Hardshell Cafe

Here in St. Louis we're quite lucky to have a choice of Cajun eateries, where in Chicago there is one (that I can think of). Last night we were in the mood for something not too crazy and a little seafood sounded just right. Just like the Broadway Oyster Bar (see previous post), 1860's Hardshell Cafe has raw oysters, peel-n-eats and a selection of Louisianna fare. The raw oysters were fair; I think it's an eat-at-your-own-risk type of meal to have raw seafood in land-locked Missouri. However, the shrimp was quite good-better than BOB. We also supplemented our appetizers with gumbo and etoufee, both tasty. There was a sweet-like flavor in the gumbo and I had to ask our intoxicated bartender/waitress exactly what it was. "Can't tell it's a secret! Ok, it's anise." Interestingly, I would have never guessed this-I surmised it was sweet sherry. Both the etoufee and the gumbo were made with a great roux, which is something I continue to try to perfect in my home kitchen.
Unfortunately, the tap selection left me wanting more. I wanted a stout, which along with porter, is my beer of choice in the dead of winter. I first tried O'Fallon's Russian (?) Stout, which tasted like soap going down but then actually tasted like stout in the aftertaste. Not impressed with that, I mistakenly ordered Schlafly's Oatmeal Stout. Ikes. DO NOT DRINK THIS. I try to support the local microbrews, but seriously.
Hardshell is in wonderful Soulard and has these 10 foot tall Mardi Gras jesters right in the bar. They're also selling Mardi Gras shirts. Go here before Mardi Gras Saturday and actually enjoy yourself.

http://www.soularddining.com/?D=1+Home

iTAP

It's so cool to be iSOMETHING. At the International Tap House, the is where the cool factor starts and stops. Before making the ill-fated decision to go to El Maguey, we stopped in the iTAP, from a recommendation from you-know-where. We went here because of the extensive beer list-40 on tap and over 500 in the bottle-and wanted to try a brew that neither of us had tried before. We entered, made a quick circle, and left even quicker.
First, they don't serve any food. All we were looking for was a burger to soak up our new discoveries. I knew something was amiss when I saw a giant take-out pizza box on one of the bar tables. Huh? Second, the "ultra-hip lounge area" doubled as a waiting area for the restrooms. Third, and worst of all, this bar looked like it used to be a Subway. It was an end suite of another non-descript stripmall, and was sort-of triangular shaped, with windows on two edges. It was also about that size. SO WEIRD.
If you're city-fied, like myself, West of 270 might as well be that foreign country you think about visiting but once you get there, it's boring and overpriced.

http://internationaltaphouse.com/content/view/12/27/

Estoy Buscando a Bueno Mexican Restaurant

Despite my poor attempt at Spanglish, I do know me some good-or even decent-Mexican good. Although there are only about 5 Mexican people live in the greater St. Louis metro area, there is no excuse for piss-poor Mexican food every place I try. After a pointless trek out to the hinterland known as the 636 area code, and passing up a place recommended by a coworker (more on that later), and getting lost among the monotonous strip malls, I spotted a little local chain called "El Maguey" another recommendation of a coworker. Looking past the recurring theme of crappy recommendations from coworkers-these are Tim's coworkers, BTW- we continue down this disasterous road and enter.
After eating the hard shell taco, pining over lack of Mexican tap beers, fumbling through the store-bought chips and just wondering what filler was in the guac, I was left buscando-ing for another good Mexican food joint here in the Lou. In Chicago, you can find a most excellent taco at a totally ridiculously named tacqueria named "El Famous Burrito" in a sea of stripmalls, just like the ones here. And yet, there are differences among American stripmalls. Some just don't deliver the goods.
Donde esta la comida Mexicana buena? Ayudame por favor!

http://elmagueyoflongroad.com/

Ragin' Cajun

Joanie's in Soulard. Get the Cajun pizza. Save some for the next day. Don't stray too far from a bathroom. MMMMMM!

http://www.joanies.com/pizza_page.htm

What Are You, A Boa Constrictor?

Tim said that he was going on this so-called "diet" after Christmas. I mean the New Year. I mean the weekend after the New Year. January 12th and he is still having multiple beers at dinner and drifting toward entres called "shrimp and steak in cream sauce." Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I had to say something at dinner tonight. But being the non-critical fiancee that I am, I phrased it something like "Dude, shit, what about the DIET YOU WERE GOING ON?? You choose the most fattening things on the menu and then order beers [without the words Light, Ultra, or Select in it]!!" His rebuttal went something like this: Back when I WAS A BACHELOR, I would eat one huge freakin' meal and then like not eat for two days. Alas, no rebuttal from me.
Tonight we went to a neighborhood gastropup, Sage, where we had had lunch a couple of times this fall. We really like the lunch menu; we decided to try it out for dinner. The apps were good, but we were disappointed with the entre.* And for 19.95 I could have whipped up this little pasta ditty up at home for about 7 dollars. So we decided that we will skip the 20 dollar entres and probably come back for lunch. Possibly after a free Bud tour.
* Yes, entre as in singular. I am always wanting to "split something" because I don't eat all that much (not a snake) and I like to sample many different things. This drives men nuts, apparently. Since I was buying, Tim obliged.

http://www.saucemagazine.com/sage/

Pho-ck You

I'm not writing a review on Pho Grand because if you live in St. Louis and you haven't been there, your head is way up your ass.

Three things: 15.03 is the best thing on the menu, those are not replicas of the Shroud of Turin on the wall, and it's pronounced "Fuh" Grand.

http://www.phogrand.com/flash.html

Da Wurst!

I really dispise most reality cooking shows-Top Chef, whatever that wedding cake competition is called, anything with Gordon Ramsey-until this little gem of a cooking show called "Worst Cooks in America" caught my eye. The show is based on the concept that 24 people, who completely fullfil any kind of diversity requirement the Food Network puts forth for its shows, have been nominated by their loved ones, etc. The first show starts off with each of them making a signiture dish, among them triple chocolate pancakes and a can of tomato soup, and presenting it to the host/judges-some dude named Beau (not Bridges) and that Anna chick who looks like the female Guy Fieri. I about fall off my chair laughing. They spit out at least three of the dishes. Amazingly, after the commercial break, they set off to make some sort of prawn and clam soup with saffron among other expensive and ostensibly unknown ingredients. Not enough shit on fire nor tears in the first episode-but wait! the preview to next week's episode has EVERY SINGLE FEMALE CRYING as well as the token gay guy. Yes!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/worst-cooks-in-america/index.html *

*Spoiler alert if you're going to watch the first episode!

B.O.B.

"Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang!" Thus is the battle cry in Bombs Over Bagdad, Pitchfork's #1 song of the decade, (which I think was released in 1999). A lesser known B.O.B., St. Louis' Broadway Oyster Bar, was the scene of a 15 degree, outdoor dining experience for my first blog of 2010.*

Mom and Dad Unabashed Gluttons (and Drunks) were in town to kick off the New Year. My parents requested to go to the BOB, since their music is consistently good, bluesey (I use this made-up word loosely, because when I was there in November, it was bluegrass), and starts at the Old Country Buffet dining time at 6:00 PM on Saturdays. Yes, we did eat outdoors, as this was where the band was. The last time I was at the BOB before returning to the Lou, was 2003; at this time there were a couple of those tall heat lanterns spaced around a wood fence. Dining outdoors was not for the faint of heart (or at least St. Louis natives). Since that time, they added some type of plastic tarp-thing around the fence and added actual HVAC so it's basically manageable, with the exception of your feet, so wear wool socks.

We had some raw oyster shooters, which were better this time than last. Oysters are, I feel, a dining adventure, as they can be the ultimate hangover cure, when pared with horseradish and cocktail sauce. Or they can extend that hangover bathroom experience when they are just a bit past their prime. I was neither hungover nor experiencing extreme bathroom time, but the raw oysters were spot-on.
They also have fried alligator tail, which has a consistency somewhere between fried chicken and fried clams. My parents and I all had grinders (shrimp and oyster, respectfully), which is uncoated seafood in French bread, which differs from po-boys, where the meat is battered and fried, I believe. The coleslaw is uber-spicy and the chips are sweet potato.

They recently returned Dixie Brewery's Blackened Voodoo beer (bottled) to their menu; this brewery was destroyed in Katrina and is now brewed by the fine folks at Berghoff in Monroe, WI (I should check my facts here-it said "Monroe, WI" and that is the only brewery > that I know of there.)
The decor is shanty-kitsch; also don't be too fat or you won't fit into the bathroom.

www.broadwayoysterbar.com


*Twenty-ten or Two thousand-ten?