Where we are quaran-dining in October

October is Pai's birthday month so I made her pick where she wanted to eat on her birthday. Normally, we narrow down birthday picks to one of the hot, new restaurants that just opened up, but there isn't quite the same hype going on these days. Even after reviewing an article about recently opened restaurants, a lot of them were closed on Tuesday, her birthday night.

Luckily, there was a neighborhood favorite, Boogaloo, that helped fill her craving for mussels, while I ordered the jumbalaya!

Jumbalaya

Then Pai had to pick again as it was her turn for "Take Out Friday"! Again, Pai struggled with what to choose so she asked an English Tik Tok friend who felt "fish and chips" should be represented. So we ordered from one of her favorite hangouts, Nick's Pub.

Fish N Chips

Not exactly a "dining" event, but we tried a new virtual activity by joining Feast Magazine's "Virtual Oktoberfest" beer tasting. They delivered nine cans of beer and some swag so you could drink along with the brewers online. Pai and I quickly learned that we should only open a few of the beers so as to be able to enjoy all the beers at a later time.

Oktoberfest Lineup

Chatting with Cat Neville and the brewers

The Urban Chestnut "O-Katz" Oktoberfest Lager and the Six Mile Bridge German Pilsner were my favorites so far. The Public House Brewing "Giddy Goat Coffee Milk Stout" and O'Fallon Brewing's "Knotty Pretzel Beer" were Pai's favorites.

From the "new restaurant" list, I wanted to try the new O + O Pizza! Take note, the pizza is VERY thin and VERY St. Louis-style. So be prepared! We got our usual variety of Pepperoni, Sausage, and a Margherita pizza along with toasted ravioli (SO filling, must order). We also ordered two salads; a regular Italian style and Brussels Sprout slaw.

Margherita Pizza with Chopped Salad

My original plans fell through the following Friday, but luckily we live near enough delicious restaurants that I was able to order Trattoria Marcella very quickly! They are known for their plump Toasted Raviolis. 

Toasted Ravioli from Trattoria Marcella

And for the last Friday night in October (there were five of 'em!), Gioia's Deli was staying open late on weekends so we took advantage and got the world-famous "Hot Salami". 

Hot Salami and side salad

Trattoria Marcella

The week of my birthday also happened to be monthly dinner club and we went for Italian this month (my suggestion).  The reason Italian was my suggestion was so I could have an excuse to go back to Stellina Pasta Café, which I was able to persuade most of the vote to pick Stellina, but unfortunately, they have a small restaurant and they were not able to handle such a large party with only a few days notice.

The runner up wasn’t too shabby though. I believe I have been to Trattoria Marcella a couple of times already but I never tire of Italian. I had narrowed down my selection to a couple of pastas when I heard the specials so I ended up with the pecan-encusted salmon over a bed of pasta in cream sauce. While it was probably not the most healthiest dinner, I really enjoyed the salmon.

The most popular selection was the lobster risotto, also one of the specials for the night, and I was lucky enough to get leftovers from quite a few friends! The risotto was so thick and creamy, it was very filling.

One of St. Louis’ classic Italian family-style restaurants. You cannot go wrong.

Resources:

Trattoria Marcella = http://trattoriamarcella.com/