mister's Profile
Brocatos Eat Dat- East New Orleans
I got turned on to this place by a review in Gambit, so that would be a good place for more detail. Simply put, the food was fantastic and reasonably priced. I had blackened catfish smothered with shrimp etoufee. The fish was nicely crusted but still moist and the spicing of the shrimp etoufee was well balanced. After so many plates of brown stuff I appreciated the lightly sauteed vegetables on the side. My girlfriend had their special poorboy- a combo of ham, thick chunks of moist, house smoked beef, cheese, pressed like a cuban-and it was also excellent. Every plate I saw coming out of the kitchen looked awesome. This is the real deal, highly recommended.
Best Brewpub/Casual Dinner Food in Portland
I had a nice meal at Bridgeport Brewery last weekend. A bowl of chowder was top notch; hints of smoke from bacon, potatoes that hadn't been cooked to mush and good flavor from the seafood. I also had the grilled wild salmon which I enjoyed though the quinoa and sauce weren't hot enough. Excellent bread made in their inhouse bakery. As a matter of fact we'd stopped by earlier in the morning for a beer but they were only serving baked goods and coffee. The baquettes looked so good I bought one and walked down the street to browse at Powells, after which the nearby Deschutes brewery was open for lunch. We ordered a charcuterie plate to accompany the beer. The platter was quite good, but the french style bread that came with it was awful compared to the Bridgeport baquette in my knapsack, so we ended up eating that. I did prefer the beer at Deschutes.
Lamb in STL?
Why would they want to go to Sams, a company that screws their employess, when they belong to Costco?
Lambert's Cafe, repost of Springfield, Mo
The best thing one can say about Lamberts is that it's inexpensive and the portions are huge. The quality, however, is very marginal and much of the food has little flavor and tastes like it came out of a can or freezer. You know you're in trouble when the chicken fried "steak" is really breaded and deep fried hambuger. I'd be far happier with smaller portions of higher quality food. I did like the rolls, though.
Good Mexican in St. Louis
Vallesana is totally over rated imho. Hardly authentic, I suspect it gets such good press because the food is made to appeal to gringos. Bronco across the street or the restaurant in the large mex. super market is better. I did like the ice cream shop also owned by Vallesana, but I think they've shut it down.
Two Unrelated STL Food Questions
How right you are. I was taken to this place as a going away party when I moved from Boston to Stl. Someone ordered T. Rav. and I remember thinking how strange...........then I moved here and found more strange stl specialties and a pretty lame food scene. Fortunately it's gotten better in the last 20 years.
StL. New restaurant Highlander Pub
Two recommendations in two days. You must REALLY love this psuedo scottish/english in-name-only, sports bar.
St. Louis recommendations?
It stays in business the same reason other marginal places stick around-the clientele don't know any better. Including Phils with Pappys is a major insult to Pappys.
I don't think the typical visitor will find the recommendation for Goody Good, C and K very useful given they're in out of the way locations in dicey areas-definitely to be avoided at night for all but the street savvy. And for burgers, Carl's really isn't a good value.
There are a lot of good restaurants in Clayton, but many tend to be on the expensive side, at least for stl. I would consider the Plush Pig for BBQ, Cafe Napoli for italian is a decent value, Remy for med.influenced tapas, mains, wine bar is moderately priced. Blue elephant for thai will be reasonable, though I've never been there so can't tell you about the food. Avoid Barcelona which went downhill a long time ago.
Visiting St. Louis after an 8 year absence
I tried Pho Long for the first time last fri. The menu is extremely limited, about 10 soups, summer rolls and egg rolls, maybe two rice plates. No Bun (salad like noodles) and I don't think they even offer a choice of noodle for the soup. The soup was nothing special either. Friendly owners. I'd suggest Kim Son on Olive for Vietnamese for a wider selection of generally well prepared food. The Cornish Hen app. is very good, and I also like the omlet served with rice papers.
I hear that Ruchi, an indian place on Olive by 270 is a notch above the typ. rich, northern style food that dominates in stl.
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Good St. Charles, Mo. Eats?
I agree, the restaurants in st. charles aren't that good but if you from a place that doesn't have good restaurants then the not-so-good restaurants in st. charles might be better than the not-so-good restaurants from where you live.
Bosnian food in St Louis
I also heard there are bosnian restaurants in stl and some are better than others.
Bread in St.Louis MO
The state of bread isn't very good here, so just as I was forced to learn how to make pizza when I move here in 1990, I've now taken up breadmaking. Loaf bread is working out fine, but I am figuring out a way to build a steam generator for my oven to improve the hearth bread.
STL: Joey B's
Looks ordinary and more of the same to me. Big portions, lots of caloric dairy products, mostly fried apps. So what if if only got a half star, or whatever. If it appeals to you go for it and find out for yourself. It's not a major investment.
oyster bars
I don't live in LA and haven't tried a lot of oyster places in the city. I just know that the Bourbon House was disappointing, especially given the higher prices compated to Felix's. The original poster asked for the best places for oysters, not an unvetted list. IMO, preshucking and letting the oyster sit until a customer orders is unexcusable. Based on my experience I would never recommend the Bourbon House to someone specifically asking for the best oyster houses.
oyster bars
I have to disagree about Bourbon House. Last winter sitting at the bar we were served oyster that had been pre-shucked. I cringed when I saw the counterman reach underneath and retrieved them from a cookie sheet. I should have said no thanks as they did suffer. Felix across the street was much better and at least 30% less expensive. I have to question your other suggestions, list, whatever it is.
Raclette in a St. Louis restaurant
Racclette isn't a challenge. It's simply a hunk of chesse that is heated and the outside scraped off as it melts.
Great Eats-San Fernando Valley
I am glad to see so much activity about the valley. I wouldn't worry about not seeing your favorites mentioned. There are a lot of great places that are never mention because this board is VERY LA-centric. I am usually better off using my finely honed chow instincts and wandering into one of the many obscure hole in the wall places in the valley than slavishly following a recommendation for some over hyped place in LA. It's a lot more fun, too, thinking that you've just made the best discovery in the world.
Chinese food in St. Louis
Directing someone to the Eat at Joe forum in the Post to find out about chinese is a terrible recommendation. Most of the regulars are a rather unsophisticated bunch who don't even realize krab rangoon isn't chinese.
My favorite is Wei Hong on Olive, then Royal Chinese bbq. I need to try Lulu again, but I was so disappointed two years ago I've never been back. Asiana showed promise, but it's been closed the past two times I've tried to eat there. As the above post indicated there are two small dumpy places across from lulu, but they don't speak english at either and the menu is in chinese, too. I did try the place closest to the corner and it was okay but nothing special..
Raclette in a St. Louis restaurant
If we get a bit of heat wave this month you could approximate the effect by letting some provel placed on a pie tin sit out in the sun for 30 minutes.
San Francisco hound itinerary questions for St. Louis hounds.
White Castle tried breaking into CA 20 years ago in LA. They lasted less than a year. Too many other options for much better inexpensive food, they didn't stand a chance in spite of that wheel of fortune guy who had a talk show at the time pimping for them. Rather than proselytize outsiders to the merits of imos, provel, white castle, etc, st.louisans would be better off keeping it to themselves as their dirty little secret. That is unless they want to reinforce the reputation of the midwest as a culinary wasteland.
places to buy pork belly in st louis?
I am curious why you wouldn't buy from one of the asian markets. Unless you buy from a farmer, all of the markets are getting it from the same industrial packers, and I would think the asian markets would have high turnover.
STL: Review of Trattoria Marcella [long]
RL-outstanding report. Thanks for taking the time; you've set a new standard for the stl board. From your comments I assume you're not from stl, in which case you'll likely be disappointed by most italian in this town if you're expecting a creative approach and the use of seasonal ingredients. I haven't been to trat. m. for at least 5 years, but they were still doing the calamari-flash fry spinach schtick then. I think the owners are related to the slay restaurant dynasty who came up with the idea at least 15 years ago. They've gotten some seriousness mileage out of it. If you get a chance and are in KC, try Lidias for non-midwestern style italian.
STL: need many recs.
And why, pray tell, would an out of towner want to eat sushi here?
STL: need many recs.
Good thai in that stretch? you must be referring to the ONLY thai, i.e. King and I, which is mediocre at best. NO need to bother if visiting. And for mex., you must be referring to ONE place. Why not mention the name to narrow it down?
Stl-Bartolino's "osteria"
I believe this is the first italian restaurant in stl to use this term.
Does this mean provel has been banished from the kitchen and they no longer serve Toasted Ravioli, Spaghetti and Meatballs, or pre-made cracker crust pizza?
Pho Grand St. Louis Question
The martini bar is a dive in a bad way. Dark, smoky, terribly unimaginative decor and not very comfortable. Kind of reminds me of a frat house basement bar.
Give Errato wine bar a try. They also have cocktails.
STL- Thai Escargot
I am not sure I've ever seen this at one of the many thai places in LA, let alone stl. Where have you come across this dish?
St. Louis Lunch
As a non-native I'd suggest hitting O'Connels (just south of hwy 44, Kingshighway exit) for a burger, roast beef or rueben sandwich, or a take-out chinese place for a St. Paul sandwich (several blocks north of hwy 44, Jefferson exit). Crown Candy kitchen is an old time lunch counter place that might be worth while if you're coming down hwy 70. I wouldn't bother with any of the other suggestions. If you live in Boston you've had far better subs, pizza and vietnamese food.
Land of Smile Thai - St. Louis
II think it's fine is a chef wants to take liberties with a standard preparation if the results are as good or better than the original article. However, this is a pretty tall order-there is a reason why the standards are the standards-so generally it's best not to mess with it, especially since good examples of the thai standards are so difficult to find in stl. Riffing on the standards is something that makes more sense in a thaicentric place like LA where thai is so common and generally so well done, that it makes sense to experiment. This isn't the case in Stl, and I suspect it has absolutely nothing to do why bobz found smile thai's rendition weak. They're either being lazy, or more likely, trying to not offend their perception of the collective stl palate. IMHO, if one has only eaten thai in stl they wouldn't know the difference between servicable and great thai.
St. Louis - three new sushi bars
I concur about the service at Kitaro. I went with a group of 8 recently for lunch. The worst service I've ever had. It took ages to get water, which finally came with the drink order. It didn't look like the other tables were faring any better. The sushi is very average and not cheap, but they still use fake crab. My grilled sea bass with a miso glaze tasted somewhat past it's prime. The plates used for the sushi were plastic with a built in compartment for the soy-tacky. Presentation and plating of the entrees was seriously lacking in artistry, as if a gringo had put it together. I see no reason to give it another try.
