Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.

Spencer 7/15/16 Spencer 7/15/16

Scenes from Sidney Street Cafe

Behind the Scenes Sidney Street Cafe

St. Louis, Missouri June 2016

Spencer 5/9/16 Spencer 5/9/16

Sidney Street Cafe: May 2016 Tasting Menu

Never have I ever...gotten the tasting menu option at Sidney Street Cafe. I am a control freak. I like to pick my food. Most restaurants have set tasting menus where you pick between two options for each course, or it's prewritten so you know what you're getting (Niche, for example, has both prix fixe and a chef's tasting). Sidney Street only offers a chef's choice tasting menu—you don't know what you're getting. Each course is a surprise, and no one gets the same thing. Share (or don't)! Try new things. You're in their hands and they're going to make sure you leave happy. It's sort of like that special massage place you went to in Thailand. Here's a look at my experience with May's tasting menu (5 courses per person x 3 of us = 15 dishes. I did not get all of these).

I've always believed that bread service at a restaurant should be something special or nothing at all. Chef Kevin Nashan obviously agrees, because their fry bread/beignets are out of this world good. Try limiting yourself to just one. You will fail.

All tasting menus start with the crudo—May's is a kombu-cured fluke (a Japanese preparation that turns the mild fish into an umami bomb) with blistered peas, pickled green strawberries, and, as odd it may sound, a white chocolate vinaigrette. The vin is more of a buttery, sweet, umami kick than biting into a bar of white chocolate.

The second round of courses includes a Spring Gnudi, complete with ramp pesto, melted leeks, egg yolk confit, lemon curd, and grilled ramp leaves. This dish confirms what I had long believed: ramps are the sexiest of the allium genus.

A plate of foie gras torchon with tandoori spiced apple, buttermilk borscht, and beet sorbet takes ingredients I normally associate with winter and heavy eating and turned it into a delicate plate appropriate for spring. Beautiful minimalist plating.

Buttery soft octopus over posole with salsa verde, Swiss chard chips, and little peppers whose name I can't remember remains a star on the menu.

Round 3 is seafood. I'm not given a taste of the smoked shrimp spring roll—rude, selfish tablemates—but previous versions of it were excellent.

The halibut plate has become Sidney Street's Spencer buzzword dish—even if the main protein was raccoon, I'd still order it thanks to uni bisque (I'm already sold), clams, squid ink, and crab. I take a few bites and realize I don't even need all the components: just give me that perfectly cooked, buttery halibut topped in that uni sauce and I will be happy. This is going into my epicurean spank bank.

Sidney Street has introduced me to many ingredients, and it was here that I fell in love with scallops close to a decade ago. Since then, I've lost interest. My love has faded. Rarely does a scallop seduce me. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...with creamed English peas, a mushroom conserva, morels galore, glazed pearl onions, and a miso jus. Yet another dish that tastes like Japan in Missouri in Spring (perhaps Nashan can open a restaurant with that theme and call it ミズーリ).A small intermezzo of blueberry mint sorbet arrives and we're off to the entree races. My plate is the rabbit porchetta, stuffed with rabbit merguez and wrapped in bacon, set over a bed of garbanzo bean ragout, morels, smoked kidneys, and a buttermilk broth. If you haven't had rabbit before, Sidney is the place to do it. It's almost like chicken...but better.

The squab & dumplings and beef cheek have been updated with the season and remain solid choices. The confit and grilled squab, accompanied by drop biscuits, citrus braised endives, and a lemongrass veloute is the most rustic of the dishes, and my least favorite of the three. I've never been much of a fan of traditional "chicken & dumplings", and found the dumpling bowl to be a little heavy and muted, especially compared to the other dishes.

If you're not doing the tasting and absolutely must eat beef, go for the cheeks instead of the steak. Pull apart tender meat over a fermented potato pancake with bone marrow vinaigrette. *Drops the mic*

I can't believe I used to be some loser who never ordered dessert. I shudder to think of all the sugar I've missed out on. The classic "Snicker Bar" and Carrot Cake haven't changed, which I won't whine about, because both are so goddamn good. The fact that I can eat the carrot cake over and over and be blown away each time should indicate just how good it is. The Zuggernaut is one helluva chef.

I hope I one day meet a woman who can satisfy me like that cake.

There's a new challenger to the Iron Throne of desserts though, it seems. As the server places a plate in front of me that looked like The Shire from Lord of the Rings, two things strike me: I am a loser for thinking of The Shire instantaneously and I am about to be eating matcha, aka green tea, aka one of my favorite things. All together, it has a black sesame butter cream, white chocolate matcha crumb, rhubarb compote, black sesame ice cream, matcha microwave cake, pickled rhubarb, and a matcha meringue.

It, like the rest of the meal, is glorious. After years of avoiding the tasting menu, that's what I'm doing from now on.

Spencer 6/18/15 Spencer 6/18/15

Sidney Street Cafe

Let's be real: there are heaps of good-to-great restaurants in St. Louis, but two stand at the top - Gerard Craft's Niche and Kevin Nashan's Sidney Street Cafe. You can argue, but you'd be wrong. If you're looking to impress, seduce, congratulate, or wallow in self pity, these are the places to do it. The dinner you see below was of the congratulatory kind - a dinner to celebrate me! I decided to leave the corporate world and make Whiskey and Soba my full-time job. I have total faith in both Nashan (and Craft), so I'm willing to be more experimental in my ordering at their restaurants. I typically avoid sweetbreads (thymus gland), but Sidney Street found one of my weaknesses: the Vietnamese bahn mi sandwich.

Sidney Street's version put smoked then fried sweetbreads over a sourdough griddle cake, then thinly sliced jalapeños, radishes, cucumber, fermented daikon, and a dill aioli on top. A few springs of cilantro - a bahn mi necessity - made their way on at the end. The sweetbreads were crunchy and delicate, a surprisingly fitting substitution for the typical sliced pork and pork pate. The crunch and smoke gave a meaty element, while the texture inside had that pate-like softness.

The veal dumplings are a menu staple, one that I thought I remembered eating long ago and not caring for. Wrong. These little dumplings pack a punch of flavor mostly thanks to their teriyaki and honey glaze, but the cilantro salsa on top gives it a bright freshness that makes it pop. With each entree comes a soup or salad, and each evening there's a special salad option. My dad opted for the special, which had pickled rhubarb and a chimichurri dressing. I only got a small bite, but the dressing was the herbaceous explosion one would expect from a chimichurri.

How the hell is a chilled pea and mint soup so good? Someone tell me? I feel like people are going to think I'm lying when I say this soup was flat out amazing (or they'll accuse me of secretly working for Nashan, as someone did previously), but I promise you I'm not.

My dad went the healthy route for his entree, ordering steamed halibut over asparagus and a lemon nage, topped with a halibut chicharron salad. Five balls of dirty farro with crawfish lined the plate. The way he hesitantly gave me only a tiny bite of just fish - no asparagus, no farro, no chicarrons - made me think he enjoyed his meal.

I was fortunate enough to get their lamb Wellington, just days before it was removed from the menu. It's a perfect example of Sidney Street taking a classic dish - Beef Wellington - and playfully spinning it into something beautiful and different.

Lamb loin topped with herbs and wrapped in puff pastry is the dish's focal point, flanked by crispy lamb sweetbreads, creamed nettles, and a few drops of some kind of intense lemon puree. The little cauldron on the right side of the dish is a Merguez meatball ragout, a dish so good that I'm salivating just thinking about it again. It's cheesy, it's meaty, it's spicy; it should be an appetizer of its own.

If I went back again tonight, I'd get the grilled quail. The tiny, adorable bird is grilled and served over harissa tossed papas bravas (fried potatoes), charred carrots, and chimichurri. It's a perfect dish for summer with its smoke and char flavors. Oh, vanilla ice cream and a chocolate chip cookie! Wrong. That ice cream is popcorn flavored, and unlike most popcorn ice creams I've had, it doesn't taste like movie theater butter/a popcorn Jelly Belly. It tastes like creamy, delicious popcorn. Get it.Dessert of the year so far for me right here, folks. I typically detest deconstructed dishes. I don't want to order tiramisu only to receive a plate of Dippin' Dots. But this...this was something special. A crumbled piece of moist, wonderful carrot cake is served with shards of crispy ginger meringue, dabs of passion fruit gel, black currants, cheesecake puree (a "holy shit" delicious ingredient), and a carrot-passion fruit sorbet.

Pastry chef Bob Zugmaier and his crew looked at what the rest of the kitchen was doing with entrees and apps, said "let's show them what we can", then dropped the mic with this.

Sidney Street Cafe

2000 Sidney St

St. Louis, MO 63104

314.771.5777

Spencer 2/16/15 Spencer 2/16/15

Sidney Street Cafe

Kevin Nashan and his team are killing it right now. Peacemaker is the hottest new restaurant in town (for good reason) and this past trip over to Sidney Street Cafe was a standout. I've written about meals there previously, but this one takes the cake for best overall, I think.

Our visit to Sidney Street came during a particularly heavy eating streak, so we went sans appetizers for the evening.

Those at the table who opted for a salad instead of the evening's soup special suffered from a severe case of order envy. While it may look like your run of the mill butternut squash soup, it certainly was not. It had been Nashanized, its flavors so intense and rich I nearly picked it up and gulped it straight out of the bowl like a ruffian. A few crunchy pepitas countered the creaminess, and an intense, slow burning spice gave it a delightful aftertaste. Almost every bowl was left bone dry.

This thing of beauty you see below is the lamb wellington, a beautiful take on what most American's think of as "that dish Gordon Ramsay makes". Lamb loin is topped with herbs before being wrapped with puff pastry and baked. The result is perfectly cooked lamb swaddled in a flaky dough, each slice resting on creamed kale and crispy lamb sweetbreads.

The dish is really more of a duo of lamb than just a wellington. The merguez meatball ragout behind was absurdly good - like I have been thinking about it for weeks good. There's something about North African spices make the lamb flavor pop. If those meatballs showed up as a Peacemaker poorboy special, I would not be disappointed. Fingers crossed.

Before I talk about this dish, I have to say that I love Sidney Street's plating. I'm not sure anyone in St. Louis is putting out prettier plates of food right now - follow them on Instagram for sneak peeks at upcoming dishes. This is the first time I can remember having a pheasant entree, but it will not be the last. Juniper cured pheasant breast can be seen on the far ends, along with braised Belgian endives, thin slices of citrus and quince celery. The stand out was easily that thing that looks like a prop from a Tim Burton movie with a bone sticking out: the crispy ballotine made of pheasant leg confit, pheasant tenderloin, citrus, and herbs.

This is the best gourmet smoked brisket in town. I wrote about it in great detail already here. Must read, must eat.

We felt too guilty and fat to get appetizers, but apparently not too guilty to go for dessert.

Our first choice was a classic: the [symple_highlight color="blue"]dark chocolate turtle brownie[/symple_highlight] served with pecan brittle, vanilla ice cream and, by special request, some chocolate sauce. Intensely chocolatey in the best way.

I pushed for the seasonal [symple_highlight color="blue"]Blood Orange[/symple_highlight] dessert and won, of course. Like a blood orange, the dish hovered between sweet and tart. Down the center of the plate you can see a twisting block of very sweet white chocolate ganache, flanked by pistachio crumble, cranberry sorbet, and all things citrus. It came with a Gran Marnier creme brûlée, served separately, which happened to be my favorite component of the dessert. A normal creme brûlée does nothing for me, but add a flavored liquor and I'm all in.

As I said at the start, this was a memorable meal at Sidney Street from a taste perspective - everything was delicious. The kitchen was firing on all cylinders. I got the brisket myself, but I would have been happy getting any of the other entrees we ordered. I tend to go through obsessive phases with my eating; for weeks at a time I'll go to the same place over and over until I'm ready to move on. Earlier this year, that place was Niche. After this meal? It's Sidney Street. I'm watching the menu like a hawk, just waiting to see something so tantalizing I can no longer resist the temptation.

My return is imminent.

Sidney Street Cafe

2000 Sidney St

St. Louis, MO 63104

314.771.5777

Spencer 2/9/15 Spencer 2/9/15

The Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co

You would think that Kevin Nashan was giving away lobsters for free at The Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co. judging by the amount of people waiting. Even the NoWait app seems to be perpetually stuck at 60+ minutes.

Nashan's flagship restaurant, Sidney Street Cafe, has long been one of St. Louis' culinary jewels. It, along with Gerard Craft's Niche, is probably St. Louis' best shot at a coveted James Beard Award. When it was announced that he was opening a casual eatery specializing in coastal - both Gulf and East - cuisine, the hype train shot off at full speed. I ate there one of the first nights it was open and while I put up a post on it, I didn't write much. Like any new restaurant, kinks were still being worked out, so I vowed to come back some months later and do a proper write up.

I didn't take many interior shots this time, so I recommend you check out the previous post if you're interested. Peacemaker's interior is maybe my favorite in town. It's bright and beachy with pops of color, my favorite of which come from the photographs of the fisherman.

The menu and utensils come in a bucket; drinks come in colorful mason jars. The whole restaurant has a playful vibe.

I tried their namesake cocktail, which was basically a margarita with beer in it too. Nothin' wrong with that.

I'd heard repeatedly that their nightly crudo specials were worth ordering, and after having a pretty stunning fluke crudo at Sidney Street a few weeks before, I didn't doubt that. The evening's special was an albacore tuna with jalapeños and a sauce that I've since forgotten. It was very good. Top notch fish with a little heat always works for me.

I'm still recovering mentally from an oyster-related food poisoning in 2011. I've had them a couple times since, but I always get Larry David neurotic when I eat them, just sitting up in bed...waiting. My unwavering trust in Nashan for all things food pushed me to give their oysters a go. The waitress recommended their Freeland Creek oysters and, after tossing it back, knew she was so right. The oysters were the best I've had since that fateful 2011 day. Bright and briny. Game on, oysters. I'm back.

I had steamers on my first trip ever to Boston and have been obsessed since. They're simply steamed littleneck clams served in broth with some bread. They've been quickly consumed during both Peacemaker trips.

The other plate you'll see below are the fried green tomatoes, crunchy and deliciously tart. Dipped into the tangy remoulade, they can compete with any french fry or chip. It was one of those dishes that is good enough that I contemplated shoving all three into my mouth at once to avoid having to share.

Fried Green Tomatoes at Peacemaker Lobster and Crab

We didn't get the lobster roll this trip, but I can assure you it is the buttery sandwich you desire. Instead, we opted for the Lobster Frito Pie, which sounds like a high-dea (as in an idea you get when you're high). You may be surprised to learn there are no Fritos in here; no, my friend, it's much better than that. They take the Fritos, smash them to bits, then roll crispy chicharrones in the Frito powder. Those Frito-chicharrones are then topped with a tomato-based bean chili filled with big hunks of lobster, then smashed back into the empty Frito bag. The chili itself was more tomatoey than I normally go for, but it's a really fun dish.

If you happen to be a corndog aficionado, you'll surely want a taste of this housemade beef & pork dog dipped in a fluffy corndog batter.

So far, this is my favorite item at Peacemaker: the [symple_highlight color="blue"]smoked brisket poorboy[/symple_highlight]. It's really similar to the smoked brisket entree they have a Sidney Street right now, but the meat's rub is different. It doesn't seem to have that same level of seasoning as Sidney Street's, but since it's in a sandwich rather than standing alone, it makes sense. You get a peppery taste from the meat combined with this fantastic horseradish aioli on it - my god, I'm getting so hungry right now. You have to get this next time you're there if you're a meat eater.

I think it's safe to say that Nashan has created another Benton Park staple with The Peacemaker. Top notch food, attentive service, and a fun atmosphere. I can't wait to get back over.

The Peacemaker Lobster and Crab Co.

1831 Sidney Street

St. Louis, MO

314.772.8858