Wine Girl Wednesday at Element

I was really looking forward to having another excuse to go to Element since I have been a couple of times already. You can check out my past blog post here, back from April. With such a unique menu, I was really curious how the STLwinegirl, Angela Ortmann, was going to pair up several wines.

Wine Girl Wednesday Menu at Element

Of course, my favorite was the Blue Point Oysters with the Gruet Brut Sparkling (it's actually from New Mexico and quite affordable!).

Blue Point Oyster, Smoked Mignonette

Patience and I also dared to try the Briased Oxtail and we were both quite surprised at the rich, meaty flavor. This pared perfectly with the Guardian Cellars "Chalk Line" (a red blend!) from Washington State.

Briased Oxtail, Pickled Papaya, Grapes

We both skipped over the Braised Bacon, Watermelon, and Pig Ear so unfortunately, I didn't get the glass of Efeste Riesling from Washington State.

Braised Bacon, Watermelon, and Pig Ear

Since we were in a hurry to order our oysters, we didn't realize there was an optional "tasting board" this time around where you could taste each pairing plus an additional two more! Luckily, my friends shared some bites of the Vegetable Ash Coated Goat Cheese, which was amazing with the Muscat dessert wine.

Tasting Board

Then things started to get a little crazy. With only sharing a couple of pairings thus far, Patience and I decided to try a couple of new dishes off the menu. Unfortunately, they were out of the Ocean Cocktail (a good variety of seafood!) so instead we shared the Beets and Summer Salad small plates.

Beets

The Beets came with kale chips in a curry creme fraiche.

Summer Salad

The Summer Salad included zucchini, tomato, and carrot in a lemon peppercorn vinaigrette, which was very sweet.

While that doesn't sound too crazy, we did keep the evening going a little while longer as everyone at our table ended up ordering a different dessert on top of everything else we ate and drank thus far!

Custard with fig topping

 

Wafers with blueberries

Bread pudding with raspberries and plums

You know I was the one that ordered the chocolate dessert!

Chocolate Cake

Resources:

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com

Element = http://www.elementstl.com

Photos by Patience Scanlon and Jolena Shatzer

Element

Unfortunately, this restaurant has closed.

I had been waiting a long time to visit Element, ever since Brian Hardesty’s last restaurant, Root, closed very suddenly. There was a lot of talk that he was building something bigger and better and I can now say that it has certainly lived up to all the talk!

I’m a little late to the Element party, but I wanted to give them time to get a little established before trying it out. It was one of the few times I was nervous about attending because I was hoping it would be as good as I was hearing about from everyone else.

Luckily, my good friend Beth had the brilliant idea to make it my birthday dinner and she was willing to help me split some of the courses. When trying a new restaurant, I always want one of everything so it helps to have a teammate split the dishes with me. I also had the fortune to visit more than once already! Like most top restaurants these days, the menu will change according to what is available for each season. Even more reason to go back…

Beth and I went with all “small plates” since there were so many interesting ones that we wanted to taste. I highly recommend splitting them because even as a “side dish”, quite a few of them were large enough for two. Yet, to kick off the evening, we started with their cheese plate. The cutting board came with a mix of soft, medium, and blue cheeses, which was amazing dipped in the honey. For a change, there was enough slices of bread to cover the cheese and slices of salami and charcuterie. That probably could have been half a meal right there!

Cheese plate

My favorite “small plate” was the Spring Vegetables due to the light green goddess dressing. This would actually be a perfect side split between two with your main course. Such a beautiful plate full of colors as well.

Spring Vegetables

My second favorite easily was the Pasta Puttanesca which tasted unbelievably fresh with a sweet “sauce”. I’m afraid that might be a cold weather dish while hopefully the vegetables might still be available.

Pasta Puttanesca (front) and Cured Scallops (back)

A couple of other courses that we tried were just plated beautifully and were almost too pretty to eat. The Wild Mushrooms was a smaller side and the Cured Scallops consisted of only a thin slice of scallop, surrounded by a squid ink mousse that was just too rich and intense after the first few bites. These two were definitely “adventurous” courses.

Wild Mushrooms

We had missed the Lamb Pot Roast for the season and word has it that was their most popular dish so make note of that for next season.

A week later, I got the chance to try a couple of their seafood dishes. I started off with the Fried Oysters, which had an interesting texture of crunchy outside and squishy soft inside.

Fried Oysters

I finally tried a “large plate” of Fish Stew and this was easily another favorite. This was perfect for me because not only was it a hearty dish for our never ending cold weather, but it had all my favorite flavors. The fish was carefully laid on top so as not to overwhelm the stew, while the broth was not too spicy like a cioppino. I was impressed with the large chunks of potatoes, cabbage, and kielbasa filling the bowl.

Fish Stew

If you love modern food adventures, you definitely need to try this once.

And if you just prefer cocktails, the top floor consists of a beautiful lounge and I hope to try out the patio soon as well!

Resources:

Element = http://www.elementstl.com/