Plush Pig is recently relocated establishment, moving from the more "plush" Clayton to the "lesser plush" Rock Hill. Interestingly, it was moved right across the street from the local chain, Bandana's BBQ. Plush Pig serves...BBQ. It takes balls and a lot of faith in the chain-loving St. Louis population to think folks will make their way across Manchester Avenue to try something different.
I knew this place was here for quite some time, considering its across the street for my gym and less than two miles form work. But Friday night was the first opportunity I had to test it out. A long list of errands found me still out and about at 5:30 PM so I called the number I had looked up days before (easy to remember-the same prefix as my work and then 8888-like I ate ate ate ate too much BBQ). Oddly, I ordered brisket, no plush piggy in that but my favorite 'que meat nonetheless, as a sandwich, that came with the sauce on the side. The sandwich was pretty good. As a side, I ordered creamy slaw, which they also offer in a sweet-n-sour preparation. Also, I threw in some onion straws, which just sounded bad for you and a necessity. Super-salty and a good grease counterpart to the slaw.
The atmosphere of the Plush Pig is somewhat like a Mexican Cantina: neon beer signs in the window and hangy shit on the ceilings with a bar/carry-out counter at the end. I think carryout was the best idea for this place as it was lacking the real hole-in-the-wall feel of Arthur Bryant's (KC) or the fake hole-in-the-wall feel of Pappy's.
Sitting at the stop light at Manchester and McKnight is a real treat. Overkill of slow-roasted meats and I love every minute of it.
http://www.plushpigbbq.com/
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Boo-geddy-Boogaloo
Quick: what is a Boogaloo? Not a nonsense word, but a genre of Latin music and an accompanying dance. What is Boogaloo in Maplewood? An overcrowded yuppie bar serving what this amateur food critic will call Pan Caribbean. In the stack of purchased Groupons, this restaurant's discount was perched on top and yet every weekend it was received with a scrunched up face from That Other Person Who Would Be Eating With Me.
Before an anticipated "Evening With Harry Shearer" (we're weird), Boogaloo was really the best choice since it was #1 Not too expensive and #2 less than 10 minutes from the theatre. TOPWWBEWM gave a scrunched up face, acquiesced, and we departed for downtown Maplewood. Tim had been to this place before, but only for drinks, and thinking that bar service was its main attraction, it didn't occur to me that we would need reservations for a Friday night. We were told that it was a 45 minute wait-unless-we wanted to eat outside. Ok? It was 70 degrees. It was hard to believe that 45 minutes worth of people didn't want to eat on the deck. Our hostess was taking us to our table, did an about face, and took off. To seat someone else. We were standing next to the service area of the bar, right in everyone's way. We looked at each other and shrugged and were about to give up when she returned to seat us.
Out on the deck there were several empty tables, which led me to believe that something fishy was going on at the hostess station. Didn't matter since we had our seats. Three waiters passed us before one stopped and asked if another had helped us yet. We were not in a hurry, so I let this slide. Opening the menu, I saw that ubiquitous annoucement of "TAPAS." The TAPAS, which 10 years ago were known as "APPETIZERS" or even "STARTERS," included about 7-8 Pan-Caribbean offerings, including Jerk Wings and crawfish cakes, which we ordered. The crawfish cakes were pretty good with a basic accompaniment of remoulade, and they gave us a generous offering of 10 jerk wings, and although not spicy enough to be considered jerk, included an interesting cooling sauce of coconut somethingorother. We each ordered the Cubano sandwich, which was just mediocre-go to Luvy Duvy's (see review) or Tropicana (no review) for a much better one.
Boogaloo has an interesting martini and frozen drink list but I was already struggling to stay awake for Montgomery Burns, et al., that I decided that I needed to skip those. The scrunched up face will be happy to get a reprieve-we will not be returning-until the next non-bar Groupon purchased.
http://www.boogaloostl.com/
Before an anticipated "Evening With Harry Shearer" (we're weird), Boogaloo was really the best choice since it was #1 Not too expensive and #2 less than 10 minutes from the theatre. TOPWWBEWM gave a scrunched up face, acquiesced, and we departed for downtown Maplewood. Tim had been to this place before, but only for drinks, and thinking that bar service was its main attraction, it didn't occur to me that we would need reservations for a Friday night. We were told that it was a 45 minute wait-unless-we wanted to eat outside. Ok? It was 70 degrees. It was hard to believe that 45 minutes worth of people didn't want to eat on the deck. Our hostess was taking us to our table, did an about face, and took off. To seat someone else. We were standing next to the service area of the bar, right in everyone's way. We looked at each other and shrugged and were about to give up when she returned to seat us.
Out on the deck there were several empty tables, which led me to believe that something fishy was going on at the hostess station. Didn't matter since we had our seats. Three waiters passed us before one stopped and asked if another had helped us yet. We were not in a hurry, so I let this slide. Opening the menu, I saw that ubiquitous annoucement of "TAPAS." The TAPAS, which 10 years ago were known as "APPETIZERS" or even "STARTERS," included about 7-8 Pan-Caribbean offerings, including Jerk Wings and crawfish cakes, which we ordered. The crawfish cakes were pretty good with a basic accompaniment of remoulade, and they gave us a generous offering of 10 jerk wings, and although not spicy enough to be considered jerk, included an interesting cooling sauce of coconut somethingorother. We each ordered the Cubano sandwich, which was just mediocre-go to Luvy Duvy's (see review) or Tropicana (no review) for a much better one.
Boogaloo has an interesting martini and frozen drink list but I was already struggling to stay awake for Montgomery Burns, et al., that I decided that I needed to skip those. The scrunched up face will be happy to get a reprieve-we will not be returning-until the next non-bar Groupon purchased.
http://www.boogaloostl.com/
Sunday, November 7, 2010
House of Basement Hotel Dining
Sorry about the delay in posts, fan(s)! Delicious food was consumed in Providence and Newport, RI and Boston and after that major blow to our credit card, we've been eating in!
But
It was time to venture out again. After a fun (to me) and very boring and long (to Tim) fondue dinner at home on Friday night, Saturday, I made reservations at Lumiere Place's House of Savoy, thanks to a Groupon purchased a few months ago. Lumiere Place is a newish casino with a really sweet looking Four Seasons attached. The actual Lumiere Place HOTEL is not part of this new complex but a 30 year old converted Embassy Suites that connects to the casino complex via skywalk. We entered the casino and looked through all of the restaurants (see Burger Bar review, June), and finally found a sign pointing us all the way to the basement of the hotel. Surprisingly, this place was almost full at our arrival, and by the time we left, there was a wait to be seated. House of Savoy almost certainly is a former Family Table-esque establishment, complete with mirrored support beams and strange light fixtures. They tried to mask this by using the mirrors as a place to display the wine list but that only: 1) drew attention to the mirror and 2)confirmed the cheap feel of a basement restaurant.
We started out with an antipasti platter which after being announced by our waiter with a "Woo-hoo Antipasti!" had a good selection of meats and a poor selection of cheeses. The cheeses all tasted EXACTLY the same-somewhere in the swiss consistency-and no hard, aged, or molded cheese for variety. They offered us bread service, which we accepted, and then after waiting about 10 minutes for, asked for again. The bread came with tapenade and bruschetta, which unfortunately, were probably the best parts of this meal, given that it was complimentary. We split a salad with goat cheese and pine nuts, also pretty good.
I decided to stick to pasta since Family Table doesn't scream "Steak House" and the steaks were ringing in in the 40 dollar range. I ordered carbonara, which is hard to screw up and Tim had lasagna. The carbonara wasn't screwed up, tasted exactly as it should, not innovative but consistent. Tim's "lasagna" came out as papperdelle noodles in a bolognese sauce, which prompted me to ask for a menu to make sure he was given the correct dish. He had been-the Lasagna Matta was described as "baked crazy lasagna in bolognese sauce"-to which I explained that apparently, papperdelle, which you can find in any grocery store, is "crazy" (matta is Italian for madman.) Tim just wanted some regular old lasagna.
The bonus on this Groupon was that it included a 10 dollar bonus to the upstairs bar AND we were given a 10 dollar bonus to blow at the casino afterward*. We went upstairs to find that bar, which is right smack in the middle of the atrium. Tim felt as though he was on a work trip, drinking free booze in a hotel lobby. We skywalked it back over to the casino, dropped the 10 dollars in 10 minutes in a 25 cent slot machine and home we went. There were enough "mattas" patronizing the House of Savoy, they won't need us coming back. Which is good.
*Great entertainment, watching Missourians at a casino. Wow.
http://www.lumiereplace.com/house-of-savoy.aspx
But
It was time to venture out again. After a fun (to me) and very boring and long (to Tim) fondue dinner at home on Friday night, Saturday, I made reservations at Lumiere Place's House of Savoy, thanks to a Groupon purchased a few months ago. Lumiere Place is a newish casino with a really sweet looking Four Seasons attached. The actual Lumiere Place HOTEL is not part of this new complex but a 30 year old converted Embassy Suites that connects to the casino complex via skywalk. We entered the casino and looked through all of the restaurants (see Burger Bar review, June), and finally found a sign pointing us all the way to the basement of the hotel. Surprisingly, this place was almost full at our arrival, and by the time we left, there was a wait to be seated. House of Savoy almost certainly is a former Family Table-esque establishment, complete with mirrored support beams and strange light fixtures. They tried to mask this by using the mirrors as a place to display the wine list but that only: 1) drew attention to the mirror and 2)confirmed the cheap feel of a basement restaurant.
We started out with an antipasti platter which after being announced by our waiter with a "Woo-hoo Antipasti!" had a good selection of meats and a poor selection of cheeses. The cheeses all tasted EXACTLY the same-somewhere in the swiss consistency-and no hard, aged, or molded cheese for variety. They offered us bread service, which we accepted, and then after waiting about 10 minutes for, asked for again. The bread came with tapenade and bruschetta, which unfortunately, were probably the best parts of this meal, given that it was complimentary. We split a salad with goat cheese and pine nuts, also pretty good.
I decided to stick to pasta since Family Table doesn't scream "Steak House" and the steaks were ringing in in the 40 dollar range. I ordered carbonara, which is hard to screw up and Tim had lasagna. The carbonara wasn't screwed up, tasted exactly as it should, not innovative but consistent. Tim's "lasagna" came out as papperdelle noodles in a bolognese sauce, which prompted me to ask for a menu to make sure he was given the correct dish. He had been-the Lasagna Matta was described as "baked crazy lasagna in bolognese sauce"-to which I explained that apparently, papperdelle, which you can find in any grocery store, is "crazy" (matta is Italian for madman.) Tim just wanted some regular old lasagna.
The bonus on this Groupon was that it included a 10 dollar bonus to the upstairs bar AND we were given a 10 dollar bonus to blow at the casino afterward*. We went upstairs to find that bar, which is right smack in the middle of the atrium. Tim felt as though he was on a work trip, drinking free booze in a hotel lobby. We skywalked it back over to the casino, dropped the 10 dollars in 10 minutes in a 25 cent slot machine and home we went. There were enough "mattas" patronizing the House of Savoy, they won't need us coming back. Which is good.
*Great entertainment, watching Missourians at a casino. Wow.
http://www.lumiereplace.com/house-of-savoy.aspx
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