Stone Turtle

Since it's "small business shopping" time of year, I also love to encourage folks to "eat local" and find those small niche places in your neighborhood. (Stone Turtle is actually located in Dogtown.) It is perfect for a Friday night dinner when you don't want to cook after a long week.

I almost hate to give up this little secret, but Stone Turtle had a lot of nice surprises.

First off, let's talk about the wall of bourbon! All the cocktail people need to check it out! You know Patience started her night off with a smoked bourbon cocktail, while I stuck with my favorite gin.

Smoked Bourbon Cocktail

Second, one of my all time favorite food people, Maz (formerly of Momo's and Flaco's Cocina fame, which the latter will always have a special place in my heart) is a server there! 

We just sat at the bar and had excellent service there. It was already pretty crowded by 6pm, so be sure to make a reservation.

Patience wanted to start off with an order of Garlic Herb Fried Cheese Curds, because...cheese. The bowl was overflowing!

Garlic Herb Fried Cheese Curds

I kept it light, ordering the Mushroom Gnocchi with spinach and goat cheese, along with a side of Sauteed Broccolini.

Mushroom Gnocchi

Sauteed Broccolini

Patience went heavy with the Denver Lamb Ribs, which came with a side of napa slaw and crispy fries.

Denver Lamb Ribs

We were smart and intentionally saved some leftovers so we could finish the night with dessert. One scoop of Serendipity ice cream did the trick. (Chocolate Peanut Butter for me, of course, and Salted Caramel Swirl for Pai.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream

Salted Caramel Swirl

Secret shared. But please save me a spot at the bar.

Resources:

Stone Turtle = https://stoneturtlestl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Original J's

Now I'm a huge Mike Radolph fan (moment of silence for Randolphi's), but it was by accident that we ended up at Original J's a couple of weekends ago. What a great place to fall into!!

I was unsure about TexMex AND BBQ in the same place, but that just means twice as tasty!

We were heading down Forsyth to go to Wine and Cheese Place for boozy gifts (shop local!) and were trying to come up with places to eat that weren't pricey Clayton restaurants. Right as we were about to go under Forest Park Parkway, there was a new place calling to us!

Patience had a hankerin' for Chips and Guac, so total score there. This is some DAMN GOOD Guacamole. There has to be some kind of secret spice in there that makes you want more. It was hard to share.

We had a hell of a time trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. Tacos? Bowls? Or just a big plate of meat!?!?!

We conquered and divided...

I chose the two tacos option since I could get brisket tacos! BBQ + TexMex! (Comes with a slaw on the side.)

Two Brisket tacos

Julia got a meat bowl (brisket as well), which comes with rice and veggies in it. (Sorry about the blurred picture.)

Brisket Bowl

Patience thought about a big meat plate, but then a hamburger special in front of the register caught her eye and I got half! (That's a side of cheesy hominy with chips.) Check out that queso oozing off the burger...

Hamburger Special

The wood paneling and checkered tablecloths, not to mention excellent service, really makes you feel at home too.

I hope we "stumble" accross this place again on purpose again sometime!

Resources:

Original J's = https://www.originaljs.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

PW Pizza Old Bakery Beer Dinner 2019

We finished the 2019 PW Pizza Beer Dinner series with local favorite Old Bakery Beer Company. Just like coming home for Thanksgiving, this beer dinner was definitely geared for celebrating the year end holidays.

Instead of a salad, we started with a Green Bean Casserole Crostini. Now I love Green Bean Casserole and I could have eaten a whole bowl of the stuff. But then I wouldn't have had room for pizza! Since this dish is creamy and heavier than the usual salad, the Basil Pale Ale was a good pairing.

Green Bean Casserole Crostini

For the next course, I enjoyed the fruity Digital Native Mango beer, and it made sense with the Honey Glazed Ham Pizza that came with pineapple on top.

Hone Glazed Ham Pizza

As tradition has it, we also had a Smoked Turkey Dinner Pizza, which is always one of my favorite pizzas for the whole year. Peas, mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy go GREAT altogether on a pizza! The bigger beers lovers enjoyed the Porter as well. Probably the most popular beer of the night.

Smoked Turkey Dinner Pizza

I love the name of the dessert beer, Cat Cafe, although it really is a coffee milk stout...milk...cat...get it? Anyway, the coffee flavor was very strong for this beer, so it's very appropriate for a dessert pairing.

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Menu

Let me know if you are interested in signing up for next year's pairings. I have the list for next year. See you in January for MORE PW Pizza and Beer pairings!

Resources:

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Old Bakery Beer Company = http://www.oldbakerybeer.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

The Bellwether

Our dining-out friends recently bought a new home, but we didn't make it in time to enjoy their rooftop deck during the fall weather. Since the chillier temperatures showed up so quickly, we were forced to try a new restaurant near them instead. I think it worked out just fine...

When a restaurant closes, after the sadness fades, we can't help but hope something tasty moves in next. We were definitely rewarded for our wait!

I was happy to see they made good use of the space in front of the bar, with booths lining the wall, and plenty of regular seating in the open area that used to be the lounge. This means the servers have to bring up all the dishes from the second floor kitchen though. (To sound old, they could have brought up the lights a little bit more too. No reason to hide these beautiful dishes! And yes, I did make this suggestion to the restaurant directly.)

A magazine article raved about their pastas, so that totally affected my menu choice. Hopefully we'll be able to go back to try a regular entrees.

Patience saw the Goose Ravioli Doppio on the appetizer menu online, but it got promoted to full entree status. Yet, our server allowed us to order it as an appetizer, although still priced as a regular item. Still delicious nonetheless as the fresh pasta with braised goose was quite rich.

Goose Ravioli Doppio

I had seen a Short Rib Ragout on the menu, but by the time we got to the restaurant, it was now a Short Rib Stroganoff. I guess this makes sense since tomatoes are now out of season. This was still a winner with the large noodles and hunks of beef. This dish was so filling, I had to take some of it home.

Short Rib Stroganoff

Patience ordered the Basil Pesto Campanelle, which quickly disappeared.

Basil Pesto Campanelle

Jamie ordered the English Pea Ravioli, which was also devoured.

English Pea Ravioli

I would love to go back and try some entrees, but honestly, I'd love to try more pastas too.

Cocktails were top notch as well.

Resources:

The Bellwether = https://www.thebellwetherstl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

PW Pizza Center Ice Beer Dinner 2019

We actually have never been to Center Ice (even though it's not that far away from us) so we were happy to try their beers!

Of course the hockey-themed brewery was over the moon with the Stanley Cup win and I'm sure it'll be even more festive there now.

I love how the chef encorporated hockey into the menu as well since we started off the night with Risotto Arancini "pucks". I could have easily eaten ten of these and skipped over the pizza. This was well paired with the Checkerdome Pils.

Risotto Arancini Pucks and Checkerdome Pils

The Chicken Nacho Pizza was "the spicy pizza", which is now expected ate every beer dinner at this point. Of course it was paired with the Hop Shelf IPA. I did love the extra cheese though!

Chicken Nacho Pizza

This is not the first time for a Poutine Pizza and french fries on a pizza is totally awesome. The Double OT Winner Strong Ale was still too hoppy for me, but paired well to cut through all that grease on a pizza.

Poutine Pizza

My second favorite course was dessert since it was chocoletey! A soft baked chocoalte pretzel (it was huge!) was paired with the Peanut Butter Cup Stout. Of course Patience loved it, but I could have used a stronger peanut butter flavor since the coffee flavors overpowered the beer.

Soft Baked Chocolate Pretzel

I probably need to put this on my "to visit" list to taste more of their beers, and they offer up a shuttle on Blues game nights from the bar.

Resources:

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Center Ice = https://www.centericebrewery.com/