no green house gassed tomatoes on your pizza and are willing to pay for it, then come here also.

  

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.