Vicia

We have all been hearing the hype for quite a while thanks to the pop up dinners. I wanted to go so badly. I. Could. Not. Wait.

I am thrilled to announce...it was worth the wait! Vicia really is that wonderful! Just WOW! This might be one of THE best meals I have ever had. What an experience!

Now... this might not be for everyone...

I was a little nervous about this "vegetable forward" concept, but now I am excited that my vegetarian friends can easily enjoy an amazing restaurant experience along with me. (A good excuse to go back, yes?)

With all the rain we've been having, the first ray of sunshine for me came when I realized there was a little bit of parking behind the building. Walking up, you can easily peer into the windows and see the modern, sleek design.

Since we were early, we sat at the bar, and pondered the branch-like artwork and then quickly got distracted by the cocktails. A short list, but I still found something sweet with the "Strawberry", which included gin, zucca, aquavit, strawberry top shrub, ginger, and tonic. Patience found a drier cocktail with the "Chamomile", which is a gin infused with chamomile, elderflower liquer, and cava!

Strawberry and Chamomile cocktails

They even have some non-alcoholic tonics on the menu! I think those would have been right up my alley too.

Cocktail Menu Spring 2017

We could have ordered from the bar, but decided to keep our reservation in the main dining area, which is where the real show takes place!

You can easily see into the kitchen and it's fun to watch all the action. At the pass, you'll find Michael Gallina putting the final touches on dishes, and Tara running everything else. She even ran us a few of our dishes!

There is a separate "patio" dining area that is currently in use, although with the windows shut, it's a little darker. I can't wait to see how nice it will be with fresh air and real sunshine streaming in!

It helped to go early, before the dinner rush at 7pm, and I highly recommend dining there during the week since the weekends are jammed packed and probably always will be.

Instead of just an "appetizer" listing, there are "snacks" and "starters". Our server kindly explained the snacks were just a couple of bites versus the "small, shared dish" of a starter. So we ordered some of both!

We chose the Purple Top Turnip Tacos (say THAT three times fast!) as our snack, two with beef and the other two with mushrooms.

Purple Top Turnip Tacos

Patience was curious about the Charuterie since it was a little different. Vicia's version included spalla cruda, chicken liver pate, pickled green strawberries, rhubarb, and focaccia. Since there was chicken pate leftover, she also asked for an order of bread. (Note, there is a separate cost for bread service.)

Charcuterie

For the starters, I had to order the Grilled Cucumber because I had seen so many pictures that I wanted to know what it tasted like. The best part is the sweet dip. I'm pretty sure Patience would have licked the leftover off the plate!

Grilled Cucumber

Next, we were adventurous and each tried a Goose Egg. Inside a goose eggshell was a scrambled goose egg with broccoli, wheat berries, shiitake mushrooms, and cheddar...isn't this just ADORABLE!! We even showed it off to our table neighbors.

Goose Eggs

Delicious inside of the Goose Egg

Overall, the menu is quite small, so we almost accomplished our goal of ordering everything on the menu!

Since we could share sides, which was perfect for two people, we chose the Garlic Roasted Carrots and the Creamy Missouri Rice, which included asparagus, onion flowers, ramps, and chorizo. The rice dish, almost too pretty to eat, was quite filling and probably could have fed four.

Garlic Roasted Carrots

Missouri Rice 

Then the last choice is your "protein" or asparagus. Really, we wanted them all of them, so we settled on chicken and the beef option, which turned out to be a very heavy and filling bolognese!

Perfectly cut chicken breasts

Beef Bolognese

Yes, we had to take half of it home....because we had to order dessert!!!

I was curious about the panna cotta since there was a mention of chocolate. Unfortunately, it was just a slight dusting, but it still won the prettiest course of the night.

Anne's Garden

It worked out since Patience needed my help after ordering FOUR cheeses on her cheese plate. I really don't know where we found room for it.

Cheese Plate

So what's the catch? All that wow-ness is pricey. It's definitely a special occasion kind of place, although I have a feeling we might be making exceptions for future date nights...

Resources:

Vicia = https://www.viciarestaurant.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Louie's Wine Dive

Louie's Wine Dive is not that far away from us in downtown Clayton, so I at least had to try it. My hesitation is that this is actually a chain when there are quite a few local wine shops that could use our support more, but I wanted to check it out for myself.

This wine bar, located in the old Tani Sushi location, appears to be a good spot to start out your evening since it's so close to restaurants like Sardella, Pasteria, and Cafe Napoli.

You can't miss the gigantic wine board board when you first walk in. The board, along with the lengthy wine list, makes for a rather difficult time of trying to find a wine to drink that you might like. Luckily, everyone behind the bar was helpful and we were offered samples to help us narrow down our choices. Unfortunately, the wines per glass were priced a bit higher than I like to spend.

Wine Board

I thought the bottles on the wall was pretty cool too...

Wine bottle art decoration

The best part about Louie's is that they had plenty of our favorite snacks to go with the wine.

Snack listing

I immediately went for the Squeaky Cheese Curds, which came with a serrano dill aioli and a marinara sauce.

Squeaky Cheese Curds with serrano dill aioli and a marinara sauce

And Patience can't help but order the Mussels! We're so predictable!

Mussels, tomatoes, lemongrass, tom yum broth, focaccia

Since we were still hungry and ready for another glass of wine, we ordered another round. This was where the wheels started to fall off and we overdid it a little bit. Ok, a lot.

I tried to order something small by ordering the Guacamole, but it came with so many chips and veggies!

Guacamole

Patience had to try ALL the cheese by ordering TWO Charcuterie boards!

First cheese plate...

...and the second one!

So many choices! So we got them all!

And we just can't resist dessert, especially when it's Beignets! They were kind enough to box them up for us because we just did not have room for all of them!

Beignets

They even have their own glasses!

Resources:

Louie's Wine Dive = http://louieswinedive.com/locations/st-louis/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Parigi for Dinner

I had been wanting to go to Parigi for a long time, mostly because it is a Ben Poremba restaurant, and because it's Italian food. I even drive by it since it's in the Clayton area! My parents have even been there! Luckily, they were nice enough to "let me" take my Dad there for his birthday.

Patience and I got to the restaurant early so we could have a little happy hour on our own...

Cocktails!

...with some Arancini (risotto balls) to start off. They're filled with Teleggio and Peperonata!)

Arancini

We also started with fresh made bread with olive oil while we waited for our meal...this came in handy for sopping up the sauce later!

Fresh made bread

We had a VERY hard time making a selection...there were Sea Scallops and Striped Bass on the menu! But we all went with Italian dishes.

I was in a "risotto mood" and got the special of the night.

Risotto Special

Patience went with one of her favorites: Lasagne Bolognese! Look at all those layers!

Lasagna Bolognese

Linda had the Brodetto, an assorted shellfish and fish stew, which reminded me a lot of Chiappino.

Brodetto

As for my Dad... well, he cleans his plate pretty fast...so all I know is that there several beef and lamb dishes on the menu so there is something for everyone.

And we can't have a birthday without something to stick a candle in. Patience and I had to do most of the work on this Pistachio ice cream and Bread Pudding!

Pistachio ice cream on top of bread pudding

A great place for a special occasion!

Of course we needed a to go box! Did you see the size of that Lasagne!

Resources:

Parigi = https://www.parigistl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Nixta

Luckily, my foodie friends, Shannon and Jamie, like to hit new restaurants RIGHT when they first open. So they were kind enough to be our personal tour guides when we decided to check out Nixta as well.

I am a little sad that Ben Poremba already had flipped the concept of the restaurant, but I do admit that I'm over the fried chicken fad. I was curious how something completely different in the same spot would do.

I really appreciated our server's patience, since this is nothing like Casa Gallardo! I had trouble just deciding on a cocktail, even before I got to the regular menu.

I had one all picked out and then decided to try a margarita instead at the last minute since that seemed to be the thing to do at a Mexican restaurant.

Margarita

Unfortunately, the margarita was a little too boozy for me, so Patience was kind enough to switch drinks. The Quatro was the right amount of sweet for me and included aged rum, lime, blood orange, and cinnamon.

Quatro

We started off the night with an odrer of Pepita Guacamole to share!

Pepita Guacamole

I'm not the most familiar with authentic Mexican cuisine, but I know I love tacos! So lamb tacos is what I ordered!

Lamb Tacos

The plates at the top of the menu are smaller and make for good starters, so Patience and I also shared the Ceviche. We just can't say no to scallops!

Ceviche

Shannon's dishes were a lot more interesting and colorful as she ordered the Flautas and a Crab Tostada.

Flautas

Crab Tostadas

Patience was very bold and ordered the Pulpo, or crispy octopus, which turned out to be quite tasty!

Pulpo - Crispy Octopus

And we have to try dessert! We all shared a piece of flan... almost too pretty to eat?

Flan

Looking for something unique and different? I think this concept might be around longer.

Resources:

Nixta = https://www.nixtastl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

PW Pizza Deschutes Pizza Dinner 2017

This was my second time attending a Deschutes PW Pizza Beer dinner and the first one was back in February 2014. http://www.stlcheesegirl.com/2014/02/pw-pizza-deschutes-brewery-beer-dinner.html

While two of them were repeats, there were two new ones to me, and one beer was just released: "Pacific Wonderland", the first beer of the night. Very easy to drink and pairs well with lighter entrees. This was paired with Jalpeno Cornbread.

Jalapeno Cornbread

The next beer, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, was only slightly hoppy, but also easy to drink. It still stood up to the big flavors in the BBQ Chicken Pizza, made with the Honey Wheat Crust.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

The Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale had slightly more hops and cut through the goat cheese on the pizza, in addition to all the other flavors going on!

Shrimp Scampi Pizza

I see I enjoyed the dessert course best in the past as well as this night. Well...the first time paired a chocolate mousse and that wins hands down. The Butterscotch Pudding was definitely a good match with the Black Butte Porter, but not enough chocolate for me! hehe

Butterscotch Pudding

Menu

Resources:

PW Pizza = http://pwpizza.com/

Deschutes Brewery = https://www.deschutesbrewery.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon