Stellina Pasta Cafe Birthday Dinner

Unfortunately, Stellina has closed.

I feel pretty lucky that I got to celebrate a friend’s birthday since this year it included a five course dinner at Stellina Pasta Café. As my second tasting, I still have yet to order off of the menu. Hehe But one of the advantages is that everything I have tasted from Stellina, has been fantastic. So I’d pretty much recommend everything at this point…

 While we waited for everyone to arrive, we started out with homemade Hummus with Olives and Peppers, served with pita bread. Both black and green olives were represented and it was fun to make sandwiches out of the ingredients.

Finally, everyone arrived so we could start our first course. I really shouldn’t criticize the latecomers too much since they brought 15+ bottles of wine along with their very own Riedel glasses. My favorites were the bubbles and the white wines but the red wines did go best with the heavy pasta, chicken, and lamb.

Anyway, we started off with Sea Scallops with Pea Purée, which is one of my favorite seafood items, and came with Pancetta and Tempura Asparagus on the side. Although, the chef was kind enough to remove the pancetta from my plate! YES! I was nervous that my scallops would taste like peas but the sauce had a real mild flavor and if anything, it helped make the scallops less fishy. And the tempura batter really helps to take the strong flavor out of the asparagus. The greens were so pretty for spring!

One of my favorite courses was the Whole Wheat Pasta with Wild Mushroom served with slices of hardened parmesan (I think). I had heard about Chef Jamey’s homemade pasta and I was thrilled to finally get to try it. I was really impressed with the light sauce and mushroom flavors that were able to improve the taste of whole wheat pasta. I loved the long, thick noodles…this would be perfect as a warm, comfort food in the middle of winter for sure.

Next up was a Pork Belly over Creamy Polenta and Mustard Sauce although once again, Chef Jamey was kind enough to spare me and served mine with chicken instead. The most interesting thing about this dish was the three different textures…the firm edges of my chicken, in a soft polenta, and then a crispy stalk of the vegetable. I enjoyed dipping every bite into the polenta to mix the flavors together!

The last course by far was my favorite, Grilled Lamb with Saffron Risotto drizzled with Demi Glace. The lamb was cooked perfectly, with it almost complete pink and tender. I actually don’t remember much about the risotto because I was so busy trying to get every little bite of meat off the bone. I guess it’s proper to pick up the lamb by the bone? My neighbors didn’t want to leave any meat behind any more than I did!

By special request, my birthday friend requested Tres Leches cake but it actually was made with four milks instead! I had never seen anything like this before since it was a sponge cake that had soaked up all the milk inside of it so every bite was very moist. If you know me, all that was missing was the chocolate sauce to drown the cake a little more. Hehe

I still hope to get back to Stellina to try a few things off of their menu as well…

Resources:

Stellina Pasta Café = http://www.stellinapasta.com/

Bistro 1130

Unfortunately, Bistro 1130 has closed.

Located in Town and Country is an upscale French restaurant that I got to try for my Dad’s birthday earlier this month. I checked out the menu a few times and had a lot of trouble deciding on what to pick out. So I went with the brute force method (again) and selected a couple of appetizers as well as a main course.

I started with the Prince Edward Island Mussels and the Lemon Scented Crab Cakes. Both appetizers were generous portions and could easily fill two people. My Dad helped me with the extra crab cake, which had a delicious Tomato Jam to go with it, but I was on my own with the large bowl of mussels. (Not that I minded at all.)

The seafood menu offers a few selections of fish served in three different manners: Bistro Style, Blackened, and En Paupiotte. After trying it that way at Demun Oyster Bar, I did not hesitate to order the scallops en paupiotte! In this style, all the vegetables, rice, and scallops are cooked together, which the manager was kind enough to cut open the paper enclosure for us after it was served. All the flavors mix together really well in this sytle...quite rich!

Nothing on the “meat” menu spoke to me but my Dad ordered the Colorado Lamb T-Bones. Even though it was a lot of work to cut the meat off the bone, it definitely was the best meal of the night due to the Chimichuri sauce.

Even though my Dad ordered a cheesecake since it was his birthday, I could not resist the chocolate mousse! So light and creamy…the French are definitely experts when it comes to desserts!

Since Bistro 1130 is a French restaurant, my Dad and I could not find our favorite Rieslings on the wine list and had to branch out a little bit. Since I’m a big fan of Cotes du Rhone, I thought I’d try a Cotes du Blanc. I still preferred to order a white wine since I ordered seafood for almost every course. It turned out to be a good pick since it was a drier wine that did not overwhelm any of my dishes. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have more wines by the glass since I would have tried a more expensive wine that way.

Resources: http://bistro1130.com/

Shameless Grounds and Anthonino’s Taverna

I finally had an excuse to go to Shameless Grounds all the way down on Sidney Street when a friend wanted to meet in the city. I had heard about their large selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes, all of which are cleverly named.

I went with The French Kiss, their version of “Salade Nicoise”. Each ingredient was served completely segregated from each other on the plate with only a little bit of lettuce in the middle. Also, instead of raw tuna, they served chunk tuna, which made the dish more affordable. I went ahead and mixed everything together on the plate and I didn’t miss all the lettuce since it just meant more tuna, egg, olives, and potatoes to help fill me up.

I wasn’t expecting my night to continue but my other friends had been planning to go to one of their favorite restaurants on The Hill, Anthonino’s Taverna, which actually has quite a bit of a Greek influence throughout their menu, even on their pizza.

We started with the Meze Platter, which worked out great so I could have several of my favorites: baba ghanoush, hummus, Greek yogurt, peppers, feta, kalamata olives, and pepperoncini with pita bread. This platter could easily be a meal for one or two.

On the list of hot appetizers, you can get a gyro plate and baked goat cheese, which sounds more Greek, but then the list of dinners and pastas all sounded Italian.

For an even bigger identity crises, my friend ordered pizza…but with gyro meat, taztziki sauce, and kalamta olives. (She substituted goat cheese for feta cheese.) I tasted a slice and it was not like anything I had tasted before in a pizza! My favorite part was the melted goat cheese in every bite. Luckily, we had picked a Chianti to help stand up to so many strong flavors at once!

Resources:

Shameless Grounds = http://shamelessgrounds.com/menu

Anthonino’s Taverna = http://www.anthoninos.com/

Broadway Oyster Bar

After looking at the menu, I knew I was going to have a problem because I really wanted to try one of everything at Broadway Oyster Bar. Luckily, my FAC friends helped out by ordering a lot of food as well. Sunday was definitely the best day to go down there since all the crowds had dissipated from the weekend activity and we had no problem finding a spot on the patio so we could enjoy the weather.

Of course I got to try a few types of oysters and I didn’t realize that you could even order some of them as “cooked”! Between a few of us, we split oysters on the half shelf, chargrilled, and fried. Each order came with six oysters and I didn’t realize how filling they could be!

I am not sure where the raw oysters were originally from, but they were quite large and for the first time, I had them with cocktail sauce. I think I like that even better than hot sauce since it added a sweet flavor.

The fried oysters had a weird texture with the crispy outside and gooey inside. The grease was too much for my stomach but using their homemade tartar sauce helped a little bit.

The best ones were the Chargrilled Oysters and that’s mainly because they came with a layer of parmesan cheese on top of them! These oysters had the most flavors with all the butter and spices in addition to the cheese.

For tradition’s sake, I ordered the crab cakes as a starter and I probably should have stopped at appetizers. The two crab cakes were about the size of my fist and were covered in a rich sauce. With very little fishy flavor, I mostly tasted the sauce. I was ready to trade a crab cake for my friend’s fish taco but he was too stuffed to even dare look at a crab cake, so I got to take it home.

I am also a huge fan of fish tacos, even though it was the typical fried tilapia, the Cajun cole slaw on top really added a kick to the taco. I just had one and by this point I was already quite full. My friend didn’t make it too far through his other fish taco since it came with a side of red beans and rice, and he had started with the Crawfish Bisque that looked fantastic as well.

Even though I was stuffed, I still had a main course to eat but I had no room for it! Even worse, I ordered the sampler so that I could taste some of everything. I only got half way through the Crawfish Etoufee, which was not too spicy but again, very filling.

I did finally get to try the sampler as leftovers a few days later and it came with Gumbo Ya Ya, Jambalaya, and Red Beans and Rice along with the Crawfish Etoufee. At this point, it was all mixed together so I’m not sure which was which.

Just be aware that all the dishes are filling and you might just want to split oysters and appetizers and call it a day. Or perhaps just split a main course along with some oysters.

Resources:

Broadway Oyster Bar = http://www.broadwayoysterbar.com/menu.html

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery

Cheese classes are back in 2012 at the Whole Foods Galleria and this month's theme featured cheeses from Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery. We got to try four different goat cheeses, and the last one was actually a whipped cream from cow's milk.

We started off with Bonne Bouche, which means "good mouthful" and it is a typical goat cheese with a pungent, gamey flavor. This was paired with roasted tomatoes and a highly acidic wine, to help cut through such a strong cheese.

Another aged cheese, Bijou, is a French-style goat cheese that was melted onto a Crostini for us, but it didn't lose any of its barnyard flavor. Another white wine with a sharp, crisp, and dry finish really helped to mellow out the cheese.

The Coupole looks like a domed brain with all its wrinkles on top and this one was much milder from the first two. This cheese was paired with a fig spread and the tangy flavor helped to calm down the flavor of the cheese as well. This cheese was paired with a red wine, which was a bit too much, and a red probably would have been better paired with one of the first two cheeses instead.

The Cremont is actually a mix of goat and cow's milk and is named for "Cream of Vermont". This cheese had a milder flavor thanks to the cow's milk mixed in and was easily my favorite since it is a double creme. This paired well with a mild red, 1912 Ventoux (France), and tasted similar to a Pinot Noir. Although, I am biased since that's my favorite red these days.

The last cheese, the Creme Fraiche, is a whipped cream that was mixed with raspberries to top. After milking the cows, the cream that rises up is separated and set aside. The cream had a smooth and sweet flavor, but definitely missing some chocolate sauce to make it an official dessert. As a dessert, this was paired well with a Crement sparkling wine.

Resources:

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery = http://www.vermontcreamery.com/

Whole Foods Galleria = http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/st-louis/

1912 Ventoux = http://www.1912-ventoux.com/en/1912-ventoux.php