Sunday, March 22, 2020

Vom Fass Raclette Class

While helping to close down Larder and Cupboard, my friend Cindy's store at the end of 2019, we reminisced about our favorite classes that were held there.

My favorite class has to be the "Raclette Class", where scraping melted raclette from a fancy cheese-heating machine was the grand finale. See: https://www.stlcheesegirl.com/2016/05/fondue-class-at-larder-and-cupboard.html

Cindy immediately perked up and shared that Vom Fass, her Swedish retail next door neighbor, was hosting a raclette class at the end of February! We both signed up immediately!

Vom Fass
Since it's a lot of work, Vom Fass only holds these classes a couple of times a years. (They could probably make a mint doing it once a month!) Heads up...next one is rumored to be in November.

If you love cheese, even half as much as I do, this is an awesome experience.

The store is closed at night to make room for three large, round tables, with a hot plate in the center of each one. Just below the cooking surface for the meats are rows of small squares to melt your cheese. Vom Fass perfectly cut aged and young swiss slices to be placed on the squares so the meats and cheese all get hot together before they are combined on your plate.

Table spread with meats cooking in the middle...
The table is also covered with various toppings too...bacon, ham, pineapple, corn, gherkins pickles, black olives, garlic, and bread. And you can have a small potato as well.

Before...
I made sure to cut up the potato first so when the cheese was melted, I could smother the potato as well as the cooked meats I picked out.

And after! Meat, cheese, mushroom, and tomatoes covered in cheese!
In addition to the slices of beer, tomatoes, garlic, and mushrooms were my favorite items to be topped by cheese.

The $65 also covers drinks... we started off with some rose bubbles to clear the palatte, and bottles of both red and white wine poured by the staff throughout the night!

This is a great social event as you have lots of time to chit chat with your table mates while the meat cooks and you can see how others are adding toppings to their cheese.

And somehow there is always room for dessert! The owner's husband made these beautiful panna cottas himself!
Panna Cotta
You can check for upcoming classes at Vom Fass (hopefully things will be back to normal come May) here: https://www.vomfassusa.com/blogs/events

Resources:

Vom Fass = https://www.vomfassusa.com/blogs/stores/st-louis

Larder and Cupboard = https://www.instagram.com/larder_cupboard/

Pictures by Patience Scanlon

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Kitchen Conservatory with Nico Shumpert

Normally I don't take cooking classes, much less fancy cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory, but over the holiday season, we decided to treat ourselves to signing up for one of Chef Marianne Moore's classes - with cocktails to boot.

Cocktails R Go stirred up the drinks and the class was appropriately called "Booze and Bites"!

While the cocktails were a smash, unfortunately, Chef Marianne was not available to teach the class.

--record scratch--

This isn't the first time I failed to get Chef Marianne to cook for us.

Instead, we got the opportunity to meet Nico Shumpert... an "up and comer" in the St. Louis scene.

Chef Nico Shumpert
We got a front row seat for his culinary show... delicious food and great stories! I hope you catch him around town, although he mostly does private cheffing these days.

Anyway, here are some of our boozy bites...

I told Nico to go easy on the spice for the Spicy Cannellini Bean and Prosciutto Flatbread with Gin and Tonic Quick Pickles. I could have eaten a whole tray of these babies.

Spicy Cannellini Bean and Prosciutto Flatbread with Gin and Tonic Quick Pickles
Of course it was paired with "The Best Gin and Tonic" made from local product Pinckney Bend gin and Pinckey Bend tonic syrup! (That's where the pink comes from.)

Goat cheese with a BOOZY tomato jam...what the what??

Sure enough, 1/4 cup dry gin was mixed into the jam!

Crostini with Whipped Goat Cheese and Boozy Tomato Jam
Another favorite for me was the Blini with Gin Cured Salmon, Crispy Capers, and Dill Creme Fraiche.
Blini with Gin Cured Salmon, Crispy Capers, and Dill Creme Fraiche
Blini's remind me of brunch and with brunch, a French 75 is well paired with this!

More goat cheese was used to hold together the Apricot Truffles with Toasted Pistachios.

Goat Cheese and Apricot Truffles with Toasted Pistachios
Another full flavored Spicy Garlic Prawns with Warm Baguettes and Charred Lemon

Spicy Garlic Prawns with Warm Baguettes and Charred Lemon
The night was rounded out with a Vesper, also known as a James Bond Martini. (Shaken, not stirred.)

Cocktail Menu
And if kitchen gadgets is your bag, you're going to love all the items for sale at Kitchen Conservatory too!

Resources:

Kitchen Conservatory = https://www.kitchenconservatory.com/

Nico Shumpert = https://nicoshumpert.com/

Marianne Moore = https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannemoore/

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Bulrush

"Wow," Patience said. And that was just the first thing we ate...the Loaded Cornbread.

Loaded Cornbread
"God damn delicious," said Beth, in summary.

Let's just say Bulrush exceeded my expectations.

Fun  Cocktail Menu Cover!
My birthday kept rolling right along and this is another top restaurant that you should try this year. Oh, by the way, we were only sitting at the bar with the limited menu and that was amazing on its own.

The cockatil menu is quite extensive though, with a lot of seats around three sides the bar. I highly recommend going during the week to get a spot.

Cocktail Menu
Beautiful cocktails

Pai's Manhattan
The bar's food menu is "shown" on the wall.

Bar menu
The Venison Burgers were soft and tender, so we ended up ordering two orders of these.

Venison Sliders
When I saw "Bread & Pickles", I thought they meant "slices" of pickle, but it actually consisted of a variety of pickled apples, beets, and a couple of other vegetables.

Bread & Pickles
All the items were a dense collection of flavors, with many layers, and I was surprised to feel full at the end.

And when you share small plates, that means there is room to try BOTH desserts!

Pawpaw Bread tasted more like a dense carrot cake.

Pawpaw Bread
The Acorn Macarons just melted in your mouth. Oh my! I would have sworn it was chocolate.

Acorn Macarons
Hopefully someday I will get the chance to try the full menu, where you get to sit at a bar in front of the chefs, but it is pricy.

And before you go...it's tradition to get your picture taken in front of the colorful, artsy wall!

Beth, Pai, and I
Make sure you put this restaurant on your list for this year! I have no doubt the menu will be seasonal, so be sure to hurry and go for each season.

Resources:

Bulrush = http://bulrushstl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

PW Pizza Cigar City Brewing

Patience is a huge fan of Cigar City Brewing from Tampa, Florida, so it was random luck that they were picked to kick off the 2020 PW Pizza Beer dinner series!

As per usual, the first course was my favorite since it was the lightest beer of the night. The Florida Cracker is not some kind of slur, but a reference to the colonial-era settlers and the crack of their whips. Regardless, this Belgian style white ale had a lot of flavor. The canjun shrimp had a little bit of kick, but luckily there was plenty of cheesy grits to cool off with.

Cajun Shrimp & Cheesy Grits
The Four Pocket Pizza was a reference to the four pockets that you'll find on a guayabera shirt, the quentessential shirt you'll find a Cuban man wearing when you think of Cuba. I also learned that with four pockets and two hands, you'll be able to carry a six pack!

The tropical theme carried onto the pizza, which had pineapple and four pockets worth of cheese. (A little on the greasy side with nothing to soak it up, unfortunately.) The Guayabera Citra Pale Ale was another winning beer for me since the beer was actually not too hoppy.

Four Pocket Pizza
I love the name, Jai Alai, for the next beer (an IPA) since I remember my parents used to go and watch the game and gamble on the players many years ago. (I won't say how many!) While my tablemates raved about how mild the flavor was, I got nothing but hops. This was the best pairing since the large amounts of BBQ pork matched the flavor well.

Pilota Pizza
I was not too thrilled that a Double IPA, the Florida Man, was saved for the dessert course. At least the hoppiness cut through the sweetness, but I'd rather have the sweetness any day. Florida Man definitely had the most fun label.

Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding
Yet, the best beer for Patience, an imperial stout, served as the bonus beer down in the 21st street bar. So at least she got to drink a pint of it, and I would definitely recommend it if you love those big beers.

Menu
Here's hoping someday we can go and visit this brewery in person!

Resources:


Cigar City Brewing = https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/