Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.
Savage Restaurant
Savage is fucking dope.
If it was in Chicago, New York, London, Singapore, or some other big city, it would be impossible to get into. It would be featured on an episode of Chef’s Table. Chef/owner Logan Ely would be a judge on 350 episodes of Chopped.
But it’s not in any of those cities. It’s in St. Louis. Right here, waiting for you.
Diners like to assume the food coming out of most high-end restaurants has been cooked personally by the chef whose name is on the menu—you want Eric Ripert to have cooked your fish, Grant Achatz to have personally blown up your apple-flavored balloon, René Redzepi to have made…whatever it is Noma makes. But the reality is that these restaurants have massive teams full of (extremely talented) people who are producing incredible food based on the executive chef’s vision. At Savage, that’s not the case. You are getting Logan Ely's food, cooked by Logan Ely, sometimes served by Logan Ely. You’re watching him do it right in front of you, looking like Jason Statham’s younger, tattooed brother. The chef’s counter is spotlit, making the entire thing feel like a show. Whether you’re dining with others or alone, you’ll often find yourself trying to figure out what’s coming next.
And you’re never going to guess correctly—which is part of what makes Savage so unforgettable.
You have three options for ordering: snacks for $25, 6 Courses for $55, and 12 courses for $75 (beverage pairings at $25, $35, and $45, respectively). What kind of dingus doesn’t order the 12 course option? Pay the extra twenty for double the amount of courses and get the full Savage experience. You’re going to regret it if you don’t.
Logan’s focus is on “simple” bites (we have different definitions of simple, apparently) that focus on making a few ingredients shine by doing very little to them. What drives him is trying to do things he hasn’t done before without bastardizing the ingredient—“It’s a tomato, so I want to let it be a tomato.”
This meal in particular was shot in late June, so you don’t have to worry much about this post spoiling your upcoming Savage dinner. The pescatarian menu changes as the seasons change, as you might expect.
Even now, almost three months later, my girlfriend and I still debate about which dish was our favorite. Was it the fermented potato mousse with crispy potatoes, broccoli, and seaweeds? Or was it the absolutely perfectly cooked fluke served with toasted fennel and a kombu beurre blanc? No, it was definitely the onion.* Yes, a damn onion was the best bite of the night. Slow cooked until soft and sweet, then glazed with soy-malt over a bed of toasted yeast mousse and shiitake mushrooms. It was one of the best things I ate in all of 2019, I’m pretty sure.
*My girlfriend’s pick for dish of the night goes to dessert: milk sorbet with brown butter, black barley crumble, and miso caramel. She scraped my bowl clean after she was done with hers.
I haven’t been to Scandinavia, but I have spent a lot of time on Instagram, and Savage’s food seems straight out of Aalborg. It’s all about a level of simplicity that is, uh, very complicated. To take raw goat's’ milk curds, put them in a fermented white asparagus broth, and cover that with daikon radish—and have it work—is insane to me. Especially when you take into consideration that Logan’s kitchen team has, at its largest, been four people, and at its smallest, just him. Producing this much and this level of food.
Besides the food, I loved the atmosphere of Savage. It’s not serious, like you’d expect from a high-end tasting menu spot. Service isn’t fake and obnoxious. You aren’t stuck there for four hours. They want you to come, have a great meal, and more importantly, have a great time. I think you will.
TLDR: Savage will blow your mind with some of the most innovative food ever seen in St. Louis at a ridiculously low price for what you’re getting. Make a reservation right now.
Beet chip
dill & chive powder
Spot prawn & Heirloom Tomatoes
marinated in red currant & chamomile oil, finished with whipped soured milk
Raw Goat’s milk curds
daikon radish, fermented white asparagus broth
English peas
white bean & ramp butter, sorrel, cauliflower mushrooms
Charred squash
egg yolk puree, mussel foam
fermented potato mousse
crispy potatoes, broccoli, seaweeds
poached cucumbers
preserved chive blossoms, dashi with clams, horseradish leaf oil
Fluke
toasted fennel, kombu beurre blanc
Baked sweet onion
soy-malt glaze, shiitake mushroom, toasted yeast mousse
buttermilk semifreddo
blueberries
milk sorbet
brown butter, black barley crumble, miso caramel
carrot cake ball
almond brittle
Louie
You’re probably here for one of two reasons: you love louie and you want to bask in its glory, or someone told you louie was amazing and you don’t trust them. But you can trust me.
I’ve never believed there’s such a thing as a perfect restaurant, but damn if Louie doesn’t make me wonder if I’m wrong. Matt McGuire, a veteran of the restaurant world, is one of the most well-spoken, intelligent, generous, and focused people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, and if you’ve spent any time at all talking to him, I’m sure you agree. (If you haven’t, pop over to the pizza oven & charcuterie station and say hi/bye next time you’re in). The restaurant is a reflection of him—it’s classic and modern, warm and welcoming.
I only have good things to say about Louie. I love it all. I love the staff, I love the cooks, I love the food. It works for a quick bite and a beer as well as it works for a celebratory meal. You can for something light and healthy(ish) or ruin your body with the Roman gnoccho, pastas, enormous pork chop, and cocktails. I prefer the latter.
The menu doesn’t change often, but there are usually a few nightly specials—especially on the pasta front. Matt and his executive chef, Sean Turner, have set the menu up where everything appears to be very simple, but the reality is, few things are. The simplest things are the hardest, after all.
If you stop reading right here, know that you must order the chicken and the ice cream sandwich.
Let’s walk through my favorite items on the menu. Below the write ups, you’ll find photos
Small plates
The small plates section of the menu is where i spend most of my calories, for reasons that are about to become very obvious.
White bean hummus
mint, hearth bread
Simple—but with the addition of the pop of mint and drizzle of high quality olive oil, perfection.
Charred Eggplant Dip
hearth bread, season vegetables
The perfect blend of charred eggplant and olive oil—it doesn’t taste overly smoky, nor is the eggplant flavor very strong (shout out to the eggplant haters). Don’t think of it as baba ganoush, though—it’s closer to a hummus. Also, anything served with their wood-fired hearth pita bread is going to taste good.
Broccolini
calabrian vinaigrette
Charred broccolini topped with a slightly spicy, kinda funky vinaigrette. This photo is obviously not of the finished product, but I ate it before I could take a shot last time. Whoops.
Cauliflower Fritto
mint aioli
Everyone knows that the best vegetables are fried and dipped in aioli.
Prosciutto di parma
Parmigiano Reggiano DOP Vacche Rosse
There are three things on the plate: prosciutto, cheese, and olive oil. Each is amazing on its own. combined—unbeatable. Especially when eaten on a warm piece of hearth bread. Bury me in this prosciutto.
entrees
salsiccia pizza
roasted fennel, sausage, hot cherry peppers, mozzarella
Okay, this is not a picture of their salsiccia pizza, but a special they did on their one year anniversary. Louie is really dark at night, and the spicy sausage pizza is really good, and…I just forgot to take pictures of it, repeatedly.
Filled pasta
This version: sweet potato ravioli, brown butter, almond, smoked ricotta
There’s usually at least one filled pasta special. Get it. Whether it’s sweet potato with smoked ricotta salata, summer sweet corn with tomatoes, or prosciutto en brodo, you won’t regret it. Unless you have Celiac disease.
Roman gnocco
pork ragu, bechamel, pecorino
The gnocco isn’t my favorite dish (controversial!), but it seems to be everyone else’s. One friend described it as getting a hug from your grandma. It’s heavy, it’s decadent and you’re going to eat way too much of it.
polenta & Roasted Mushrooms
If I’m going to eat until I hurt myself, I’m going with the polenta and mushrooms over the gnocco (once again, that’s just me). It’s another simple but perfect dish, except if you are lactose intolerant like this guy.
Grilled strip steak
crispy potatoes, salsa verde
It’s just a good steak, man. Those potatoes are crunchy AF.
pork chop
shishitos, chermoula
Some have said this is the best pork chop they’ve ever had, and I can’t really argue with that. Also, it’s huge.
Roast chicken
rapini, chicken jus
I’m dedicating an entire post to this chicken soon. It puts all other chickens to shame. I know chicken sounds boring, but you need to try it.
If you don’t like it, you don’t deserve to be eating here.
Dessert
ice cream sandwich
Oh, great, not only is Louie’s entire savory menu off the fucking charts, but they’ve also somehow made the greatest ice cream sandwich I’ve ever had. I don’t even take Lactaid when I eat this—it’s worth the discomfort. Frozen chocolate mousse is sandwiched between two cocoa nib macarons, served with Dragees cocoa nibs and a chocolate coulis.
SAVE ROOM FOR THIS.
brassWELL
What’s not to like about brassWELL? Gerard Craft took Brasserie’s Cinq à Sept happy hour menu and chef Joe Landis, put them in a light blue shipping container, and dropped them off at Rockwell Beer.
Now, Wednesday through Sunday, you can go to one of St. Louis’ newest breweries and drink freshly brewed beer while eating burgers, fries, and soft serve. What a life. It does get crazy crowded on the weekends, so keep that in mind—especially if you have kids in tow. Things should get a little less hectic once their huge patio is useable, but it’s winter and it’s gross out, so you’re stuck in the dining room.
The menu has its staples—beef burger, fries, chicken sandwich, veggie burger, beer brat—but you can expect specials and variations weekly, depending on what Joe is feeling. Scroll down for a menu breakdown.
Joe Landis
burger lover, chef
Double Brasswell burger
onions, American cheese, pickles, dijonnaise
This is why you’re here. Brasserie’s famous burger, offered as a single, double, or bigger, if you’re an animal. It’s the perfect diner burger, and I love it.
The fries are the same ones you know and love from Brasserie and Taste, and they have a pump filled with aioli.
Fried chicken sandwich
arugula, Crystal aioli
Veggie burger
arugula, Crystal aioli
Beer brat
sauerkraut, whole grain mustard
corndog
corn, dog
This is on the kids menu, but I refused to be shamed for eating it. It gives Peacemaker a run for its corndog money.
soft serve
Flavors change weekly, but I’ve never met a soft serve I didn’t like.
Beignets
Brasserie’s brunch beignets made their way to Brasswell, too. They’re served with whatever dipping sauce Joe feels like making—this lemon curd will be hard to top, though.
Omakase V: Nick Bognar & Chris Bork
This is another one of those posts that really isn’t doing you any good.
I mean, what’s the point in me telling you there was a two night pop up where Nick Bognar of Nippon Tei combined forces with Chris Bork, formerly of VISTA (RIP)? Only 30 or so tickets were sold, so more than likely, you weren’t one of those people. That sucks, man. I think you really would have liked it.
When I posted about it on Instagram and Twitter, a bunch of you messaged me specifically about how you missed Bork, how his food was sooo good, etc. Let me tell you something: no one loves what Bork is doing more than me. He understands, respects, and plays with Asian ingredients and dishes in a way I only dream I could. If I were an obscenely wealthy man, I would quit working and pay him handsomely to teach me everything he knows. And to cook most of my meals. Also, give me hair styling tips. He is my food crush.
That’s not to say Nick Bognar isn’t also one of my favorites, because he is. He’s figuring out how to combine his Thai heritage with his love for Japanese cooking, and when he perfects that, St. Louis won’t know what hit them. The Isaan Hamachi you see below will be his signature dish—as soon as that hits his menu, consider it a must-order. In fact, ask him for the next time you're in. Let’s peer pressure him into feeding us that good stuff.
Anyway, the dinner was the best I’ve had so far in 2019. You should message Bork and Bognar (doesn’t that sound like an Eastern European version of Simon and Garfunkel?) and tell them that you demand more collaboration dinners.
OMakase V
Design work by ForTheWhen
tskune
marinated quail egg, tare, yuzu gel
Kanpachi
Isaan Hamachi
Thai koshi, coconut naam pla, candied garlic, shallots
Foie Gras Torchon
Kumquat, mushroom chip, dashi, pickled shiitake
Shima Aji
Madai Ceviche
Seabream, leche de tigre, lime zest, radish, basil oil
Khao Soi Soup Dumpling
curry leaf nage, cilantro, lime zest
Zuke honmaguro akami nigiri
Laab Tartare
lamb tartare, laab spices, candied pine nuts, rice crackers, thai basil
Fillet of Beef
shrimp head red curry, raw Hokkaido scallop, scallop jerky, black garlic butter
Chutoro
Santa barbara Uni
Coconut & Kaffir Panna Cotta
Kaffir lime, ginger snap soil, basil, coconut vinegar gel, plum
Your Favorite Restaurants & Dishes: St. Louis, 2018
Inspired by a Twitter post I saw about Chicago restaurants, I decided to ask: “Out of all the restaurants in St. Louis, what would be your top 5 food items (and where)?”
The response was overwhelming, and I ended up with 712 individual dish responses (because some people can’t count to five). Answers were all over the board, though a few dishes reigned supreme. The top list are the most named restaurants and the second list are the most named individual dishes. Places like Union Loafers received votes for everything from their pizza rossa to their soups to the sandwiches, while places like Fork & Stix pretty much only received votes for a single dish (explaining how they are not in the favorite restaurants list, but are at the top of the dish list).
Without further adieu, here are the restaurants you named the most.
Your favorite restaurants
1. Union Loafers
top dish: little gem salad
2. Mac’s Local Eats
top dish: burger (duh)
3. Pastaria
top dish: Salume Beddu nduja pizza
4. Louie
top dish: gnocco
5. Mai lee
top dish: pho
6. Grace
top dish: fried chicken
7. Nudo House
top dish: o’miso spicy/shroomed out [tie]
8. Balkan Treat Box
top dish: pide
9. Salt & Smoke
top dish: white cheddar cracker mac
10. Gioia’s
top dish: hot salami
Your favorite dishes
Quotes from voters
1. Khao Soi
Fork & STix
“First, I love the color of the khao soi. It's like a dreamcicle almost. But it's the balance: Heat, curry, coconut, lime. The noodles are the perfect size and doneness, crunchy wontons break up the texture. Broth to noodle ratio is dead on. It's a perfectly balanced bowl of noodles. It’s my happy place”
2. Little Gem Salad
Union Loafers
“Loafers sprinkles some sort of magic dust on top because it's the only salad I've ever genuinely craved. And it appears I'm not alone.”
“I never imagined I’d live in a world where I’d pick a salad over a sandwich 9 times out of 10, but the little gem with bacon is the greatest salad on earth.
3. Pho
mai Lee
“If I’m not feeling good or I’m having a crappy day, there are two things that I know will make me feel better: a bowl of Mai Lee’s pho and a hug from Qui Tran.”
4. Egg Salad
Olio
“I would never have thought to treat chicken eggs like salmon roe. Fluffed up, it is a perfect base for the flavors of its condiments, particularly the anchovies.”
5. White Cheddar Cracker Mac
Salt + Smoke
“Cracker mac was the side that made my wife and I choose S&S to cater our wedding. The buttery cheesy sauce and the light crunch of the crackers makes it the perfect comfort food.”
“I never understood the hype around mac ’n’ cheese because it’s literally cheese on pasta, but then I had Salt + Smoke’s mac ’n’ cheese and I realized it’s so much more than that. So much more. It’s everything you want in your mouth at the same exact time.”
6. Classic Burger
Mac’s Local Eats
“The burger at Mac's is the complete deal. Starting with the lightest, fluffiest bun that's toasted not in butter, but lard. The combination makes them the perfect vehicle for the main event: the patties. Taking dry aged ground beef and smashing the hell out of it may seem sacrilegious, but doing so actually allows the Maillard reaction to do its best work, and creates the most unctuous burger patty you've ever had, with the crispiest edges ever. And that's it. Simplicity reigns supreme with this burger.”
7. Pide
Balkan Treat box
“There is nothing else like a pide from Balkan. I dream about it. I’ll drive to the moon to get one”
“When I tried the Balkan pide filled with Stellar Hog brisket, I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I fell in love, and every single thing I’ve had from BTB since has been incredible.”
8. Hot Salami
Gioia’s
“If there is a St Louis sandwich, it would have to be the Hot Salami from Gioia’s. It’s where I take out-of-towners when I want to show off.”
“My perfect Saturday involves eating a hot salami sandwich on garlic cheese bread, taking a nap, then eating the other half and crashing on the couch.”
9. Fried Chicken
Grace Meat + Three
“I want to hug Ricky all the time because of his fried chicken.”
“I never saw myself as the kind of guy who could eat a bucket of chicken, but when it comes to Grace’s fried chicken, I just can’t stop. Especially the hot chicken.”
10. Roman Gnocco
Louie
“It’s like if you never had met your grandma and you went to your fiancée’s for Christmas and her NoNna came and gave you a big long hug with a huge smile on her face...and in that instant you learned what it is to have a grandma”
Honorable mentions: Pizza Rossa [Union Loafers], RIP fries [Mac’s], Nduja Pizza [Pastaria], Flying PIg [Guerrilla Street Food], Classic Pizza [Union Loafers]
Nick Bognar's Omakase
St. Louis, MO
Finally, quality sushi arrives in St. Louis.
I’ll dedicate a full post to Nippon Tei and Ramen Tei’s revival in the near future, but if you’re somehow unaware: Nick Bognar, the son of Nippon Tei’s owners, returned from some time working outside of St. Louis, namely at the sushi powerhouse Uchiko in Austin, to let everyone know that it is possible to get great sushi in St. Louis.
erRecently, Nick debuted his first omakase dinner—basically ‘chef’s choice’—at Ramen Tei’s 8-person bar. I managed to wrangle a seat at one of the two seatings, mostly thanks to my superior dishwashing abilities. I’ve done a handful of omakases around the world, including one at the way-too-sterile-but-Michelin-starred Shinji by Kanesaka in Singapore. Almost every one I’ve eaten has been almost eerily quiet, almost to the point of it being awkward. I can only stare at a sushi master slicing fish for so long.
Luckily, Nick’s version of the omakase matched his personality: fun, bold, and, most importantly, not strictly Japanese. Bognar’s mom is Thai, and he wove Southeast Asian flavors and techniques throughout. More modern omakases are popping up around the globe, but in a traditional Japanese one like Shinji, you’re just getting the best possible fish with the best sushi rice, and that’s about it. It has its place, but honestly, it can be a boring meal (for a hefty sum) .The hamachi crudo with naam pla, Thai kosho, and candied garlic was the opposite of boring and easily the dish of the night—a night that included A5 Wagyu, two types of uni, and otoro—with a level of complexity that you don’t often see with sashimi. This should become a permanent fixture on the Nippon Tei menu. If it’s not, feel free to harass Nick.
Nick will be hosting guest sushi chef David Yoshitomo of Omaha, Nebraska on October 22nd, and tickets are available for it at https://www.exploretock.com/yoshitomo, then Uchiko’s head sushi chef, Yoni Lang, in November (TBD). You can see the full omakase tasting below.
MADAI
aged 4 days, shiso, lime
Hirame
aged 1 week, Thai kosho
Kinmedai
aged 4 days
Boquerones & avocado nigiri
Hamachi Crudo
Thai kosho, naam pla, candied garlic, peanuts, shallot
stuffed chicken wing
deboned, stuffed with shrimp farce, topped with black truffle
Kanpachi
aged 1.5 weeks, sour cherry ume
Shima aji
aged 1.5 weeks, negidare, ginger aroshigane
Salmon 3 ways
cooked collar, sashimi with gojiberry zu, marinated ikura
bluefin chutoro
candied garlic
72 hour short rib nigiri
King trumpet mushroom nigiri
Peruvian uni
Maitake mushroom tempura
fried, aged parmesan, black truffle
Santa barbara uni
Nodoguro
aged 4 days, candied quinoa
Bluefin otoro nigiri
a5 wagyu beef
uni butter
tamago
Nudo House
Hey people who don’t live in the county:
Wah, Nudo House is far away from you. I don’t care. You guys get to live right next to places like Grace, Loafers, Vista Ramen, and so on. I feel no pity for you. Let the county have some nice things too, you goons.
Mai Lee’s Qui Tran made the genius move to open Nudo in Creve Coeur—home to iconic restaurants like Chipotle, Jimmy John’s, and Potbelly’s. We needed him desperately.
Tran and executive chef, Marie-Anne Velasco, didn’t set out to specifically make a ramen shop; it’s a noodle (Nudo…get it?) house, offering a few ramen variations, Mai Lee’s classic pho, plus spring rolls, crab rangoon, banh mi, and more.
“But it’s hot out now! I don’t want ramen or pho!”
Once again, stop whining. Do you have any idea how hot it gets in Japan in the summer? Do you think Vietnam has a chilly winter? No. They eat ramen and pho year round because it’s delicious and they’re not babies. Hamburgers are also hot, but I don’t see you avoiding those.
All of Nudo’s ramen bases are solid—at this point, easily the best in St. Louis in my mind. The Classic Nudo and O’Miso Spicy both use the delicious, fatty pork tonkotsu broth, while the Hebrew Hammer uses a schmaltz-laden chicken broth. The biggest surprise on the whole menu is the Shroomed Out vegetarian ramen. Somehow, someway, they’ve created a vegetarian dish that almost tastes meatier than the actual meat stocks. Since you can customize anything, I typically do the Shroomed Out, make it spicy, add extra egg and pork. YOLO.
Specials change daily (so follow them on social media), but range from classics like Japanese curry to cheffy stoner food, like a ramen scotch egg or hot braised chicken with scallion waffles. Nudo also sells booze and, more importantly, two soft-serve ice creams. The flavors are always changing, but my god, they are good. If you skip out on the soft-serve, we’re not friends.
On to the dishes!
Shroomed out ramen
Vegetarian mushroom-based ramen
Classic Ramen
Pork tonkotsu
Miso Spicy Ramen
Spicy pork & miso tonkotsu
Hebrew Hammer
Chicken ramen
Pho Shizzle
Pho with all the meats.
Pho Dip
Banh mi with pho beef, dipping pho
Grace Meat & Three
Anyone who had eaten Rick Lewis’ food before Southern knew he was capable of far more than just serving up fried chicken and a few sandwiches (remember when he got a James Beard nomination for Quincy Street Bistro?), so when he announced he was going off on his own to open Grace Meat & Three, the food community exploded with glee.
Ricky hasn’t let us down. Grace is destined to become a St. Louis classic, joining the pantheon of places like Pappy’s, Crown Candy, Mai Lee, and so on. The menu has something for everyone, including vegetarians, healthy eaters, and the morbidly obese—plus a full bar.
My favorites so far: the fried chicken, obviously, the sweet and smoky pulled pork Wednesday special, the caveman-sized turkey leg, and what I would say are the best pork ribs in St. Louis (fight me).
Everything has been good, though. I can honestly say in my dozen plus visits to Grace, I haven’t been disappointed, and I don’t think you will be either. Trust your gut and trust Ricky.
Fried chicken livers
mostarda, pickled onions, herbs
Deviled eggs
country ham, everything spice, herbs
Bloody mary
turkey leg
sweet tea brine, herb sauce
Pork ribs
st. louis style Duroc pork ribs, raw sugar glaze, bread & butter pickles
Pulled pork
whiskey sauce, Alabama white BBQ sauce, crispy shallots
Assorted sides
mac & cheese, sweet potatoes, braised greens
Chicken Tenders
catfish sandwich
baby greens, green tomato relish, comeback sauce
Burger
beer cheese, onions, pickles, comeback sauce
Grilled Bologna Sandwich
pimento cheese, fried egg, mustard
Whole chicken
Roast beef
mushrooms, bone marrow gravy, crispy leeks
Bolyard's Biscuits & Gravy
There is a shortage of good weekend breakfast options in St. Louis.
That’s started to change with restaurants like Vista, Sardella, and Reeds opening for brunch, along with breakfast-specific spots like The Clover and The Bee and Yolklore, but judging by the wait times—and constantly complaining to me, as if I have the power to make places open earlier—more are needed.
Good news for those of you who live close to Bolyard’s Meat and Provisions in Maplewood: starting on January 6th, the shop will be serving biscuits and gravy on Saturdays from 10 AM until noon. (I’m not normally the one to give you the scoop on something new, but I’ve been incessantly nagging them to add breakfast options, so I’m making an exception)
If you haven’t had their biscuits before, you haven’t really lived. We took a family vote this past Thanksgiving and it was unanimous that these are the best in town (don’t @ me), made with house rendered lard and local buttermilk. You can get them hot and ready for dinner every Tuesday night with their roasted chicken or on Thursday evening’s smoke-outs. Shop veterans also know you can buy them frozen (almost) any day.
So, combine these monster, fluffy buttermilk biscuits with a gravy made out of the shop’s moderately famous breakfast sausage, and you have yourself a dish that will warm your bitter, breakfast craving soul. Tell the family that you’re just running out to get gas and eat alone in peace.
Along with the B&G, they’ll also be offering a weekly biscuit sandwich, ranging from your basic egg/ham/cheese to more exotic creations, like a chorizo patty with cheddar and scallions, or BBQ pork with apple butter. With the culinary minds of Chris Bolyard (Sidney Street Cafe), Alex Welsch (Porter Road Butcher), and Bob Komanetsky (Completely Sauced food truck), some special breakfast sammies are inevitable.
Also, while you’re here: if you haven’t made Bolyard’s part of your lunch sandwich rotation, you’re a fool.
Biscuits & gravy
Balkan Treat Box
Balkan Treat Box is the best food truck in St. Louis. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say the food coming out of this is more flavorful and exciting than the food you find at a lot of restaurants in town.
There are really two ways you can treat a food truck: you can use it as a mobile food delivery service (scoop-and-serve; you’re bringing pre-cooked food to people) or you can use it as a mobile restaurant, which is what owners Loryn and Edo Nalic do.
What you get when you order from their truck is truly freshly made as you wait. Well, besides the airy somun bread (pita’s Bosnian cousin), which is baked fresh in the truck’s goddamn wood-fired oven just before service.
The cevapi (che-va-pee) are like mini-sausages made of a simple mix of ground beef mixed with onion and garlic, finished on the goddamn wood-fired grill—yes, they have a grill and oven inside of their truck, and yes, it’s about 1,000 degrees in there during the summer. Don’t be deceived by the simplicity; I can’t stop eating this hamburger stick sandwich, served with kajmak (kind of like a cream cheese) and ajvar (a mildly spicy roasted red pepper relish).
For the döner kebab—one of the world’s great drunk foods—Loryn makes seasoned chicken thighs with aleppo, urfa, fresh herbs, sumac, and more before stacking them into a meat mountain and letting them slowly roast on a spit until their edges are crispy. The end result, a mix of crunchy, juicy chicken on somun with cabbage salad, lettuce, tomato, and a yogurt-based doner sauce, is one of the best sandwiches in town.
Now let’s talk about my two favorite things that Balkan makes: the pide (pee-day) and the lahmacun (la-ma-june).
Imagine a Turkish man making a calzone, but getting distracted in the middle. That’s the pide. It’s like an enormous boat filled with filled with seasoned meat, Turkish cheese, kajmak, and ajvar, and it’s also one of the world’s great drunk foods.
You probably won’t finish it in one seating unless you’re sharing or an impressive eater, but if you’re sharing this, you’re dumb. Make your friend/coworker/spouse/child order their own. Take your leftovers and eat them for breakfast the next day.
Side note: Once in a blue moon, Balkan Treat Box teams up with the Stellar Hog for The Stellar Pide, where they use chef Alex Cupp’s smoked brisket. It’s one of the best things I ate in 2017.
Finally, the lahmacun. This is almost as rare as The Stellar Pide, but I’m hoping this post and your vocal support will change things.
Loryn rolls out the somun dough until flattened, like a gigantic Bosnian tortilla, tops it with spiced ground lamb, then fires it in the oven. Once it’s cooked, it’s topped with lemon, parsley salad, cabbage, herbs, tomato, and the doner yogurt sauce, then rolled up (or not—your call…but get it rolled). I cannot accurately express to you how delicious it is, but I can tell you that when I bite into it, this is what I hear.
Hunt down Balkan Treat Box. Give them your money. Help them open a restaurant. Make St. Louis a better place. Thank you.
SOmun Bread
Cevapi
somun bread, onion, spicy pepper, cabbage salad
Chicken Doner
On the spit
Chicken Doner
Served as a sandwich
Beef pide
Lahmacun
the love of my life
Mac's Local Eats
I’ve been hesitant to share anything with you fine people about Mac’s Local Eats because, frankly, I don’t want you there.
To be clear, I’m writing this because I need you to go to support it and the bar that houses it, Tamm Avenue Grill, because I alone cannot cover their rent—but I’d really rather you stay away. I want to keep this gem hidden. I am Gollum, it is my precious. You are Frodo (or, more likely, the annoying Samwise Gamgee).
Like all human beings with fine taste and a zest for life, I am particularly fond of the ultra-smashed patty that one finds at establishments like Carl’s Drive-In and literally nowhere else. However, I am not a patient man, and with only 16 seats and a following 50 years in the making, getting a seat at Carl’s can be difficult. I am also afraid of the women who work there; I’m still recovering from the glare I received when I made the foolish mistake of asking for my check before they were ready to give it to me.
Contrary to the name of this website, I am not much of a drinker, which has kept me out of Tamm Avenue Grill for years. I was told by a chef friend that Tamm was a place for cooks to get ‘Tammered’ after their shift and, frankly, was not my kind of place. He was right.
Perhaps it was due to my notable absence in the bar, but the decision was made to remodel Tamm just under a year ago by co-owner Bob Brazell (Byrd & Barrel), and with that came the addition of a kitchen: Mac’s Local Eats.
There’s seating in the bar area, as well as a more family-friendly side room.
Mac’s is literally a hole in the wall of Tamm.
Chris “Mac” McKenzie has been known in the St. Louis food world for years thanks to his CSA, Mac’s Local Buys. If Mac signs off on something, I trust that it’s high quality.
The Mac’s menu changes a bit week to week, but two things remain constant: the smashed burgers and the fries. And, honestly, these smashed burgers are far better than one would expect or need in a Dogtown dive bar. Here comes a bold, controversial statement: I like the burgers at Mac’s more than the burgers at Carl’s.
Don’t @ me. Mac is dry-aging entire cows and making the patties out of them. Let that sink it. That is insanity.
There’s always a beef burger (obviously), pork burger, and veggie burger. I personally have not had the veggie patty yet, but all reports so far are that it gets an A+. The beef and pork are just perfection, plus they’re crispy AF.
My favorites so far:
The Pimento: two beef patties. Pimento cheese. Fried green tomato. Bread and butter pickles.
The Dirty Sancho: two pork patties. Pepper jack cheese. Shaved onions. Pickled jalapenos. Chipotle-garlic aioli.
The Captain: It’s just a normal cheeseburger, except for the fact that it’s four patties tall.
The patties are only 2 oz each, so plan accordingly. If you’re feeling hungry, I’d do a double cheeseburger, then a double of of one of the specialty burgers.
You’re also going to want an order of their fries—and if you really want the full experience, you’re going to get them as ‘Rip fries’ (tossed with Red Hot Riplets seasoning) and a side of their bacon onion dip.
So there. I’ve revealed my secret to you. Mac’s Local Eats is a treasure that will forever change your burger eating in St. Louis. Now go, and make sure to report back what you think.
The Captain
Pie Hard
“We wanted to dedicate our truck to the greatest hero this nation has ever known: John McClane,” chef/owner Michael Pastor tells me. “The documentary about his actions, Die Hard, has been my favorite film since the day it came out—almost exactly 9 months after I was born.”
I tried to explain to Pastor that Die Hard was fictional, to which he responded like so:
Every time his partner, Megan Keefe, myself, or the other cooks got on the truck, he’d yell “Welcome to the party, pal!” It was funny at first, but concerning after the first few times.
Anyway, he sees the Pie Hard pizza truck as a mobile tribute to McClane—it’s American-made, it’s saving people from hunger, and it’s pretty much unstoppable (it is a modified shipping container with a full-sized wood fired pizza oven in it, after all). He says the revelation came about a few years ago when he was re-watching the film doc and McClane tells the police supervisor, “No fucking shit, lady. Does it sound like I’m ordering a pizza?!”
“When he said that, I thought, whoa, John McClane likes pizza too?”
Pastor spent a year developing his recipes, especially the crust. What ultimately won out was a slow, cold fermentation process using Antimo Caputo flour from Naples, Italy—the result is a bubbly, chewy dough, in the same vein as Pastaria and Pizzeoli here in town.
The menu has classics, like The Queen (a.k.a. a margherita) and The Vladi, a vodka sauce and meatball pie dedicated to Vladi Tarsenko, but it also has a good amount of more inventive pizzas, as well.
The Veggie, for instance, has a celery root puree based, that is topped with cherry tomatoes, preserved lemon, grana padano, and an infused honey. The Al Pastor uses a Mexican mole for its sauce, plus a queso fresco mix, slivers of pickled pineapple, and shavings of pork belly. With their reasonable prices ($9-12), it’s easy to get a couple pies to share—or, in my case, a couple pies to eat on your own.
As my night on the truck came to an end, I found myself getting more and more uncomfortable with Pastor’s obsession with Bruce Willis John McClane lines. Every few pizzas, he’d blurt out, “I’m gonna fuckin’ cook you, and I’m gonna fuckin’ eat you!”
I opted to hop off the truck with my pizzas and join local legend Mike Emerson for rosé and…uh, 5 pizzas. The last thing I heard Pastor say before I was out of earshot was, “happy trails, Hans!”
Pie Hard pizza food truck gets two thumbs up from this guy.
The Cuban
mustard bechamel, white cheddar, porchetta, prosciutto, house pickles, salsa verde
Veggie Special
The Queen
classic red sauce, mozzarella, basil
The Vladi
vodka sauce, mozzarella, meatball, pickled shallot, rosemary
Salt + Smoke's Brisket
There are a lot of things to like about Salt + Smoke, like owner Tom Schmidt's sultry voice and his Leonidas beard, dense as Germany's Black Forest, dark as night. And chef/pitmaster Haley Riley, who not only cooks meat that can't be beat, but once won a Jon Snow lookalike contest at West County mall. But what I like the most about Salt + Smoke is the brisket.
I've written about their burnt end t-ravs before, but I've never written about the brisket itself.
Brisket is my smoked meat of choice. I would pick fall-apart-tender, Texas style brisket over ribs and pulled pork any day. At the time of writing, there are three places that can quash my qraving for it in St. Louis: Salt + Smoke (obviously), Big Baby Q, and The Stellar Hog.
Before being smoked over white oak for the better part of the day, the brisket is rubbed with a simple salt and freshly ground (pre-ground stuff is for people that don't like flavor) pepper mix. Then it goes in. That's it.
The result is brisket that manages to stay together and fall apart all at the same time. It's smoky. The bark is crunchy. It's juicy, like a meat Starburst. I love it.
You can get the brisket either as a platter, which comes with two sides (I'd probably get the garlic and herb fries and white cheddar cracker mac) and a cheddar-bacon popover, or you can get it as a sandwich with burnt end mayo and tobacco onions.
When you order it, you'll get the option of lean, fatty, or burnt ends. You should order the lean—that leaves more of the good stuff for me. Oh, and I don't want to forget: Salt + Smoke has William Larue Weller bourbon in right now. Treat yo' self.
Brisket
Taqueria Durango's Torta Ahogada
I do my best not to do the standard Food Network reaction when I eat something delicious (you know the one: they take a bite, then simultaneously roll their eyes and their head in a circular motion, then say something like “Yummo!” or “holy moly, this is money!”), but there are times it just happens.
Most recently, it was brought on by the torta ahogada from Taqueria Durango, a football-sized behemoth, drowned in sauce. Which makes sense if you speak Spanish, because a tortais a Mexican sandwich and ahogada means drowned. If you really want to impress the staff, say, “Uno torta ahogada, s’il vous plaît!”
I went years without trying this sandwich, choosing instead to focus my eating on Durango’s tacos—which are some of the best in St. Louis—because I am a dumb person. Ian Froeb has talked about this sandwich for as long as I can remember, and I just ignored him. Sorry, Froeb. You were on the money with this yummo sandwich.
The oversized bolillo roll is sliced in half, filled with carnitas and grilled onions, then doused with a smoky and mildly spicy red chile sauce. This is clearly a knife and fork sandwich (does that negate it from being a sandwich? Discuss below). It reminds me of something I’d come up with late at night, drunk, using all my leftovers from the previous night’s tacos—but much better. The sauce is so good, and the way the outside of the bread soaks that up, while the inside picks up all the char and pork fat from the carnitas and onions…it shivers me timbers.
This is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in St. Louis. Maybe even in the top 10. It is a little spicy, so if you’re a weakling, order something else.
Torta Ahogada
carnitas, onions
Union Loafers' Pizza
Hey Spencer, didn't you already write about Union Loafers' pizza? I sure did. Back in the old days (this summer), Loafers only made pizza once a week. If you were busy on a Wednesday, you missed out. Lines were long. Life was hard. Then pizza stopped all together. Ted giveth and Ted taketh away.
After installing a new walk-in fridge and perfecting his already perfect pizza, Teddy Wilson and BMan have re-launched pizza night—and now it's Wednesday through Saturday. Lemme walk you through this menu.
You're going to start off with BMan's Italian salad. It's the only non-pizza item on the dinner menu, so you don't have much of a choice, but it's worth your dollars. This is another salad from the inventor of their lunch time Little Gem. Have faith. BMan loads it up with garbanzo beans, fennel, olives, pickled peppers, fior di latte (no provel ropes, sorry), and a delightful vinaigrette. Pair that with some bubbles or beer.
On to the star of this show: the pizza. They're wonderful. They're enormous. I've yet to have a single person tell me they didn't enjoy them, and this includes other chefs who own pizza joints. I'll go so far as to say that if you don't like the pizza at Union Loafers, you're probably better off eating Lunchables at home.
You have six options for pizza, excluding any potential specials. First up, the Classic: tomato, mozzarella, basil & extra virgin olive oil. It's a classic for a reason.
Next, the lactose-intolerance friendly Marinara. Tomato, garlic, basil, oregano & chili oil. It's like a more grown up version of their pizza rossa, available at lunch.
Pepperoni, the love of my life, is paired with Calabrian chilis, tomato sauce and mozzarella. 9 times out of 10, this is the pizza I'm getting. LOOK AT IT.
The sausage, a simple herbs, tomato & mozzarella pie.
For the more adventurous, try the mushroom. Pickled shallots, Tuliptree Creamery's Foxglove, mozzarella & oregano. Foxglove is a funky, intense cheese, so if you can't handle that, don't order this. Weakling.
Last, but certainly not least, is the spinach pizza. This is probably my second favorite, behind the pep. Maybe it's my favorite. I don't know. As I look at this picture, I think it's my favorite again. Thick cut bacon, garlic, lemon, parmesan, mozz, and a mountain of spinach.
Go eat it. You can call it in and take it to go, you can sit there, whatever. I don't care what you do, as long as it involves Union Loafers pizza.
italian salad
classic pizza
marinara pizza
pepperoni pizza
Sausage pizza
Mushroom pizza
spinach & bacon pizza
Nathaniel Reid Bakery
Goodies Shelf at Nathaniel Reid Bakery
Entremet Case at Nathaniel Reid Bakery
I went to France for 2 weeks in 2006, which makes me uniquely qualified to discuss lespâtisseries viennoises, entremets, and baguettes. I see myself as a cross between Mary Berry and Pierre Hermé. When I heard Nathaniel Reid Bakery opened in Kirkwood, I wanted to make sure he knew who he was dealing with. I showed up looking Parisian as hell in my black and white striped shirt, tight black pants, and smug attitude. I peppered the staff with important questions, like where is your beurre from and do you have free samples. I don't want to brag, but they know me there now.
I've gone to Nathaniel Reid Bakery (NRB) close to 10 times now, I think. "Stop eating so much sugar and butter," my doctor would say if I had health insurance. But I do this for you people. I needed to try as much as I could so I could soundly recommend items. My altruistic, selfless nature never ceases to impress me.
When you walk in, before you even look at the display case, head to the far wall, a Willy Wonka-esque treasure trove of chocolates, nougats, caramels, meringues, chocolate pearls. The last two are perfect for prettying up that pathetic attempt at a cake you just made for your kid/spouse. My two favorite jarred goodies: the Spiced Caramel Spread and the strawberry-poppy flower jam. I'd never had poppy flower before (I hoped it would give some sort of opium buzz, but all I got was hyperglycemia), which I found out taste just like cotton candy. And I secretly love cotton candy.
If you'll kindly turn your head to the right, you'll see the display case. This is what you came here for. Colors. Glazes. Shapes. Ooh. NRB typically has 6 to 8 types of macarons in their case, each with a pronounced flavor but a texture that's fairly different than La Patisserie Chouquette's. I don't know if one is more French than the other because I didn't eat any macarons in France during that trip a decade ago. I would happily eat both, Nathaniel's in my left hand, Chouquette's in my right.
The viennoiserie options vary depending on the time of day, what's in season, etc. What I'm trying to say is that you might see a picture of an apple pastry today, but next week, when you go, it'll be pear. And you'll inevitably tweet at me about it, whining. You snooze, you lose.
If you're a NRB rookie, grab an assortment of breakfast pastries. Below, you'll see their pecan cinnamon roll, a croissant, and the love of my life: their twice baked almond-chocolate croissant. The croissant, decked out with dark chocolate, is sliced open and slathered with almond paste, topped with more chocolate, then baked until extra crispy. I like to bite into it while staring directly into Nathaniel's eyes and tell him "good bake" a la Paul Hollywood.
I've been watching a lot of Great British Bake Off lately.
NRB has delicious sandwiches (and salads, but salads are too healthy) available for lunch, with my favorite being the roast beef. It's a simple sandwich, the kind I'd buy on my morning stroll back when I was living in France for those two weeks, made with tender roast beef, slivers of red onion, a slice of cheese, and horseradish aioli. Though, to be honest, it's the bread that wins me over: brioche (aka butter) bread with a sprinkling of shaved parmesan on top. Molto Bene! as the French say.
Where NRB really shines is with their entremets, also known as "them fancy cakes" if you're from St. Charles. Reid's creations are incredible, undoubtedly some of the most delicious entremets I've ever had. And the detail work that goes into ever component is mind-boggling. Here's the recipe for the Amber cake below. Are you going to attempt that at home? I didn't think so.
He's so good, in fact, that the Nathaniel Reid you see in the picture below isn't even him. That's 6 feet of spun sugar. He's that good.
Almost all of the entremets are available as full sized cakes, or in miniature form. The Amber is all about pecans and caramel. For something more tropical, the tangerine-colored Polynesia is a banana-passion fruit cream and coconut mousse cake. Not pictured, because I ate it without thinking, is the Sambava, a mix of chocolate, hazelnut and vanilla. My current favorite, being that I'm addicted to pistachio, is the Jarmo pistachio cake with a berry gelée and pistachio cream.
Before we go, I have to give special kudos to Señor Reid, for he has done the impossible. He has taken up the challenge of improving the much maligned, oft ignored fruit cake and turning it into something people actually want to eat. I guess opening a bakery and having a baby in the last 4 or so months wasn't hard enough.
I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed his fruit cake, which he tells me took nearly 7 years to perfect, immensely. It doesn't feel like you're eating a spiced brick, thanks in part to a proprietary technique he developed. He soaks and candies all the the fruits and nuts himself. It's a labor of love and you can taste it.
I know it's hard to believe, but your friends and family will actually thank you for bringing it to their [Insert Holiday] party.
Jams
chocolates
macarons
breakfast pastries
Chocolate Almond croissant
Roast beef sandwich
Amber
buttery shortbread, salted caramel mousse, pecan caramel
polynesia
coconut mousse, mango and banana cream, moist almond cake
jarmo
pistachio cream, pistachio cake, strawberries, raspberries
fruitcake
Kitchen Kulture
I can't recall if it was last winter or the winter before it when I first encountered Kitchen Kulture, but I remember it like it was yesterday: I was at the Tower Grove Winter Farmers Market, contemplating if I should attempt to eat the Rebel Roots caramel apples I had just purchased on my drive home, when I turned and saw their booth. I'd followed them on social media and seen their Sump lunch menus, but I'd never managed to actually eat their food. I wandered over and perused the menu, when chef/co-owner Mike Miller and co-owner Chris Meyer offered me a sample of their Mofu Tofu Saag Paneer. I'm pretty sure my response was something along the lines of, "Why is this so good?" I sampled everything they had to offer and left with pounds and pounds of Kitchen Kulture food. Soba noodle salad, Khao Soi curry, vinaigrettes, whatever. If they were selling it, I was buying it. Weekly Kitchen Kulture purchases became part of my life.
Flash forward to summer of 2016, and Kitchen Kulture (the restaurant is known as Kounter Kulture) has moved into the former Pint Size Bakery shop off Watson. You can still find them at the weekly TG Farmers Market, of course, but the take-out only restaurant, open Monday-Friday, 4:30-9:30pm, offers a totally different menu of food cooked to order.
Kounter Kulture St. Louis
Kounter Kulture st.louis interior
Kounter Kulture st.louis mike miller
Chris Meyer Kounter Kulture St. Louis
If I'm passionate about any type of food, it's Asian food—a cuisine that continues to disappoint here in St. Louis. I've tried to explain it before, but there's this whole wide world of Asian food, ingredients, flavors, cooking techniques, etc. that just aren't being tapped into here. Mike Miller gets it. Seriously, no other chef in St. Louis has been able to grasp modern Asian flavors—particularly Southeast Asian and Japanese—like he has. And he's doing it using locally sourced produce.
On the lighter end of the spectrum, there are dishes like the White Peach and Pepper salad with a creamy miso vinaigrette and crunch coming from a sesame-togarashi brittle that shatters like sugary glass. The seasonal greens spring rolls, packed with rice noodles, cilantro, mint, and mango, come with a carrot-ginger sauce, and remind me of a meal I had just outside of the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
A Mofu tofu green curry with summer vegetables and ramen noodles gives Reeds American Table a run for their money as far as authentic curry goes—a pungent curry paste, made from scratch, mixed with coconut milk, fish sauce, and all those other funky Thai flavors delivers a Muay Thai elbow to your tongue.
ari ellis Kounter Kulture st.louis
Kounter Kulture decor st.louis
Kounter Kulture st.louis tofu curry
Kounter Kulture St. Louis spring roll
On the heartier side of the menu, there's a Korean BBQ chicken rice bowl that makes your Chipotle burrito bowl look like it's child-sized. Crunchy, spicy, and sweet, the bulgogi chicken combined with heirloom tomatoes, fresh avocado, and a lime-cilantro dressing doesn't disappoint.
People typically generalize Japanese food as healthy, but believe me, the Japanese love fried food just as much—if not more—than Americans. They just don't eat buckets of it. The ping-pong ball-sized shrimp and pork gyoza tossed in tsume—a sweet, seafoody sauce—are perfect. The braised beef gyudon bowl is equally delicious.
I could write a book on my love of okonomiyaki. These Japanese pancakes are tied with takoyaki (basically grenades made of pancake dough and octopus) for my favorite Japanese food. Kounter Kulture's is kind of like if an okonomiyaki knocked up a Korean jeon pancake. Or maybe a frittata. Possibly a Dutch Baby? It's basically a puffed up egg-based pancake stuffed with your choice of kimchi, bacon, squid, and/or mushrooms, then topped with a sweet bbq sauce and mayo. It will feed you for days.
But their buns...their buns are out of this world. If Kounter Kulture only sold buns, I'd still tell you it's one of my favorite places in St. Louis. Do you go for the pork with smoked onions, chile-mustard sauce, and jalapeno slaw? Or the tofu bun with sesame cabbage, homemade kewpie mayo, and Japanese BBQ sauce? It doesn't matter, as long as you also get the catfish bun.
If I make a "Top 10 Dishes of 2016" list, there's a 95% chance this will be own it. Togarashi-spiced catfish is fried until as crunchy as possible (without overcooking the fish!), then tucked into a bun with a shishito pepper and cherry tomato remoulade. This is one of those bites where if you don't like it, you're wrong.
Kounter Kulture st.louis kitchen
chicken salad Kounter Kulture st.louis
Kounter Kulture st.louis beef gyudon bowl
tofu bun Kounter Kulture st.louis
gyoza Kounter Kulture st.louis
catfish bun Kounter Kulture st.louis
okonomiyaki Kounter Kulture st.louis
Scenes from Companion Bakery
Behind the Scenes Companion Baking
West St. Louis Campus St. Louis, Missouri July 2016
Josh Galliano and the Companion team were nice enough to let me spend the day with them on the bakery floor at their new (41,000 square foot!) West St. Louis Campus. Being in a room full of breads baking non-stop had me so hungry—I think I ate an entire baguette on my drive home. Oh, and I didn't even steal any of the pretzel baguettes/rolls/buns/sticks when no one was looking, even though the temptation was STRONG. I just love those damn pretzels so much.
Take a look at what it takes to make a lot of bread at Companion St. Lous:
croissants Companion Bakery
deck ovens Companion Bakery
The West St. Louis Campus is also home to another Companion Cafe, so if you live or work nearby, you're in luck! They offer a full selection of their breads, pastries, and lunch items (great sandwiches and salads), plus the occasional speciality item from a test run the bakery. One of the coolest parts of that cafe is that nearly half the walls are actually glass, looking straight onto the production floor—you can watch them mix, proof, shape, and bake. I like to stand outside the window with a pad of paper and pretend to be grading them.
If you enjoy cooking classes, you should check out their Companion Teaching Kitchen schedule here. I took the pretzel making class with longtime Companion Price Barrett, and not only did I leave with like 30 pretzels (poorly shaped, ugly pretzels...but still, pretzels!), but I'm now pretty sure I could open my own pretzel store. I won't, because it's time consuming, I'm lazy, and Companion's already nailing them, but I could! Look for classes with Companion's founder, Josh Allen, and chefs Cassy Vires and Josh Galliano.
Taste
Hello Wildcats! It's been too long since I've written about Taste, Gerard Craft's CWE bar. A lot has changed since my first post: Matt Daughaday departed to open Reeds American Table, Heather Stone took over as executive chef, and my buddy Russ became the sous chef. What hasn't changed: the food and drinks are still top notch.
We came in on the Monday following one of their Tiki nights—FOMO was in full effect. I was sad I missed all the festive tiki food and drink, but the bartenders wanted to turn that frown upside down. Two tropical(ish) drinks arrived at the table, their names since forgotten [edit: Poison Cup/Lucy in Bolivia], and down the hatch they went. Two thumbs up.
Feeling guilty about not visiting Heather and Russ sooner, I ordered...well, way too much food, but that's pretty much par for the course these days. The fried cheese curds with jalapeno aioli hit the table first and damn, they were good. You might be thinking, "they're just fried cheese curds..." but believe me: I've had some truly heinous curds at restaurants in town lately.
To counteract the fried cheese dipped in mayo, I got the tomatoes and charred corn dish, pretending that I didn't see that it also had pancetta and buttermilk dressing on it. In my head, it was healthy.
I would consider Heather's beet ravioli a new Taste classic. Sliced and blanched beets are filled with an asparagus ricotta, garnished with toasted pistachios, golden beet puree, orange zest, and finished with a white balsamic gastrique. It's beautiful in every way.
Broccoli salad with bacon, roasted grapes, shiitakes, and pine nuts finished up the last of the 'healthy' dishes—vegetables are still healthy, even when they're paired with bacon/buttermilk/ricotta!
The rest of the mains were specials from the tiki night, though I wouldn't be surprised to see them end up on the regular menu. The jerk chicken was as juicy and flavorful as chicken gets, but the almost-Filipino pork belly dish was another standout: ultra tender belly, cantaloupe, and a sweet, funky sauce.
Lamb sweetbreads buffalo-style finished things off, and even being as full as I was, I crushed this dish. If they were on the regular menu, I'd get them every time.
Dessert was the Taste classic: churros with a velvet almond panna cotta. Solid, as expected. The other dessert, a goat cheesecake, was my favorite of the two. The tangy goat cheese paired with the bright lemon zest and sugar-coated blueberries gets two thumbs up from this guy.
I expect great meals from Craft's crew, and it seems like every time they deliver. Taste is just a fantastic restaurant, plain and simple, and I'm glad to see Chef Stone making it her own.
Union Loafers Pizza Night
There are a lot of things to love about Union Loafers: its bread, its lunch options, its modern-yet-classic decor, its proximity to La Patisserie Chouquette, and the adorable duo of Ted Wilson and Brian Lagerstrom (aka BMan). What I love the most is pizza night. One day, in a better world, Loafers pizza night will be every night, but for now, it's just Wednesdays. And how glorious those Wednesdays are. At 6pm, the doors fly open and the tables fill. If you're not there right at 6, whip out your phone and get in line on NoWait—because you're definitely going to be waiting. Besides pizza, your only option is alcohol and an Italian salad, which I would consider a must-order. Brian's the salad and soup whisperer, and this one—chock full of garbanzo beans, fennel, olives, and pickled peppers—proves it.
You have a choice of 5 pizzas, with prices for the classic Classic (tomato, mozz, basil) starting at $17 and running up to $25 for their spinach, garlic, lemon, bacon, and mozz pizza. Whoa, that's expensive! you're thinking to yourself right now. No, you are wrong. These pizzas are 16"+ (the same size as a Domino's/Imo's x-large) and can easily feed 2-3 people each. The first time I went, I got a single pizza for myself and ate it for almost 3 days.
Ted and BMan let me hang out during pizza night prep so I could watch the magic happen. Ted is camera shy, or possibly is in witness protection, so BMan was my focus—though that shouldn't much of a surprise, since Lagerstrom is Swedish for 'sex appeal'.
Come, let's see them in action:
After getting prep completed, BMan takes a break to listen to music, check out Instagram, and prepare his body for a three-hour pizza onslaught with a can of Perrier. This post is not sponsored by Perrier, but I wish it was. Perrier—call me.
Ted prepares the first pizza to go out. All is calm and quiet as the master gets to work. He steps back, approves of his work, and puts it in the oven. What comes out looks and smells like a pizza dream. I try to steal a piece, but Ted slaps it away with his strong, manly hands.
The crew.
Oh, and if you're going for lunch any time soon, make sure to get the chicken and rice soup and/or the rare roast beef sandwich with pickled peppers, gruyere and 'bistro sauce'.
I feel like you readers should send me cash for improving your lives so much.
