Niche Prix Fixe Dinner

Unfortunately, Niche has closed.

As a fan of Niche, I had signed up for their mailing list a while ago and then I started to get a weekly email detailing their new Monday night Prix Fixe Dinner. Monday night was eventually joined by Sunday night and Patience put it on our calendar.

Normally, I would say to reserve Niche for a very special occasion, but with these set three-course dinners, you have more of an incentive to go "just because". The advantage of getting these emails is that you can wait until you see a menu you know you would enjoy.

We gambled a little bit because we made a reservation long before we knew what the menu was going to be, but it all worked out in the end, and there are actually two choices for the main entree as well as three options for dessert.

Sunday Night Supper Menu

The full wine list was available and that was the hardest choice we had to make all evening!

I think this might have been the easiest-to-eat Bibb salad I've ever had. My favorite part was the egg on top with the green goddess dressing. (OK, so that's two things.)

Endive & Bibb Lettuce Salad

Patience and I both decided to order the Pan Seared Steelhead Trout.

Pan Seared Steelhead Trout

It came on top of a corn and cherry tomato succotash and Israeli couscous, one of my most favorite things to eat!

We both were eagerly looking forward to dessert and with two of us, we were able to order both of them. Of course, I pretty much devoured the gelato with chocolate sauce. I admit that I'm not a fan of vanilla anything (because it's not  chocolate), but this was wonderfully rich with bits of vanilla bean. I don't have to tell you how good the chocolate sauce was I hope.

Vanilla Gelato with Chocolate Sauce

Patience enjoyed her Tres Leches Cake, which came with caramel and spiced, whipped cream.

Tres Leches Cake

And then the cheese fairy came along (I think she was the General Manager) and gave us a couple of slices of local cheese with raspberry compote and pistachios!

Local cheese with raspberry compote and pistachios

You really don't need a reservation for a Sunday or Monday night and it made for a much quieter and slower-paced evening at the restaurant as a whole. Let's just say we were overwhelmed with the quality service since there was plenty of wait staff to go around.

I could get used to dining like this...

Resources:

Niche = http://nichestlouis.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

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/

Celebrity Chef Tour

Last month, I went to one of those “once in a lifetime” kinds of dinners that I just had to take advantage of because something like this is somewhat rare for St. Louis. The Celebrity Chef Tour came through town thanks to a couple of local chefs, Gerard Craft (Nice), Kevin Willmann (Farmhaus), and Josh Galliano (formerly of Monarch) who received James Beard nominations this year. Finally…we are on the map!

This was definitely my most expensive dinner I have ever gone to, although we got lovely parting gifts from the sponsors: a Mercedes-Benz credit card holder and a Stella Artois glass with velvet pouch. The Stella glass is SO beautiful!

The Celebrity Chef Tour is a fundraiser to benefit the James Beard Foundation, an organization that supports events and programs in the culinary world, along with the annual awards for naming top restaurants and chefs.

The dinner was held at Sidney Street Café and consisted of an eight-course meal with a top chef in charge of each course. I wondered how the courses got assigned to eat chef…did they draw straws? A different wine was paired with each course so I knew I was going to seriously have to pace myself and leave a lot of wine behind to make it through the night. The restaurant staff was just incredible keeping up with the wine pouring with each course and clearing away dishes and glasses as the night went along.

Not only were there eight courses, but the evening started off with hors dourves, including a charcuterie table. I may have tried a few different items, but I’m sure they were mostly salami and pickled vegetables. We were also served a complimentary glass of Stella Atrois after sitting down at our tables. I was seated with a gentleman who had recently graduated from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and another couple who were enjoying a birthday present.

Here are the courses along with a few notes:

1) John Shields (Philadelphia, PA): Oyster seasoned with the new spruce, spinach, and infusion of fresh seaweeds, black radish paired with Segura Heredad Brut Reserva.

Chef Shields actually got his start at Cardwell’s so he was happy to be back in St. Louis. His oyster dish had very rich, bold flavors so the sparkling wine helped cut through them.

2) Josh Galliano (St. Louis, MO): Illinois asparagus, stinging nettle cavatelli, local pecans, bottarga, purslane paired with Chase Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2012.

The white asparagus (from Freeburg, IL) was actually covered from the sun in order to get its ghostly appearance and tasted so much lighter and less earthy than regular asparagus. This helped to not overpower the wine, which actually tasted more like an overly creamy Chardonnay. I now think all asparagus should be white.

3) Gerard Craft (Nice, St. Louis, pictured at the top): Cauliflower, lamb, ramps, mint, and lemon paired with Rodney Strong Russian River Reserve Chardonnay 2009.

I wish all cauliflower side dishes could be served this way: cooked with braised lamb and served with a crispy lamb topping and a side of mint sauce. This Chardonnay was not oaky and had a crisp flavor to it but overpowered the lighter cauliflower dish.

4) Kevin Willmann (Farhaus, St. Louis, pictured on the right): Grilled wild caught Gulf Cobia filet with ramp and its belly “bacon”, golden raisin chutney, sauce soubise paired with Bethlehem Valley Chardonel 2009.

This light fish went well with the crisp wine to help mellow out the creamy sauce and chutney topping that came with it. The Chardonel is actually made from a hybrid of Missouri grapes and had a fruity finish.

5) Debbie Gold (The American Restaurant, KC): Mackerel, ramps, morels, sake miso paired with Domaine Serene “Evanstad Resrve” Pinor Noir 2007.

Besides the St. Louis chefs, I was most looking forward to Debbie’s course due to her prescense as the only female chef of the dinner. The pickled mackerel was very rich and so I was glad to have a fruity Pinot paired with it. I finally figured out that a “ramp” is a type of onion!

6) Martin Rios (Restuarnat Marin, Sante Fe): Crispey Newman Farm pork belly, roasted tenderloin, cherry-soy caramel, celery root, polenta parchment paired with Hirsh Vineyards Pinot Noir 2008.

I really enjoyed the tenderloin in this course, especially since it was cooked just right and paired very well with a drier Pinot Noir. I am sure the same could have been said for the pork by those who are fans, but I did not enjoy the fatty bite I took.

7) Alex Lee (Glen Hill Country Club, NY): Roasted Eieio Acres lamb loin and pulled shank with Moroccan spices, olives, spring turnips and radishes paired with Ethos Reserve Syrah 2008.

I learned that Alex is the former executive chef at Danielle. The lamb was delicious but there was still a hint of gaminess to it so the drier red wine was a good pairing. Since the meat was tender and soft, it didn’t exactly match up with the crunchy nuts that came with it.

8) Kevin Nashan / Robert Zugmaier (Sidney Street Café, St. Louis): Green strawberries, black sesame cake, balsamic, dill, buttermilk sorbet paired with Chateau Ste Michelle Late Harvest Riesling 2008.

This was my least favorite course since both the food and the wine were way too overpowering. The green strawberries were very tart and dessert wines are often overly sweet. Even the sorbet was too much instead of being light and palate cleansing. At this point I was ready to be done eating and drinking so I didn’t mind leaving behind some leftovers anyway.

I had definitely paced myself well with the wine but was very tired after four hours of nonstop eating and drinking. This is probably not something you’d want to do every day, but definitely a great experience.

Resources:

James Beard Foundation = http://www.jamesbeard.org/

Sidney Street Café = http://www.sidneystreetcafe.com