Extra Wavy

I was stoked to try another new restaurant recently, Extra Wavy, but I have to admit that I had some bittersweet emotions about it since I miss all the times I've spent at PW Pizza beer dinners and enjoyed the view from Vin de Set. Yet, I am happy that someone was able to rehab the building so that business can thrive again on Chouteau.

Extra Wavy has given the space an aquatic green theme, which feels odd, but is nice and wide open, with a huge bar. I enjoyed the Chin Music gin cocktail.

Cocktails at the bar at Extra Wavy

I knew for sure going in that I wanted items from the raw bar, so mission accomplished with oysters and Hamachi Crudo! The Crudo was almost too pretty to eat!

Raw Oysters

Hamachi Crudo

But Extra Wavy has more than just seafood and a raw bar. We worked our way through the different sections, sampling quite a few things. It definitely helps to go with friends to try something from each one!

From the First Wave section, we enjoyed the hearty Fried Polenta and Lamb Meatballs that came with a lot of grilled bread. 

Fried Polenta

Lamb Meatballs with Grilled Bread

Under the Grilled Skewers, Angie picked out the Pork Belly, which was too piggy for me, but I'm sure will be a popular item.

Pork Belly Skewer

From the Garden section, Angie also picked out a Whipped Ricotta dish with roasted black figs that I wish I could have licked the plate! (I just now realize that there is some ham in this dish that I also enjoyed.)

Whipped Ricotta with Roasted Black Figs

By this point we were plenty full, so hopefully I can make another trip back for an entree or a sandwich as they have a few burgers and even a prime rib!

For a nightcap, I was most curious about the speakeasy, Prohibition, located in the basement under Extra Wavy where the 21st Amendment Brewers Bar used to be. The theme makes sense down there, although it's a block from another popular cocktail spot. It's plenty dark and I did enjoy the design upgrades to give it the proper look and feel of a speakeasy. 

Hopefully, this spot will continue to be busy for some time!

Resources:

Extra Wavy = https://www.extrawavystl.com/

Lucy Quinn

Our ladies night pick for October was Lucy Quinn, which made me super excited to try a new restaurant! I am also happy to see that someone found good use out of the old Beast BBQ location. 

It was awesome that we had a group so I could try so many dishes, and this is a perfect spot for those who love southern cooking.

But first I want to talk about the cocktails...a sweet gin drink for me, called Delta Queen, and Patience got a show with her smoky Old Fashioned!

Delta Queen

Smoky Old Fashioned

I knew right away there were three dishes I had to have, and luckily, plenty of people to share them with. 

BBQ Shrimp was on the small side, but I wasn't worried with more food coming, and I appreciated the bread to help mop up the sauce! I was actually surprised that it didn't have much kick at all, if that is what you were expecting, but that worked out best for me.

BBQ Shrimp

Mac 'n' Cheese is just something I can't say no to and they used gnocchi noodles!! My fav!! I love that they were drowning in the cheese sauce!

Mac 'n' Cheese

But my favorite dish, was actually the Chicken Wings which were crispy and a delicious rub on the outside. This is definitely a must get dish!!

Chicken Wings

We also shared a few dishes as well.

The Roasted Cabbage was quite large and was a nice break from a traditional salad.

Roasted Cabbage

The LQ Fries were actually thick potato wedges and were well worth it. 

LQ Fries

Another friend ordered the Roasted Chicken dinner which came with spoonbread underneath. Quite the hearty meal as well.

Roasted Chicken

Oh... and somehow we found room for three desserts?!?! 

The Nana's Banana Puddin' and Salted Caramel Cheesecake were the most popular, so I was left to eat the German Chocolate Cake by myself...not exactly a southern dish, and unfortunately a little dry, but chocolate enough for me!

Nana's Banana Puddin'

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

German Chocolate Cake

I think there is something for everyone here and there is plenty of room in the dining room.

Lucy Quinn Menu

Resources:

Lucy Quinn = https://www.littlelucyquinn.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Pared Mystery wine dinner October

Since Patience had not gotten to go to either of my previous fantastic dinners by Pared's Chef Liz at Work & Leisure, she REALLY wanted to go to this one after finding out it was a "mystery" wine dinner!

No, it wasn't one of those dinners in the dark or surprise menus, although we always can dream about another "No Menu Monday". However, it was a blind wine tasting, which Shannon Behnen loves to tease us with. Patience loves to try and guess the wines, although we really had no chance guessing at this dinner. It all worked out though since the pairings went well together.

Course 1: Chicken Bulgogi Eggroll... I didn't know what to expect with this, but I'm pretty sure if you put it in an eggroll , I will eat it! Probably one of the hardiest eggrolls I have eaten.

Chicken Bulgogi Eggroll

Course 2: Wild Boar and Gnocchi...I am a huge gnocchi fan and love any pasta, especially with cheese on top. I was a little worried about finding room in my tummy for everything else if this was just the second dish!

Wild Boar and Gnocchi

Course 3: Duck Confit with Root Veg Hash...another first time for me on Duck Confit...the prettiest dish of the night!

Duck Confit with Root Veg Hash

Course 4: Lamb Shawarma with Coconut Yogurt Tzatziki... when the meat just falls right off... oh my.. what a dish! And yes I picked up the bone at the end to get all the good bits!

Lamb Shawarma with Coconut Yogurt Tzatziki

Course 5: Chai Spiced Honey and Carrot Cake...there was no chocolate involved, but probably best that it was not an intense dessert.

Chai Spiced Honey and Carrot Cake

Where's the wine? Yeah...forgot to a picture of the wine list at the very end when they were revealed. Much apologies!

Mystery Wine Dinner Menu

The best part is that I RAVED to the bartender about her "orange blossom" cocktail that she made at the first dinner and guess what lovely surprise came to me!!! If you're ever at an event there, this is the best cocktail ever...tastes just like a dreamcicle!

Orange Blossom

Chef Liz keeps out doing herself with these dinners, and Patience ALREADY wants to go to the next one, which will be a brunch! Feel free to join us by purchasing tickets from the Work & Leisure website. 

Resources:

Tenacious Eats = https://www.facebook.com/TenaciousEats

Work & Leisure = https://workandleisurestl.com/

Greek Wine dinner at Parker's Table

I admit I don't know too much about Greek wine, but I definitely love all the Mediterranean food, so it was a no brainer for me to sign up for Parker's Table monthly wine dinner.

I also knew I was in good hands when I saw my wine distributer friend, Matt!

Matt, the wine guy

The first course was called Poseidon's Salad since there were a few fish friends - octopus, calamari, and mussels included. The white wine paired with this was very light and crisp.

Poseidon's Salad

The second course was yogurt marinated chicken with olives and feta in a sumac sauce. For this course, it was paired with both a red and a white. The white had a little more body than the red! 

Chicken Souvlaki

The third course was Beef & Pork Meatballs on top of cous cous, which was paired with a bigger red Greek wine that was able to stand up to a meat dish! I was impressed! I usually think that Greek red wines are light like Pinot Noir, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Beef & Pork Meatballs

Yet, the dessert course was my favorite because the Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta with pistachio crumble and apricot jam just melted in my mouth. I didn't even miss that there wasn't any chocolate on top! This was paired with a Pistachio Cream Liqueur, so delicious!

Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta

Be sure to go to the Parker's Table website to get on their mailing list. That will let you know when the next wine dinner is coming up!

Menu

Resources:

Parker's Table = https://parkerstable.square.site/

Savage

It's BethFest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it just so happened that one of Beth's favorite restaurants was offering a ten course dinner since, sadly, the restaurant was planning to close.

Beth is a huge fan of Logan Ely and everything that was Savage. I'm so glad we were able to send it off with an amazing dinner.

Beth and Logan

Ten courses does seem like a lot, but you will see that everything was appropriately portioned. The first three courses were an amuse bouche too. On the ends are wakame bread, feta, and radish. In the middle are mushroom arancini with sorrel, surrounded by melon over camembert.

Amuse Bouche

Every dish is almost too pretty to eat. The other cool thing they did was not tell us what the courses were until the end because they wanted it to be a surprise.

Course 4 - Hamachi, Summer Greens, Fermented White Asparagus

Hamachi, Summer Greens, Fermented White Asparagus

Course 5 - Local Wheat, Eggplant, Parmesan

Local Wheat, Eggplant, Parmesan

Course 6 - Crawfish & Carrot Custard, Smoked Trout Roe, Seagrass

Crawfish & Carrot Custard, Smoked Trout Roe, Seagrass

Course 7 - Potato Dumplings, Broccoli, Maitake

Potato Dumplings, Broccoli, Maitake

Course 8 - Halibut, Sungold Tomato

Halibut, Sungold Tomato

And now for TWO dessert courses!

Course 9 - Salted Lemon Granita with Peach

Salted Lemon Granita with Peach

Course 10 - 

Raw Sugar Cake, Berries, Oatmilk, Corn

Please don't ask me to pick a favorite. Everything was amazing. All I can say is that the sauces for each were exquisite!

I admit it's hard to share food adventures to restaurants that are closing, but it's fun to have these amazing meals on record.

Resources:

Logan Ely = https://www.instagram.com/logan_ely 

Pared wine dinner July

Since the first one was so epic, I decided to go back to another Pared wine dinner! This one was focused on rosé wine pairings as the event was named "War of the Rosés" to make it extra special. 

With the rosés being from all over the world, I was blown away by the extension research that went into these pairings.

You can go back and read my post from a couple of months ago here, as I went into more depth about Chef Liz and Sommelier Shannon there: https://www.stlcheesegirl.com/2025/07/pared-wine-dinner-may.html

Names of the dishes are based on which country the rosé is from!

The first course with a Spanish theme was like a fluffy potato pancake with a small potato chip on top, that held a dollop of salted cream and caviar! Inside the "flowers" were gooseberries!

Tortilla De Patatas Y Caviar

The second course with an Italian theme was an Arancini ball filled with a creamy rice mixture and a small slice of Branzino on top. The charcoal around the plate was a nod to volcano Mount Etna!

Arancini E Branzino

The third course with a French theme was a lamb cassoulet on top of white beans and a baby endive on the side, fig on top. Definitely one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Cassoulet d'Agneau Avec Salades de Figures

The fourth course with a California theme was a pork loin mignon. I'm not a huge fan of piggy, but I could not get enough of the couscous! This was paired with one of my favorite rosés of the night - a Turley White Zinfandel!

Pork Loin Mignon

The fifth course, again with a Spanish theme, was simply a two-year Manchego cheese and charcuterie with compressed watermelon, which was quite the explosion of flavor on its own!

Queso Y Salchicha

Menu for War of the Roses

Rose lineup

Resources:

Work & Leisure = https://workandleisurestl.com/

1111 Mississippi Festivals of Italy wine dinner

I love being on everyone's email list so I know when special events come along, such as the Festivals of Italy at 1111 Mississippi. I missed the wine dinner last month, but was actually free this week to be able to try one out! This one focused on the Umbria region.

For a prix fixe, you get two wines and three courses, which was just the right amount for me! This also introduced me to wines I probably wouldn't pick for myself otherwise. This wine theme reminded me of wine dinners at Katie's Pizza and Pasta where she would feature a different region each time.

(This also made me miss the monthly PW Pizza Beer dinners that we attended for years since the hostess at 1111 Mississippi is still there.) 

The first two courses were a little heavy for summertime, but everything was delicious nonetheless.

Since there was no official pairing for the first course, a cup of Braised Lentil & Italian Sausage Soup, Patience ordered a glass of bubbles to start.

Braised Lentil & Italian Sausage Soup

The Palazzone "Terre Vineate" 2023 was light and crisp, which helped to cut through the thick, creamy sauce of the Housemade Tagliatelle covered in Pecorino & Black Truffles.

Housemade Tagliatelle with Pecorino & Black Truffle Cream

The Antinori "Bramito Della Sala" (Chardonnay) 2023, Umbria IGT, had too much oak for us, and didn't pair all that well with the Herb-Crusted Trout. The first glass paired better with this, or perhaps we just prefer a lighter-bodied white.

Herb-Crusted Trout with Cherry Tomato, Olive Relish, Farro & Spinach

No room for dessert at all!

And I'm curious to see what will be next month!

Umbria Region Menu

Resources:

1111 Mississippi = https://1111-m.com/