PW Pizza Boulevard Dinner

Last month's PW Pizza dinner featured Boulevard Brewing from Kansas City and every time I hear their name, I think how I should take their brewery tour when I'm over there. Even though it's not that far away, I really don't know much about their beers so it was nice to sample a few.

We started with the 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat with a salad...

Grilled Zucchini salad with Tomato Basil Relish in a Balsamic Reduction

For some reason, Boulevard seems to have the hoppiest beers. Even in their "light" beers! I actually enjoyed the second "light" beer, the Boss Tom's Gold Bock, over the 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat. Not only was the Boss Tom my favorite beer of the night, it was part of the best pairing with the Roasted Garlic Shrimp Pizza, which was on my favorite Honey Wheat Crust. Unfortuantely, I didn't get a picture of it, only the piggy one...

Piggy Pizza

Of course, they paired the pork pizza with the IPA, the stronger flavors, while the Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale was paired with the Peach & Mango Tart.

Peach & Mango Tart with Lemon Grass & Vanilla Ice Cream Paired with Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

As a special treat, they also invited us downstairs to check out the 21st Street Brewer's Bar for a 2 oz sample of the Brett Saison, which was outstanding. Hopefully, that one will be available for a while...

Menu

Resources:

Boulevard Brewing = http://www.boulevard.com/

PW Pizza = http://pwpizza.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Wine Merchant Cheese Class May 2014

As a follow up to the American cheese class in April, the May version featured French cheeses, not only my favorite country for wine and cheese, but the class included my all time favorite cheese, Epoisses.

Kicking off the night were traditional light, white wines with high acid that's always a wonderful compliment to the creamier cheeses, shown in the upper right on the plate below.

The second cheese, Langres, a cow's milk cheese from the Champagne region, was even washed in a white wine to make for an easy pairing.

Once we switched over to the reds, the cheeses became richer in order to stand up to the fruity and drier wines. I learned that the cows make larger wheels in the summer, but since there is less milk in the winter, the flavor can be more concentrated.

Also for the first time, I got to try an Ossau Iraty Fermier, the largest wedge on the plate, which is a higher standard designation due to the milk coming from a single farm. This sheep's milk cheese, the richest cheeses over cow and goat, along with the Epoisses, pictured just to the left of the Osau Iraty, went fabulously with the bold Chateauneuf du Pape.

Luckily, my personal photographer attended with me this time so the menu and delicious cheeses are featured below.

French cheeses

French Cheese Class Menu

Resources:

The Wine Merchant = http://www.winemerchantltd.com

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Katie's Pizza and Pasta and Brunch

Even though I've been to Katie's several times now, I figure I should get to post about it again since Katie started up a new and separate brunch menu. Since the Rock Hill location is RIGHT up the street from my Sunday wine school, I figured this was a perfect excuse to check it out.

I appreciated that Katie's opened up at 10AM so that I wouldn't have to rush although I did have such a good time catching up with my cousins, that I still managed to be late to class. But it was worth it...

Since I had wine school, I did not partake in the bloody mary bar or bellini bar (you can choose your fruit!), but there are a lot of options. (I guess I'll have to go back?)

Speaking of a lot of options, even though it was brunch, we still managed to get a little carried away ordering appetizers for brunch. Who does that? Let's just say my goal is to try just about everything on the menu and expanding it to brunch has made it that much more challenging, which you know I'm up for!

My cousin recently moved back to St. Louis and his girlfriend has never been so I wanted to make sure they were introduced to the best of the "new" St. Louis. Yes, the one that is now a foodie capital!

We started off with a mushroom burrata, which was quickly followed up by fried artichokes. Both were delicious and could easily make the perfect breakfast or lunch with just appetizers. (Not like that would stop me!)

Mushroom Barrata

I played it safe and ordered the 3 Wood Oven Eggs (I didn't know you could cook eggs in a pizza oven!) that came with (homemade, I assume) fiama sausage, calabrese peppers, and fingerling potatoes. (My fork guard was already up apparently.)

3 Wood Oven Eggs

Patience ordered the Asparagus & Artichoke Frittata, which was my second choice. Both dishes were large and filling, especially with the potatoes.

Asparagus & Artichoke Frittata

My cousin ordered a mushroom crepe...it was adorable!

Mushroom Crepe

Again, we'll have to go back because pretty much everything looked delicious...and that is if you can ignore the pizza and pasta that are also available!

Can't wait to go back...yes, again. For this...

Squid Ink Spaghetti with seafood

Resources:

Katie's Pizza and Pasta = http://katiespizzaandpasta.com

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Annie Gunn's

As a native St. Louisan, I have driven by Annie Gunn's a countless number of times on my way to Chesterfield Mall. It wasn't until I got the chance to meet Glenn Bardgett, that I realized that I needed to make time for this West County landmark.

Looking over their history, I didn't realize the restaurant had been completely ruined by the flood of 1993 and was totally rebuilt. But that famous "piggy" Smokehouse sign is still out front!

On a Wednesday night, the restaurant was packed and I am guessing you must need a reservation for every night of the week! We were seated in the "extension" area, which looked like it could be an outdoor area if you pulled up the canvas walls. I was thankful for the addition so we could get a chance to try it. This "patio" area also was good for holding larger parties since there was a birthday party going on nearby. I think it also helped to make me feel a little more comfortable as it wasn't quite the snobby steakhouse I had feared.

Patio area or not, we still had excellent service from the moment we sat down until we left. Our server and server's assistant were teasing each other from the start, which allowed us to join in on their fun. I also must commend our server because she was very patient while having to deal with or complicated ordering and splitting.

Part of the complication comes in from the size of the wine list as well as the menu. I wasn't quite sure where to start and even though I studied the menu ahead of time, I still struggled.

I was quite overwhelmed by the wine list although most of the list are wines by the bottle. It helped to narrow it down to wines by the glass although I still needed my server's help in deciding between Riesling and Gewurztraminer. I knew this was the kind of place where I could trust my server with the wine selection, so I stopped worrying about the list.

I had messaged Annie Gunn's on Facebook ahead of time to find out if they had any fish specials and they were so kind to explain that they had several fish specials nightly, but they couldn't put them on the menu because they change so frequently. What I didn't realize was that this also applied to the appetizer selection!

Before I knew it, I had almost made a meal out of the BBQ shrimp (a little small) and several oysters to start out with. Then my friend Curt ordered their famous potato soup as well. Luckily, we all shared to give us a chance at having room for a main course.

Burger with home made potato salad

Burgers were a popular choice at the table, but the birthday boy, Curt, ordered two huge chunks of lamb chop served with VERY blue cheesy au gratin potatoes. The lamb just was pink and tender how I prefer, and the blue cheese was very much in your face, but was a great side dish pairing.

Lamb chops with blue cheese au gratin potatoes

As much as I would have loved to have order a filet or prime rib, I went with the fish special...which was actually quite special. I couldn't resist the King Salmon from Copper River, and it too melted in my mouth, served over a potato puree. Not to mention garnished with my first morels of the season. Nothing but creamy goodness all around.

King Salmon with morels

Even though that might have been one of the best pieces of salmon ever, I managed to restrain myself and ate only half of my dinner.

Since we were celebrating a birthday too, the apple pie a la mode (cinnamon ice cream at that) was another amazing dish that we probably could have made a meal out of if we hadn't shared.

If you live out west or over in St. Charles, this is a great location for a special occasion or if you're looking to enjoy a good bottle of wine. I saw a lot of stops by the hotel shuttle, so definitely a good place to impress clients or out-of-towners as well.

Resources:

Annie Gunn's = http://www.smokehousemarket.com

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Wine Merchant Cheese Class April 2014

I actually don't remember the last time I went to a Wine Merchant cheese class although I did find some blog posts from 2009. I know I would try to take a food pairing class here and there since those have always been my favorite, but my class schedule definitely had become too full the last couple of years.

Thanks to my schedule finally slowing down and a holiday weekend, I just happened to be available on the right night for their cheese class. For over a year, the cheese classes were scheduled for Saturday nights, so I jumped at the chance to take one on a Friday night again!

While at first I wasn't too excited about a "USA" themed wine and cheese class, I was happy to review the menu when I got to class and (believe it or not), I had never tasted any of the cheeses that were served tonight. I always love learning and tasting new cheeses/wine/food/etc.

Even though I hadn't been in the Clayton store for quite awhile, I recognized most of the staff and that really impressed me. They must be doing something right if employees continue to stay. My hero, cheesemonger Simon Lehrer, told me he has reached ten years!

Anyway, I didn't remember there being six tastings per class, but I did appreciate getting to try that many cheeses. Luckily, Simon didn't pour too heavy, but I did have to share some of the red wines with a friend!

1st Pairing:
2012 Melville Chardonnay Clone 76-Inox from Sta. Rita Hills, CA
Capriole Sofia, Goat cheese from Indiana

This was one of my top favorites because the crispness and acid of the wine (no oak!) really helped to cut through the creamy goat cheese. I always love that balance between the two.

2nd Pairing:
2011 Autumn Selection Viognier, from Columbia Valley, WA
Pondhopper, Goat cheese from Bend, OR

The Viognier was more floral on the nose, but had a very mellow finish, so it couldn't quite keep up with the richness and nutty, caramel flavor of the firm goat cheese, which reminded me A LOT of my favorite, Midnight Moon. This cheese definitely stands alone.

3rd Pairing:
2012 haden fig Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, OR
Jasper Hill Winnemere, Raw Cow's milk from Vermont

You know this is THE place to get Pinot Noir from in this country. This is a great example of a quaffable red wine...yes, a red wine that *I* like since it has such a fruity finish with little dryness.

Yet, it just isn't a wine that could handle the super gooey and "stinky" cheese that is very similar to one of my all time favorite cheeses: Epoisses. I learned from Simon that most cheese is made from summer milk when the grass is greener and there is more variety. Yet, this cheese was made from winter milk, that has a higher fat content and all the flavor comes from washing the rind. This rind was bathed in a lambic beer so I'm sure you can imagine how delicious those flavors added to the cheese. Let's just say I did get leftovers of this cheese from two friends.

4th Pairing:
2008 Nicholson Jones Selection Syrah from Napa Valley, CA
Cobb HIll Ascutney Mountain from Vermont

I pretty much needed a knife and fork to drink this Syrah. Of course all the "red heads" loved this wine. The rich, firm, raw cow's milk cheese just could not stand up to it. I think this and the Winnemere should have been switched.

5th Pairing:
2012 Waterbrook Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley, WA
Nettle Meadow Simply Sheep from Vermont

I was surprised to be tasting a Cabernet after the Syrah, since I could drink this wine more easily. I thought this was a pretty good pairing with the creamy sheep's milk cheese. I learned that Sheep's cheese are usually lower in acid and higher in fat.

6th Pairing:
2012 Bedrock Lorenzo's Heritage from Dry Creek Valley, CA
Roelli Dunbarton Blue, Raw Cow's milk from Wisconsin

This might be the best blue cheese I have ever tried since it is the only one I have heard of going through the cheddaring process, which prevented the blue from overpowering the wine, which actually had a fruity finish. I was quite surprised. Possibly the best pairing, but you could easily have both of these by themselves.

Again, I totally dropped the ball on taking a picture of my plate of cheeses...I have gotten quite out of practice. But next month, cheese class is on a Friday night again! Yes!

Resources:

The Wine Merchant = http://winemerchantltd.com/