Niche

Mid-January is the start of my birthday “season” and I have been fortunate to attend quite a few new restaurants for my birthday celebrations. My pick for this year’s birthday dinner with my family was Niche at its new location in Clayton. I had been to Brasserie a couple of years ago and to Pasteria for lunch a couple of times now, in addition to a brief visit to Taste, so I wanted to finish out the Craft restaurants. Needless to say, it was worth the wait and lived up to the hype.

You have a choice of the prix fixe menu or the Chef’s Tasting Menu for a lot more. There is a little bit of overlap but I figured the five courses would be plenty and had a few more items that I recognized and really preferred.

First Course:

White Sweet Potato Soup – sage marshmallow, puffed wheat, smoke paprika, cress

(This was wonderfully filling. Perfect on a cold night.)

Second Course:

Wild Golden Tilefish – citrus, celery root, napa cabbage, onion

Third Course:

(My stepmom and I split one of each and they were kind of enough to plate them separately for us!)

Filet of Beef – fermented potatoes, turnips, muscatel, beet, lavender (Perfectly cooked – so juicy!)

Glazed Cauliflower – radishes, chive hollandaise, lemon

Fourth Course:

Pumpkin Custard – crème fraiche ice cream, pumpkin crumble

Everything was amazing and delicious as well as appropriately sized. Amazing service to go right along with the meal and it was fun to be able to watch the kitchen action while we waited.

At the end of the meal, my waiter got the staff to sign my menu too. So awesome!

Also, a few days after my birthday visit, Niche was reviewed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/dining/restaurants/reviews/four-stars-niche-sets-the-bar-for-haute-cuisine-in/article_57296e4d-a130-5495-9da3-5b438a19ac7a.html?oCampaign=email

Resources:

Niche = http://www.nichestlouis.com/