Cheap and Easy

Fast Eddie's Bon Air or just Fast Eddies is a nice 30 minute drive from our house to Alton, IL. Sunday was our third trip out here, but our first on a hot weather day. Their schtick is mega-cheap eats: 99 cent burgers and fries, $2.50 draughts and the tasty idea of individually priced peal-n-eats (29 cents). There are only seven items on the menu and you have to order it at the counter and burn 13 more calories to pick up the order when your number is called. Everything is better than what you'd expect for the price.

I definitely recommend the outdoor patio; it's covered so the sun is not a big deal and there are misting fans ala Six Flags to keep you cool. This is a biker mecca, but as long as you're into the small-town atmosphere, yuppies from the city [us] are welcome too. Get there early: we arrived five minutes after opening and were already the 32nd order-they were nearing 100 when we left only one hour later.

According to Alton Brown of Food Network fame, this is a "Roadhouse"-a dying breed of American diners (see YouTube video on website). I'm not sure what that all means-but I'll be back!

http://www.fasteddiesbonair.com/fr_home.cfm

They're Always Named "Tony"

Or Vinny.
Whatever the name, Italian food is loved by most, attempted by many, perfected by few. Tony's is THE place you go if you want to impress or look impressive or perhaps be in over your head with the price.

It was my duh-duh-duh 30th birthday and my dear husband wanted to surprise me with a "special dinner" that didn't include pizza or burgers. He went all out with Tony's and it really hit the mark.

Our dinner took almost 2 1/2 hours, the way most Mediterranean countrymen eat and the time alotted for most Americans to watch TV nightly. I had the pate as an appetizer, which included chicken and duck fat (i.e., foie gras), and I would say we "split" this except I kept 90% of it for myself. For my entre I had the veal trio, which included a new tuber for me: sunchokes. I just wikipedia'd this and apparently its a type of Sunflower. Interesting. The real star of the night, however, was Tim's grouper. It was the special and at a highly-rated restaurant, this is flown in daily. This fish was fresher than what we had in St. Lucia. Outstanding. To top off the 80 grams of fat I had already consumed (fugetta bout it!) I ordered the canolli for dessert complete with two kinds of cheese and what tasted like vanilla bean.

The service here should be mentioned. There were three or four staff in the dining room whose main job is to just pop up when you need them. None of our dishes arrived before our previous course was complete, but as soon as our plates were whisked away, another suit placed the next offering in front of us. Tony's also does this interesting tableside post-prep plating which involves re-warming your food over a chafer and then presenting the dish onto a new plate at your side, served with a sugar tong.

I would love to go back soon. Considering the price, I'm counting down to my 40th birthday.

http://www.saucecafe.com/tonys/

Tu Eres The Drunk One

El Borracho is an interesting take on a "taqueria" and a "cantina" with not much of either going on. Don't get me wrong: we were looking for something very basic and cheap, and El Borracho delivered. They have very few items on their menu: tacos (Gringo aka Tim style and Pancho aka my style); burritos, and quesadillas. The salsa and chips are complimentary (pretty good) and the rice and beans are meant to be ordered ala cart. At the grandparent tim we arrived, happy hour was still going on with three dollar sangria (strong) and four dollar margaritas (stronger).

The Pancho "carnitas" taco came in the style of al pastor with lots of cilantro and red onions. The Mexican rice was spicy and the refried beans tasted smoky-or should I say, loaded with bacon fat. Yum. Tim's tacos looked only fair as they were made with flour tortillas-a big no-no in my book- but it did say "Gringo" style and frankly, Tim is probably tired of eating only corn tortillas at home.

Will we go back? Probably not. The quest for the perfect Mexican restaurant continues...

http://www.elborrachostl.com/

Ol' Abner Done It Agin!

For Tim's upcoming 30th year mark, I wanted to take him to a place that featured steaks, steaks, and more steaks. Mike Shannon's is the place in St. Louis, according to itself, to see and be seen and not to mention to eat some famous steak. I made reservations (definitely recommended especially since the Cardinals played a day game on Saturday)* and off we went to spend loads of money just to find out if a 40 dollar fillet is that much better than a 18 dollar one.

The truth is, no. Tim had a fillet and I had a dry-aged strip. Tim told me half way through our dish that my meals are better (this makes me feel both good and bad-meaning I didn't necessarily have to spend 150 dollars tonight; he was referencing my New Year's meal where I purchased 2 dollar(!) fillets from Aldi and he loved them). It would have been nice if the steaks had some sort of sauce-asking for A1 seemed a bit unrefined for the price of our beef. They were just boring. They tasted as they were supposed to, just boring. Also, everything here is ala carte, which is French for "we can jack up your meal even farther when you have to pay 8 dollars each for your salad and potato."

I wanted to try a "signature cocktail;" one I had my eye on featured egg whites and various other weird things, but the waiter steered me toward the safer bet of muddled raspberries in a lemonade-flavored spirit.

Tim would like to add that the people here are hideous. At a place that is to see and be seen, our dining room was full of really ugly folks. We were in the Musial room, which is sectioned off from the main dining room, and in the main dining room, you can sit at street level along tall windows. I am kind of thinking perhaps they grouped all of the ugly folks and put them off to the side...

http://www.shannonsteak.com/

*While we were waiting for our table, "some douche who thinks he's somebody" started joking around with the Maitre'D. Apparently, this was the Reds announcer and former pitching star, Jeff Brantley. No, I have no idea who he is.

Translation: My Mother's Place for Spaghetti

Spaghetteria Mamma Mia is a lonesome little place, at the corner of Chouteau and Vandeventer in an unnamed and uninhabited section of Midtown. Wanting to beat the [three-hour late] thunderstorm warning, we arrived at precisely 5:20 PM to have the place to ourselves, save for a 50-something solo diner.

The place is not fancy, and since it sits at the corner of a angled street (Vandeventer) it's kind-of triangular in shape. We had some calamari that were under salted, but we fixed that, and also a side-salad that was pretty decent, despite the usage of Provel, which I seem to be acquiring a taste for.

Tim went for the exciting and earth-shattering "Sausage and Cheese Pizza," but of course, I had the Special, consisting of frutti di mare and a white-wine type broth served over fettucine. Nightly, SMM has three specials: a stuffed pasta, a short pasta and a long pasta.

Our waitress was a bit odd, perhaps someone who should have been working at Ed Debevic's instead of a mid-level Italian restaurant. The real icing on the cake was when she boxed my sloppy dish about two inches from Tim.

The wine list here is not anything special; definitely no sommelier on staff, just someone who probably sees what's cheap enough and puts together a hodge-podge of bottles with only about 1/3 coming from the motherland. I opted for the Sangria, which does not pair with Frutti di mare, but pairs well with my palette. It was tasty.

We went here because of my groupon; I'm not sure if we'll be back, especially since Lorenzo's was quite a bit better and at a similar price point.

http://www.spaghetteriamammamia.com/#/home