Posts tagged ‘St. Louis’

June 7, 2011

Big Sky Cafe

by Amanda

Thank you for your well wishes and words of encouragement on my post-grad plans post! I’m very excited about the years ahead of me, and I can’t wait to rejoin the residents of St. Louis. Perhaps now is a good time to finally post one of the meals I had when I was recently in St. Louis prepping for my transition.

Most nights, my job in the family is to pick out what we’re going to eat for dinner. I’m not complaining. This also puts me in charge of finding restaurants when we’re in the mood to eat out. I’m still not complaining.

I have a long list of places I still want to try in St. Louis, but my parents’ tastes are very particular. They love classic meat and potatoes food done well, and that list of restaurants is a little bit shorter. When I found Big Sky Cafe, I knew I had a winner. I ignored the many Yelpers that declared this a great place to take a date.

I was excited to see an outdoor patio, even though the weather wasn’t going to let us eat outside that night. Dining outside may be one of my favorite things to do.

I was also excited to find Moose Drool from Big Sky Brewing Company on their menu, a beer that I have been trying to track down for months. It was quite smooth with a strong caramel and nuttiness taste to it.

Big Sky’s menu offers “revitalized American favorites.” It’s basically upscale comfort food in an unassuming environment.

I ordered the Rosemary & Red Wine Braised Pot Roast–naturally raised Angel Acres grass-fed chuck roast slowly braised with red wine, rosemary, carrots, onions and celery, served on garlic mashed potatoes.

Sign you know it was too cold to eat outside: I ordered pot roast. Winter comfort food at its finest. Don’t you love when restaurants have longer descriptions of their menu items? I’m a huge fan of local food and whatnot, but now when I’m dining out, I can’t help but think of the hilarious clip from Portlandia where a couple asks where the restaurant got their chicken.

My dad and mom both ordered burgers. My dad’s choice was a blue cheese burger while my mom went for one of their specials, a Bloody Mary burger.

They both like their meals. All in all, I’m happy to have found Big Sky Cafe, and I’m sure I will be visiting it again. There are many things on the menu I want to try, and I need to come back and dine on that patio…instead of at the table next to the window closest to it.

So close, but so far away…

What do you think about dining out? Is it fun and does it make you feel French (ignore the fact that I’ve never been to France) or do you hate dealing with the sun making you sweat, wind blowing your napkins or bugs buzzing in your ear? I know, I make it sound really appealing, don’t I? 

June 5, 2011

Post-Grad Life: Updating the Context of Eating Up

by Amanda

Dear reader,

Some not-food food for thought.

I admit there has been an absence of posts these past few months due to the all-consuming task of getting my life in order post-graduation. Finally, I have news. And a new direction.

I’m on the move. In exactly two weeks, I will be packing up my apartment in Chicago and headed to St. Louis. While I’ll miss Chicago’s neighborhoods, people and food offerings, I will not miss the cold.

At all.

Seriously.

Why was it 45 degrees the last week of May?

Get me out of here.

I couldn’t be more excited about returning to St. Louis. It has taken me a longggg time to figure out where I wanted to be after graduation. Three years ago, I was moving to NYC. Then I realized I like nature, personal space and the ability to afford food. I next thought Pacific NW for sure (Portland, Seattle). Then I realized I like sun. I like sun a lot. After that, I was convinced Austin was the place for me and everyone else. I honestly should work for that city’s tourism department with the way I talked about it. I went down there in March and had a blast, but coming from Chicago, I was surprised at how small it was and realized how far away I was from my family and friends.

Ultimately, the things I wanted in my city: family and friends nearby, seasons (and warmer weather), affordability, history, professional sports teams, attractions, small town feel in a medium/big place and a growing food movement all led me to my new home. Which was my old home. I place this realization in the category of my life titled: Things You Never Realized How Awesome They Were Until After They Ended/You Didn’t Have Them. Unfortunately, that list is a little longer than I’d like it to be, but that’s not important.

Because we are talking about the present.

The present consists of me graduating college in two weeks with a degree in journalism, a piece of paper that says I love writing so much that I made a public declaration in the form of a diploma that will inevitably hang on some wall somewhere. Maybe my future classroom…cue my transition to announcing my post-grad plans.

I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching for elementary education starting this fall. Becoming a teacher and working in the education system is my cliché millennial decision to “follow my dreams.” Luckily, I don’t have to give up journalism completely in order to do this. I recently accepted a great position at the university I’m attending where I will be working with college undergrads as the general manager of the school’s paper. Journalism + helping teach at an educational institution = dream job.

So that’s my present. And a little preview of my future two years. Now it’s time to edit some of my biographical information on this blog.

Love,
Amanda
Soon-to-be St. Louis food blogger (say hi if you live in STL!)

May 9, 2011

Gooey Butter Cookies

by Amanda

I respect people who have different opinions than my own. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past few years, it’s that I know very little. I’ve learned that you really should stick to the recommended dosage on the cough medicine bottle, that diet and lack of sleep does contribute to daytime fatigue and that wearing volleyball spandex shorts when you’re playing in a basketball game can look very odd to a lot of people. One thought I do like to express loudly and frequently is my love for my hometown, St. Louis, MO. One of the many ways I do this is by feeding people what St. Louis has to offer-figuratively, as well as literally. These gooey butter cookies are my go-to food to get people a little more excited about STL since they’re a St. Louis specialty.

Gooey Butter Cookies

from Allrecipes.com

gooey butter cookie ingredients

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix (I recommend using butter cake mix)

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the confectioners’ sugar. The dough will be very sticky-place it in the fridge to make it a little easier to roll the balls. Place 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes in the preheated oven. Do not overbake! The cookies are called gooey for a reason. Remove from baking sheets to cool.

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gooey butter cookies

gooey butter cookies

It took me leaving home and living in Chicago (and briefly NYC) to see what all St. Louis has to offer. Now I can’t get enough out of my visits there. My friends couldn’t get enough of these cookies. Think there’s money in being a city’s cookie ambassador? It sounds like a sweet job.

What dessert comes from your hometown?

January 20, 2011

Reasons I Love Panera

by Amanda

Last week, I went to Panera Bread to have lunch with friends and got their new Thai Chopped Chicken Salad. While ordering, I saw their All Natural Steak Chili with Cornbread and made a mental note to come back. And then I did. It’s hard to say how many times I’ve gone to Panera over the years, but it’s definitely in the hundreds. Anyway, I forgot to add something to my Suggestive Guidelines for 2011: compliment others! In this spirit, I compliment you Panera Bread, and here is why…

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1. The food tastes fresh and actually looks like the pictures on the website. What do you have to say for yourself…uh, all other fast food chains?

2. The nutritional information is easily accessible. And it has been for years. Before being health-conscious was considered a marketing strategy.

3. The restaurant was started in my hometown of St. Louis. It’s actually still called Saint Louis Bread Co. there. All my Chicago friends know this because I tell them. Twice.

4. Black Bean soup, Turkey Artichoke sandwich and Trail Mix bagels. I could go on. Orchard Harvest Chicken salad. Honey Walnut cream cheese. Hazelnut cream cheese. Okay, I’ll stop before I post the entire menu.

5. In some instances, they let the customers pay what they want.

6. They never disappoint. The All Natural Steak Chili with Cornbread is another winner.

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Know that I love Panera (ahem, Saint Louis Bread Co.) so much that I decided to write this post for no particular reason except to blogshout their praises. What fast food chain do you equally admire? My friends can’t get enough of Chick-fil-A.

January 7, 2011

Farmhaus to Table

by Amanda

I have always wanted to eat dinner at a farm house. I’m all about the farm-to-table movement, and the food can’t get any fresher than that, right? While I didn’t get to eat in a farm house during my stay in St. Louis, I did get to eat at Farmhaus.

Farmhaus

Kevin Willmann is a bit of a celebrity chef in St. Louis, and his newest restaurant won many local awards and popped up in just about every best of 2010 list. I was excited to finally get a chance to see what all the hype was about. Farmhaus focuses on seasonal, local ingredients for the most part. Ironically, Chef Willmann is known for his awesome seafood…which is not local (he’s not catching fish from the Mississippi River).

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Farmhaus is quality food in an unassuming environment. Its location is a bit off the beaten path, and that’s putting it nicely. It’s near nothing particularly interesting. I could see in someone’s living room when I looked through the window across the street. Basically, the restaurant is not selling its ambience. It doesn’t need to.

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In keeping with the casual vibe of the restaurant, the serving style is shared small plates. Among my mom, dad and me, we ordered five dishes. My sister ordered a steak dish for herself.

First out was the Buttonwood Farms Turkey, Duck and Chicken Gumbo.

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This was my dad’s request, and he happily gobbled most of it up. I snuck in a few tastes and was quite pleased with the not-so-hot but still flavorful taste. The next dishes to come out were the Blue Plate Salad with pickled veggies and the Sweet Potato Nachos with bacon, blue cheese, bacon and fire roasted red pepper ketchup.

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My mom loved the salad and wanted to bottle the dressing and take it with her. Instead, she just ate every last bite. I dominated the sweet potato nachos. I heard they were good, but I wasn’t expecting them to be SO good. The flavor combination of sweet potato + blue cheese + bacon + fire roasted ketchup was unbelievable.

We then waited for our main courses: Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Smashed Potatoes and Poached Escolar with Blue Prawns (his signature dish).

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My dad loved the fish, and the whole table loved the potatoes. I have to give a little love to the meatloaf too–it was much better than my meatmushloaf I had made the week before.

Overall, everyone was very pleased with the dining experience at Farmhaus. It was really my favorite kind of restaurant: good, innovative sustainable food served in an unpretentious atmosphere. I mean, where else do you find this on the menu?

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Only $2 for beers for the kitchen crew? They no doubt deserve some.

October 12, 2010

Take Me Down to Sidney Street

by Amanda

My dad told me more than a year ago that he wanted to go to Sidney Street Cafe. Apparently he does possess patience because we finally did go…last Friday.

I went home to St. Louis this past weekend for a wedding and tried to squeeze in as much quality time with the parents as possible. Normally, this quality time involves trying at least one new (to us) restaurant in St. Louis. My dad and I were both very excited about trying out Sidney Street Cafe, a slow food restaurant that specializes in continental and American cuisine. It’s in a fun neighborhood five minutes from Downtown St. Louis and has won numerous local awards. It sounded like my kind of place.

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Sidney Street Cafe has an oral menu, meaning the waiters explain each dish off a mini chalkboard at your table. The only paper menu we were given was the wine list—which my dad looked over and then selected a bottle of an Oregon Pinot Noir for the table.

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I’ve never been to a restaurant where I wanted to try every entree until I came here. When we first sat down and saw the menu listings, I turned to my mom and said, “I don’t know what I’m going to get!” She said the same thing but in a less excited manner—she doesn’t share the same adventurous foodie gene, apparently. (Sorry chicken wasn’t on the menu Mom!)

While I mulled over my decision, I popped a beignet in my mouth from the bread basket. I love, love, love the bread basket and get way too excited when the bread is something other than a standard baguette. I used to go to this one restaurant just because I enjoyed the pancakes they gave out in their bread basket. Anyway, bravo Sidney Street for the beignets. My mom—who had at least three—appreciated them too.

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For an appetizer, my dad and I ordered the Confit of Sweetbreads, aka edible glands.

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This was delicious. They were super flavorful, soft and had a great flaky crust.

To start, we all had salads come with our entree that were perfectly proportioned.

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And then our food came. For my mom: Piedmontese Rib Eye with smothered greens, bone marrow gratin, and house worcestershire.

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For my dad: their famous Béarnaise filet served with roasted seasonal vegetables and rustic mashed potatoes.

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And for me: Pecan Encrusted Rabbit with roasted root vegetables, basil sausage, and rabbit jus.

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I made the right choice. But so did my mom and dad. I really don’t think you can make a wrong choice at this restaurant. If you live in St. Louis, go here immediately. If you ever visit St. Louis, have this be your first meal. And your second and third.

As we walked out of the restaurant, I declared Sidney Street Cafe my new favorite restaurant in my hometown. I’ve done this numerous times in the past few years, so my parents asked me, “Really?”

And then in the parking lot, I saw this bumper sticker on a customer’s car from American Farmland Trust.

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And I answered, “Really.”

What’s your favorite restaurant in your hometown?

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