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

Jeffrey Moll on Amaro

Here’s what I know about amaro: it’s Italian, and Randolfi’s master mixologist, Jeffrey Moll, likes loves it.

That’s it.

I asked Moll to give me the run down on 5 of his favorite amari so I can add them to my bar and impress my friends, and now you can too. Or you could just go over to Randolfi’s, pull up a seat at the bar, and learn something from the master himself. Plus, his name fall cocktail menu just arrived, and it is immense. [Randolfi’s has since closed, but you can still find Jeffrey slangin’ drinks around town]

Averna Amaro

“This amaro was my very first experience with amaro and certainly one of the more recognizable brands. It’s definitely on the sweet side in the spectrum of amari. I get a big hit of rich cola and bitter orange from it. Because it’s one of the more sweet, thick, and ‘chewy’ amari, it’s really nice neat as as an after dinner libation, much like a port wine. It really opens up with a generous amount of soda water and I strongly recommend replacing the sweet vermouth in your next Manhattan—with Averna, it’s known as a Black Manhattan.”

Luxardo Amaro

“This is the amaro that made me fall in love with amari for the first time. I went to Taste with my friend Seth, who was running the bar at MEDIAnoche at the time. I saw it on the shelf and asked for a pour. Right out of the gate, I got a ton of black pepper on the nose. My tasting notes consisted of black pepper, menthol, and cinnamon, if you look a little deeper. I begged Seth to pick up a bottle for the bar at work and it remained a staple throughout MEDIAnoche, Little Country Gentleman, Good Pie 2.0 and currently at Randolfi’s. It has made its way into several drinks and I found that it lends itself best to mezcal drinks, champagne cocktails, and drinks with a healthy measure of oloroso or P.X. sherry. I recommend this amaro neat or over ice. If you throw any sort of bubbles at it, make sure you do it with tonic, or as a spritz with a dry cava and a touch of soda water, garnished with some mint sprigs.”

Amaro Sibilia

“I would call this my “Amaro Graduation Exam”. It’s nothing terribly extreme, but it’s an amaro that’s not for everyone. It’s very dry, very bitter and very expensive. It’s finished with honey from Mount Sibillini, so you’re provided a small window to the local flora where it’s produced.This is the one that I had to try the hardest to find its nuances. Its aroma is very fragrant and floral. At first the taste is dry and bitter gentiane. That way fresh churned earth smells, it’s that. The honey is the hard one to find if you don’t know it’s in there, but once you do, you get it every time. If you can break this one down, you can break pretty much any other amaro you come across. I often use this amaro as a way to put sweeter cocktails in check. Aside from that, my opinion it to drink it neat or over ice, but it does work really nicely with big scotches like Lagavulin 16 and with nocino.”

Lazzaroni Amaro

“I don’t have any sort of romantic story to offer for this amaro. It came into our market and I really enjoy the rest of Lazzaroni’s lineup, especially their amaretto, so I picked this one up for the restaurant bar. Lately, this is the amaro I am drinking the most of at home. Aromatically, it is similar to Cynar, Zucca, or Amaro Sfumato: smokey veg. The taste is spot on for a dark chocolate peppermint patty. At work, this amaro has only made it’s way into one cocktail called “May All Your Days Be Gold” (I’m a bit of a Sparklehorse fan), but at home, I am drinking this as a 3:2 amaro to soda water over ice. I can guarantee that it will find it’s way into at least a few hot chocolates.”

Fernet Amaro

“People who don’t usually drink amaro are usually pretty taken back by fernet. The fernet that most of us are familiar with is Fernet Branca. I often describe it as tasting like Christmas tree-flavored Listerine. Fernets are a special subcategory of amaro. They are much drier, more bitter, and extremely mentholated. Fernets are nothing to trifled with, but they’re nothing that deserves to be feared. I can tell you that in the case of Fernet Branca, I have had three regionally different versions.

The one we get here is my least favorite because of its extreme nature. I have had this same brand from Europe and Argentina and the differences are night and day. The latter two in comparison to our American version are a lot more amiable. They’re still dry, bitter and mentholated, but to a lesser extent, so you get more of the bitter herbs and aren’t overwhelmed like ours. THIS is why I love Lazzaroni’s Fernet so much more. Its just easier to drink and a great introductory fernet-style amaro. I often use this to make Fanciullis and to settle my stomach after I’ve over-eaten. I recommend this one over ice to mute a little of its intensity—definitely with an equal part of soda water and a lemon or orange peel expressed across it.”

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.