Best of Tasty Magazine for 2013

Everyone else was doing a best of recall of the year so I thought I would do the same.

I have to say that this year, has been a busy year for me personally.  We have had some family injuries and new family members so it has always been distractions for me to not try new places or even get a chance to.  I will say that over this year of 2013, I have been to many cities and have tried new things outside of this precious St. Louis area.

This year has been a big one with food trucks.  While they have almost always existed, a decline of food trucks in the later half of the 20th century in St. Louis has been rewarded with a huge influx of trucks in the past few years.  I have always heard stories about how the men would work down at the docks or the landing in the wee hours of the morning.  They would be starving and with no restaurants open, they would wait until the food trucks arrived.  I can imagine being so hungry and then seeing these food trucks drive up with wonderful and filling food, as if they delivered the workforce like an angel on high.  I also heard of them referred to as "roach coaches" as the laws, permits and inspections did not exist for food trucks in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's.  This is the year, as early as January 10th, where I had seen a truck parked downtown and just happened to be downtown to order from it.  It was the Taco Truck, which still runs around today.  The hot tacos were a blessing on a cold and wintry day.  They are the ones that whet my appetite for food trucks.  Had their food not been so delicious, I would have maybe stayed clear of some of them.

http://www.facebook.com/tacotruckstl

As the year went on, I tried as many trucks as I could get to.  You have to understand that while other sites have dedicated writers, who are paid to go and try things, I have a full time job that I am able to hold down, while trying these new places and restaurants.   I have tried Seoul Taco, Guerrilla Street Food (www.guerrillastreetfood.com ),Completely Sauced, My Big Fat Greek Food Truck, Sarah's Meltdown, Hot Aztec, Roberto Trucktoria.  While each has their own style and cuisine, I have to say that as far as order anything on the menu and have it be awesome: goes to Guerrilla Street Food.  

Burgers are burgers and while some places claim to make awesome burgers, I think that comment is a very subjective one.  I like my burger to be good, full of flavor, good toppings, good seasonings and cooked well. This year, I have been to a number of new places, just for their burgers.  The White Knight, has delicious burgers.  Bailey's Range has some awesome grass fed beef burgers, Bobby's Burger Palace in Maryland had nice toppings and could let you crunchify it.  The burger that still makes my mouth water, even now as I think of it, is this one:


This burger is from the "Man That's Good" Truck, run by Willis and his burgers are simply amazing.
https://www.facebook.com/manthatsgoodmobile

While St. Louis should be known for their pizza, has their own style, and even has their own invented cheese, the pizzas I had in the area were not that good.  The long rustic style pizzas from Crushed Red, in Kirkwood, were okay.  The deep dish pizza from Pi, was also just okay.  I had to go to Normal, Illinois, and go to Firehouse Pizza and Pub, to get some good pizza for the year.  Basso, has their own wood fired pizzas and as many as we have had, we have not had a single bad one, they are all delicious.

I do like desserts and while I try to go to as many places as I can, I have been trying to put myself on a healthier diet this year.  I tried Jilly's Cupcake Bar and even though someone from them teaches at Forest Park Community College and even though they have won two times on "Cupcake Wars", I didn't think their cupcakes were that different or even amazing.  However, before you die, visit World Fair Donuts, on Shaw, as many times as you can.

I was graced this year, with the opportunities to take my kids and wife to some other cities this year for fun and work.  I went to Austin, Las Vegas, Bloomington, Normal, Cockeysville, Baltimore, and Lake Ozark.  I think I am always lucky to find some good restaurants in anywhere I go.

This year, my family has been spending a lot of time in the Ozarks.  Thanks to a condo which we share with my in-laws, the 3-4 hour drive can reward us with a large space, soft beds, and a break from the busy city. This year though, we had discovered this great fresh, seasonal, farm-to-table restaurant called Savannah Grille, which had just celebrated their one year birthday.  It is awesome and every time I go to the Lake of the Ozarks area, I try to step in and say 'hi' and eat. http://savannahgrillerestaurant.com/

Once a year, if I am lucky, my in-laws fly my family out with them.  This means that for one day a year, my wife and I can look or at least act like we are rich snobs with a lot of class.  Whatever we do, we always try to eat somewhere nice and classy.  This year, I was watching on Facebook, at how Chef Rick Moonen was changing his awesomely awesome RM: Seafood restaurant into a Steam-Punk themed restaurant.  He did over the menu items, did a complete interior redesign and made everything new.  While this would have worked flawlessly with others, this year also happened to be the year that I had started my line of antique steam-punk inspired jewelry.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Antiquarian78

I didn't know it at the time, but while going through a huge box of antique watches and watch parts, I started to learn about them, what makes them tick, and even started to learn more about the times they were produced.  This ties into RM: Boiler Room, because it looked like almost every Steam-punk stereotype was played out in his new restaurant.  The female staff was wearing corsets (which women in Edwardian and Victorian times would not have worn visible to the public) and I even think I recall seeing goggles, which are now one of the biggest stereotypes of steam-punk, that everyone HAS TO HAVE goggles.  The thing is: that the food was good,and some of the food was the most remarkable I have had this year.  I just wish that it wasn't tied to all of these Steam-punk sterotypes.

In Austin, we had a chance to eat at a restaurant which made itself out to be just like Farmhaus.  Farmhaus is awesome, just like how Basso is awesome.  Parkside is not awesome.  Everything from okay food that was overpriced to naive servers who are just plain slow, it wasn't a restaurant worthy of my dollar.

In Bloomington, while working, my family stopped into this small and shy looking restaurant only to find that they served some of the best fried foods I have ever eaten.  Nothing like getting over 100 chicken wings ,drumetts and wingetts for a super low price.  Super JJ's Fish and Chicken is where anyone should go for a great deal on great food.

Here in St. Louis, Rooster is a great breakfast restaurant and works so well with kids, while the new restaurant in the million dollar expansion of the Art Museum, isn't worth it. 

Ethnic or cultures that have restaurants in St. Louis, tend to be my favorite, but often times fail.  Dressel's Public House and Iron Barley were just okay in my book.  As for Asian food, Liu Shun Wok has pulled out to be my personal favorite.  It also helps that my sons both have dance class about 100 feet from that restaurant.  But it helps considering that this restaurant puts the same time and care into fresh ingredients and fast cooking as Farmhaus does. 
  
Just like everything, I know that there have been some really bad things that I have blocked from my permanent memory, but am willing to break the seal and dig deep for information. In the Ozarks, where even the worst bar or restaurant has one thing going for it, this place called Shell's Pasta Emporium had nothing.  Shell's Pasta Emporium advertised that it had homemade pasta and was customizable, like Noodles & Company, where here you pick the type of pasta, the toppings and the type of sauce.  That procedure makes it seem like you could pick some good combinations and then they would cook the pasta, cook the topping and get it ready and then get the sauce and you were ready.  What happened instead, was that at this restaurant, you paid almost $9, for 30 cents of boiled dried noodles, 2 ounces of sauce from a jar, and some microwaved, frozen chicken, with fake grill marks.  It was just bad.

Also, remind me to be very careful when I watch episodes of Bizarre Foods.  I love the show and Andrew seems to be one of the most genuine and nice people ever.  But, you really have to watch him, when he tries food.  He has developed an interesting way of doing a show about trying new things: he never qualifies the food.  Watch an episode and really pay attention.  He came to St. Louis and he went to Schottzies Bar & Grill and tried some of the food.  I don't think he actually said that anything was good, but went there anyway.  So, I'm up for something new on a Saturday afternoon and take my kids there.  Not only did we get some of the worst service ever, but the food was horrible.  I can't even bother trying to explain how bad everything was.  If there was a zombie apocalypse and the zombies would eat things that even tasted as bad as raw brains and body parts, they would likely even turn down the food at Schottzies.

I think we finished the year with a trip two weeks ago to Basso.  My wife and I stopped in on a very busy Friday night for a cocktail and then came back that next morning for lunch.  The food is just awesome.  If I had money, I'd invest in that restaurant, I love it. www.basso-stl.com/‎

Anyways, 2013 was a great year for foodies and fooding.  I hope everyone had a great 2013.





 

Let's make bacon!

I can't help it, the Simpson phenomenon has entered my mind and set up shop as references involving Homer Simpson abound.

(Lisa) “I’m going to become a vegetarian”
(Homer) “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”
(Lisa) “Yes”
(Homer) “Bacon?”
(Lisa) “Yes Dad”
(Homer) "Ham?”
(Lisa) “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”
(Homer) “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”"

Homer is right though, the idea that bacon, ham, and so many other parts come from the same animal not only dances on the line of a mythical and magical animal but also shows the state of human ingenuity as we can eat just about every part of the animal (more-so if you are Andrew Zimmern).

My favorite part of pork, is in fact bacon.  I thought I would try making some.  After being inspired by Chef Robert Sills, I thought I would get some pork belly and try it out.  So, I spontaneously stopped into Matekers Meats, near Tesson Ferry Road, and asked if they had any bacon that was nitrite free.  They didn't have any but suggested to me that I get pork belly.  So, they gave me a good deal and I went home with 1 &1/2 pounds of pork belly.  But, what should I do with it?  Well...

So, the first one was for a maple brown sugar type of bacon: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/maple-cured-bacon.html .

I went ahead and did the marinate, where I didn't have any pink curing salt and instead just used regular Kosher salt.  After 7 days in the refrigerator, 250 degrees and 2 hours later, I then put them back in the oven at 350 degrees and cooked them up nice and good. Also, of note: I sprinkled some pure, unbleached, sugar on them before they finished cooking.

Next, what was I doing with the other side?  Korean style: http://seoulfuladventures.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/makin-bacon/ 

I will say that after I followed pretty much the same steps as the first batch of bacon, I noticed that it didn't really have a taste of anything other than the soy sauce. I wanted it to have a really bold Korean chili powder flavor, like the Korean chili powder that my brother-in-law's wife brought me, from Korea.  Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, it really didn't have as good as a flavor as the maple one did.

 I think if I do it again, the maple ones will cure in salty maple syrup and brown sugar; large amounts of both.  As for the Korean one, a lot more chili powder.  I did like that it didn't taste like store-bought bacon.  My made at home bacon still tasted like pork, which is something so unusual, because store-bought bacon tastes nothing like pork.  Anyhow, if you are looking to make your own bacon, give it a try on either of those links.

 

Basso always amazes

Late last month, I took my wife to Basso, on her birthday, for lunch.  I know, lunch sounds so taboo considering that most restaurants only open around 4 or 4:30 and even so, only open for dinner and after-hours.  But, as I said, I went there for lunch.  They do serve a lunch and on a weekend when it is cold outside and you want to go someplace nice and warm and have great food...then go to Basso.

I want to warn you though, Basso may just be my favorite restaurant in St. Louis.  The prices are very reasonable, the service is excellent, the atmosphere is warm and comforting while still young and hip, the chef is amazing and everything is going for this place.  So, this review and write-up may seem a little biased.

First off, we ordered a Basso salad, the Mafalda (which doesn't look like it is available on the lunch menu anymore), a cauliflower soup and pizza, that they had split in half where one side had shrimp and the other side had poblano peppers and sausage.

Everything was delicious.  Period.

Why are you still reading this?  Basso is awesome.  They get my best of Tasty Magazine for 2013, for Best Restaurant.  Go there, eat there and you will love it.  Tell them I sent you, why not!  It is so cool, they even have valet parking.  Come'on, take the wife there before you finish your Christmas shopping.  Stop there, then go to the Galleria.  It is a win-win situation.  

http://www.basso-stl.com/

Address: 7036 Clayton Ave, St Louis, MO 63117

Phone:(314) 932-7820

Theme for Christmas of 2013

Every year, my mother-in-law wishes to do a theme for Christmas.  A few years ago, it was a Mexican theme and one year it was just a rainbow theme.  We always try to do something different to help break the monotony of the boring Christmas ham, yadda, yadda, yadda.  This year, while mulling around a few ideas, we turned down the Medieval themed meal for comfort food.   

It is a good idea, all in all.  Turn a meal, that traditionally has one person becoming a slave to the kitchen and making everything, into a meal that everyone makes their favorite items and brings them in.  This is exactly what Andrew Zimmern uses as the theme for his show.  You can learn so much about someone by sharing their favorite food or their favorite meals.  Some of the things we have to look forward to are Macaroni and Cheese, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches and Ice Cream.  What did I pick?  Let me tell you a little story...

Long ago, my grandma used to cook a lot.  She was your regular, St. Louis style, German American woman.  She was born in 1923 in St. Louis, and even talked to me about when she was young, she worked at the Old Shoe Factory, down on Washington, before there were any stores, shops or even restaurants down there.  It is hard to think of how St. Louis actually was, almost 90 years ago, but it is true that a lot has changed in this time.  So, my grandma, whom had parents that had a farm, and then sold the farm to work in factories and manual labor, to provide food and education for their children, still taught the good values of their culture.  My grandma, since she was a woman, was required to learn to cook, so she could be in charge of feeding a family one day.

As far as 3 generations ago, including my grandparents, the ascendants were still born in Missouri.  Missouri was still Missouri, in the 1800's, and places like Rock Creek, Mattis and St. Ann still exist today, but have been consumed by the County.  In fact, some of my family, settled down on a nice piece of farmland, in Mattis, Missouri.  Mattis, is now only the name of a road, off of Tesson Ferry, near St. Anthony's Hospital.  My family, had the large farm with a small road to get to it.  The name of that road, is now Bauer Rd.  Anyway, with my family being in St. Louis, since the mid 1800's, you would figure that they would completely become American and lose all hopes and sense of identity: but this was not the case.  I think the best way to keep a culture or a history, is actually through food.  In this case, my grandmother continued to make German and Austrian style foods and meals, for our whole family.

My generation, has little or no idea of what my grandmother's generation went through.  My Generation X, has no culture, that we are fearing could be lost if we don't tell someone about it.  Moreover, in particular, my comfort food meal is Sauerbraten and Kartoffelkloesse.  I don't have a cool meal or food item that I can one day pass the recipe off to my kids and say, this is a piece of your heritage, because when my grandma wasn't cooking German food, my family was eating regular, cheap, unhealthy, American style, fast food.

Anyways..., when I was young, my grandma would only cook German food once a year.  She didn't cook much, normally because she only lived with my Grandfather and neither one of them would eat that much food.  A cool thing that my grandma did, was allow every one of her 3 children, to name a meal of their choice, and then when it was their birthday, she would create it and everyone would come over.  I don't know nor remember what my uncle and aunt had as their meals of choice.  I can tell you, that my father, had Sauerbraten and Kartoffelkloesse with Sweet and Sour Green Beans (I can't find the German name for this).  Everyone would sit at the dining room table, with my Grandfather at the head of the table and my Grandmother at his side corner.  The kids, myself included, would sit at the end, sharing the piano bench as an extra seat.  Now, every year, I would watch all of the grown ups, eat the fantastic food and the kids, like myself and my brothers, as we were the first grandchildren, would eat a scaled down version of normal pot roast and canned green beans.

Around 10 or so, I remembered that I thought it was time to try what the adults were raving about.  I told my dad that I didn't want the kid stuff, as I watched my older brother take each bite in utter delight.  I had myself a small piece of Sauerbraten, two large Kartoffelkloesse, smothered in gravy, and a large dinner roll.  I had the plate back in front of me, and reached into the dark colored meat with my fork, eager to try it.  It was delicious.  There was this tart, sour and bitter flavor that is so remarkable and goes well with the savory umami of beef that everything went together almost like a machine.  I well-oiled German machine. Well combined with the Kartoffelkloesse, which are basically large baseball sized potato dumplings, every bite reminds me of eating roast beef with some salt and vinegar potato chips.  You have such a unique and delicious flavor that both compliment each other so well.

So, what are you doing for Christmas?          

Chef John Johnson might have to duck to get in, but it is here.

So last year, the wonderful people at River City Casino did this deal with the Center for Hearing and Speech where the reservation cost of getting a spot at a giant gingerbread house and having wonderful specially prepared Christmas food, went straight to the Center.  It was $20 a reservation and the idea was to get enough people to reserve and then that money gets donated straight to the Center for Hearing and Speech.

They are doing it again this year.

(I'm telling you, look at how Chef John has his head tilted down.  I don't think he can fit in the doorway.)

So, this year, as you can see from above, the house is completed.  It is 14 feet tall, 10 feet wide and it has over 450 pounds of dough in it.  So, they made this house with 100 pounds of sugar, 300 pounds of icing, 700 pounds of cookies, gumdrops and cupcakes.  Last time, the menu selection was awesome.  Not only that, but because they offered a breakfast selection, my kids had their food of delicious food.

I have to say this as well, this time, the interior of the gingerbread house looks so much more elegant:

There is a one time reservation fee of $20, that is needed for this.  Call here:  314-388-7625 or go to www.rivercity.com to make your reservation.

Panorama without the panorama

After waiting what seemed like forever, this year, the extension to the St. Louis Art Museum opened up and showed St. Louis what a real art museum looks like.  Yeah, I  know our historical Greek-influenced building matches those of Chicago and even looks like museums in ancient Lebanon, but with the every new and growing trends in art, it would be nice if something could change and reflect this.  The new extension is that change.  It looks like something from out of Europe, as this black large building sticks out from the classical building that we have all known and grown up to love.  The new building looks huge and when you go inside and see that the tall ceilings and large rooms, make the whole area more welcoming as more enjoyable.

Within this new part of the art museum, the board has placed a new chef and a new restaurant.  The restaurant, named Panorama, is inside a 2,500 square foot area with floor to ceiling windows which overlook some views of Forest Park.  However nice the view is, it is only out of one direction of the restaurant, which makes me wonder why a restaurant would be called Panorama if it does not offer panoramic views.

It has a nice feel to it, making it out to appear to be a stuffy museum restaurant and only to see that the prices are comparable to that of other medium level restaurants like Ruby Tuesdays, for instance. Paying $12 for a hamburger is completely alright when it comes out with a side salad and is in fact locally grass fed.

So, what we got, between the two of us, was overall good.  The food seemed and tasted fine.  But not really good.  If I use my scale, of 1 to 5, I would say that the average experience at this restaurant was a 2 or a 2 and 1/2.  The waiter was perfect, nice and quick.  The food was priced very well.  The hostess got a table for us even though we had a reservation.  The food was hot and local.  Everything pointed in the right direction, but just didn't seem to move any further than that.

My wife ordered the special, which was fish on a puff pastry with blue cheese and a cream sauce:

She liked it and said it was good.  But, to quote her using a line based on her weight watcher's point diet; "It was good, but I wouldn't spend the points on it again."  She gave the dish a 2 and 1/2 out of 5.  This means that it was a bit more than average good.  Like it was okay with a bit of creativity to it.  It wasn't something that was very good, it didn't have a new technique or anything awesome and didn't blow up my battleship.

I ordered a locally raised grass fed cow burger.  It looked like this, with a side of a lightly dressed pile of salad greens.

The burger had a nice char to it. The bun had no oil or butter on it and was also just grilled.  The burger tasted like really good beef, but was a tad under-seasoned. I give my burger a 2 and 1/2 our of 5 stars.  

As I stated before, everything was pretty good, but not really good.  For a restaurant of that magnitude, or that much hype, I would have expected food along the lines of quality as Basso or Farmhaus.

Anyways, if you want to try it for yourself, here is the link: http://www.slam.org/dining/about.php

Also, make sure you make a reservation as this tiny restaurant fills up fast.

   

What my Thanksgiving looked like

I know, the idea of thanksgiving dinner is one set in the minds of all American families.  There is a large table, nicely decorated with the colors of reds, oranges, yellows and browns.  There are pumpkins, squashes and maybe some nuts or pine cones.  There are autumn leaves and the look and feel of a bit of chill in the air. The table has a large bird, preferably a turkey, roasted to perfection and alongside it is an assortment of side dishes.  There are cranberries, something horrible like a onion and green bean casserole and then tons of other things like dressing or rolls.  This is what comes to mind with a traditional thanksgiving meal.

Well, frankly as soon as my wife and I married, her family and ours started to do things differently.  We started to do themes to out thanksgiving, to make it a bit more fun.  This year's theme was Halloween and we worked at what we could.  As my my kids made the decorations, the rest of us prepared some items, with my mother in law creating enough food to feed an army, and we set it out.  This is what the food looked like at our thanksgiving dinner.

 Little red bell pepper 'skulls' were filled with some black rice noodles and some chopped pumpkins.

Mashed potato ghosts with peppercorns for eyes.

These were bread sticks that had some colored almond slices on the end, to resemble a finger and a finger nail.

Some lamb ribs were cut and then a ring of onion was placed on the second to last one, like a ring on a finger on a hand.

Still wrapped up for dessert later, this was a sugar free pumpkin pie with candy eyeballs on top.

Chocolate and strawberry skull cakes were stuffed with something sweet in their brain cavity.  The chocolate skull had some chocolate icing and the strawberry one had some cherry jam.

There you have it.  I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  

A new season at Farmhaus

What is really good for me, when it comes to writing about Farmhaus, is that they change their menu so much that every time I have gone there, they have a different menu.  Things that are locally found change throughout the weather patterns and the seasons so everything is new and different.  My wife and I went to Farmhaus this past Friday night.  We thought that we would enjoy our Black Friday out while the rest of the world was still shopping.

Farmhouse had a special tasting menu and with some seafood items on the menu, my wife grabbed that as I went ahead and ordered two larger plates from the regular menu.

So, she started her's with a little chef's tasting of a little corn cake with some yummy things on it: like shaved foie gras.

She then had a dish which was potatoes, mushrooms, foamed up eggs and caviar.  

Then the next dish in her tasting list was a sun choke soup with mushrooms on top.

She then had the Bay Scallop Gratin.

Next came a pork loin, with apples and greens and a mustard sauce.

That was all finished with a plate with a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of a coffee flavored cake with little flavors that added up to a Bourbon stout.

Here is how you can judge if the food is good enough for my wife: if she eats all of it or as much as she can. My wife is on a diet and if she eats the food and loves every bite of it and is willing to come back, then you know it has to be good.

What did I get?  I ordered the Porchetta dish.  It is done in a Korean style with home-made kimchi.  The pork belly is sliced thick and cooked tender so it has that looks and smell and taste of bacon and goes so well with the warm puffy pancake like buns.  I like this at a 4 out of 5 stars.

I finished with the bacon meatloaf, which may not seem so great at first, but they slice off these big chunks of meatloaf and then wrap them in bacon, like a Filet Mignon.  There wasn't a dry part in the whole dish.   The yellow potato mash was good at sucking up excess sauce giving it more flavor.  The crunchy onions went well with the tiny pearl onions and everything just went well together.  I'd say a good 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5 on this one.

Overall, if you haven't been to Farmhaus this season, please check them out and enjoy what you can.

http://farmhausrestaurant.com/

I say, I say there's a new rooster in town.

Who is the best, number 1 rooster in all of the world?  This guy:

What is the best, number 1 rooster in all of America?  Well, this place:

Let me start off by saying this: Foghorn Leghorn is my most favorite cartoon character of all time.  I can't tell if it is his attitude or his swagger but he has always made me laugh and always stays with me.  This restaurant, named Rooster, and owned by the same people as Bailey's Range, is right up there on the same level as Foghorn.  This restaurant is awesome.

I took my wife and kids here and we all ordered something different.  The wait staff was great with kids and there wasn't this air of stuffiness like so many great restaurants.  What makes coming with kids good, is that the kids get a sheet of paper and crayons.  While that may sound lame, at first, if the kids do a good drawing of a rooster, they will hang it on the wall.  

Rooster is great because unlike other places, it only does breakfast or brunch.  It isn't open late at night or even in the late afternoon so it takes care of that wonderful first or second meal of the day.  I ordered the eggs over the potatoes and andouille sausage.  The potatoes were cooked perfectly with a light crisp crunch on the outside and soft on the inside with proper seasoning.  The sausage with great with a good bite to them.  There was a hint of heat but not enough to scare anyone away from them.  The eggs tasted delicious and were cooked wonderfully.  I ordered a side of bacon and I received what could have been the best bacon in the ST. Louis area.  It wasn't too salty or smokey and just had the right balance of flavors.  My order was an easy 4 out of 5 stars.

One of my sons ordered the pizza crepe and completely demolished it.  He told me that he had to destroy it because it was so good.  It was a crepe filled with cheese and tomatoes.  It really did taste like a pizza.  I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

My wife ordered the smoked salmon and capers and even though it was delicious, she felt that the crepe was missing a few more ounces of salmon. She guessed at maybe only having 2-3 ounces of salmon which at other places, is far less than what they would like.  Perhaps if this crepe had about 5-6 ounces of salmon, she would have liked it better.  A 3 out of 5.

The thing is, besides the savory dishes, the fried apple dessert, in the crepe, was very tasty and had everyone at the table reaching over to eat it.  I can't say now that anything that this owner has is bad as everything that I have tried at any of the restaurants has turned out good.  So, I would suggest checking them out, easy parking across the street, in a non-busy part of downtown, definitely go to Rooster.

1104 Locust St, St Louis, MO 63101
(314) 241-8118

http://roosterstl.com/

Awesome fresh Asian food

Nestled away from the main drag, hidden between a salon and some retail space, down Tesson Ferry, is the Liu Shun Wok.  First off, let me say this: I have purchased food there, 4 weeks in a row, and have tried as many as 10 dishes: nothing has been bad.  The food is amazing and while I don't want to insult them by trying to guess their ethnicity or country of origin, I will say that it seems very much like Americanized Asian food. However, there are a few differences between other food like this that you can find in St. Louis: this is really good and fresh.

On Thursday, I spoke with the owners, who appear to be a husband and wife team: she takes the orders and he cooks everything fast in a wok.  She was telling me that they make everything fresh, the vegetables and all ingredients are purchased that morning, from the Dierburgs, just a 1/4 of a mile away.  You can taste it in the quality of the meats, seafood and vegetables. No artificial flavors, no fake colors and I don't think, there is an MSG.

They have a huge menu, with very reasonable prices (almost too cheap for the amount of food you get).  My advice for you, is that if you like this kind of food, you should go there and at least give it a try.  I give their food a great 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5, as the food is good, nothing fancy or unusual and it is worth coming back for.  They have a facebook page here and please check them out:

https://www.facebook.com/LiuShunWok 

My rant against portions

While having no evidence to back up my claim, I remembered being young and choosing to eat Raisin Bran because the cartoon sun told me it had two large scoops of raisins in every box.  As a kid who loves raisins and the texture of something slightly gummy, umami-like, while the bran flakes became almost soggy and soft in the milk, I thought it was awesome.  Since those years, I have always had the expectation that when a cereal says it has something else, like a treat, the non-healthy part of the cereal, I expect there to be a lot.

Have you opened a box of Lucky Charms lately?  It would appear that there are more marshmallows than cereal.  I told my kids one day that I remember a time when they had just introduced purple horseshoes via a cartoon commercial.  I felt like I had won the lottery.  It was awesome and I remembered that my brothers and I would open that new box, with new marshmallows and down the whole box in a Saturday morning, in front of the television.  Now, I think there are 20 different marshmallows and I would say that about 60% of the contents of that cereal mix, are in fact marshmallows.

While in Target, I picked up this:

  
I know that pictures lie, but it looks like that with every spoon of cereal, you will get these dark chocolate chunks.  Here is the funny thing: I poured my first bowl of this cereal, and after seeing about 10 chocolate chunks, thought it was cool and looked forward to eating my next bowl.  My wife came over, saw the cereal, thought it looked good and poured a bowl for her.  She had 2 pieces of chocolate in her bowl.  She complained and I looked through the box, and saw that it was out of chocolate pieces.  How could a box, which is from a fictional "Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory" and be called "Chocolatey Almond" have so few chocolate chunks in it?  It was good, but where are my loads of chocolate?

So, I can't eat it all....

Ever since Halloween was invented, I am sure that the parents of those occult children were wondering what to do with the abundance of candy and treats.  Well, even though candy has enough sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and chemical agents in it, it really doesn't last forever.  So, what do you do with the candy you have left over or the candy you don't let your kids eat? (I admit it, my kids already have several thousands of dollars of work that has been put into their teeth and for them to eat a tootsie roll only to have their filling come out or to loosen their crown is enough for me.)

What I did, was take those candies that I don't give to my kids, like all fruit flavors of taffy and Starburst.  I placed them in a pot, unwrapped of course, and threw in about a stick of butter.  As soon as I turned on the stove, I was now slowly edging into candy-making territory.  The thing with candy making and sugar, is that if you don't watch the temperature, it will turn into something different than what you had wanted.  If the temperature gets too high, it will become brittle and crack.  If it is too low, it will still be runny and soft.  I wanted mine to be runny and soft so I got it just to a boil and then removed it from the heat.

I mixed my Blondie brownie recipe and then slowly mixed in my sugary mixture.  I stuck it in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  When it came out, I checked it with a chop stick (instead of a tooth pick) and then set it aside to cool.  It had taken on the color of the melted taffies and chewies.  What it did also, was turn itself into a thick and chewy brownie; resembling a dump cake.  (A dump cake is a recipe where you mix a packet of cake mix, 2 sticks of butter and a can of pie filling together and bake it.  It creates a chewy, moist and flavorful cake.)

(If you want this recipe, let me know)

A crazy good Irish place, in Maryland.

I have learned, ever since returning from Ireland, that if you can find an Irish pub and restaurant that serves food that makes you think it came from Ireland, then mark that place down and keep it.  There are a few places like that in St. Louis, but this is a place in Timonium, Maryland.  This is An Poitin Stil.  What you have here, is an Irish restaurant decorated in such a way, that not only does it look like several different buildings stuck together from the outside, but several different castle and Medieval motifs put together on the inside. You have everything from black powder guns to swords, lining the walls and candles on the tables with chandeliers from the ceiling.

So, let me explain, that one of my favorite dishes, that I actually ate at a pub, in Ireland, was a dish called Sheppard's Pie.  This pie is a traditional pie you may have seen at other places that mixes vegetables and meat together in a broth and then smooths a layer of mashed potatoes on top and cooks it.  The one I had in Ireland, tasted just like this one, from An Poitin Stil.

This one, is just like I had, the big chunks of vegetables, the broth, the potato 'crust' on top and even the large chunks of lamb.  It all tasted so good that it truly reminded me of Ireland.  The vegetables were each tender and juicy.  The lamb was not gamy and moist and tender as well.  Everything worked so well together it was as if the cook had been making this dish for decades.  This dish alone got a 4 out of 5 from me.

My sons ordered the fish and chips and needless to say, they were not covered in some beer batter like everyone else claims that fish n chips are.  These were simply battered and in such a way that there wasn't a space between the fish and the fried on batter.  It was one.  It was perfect, a 4 out of 5 for me. (And kid approved.)

Now what this place delivers in traditional tasting fares, it has a choice of new items as well.  Take this one: a twist on corn beef and cabbage.  They call these "Blarney Spring Rolls".  They are corned beef, cabbage and potatoes wrapped up in a wrapper and deep fried, like a traditional Chinese spring roll. Each bite has all of the tastes together and while I thought these were excellent there, they were just as good the next day.  A 4 out of 5 stars for me.

I have to say that even though I didn't order the Salmon, my wife said it was quite good and looked perfect. She gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

So, if you are in this town, right outside of Baltimore, I highly suggest going here.  Not to mention the large assortment of beers and spirits.


2323 York Road
Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland 21093

http://www.thestilltimonium.com

Bobby's Burger Palace

Yep, that isn't a play on words.  The real name of the restaurant is Bobby's Burger Palace.  The palace looks like a fancy restaurant, with very casual diner aspects about it.  There is an open kitchen seen on a wall made of reflective mosaic tiles and bricks.  There are large community tables setup to resemble picnic tables.  By the kitchen, is a counter that looks like it is made of one very long and winding and curving piece of wood.  

In what is supposed to be a palace of burgers, every main menu item is a burger.  This just isn't normal burgers either, some are turkey, some are beef and all of them have different toppings.  I picked out a burger called the L.A. Burger.

This burger, was cooked medium well, was seasoned well and then had this mound of guacamole on it.  It was spicy: spicy guacamole.  But it was good too.  Everything went in harmony and to quote my favorite judge from the original Iron Chef "the flavors dance within my mouth."  I'd give a 4 out of 5.

What was a real killer though, was the dark chocolate milk shake.  It comes out in a regular 16 ounce glass and I think to myself that it likely just tastes as good as a Steak n Shake shake.  Oh, but I was wrong.  This shake comes out with so much chocolate flavor that it tastes like someone had melted down a Hershey's chocolate bar and I was sipping it through a straw, without the acidity.  The shake came with a large straw as well, about twice the thickness of a regular straw, so you could enjoy it quickly, or work your way to a brain freeze faster.  It was awesome.

So, my review?  I suggest that if you are in the Hanover/Baltimore area and you are looking for a nice quiet bite and you want something simple, like a burger, fries and a shake, then go to Bobby's Burger Palace.


MARYLAND LIVE! CASINO
7002 Arundel Mills Circle
Hanover, MD 21076 

http://bobbysburgerpalace.com/

Murphy's on 21, on 21

While I was in the area a few days ago, I grabbed my youngest child and went into this pub and sandwich shop for a quick dinner.  Notice that this place is not a bar.  Bars by nature do not allow children or anyone under 21 after a certain time and since this time that I went in was around 6pm, this shop and pub was allowing children in.  Anyways, I went in and while noticing several women working the tables and taking orders, after sitting down, for 15 minutes, I took it upon myself to walk up to the bar and make an order.  I know you may be thinking that this is what I was supposed to have been doing the whole time, but after seeing these servers walk up to tables and people with their menus on ipads or a similar tablet, I thought they would do the same to me.  While I at first thought that this was a clear discrimination against me because I had a 5 year old with me, seeing a selection of food items separated on their menu as a "kid's menu" would indicate that children are in fact welcome.

After placing my order for food items that should not have taken more than 10 minutes, and since when I looked around the room and everyone else had food plates on their tables, I figured that our food would come out fast.  I didn't think that 20 minutes was fast though.

My son ordered the hot dog and it was described as a hot dog on a bun with mini pretzel knots.  What is a pretzel knot, you may ask?  Pretzel knots are typically described as the actual tied knot parts of pretzels. This can be a physical tied knot or part of a braid in a pretzel.  Unfortunately, what Murphy's on 21 means, is that you get a regular store bought hot dog, on a bun, bare, with a handful of Rold Gold pretzels.

So, what did I order?  I ordered a specialty called Smackers.  The Smackers are described as "baked Italian sausage bites tossed in our sweet buffalo or BBQ sauce and served "wing style".  This is what had been delivered:

Now, besides being disgusting, a miserable 1 out of 5 stars, this is what they were.  The description sounds better than what they were.  Baked sausage bites, makes me think of something more like a sausage with other things and flavors mixed into it.  These were clumps of store-bought sausage, heated up and then a mixture of BBQ sauce and hot sauce poured over them.  They were spicy, hot and way too tart to even consider eating more than one.  I guess that one someone says that something is served "wing style", that means that a single stalk of celery is chopped into three pieces and offered as a side.  Where is the ranch sauce?  Where are the napkins?  Not here.  None of them even offered.  These had a horrible pepper and vinegar aftertaste that made me eat some of the crappy pretzel knots on my child's dish.  Would I eat at this place again? No, it just wasn't for me.  If you are into bars that serve food by nice girls with ipads and a large tv playing sports games, then this is for you.  

Casinos and Restaurants

This piece may sound a bit strange, but it is about something my family and I experienced over the past week.  My wife was taking a class near Baltimore and as such, the whole family went.  While there we did a lot of things and of course, tried food.  In Hanover, near Baltimore, they have a good sized Mills mall, with a casino attached to it.  While this seems like a great idea, I guess in a sexist type of world it could work.  You know, send the mom off with the kids to go see a movie or do some shopping while the dad stays at the casino and gambles their life savings away.  At any rate, the casino is owned by a company called "Live" and their little tiny casino floor is about half of the size of River City's.  They have a lot of slot machines.  The entrance to the casino, faces the food court of the mall.  Not only that, but as you enter the doors, you are flanked by a Cheesecake Factory and a restaurant called Bobby's Burger Palace.  Then there is the entrance to the actual casino floor where on the map showed a number of additional restaurants.

However, you had to be 21 to access them.

The reason I say that this may seem strange, is that in Missouri, the casino designers were smart: they made parts of the casinos available to minors.  What I mean is this: the casinos in the city here, have restaurants that are separated from the actual gaming areas.  This allows families to enjoy a meal with children and others under 18 years of age.  This further allows the casino to become a restaurant or dining destination for those who cannot gamble, thus broadening their market and creating a greater financial potential.

The casinos in Las Vegas are the same way.  As children and anyone not of gambling age can even access the casino floor, provided that they stay on the walkways and keep moving.  So, fancy restaurants or eateries located in the very bowels of a fancy Las Vegas casino, can still be reached by young kids and thus, whole non-gambling families can access them.

This is not the case at this Live casino, so close to a shopping mall for all ages.  While this seems as simple as business is business, the idea of a casino not wanting to help greet greater amounts of cash flowing in, seems something a bit off and quite stupid.  I have written before about a local bar and grill that just recently decided to not allow minors in anymore.  Yes, they are getting money from their video poker machines, but they have just lost the attraction of families or people with kids.  What more with that, is that this particular establishment is where the company I work for has had their Christmas party, every year.  Imagine the loss in revenue that a restaurant could have from not having 50 people, including kids, eating their food, the adults drinking all they want, and just enjoying their space.  That is all gone and the way that they actually treated the children; yelling at them and yelling at the adults and parents as the kids got within a certain distance of the video poker machines as they were right next to the dance floor and bathrooms, was just wrong.

My verdict?  Be happy about St. Louis and Missouri and the casinos nearby.  If you are a casino owner, thank you for allowing ways to include families and children into your money making happiness.   

J. Gumbo's

So, two weeks ago, my family and I was at the Strange Folk Festival, near Belleville, where people sell their home made items and there was some people selling yummy food.  What was different this year than last year, was the new faces of these guys:

These guys are the faces of J. Gumbo's.  This restaurant is located downtown St. Louis and they specialize in yummy gumbo and other Creole style dishes.  We tried two of the 4 items they were selling that day.  The first we tried was one called VooDoo chicken, which was chock full of spices and had a bit of heat to it.  It was delicious.  I'd give this an easy 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5.

The other one we tried was called the Drunken chicken and was actually so good and tender that my 5 year old said "it was the best thing I has ever eaten".  He also decided to eat as much of it as he could.  The chicken and rice were so tender and flavorful that it was a great dish.  I'd say the same and maybe even as a 4 out of 5 for this one.

So, go check out J. Gumbo's, at 312 N. 10th Street, Suite B, St. Louis, MO 63103.
https://www.facebook.com/jgumbosstl