Cake

How sweet it is…

by Stephanie on August 29, 2010

in American, Breakfast, Cake, Cookies, Dessert, Lunch, Vegetarian

Have you ever visited a place that makes you so excited that part of you wants to tell everyone about it, yet at the same time, you want it remain your own little secret?

Well, that’s how I feel about Sweet Art. It’s a cute little bakeshop & art studio in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis, MO.

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I’ve been here before, but this is my first time blogging about it! Thanks to an awesome Groupon, I was able to eat lots of yummy food for next to nothing – and tell you all about it! Double win!

Before I get to the food, let’s talk about atmosphere. This little neighborhood shop is SO cute and inviting. It just feels like home, in a way. I snapped a few photos, but not nearly as many as I wanted to. I just started to feel weird after a while! One thing about food blogging – people tend to think you’re a little crazy when you start snapping photos willy-nilly!

 

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One little thing – I forgot to mention that Sweet Art is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant! As a former vegetarian, this didn’t bother me in the least; I may be a meat-eater now, but I’m not afraid of fake meat products! Food is food, right?

Honestly, though…Sweet Art does such a good job of preparing their food that you don’t even think about the fact that they’re meat free. Everything is THAT tasty!

Okay, enough of the blabber…let’s get on to the food, shall we?

I started with the ‘39th’. (Sweet Art names most of their sandwiches after St. Louis street names…cool, huh?) It is their BLT w/smart bacon (soy), organic mixed greens, tomatoes, and vegan house spread. I added avocado for an extra buck. It came with the choice of chips or organic fruit. Want to guess which one I went with?

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Mmm mmm MMM! The sandwich was delicious and HUGE! The ‘bacon’ was deliciously chewy, the organic greens were fresh, and the creamy avocado mixed with the vegan spread made my mouth SO happy. This was very tasty, and super filling – I could only eat half! Well, okay… maybe I was saving room for this…

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Why, hello there, yummy red velvet cupcake! You sure are looking mighty tasty there…

This was GOOD. I will say it once: Sweet Art has THE BEST cupcakes in St. Louis. Period. The cake was moist and light. The cream cheese frosting was rich and creamy. Red velvet is my fave cupcake flavor, and this one certainly didn’t let me down! Oh, it was so good!

Of course I couldn’t just stop there, now could I? I was stuffed, but I ordered a few goodies to go; a girl’s gotta eat dinner, right?

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The name of this spectacular wrap escapes me. I checked Sweet Art’s website, and it wasn’t on there, either! All I know is that is contains organic mixed greens, a wonderfully delicious spread, and faux chicken. Maybe a few more goodies. I don’t know. I’m useless! This was DELICIOUS, though!

And now, for the grand poobah of the event. The most exquisite, fantastic, rich, gooey, chocolate-y thing that will ever cross your lips…

 

*drumroll*

 

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Three words. Homemade. Vegan. BROWNIE. You can stick a fork in me, because I’m done, folks! How they managed to make this decadent brownie with no eggs, milk, or traditional chocolate will forever be a mystery to me. Dare I say that this is better than any brownie that I’ve ever tasted in my life?!!? Yep, I just went there. And for the naysayers, honestly, this tastes JUST like the real thing. It will blow your mind!

Okay, so now that I’m done waxing poetic about this wonderfulness that is Sweet Art (and I PROMISE you, the owners didn’t pay me to write this glowing review!) I can give you guys some scores (just in case you’re still confused about how I feel about this place).

Food: 5 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 5 stars

Yep, this received the nearly impossible-to-get straight 5 stars from me! If you’re in St. Louis and you haven’t been to Sweet Art yet, what are you waiting for!?!? Hightail it here, NOW (and take me with you, please!). You can thank me later.

{ 11 comments }

Are you in or are you out?

by Stephanie on August 6, 2010

in American, Cake, Dessert, Dinner, Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt, Lunch

Well, the In Spot Dessert Lounge is…oh wait. You have to read to the end to find out!

I went with my mom and sister for our monthly girls night out event. This time around, it was my turn to pick the place, and I remembered a while ago when Natalie @ The Sweets Life recommended the In Spot! So I thought I’d give it a try.

The place itself was very chic and intimate. Totally lounge-y. Ready for picture overload?

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Nice place, right? Okay, now that you’ve seen the digs, let’s get down to business!

None of us were especially hungry, so we decided to split an appetizer, drink, and dessert between the three of us. This falls right in with my new healthier eating initiative, so I was game!

We started with the Brown Sugar Chicken Wings:

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I wasn’t a fan – at all. The flavor was decent (not very brown sugary, though!), but the chicken itself was terrible. The texture was just sickening. Very fatty and not at all appetizing. I could only take one bite of the chicken before I called it quits.

Next was the drink! The sweet pineapple martini caught my mom’s eye, and my sister and I agreed that it sounded tasty. We ordered it with high hopes.

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This was okay. The pineapple taste was definitely there, but the drink itself was just too strong for me. I feel this way about ALL martinis though, regardless of location…so perhaps I’m just not a martini fan. If you love martinis, though, you’d probably love this! I could only down a few sips.

Finally was dessert. I thought the fried cheesecake sounded good, so we rolled with that.

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Look at that strawberry drizzle! Delish. This was my favorite part of the meal. I don’t think my mom or sister cared for it too much (they didn’t think it was sweet enough), but I really enjoyed it – and I ate the entire thing! Oink. The dough was flaky and buttery, and the warm cheesecake filling with creamy and rich. MMM. The strawberry drizzle was perfect for this treat.

How was the service? Well, our waitress was nice, but seemed overwhelmed. Why is there only ONE waitress (but FOUR bartenders) at this place? Weird. When we asked her about a particular wine (and requested to see the bottle), she snapped that she was ‘too busy’ to show us. She eventually did show us the bottle of wine, but her curtness was a HUGE turnoff. Hmm. Maybe she wasn’t nice after all!

There was a band playing, and they were good (very smooth and jazzy), but WAY too loud. If they would have turned it down a couple notches, I could have stayed here all night to listen to them. But by the end of dessert, my head was ringing so badly that I just wanted to LEAVE.

On top of being not so tasty, the food was sort of expensive! 7 bucks for 5 mini chicken wings, 7 bucks for 2 bites of cheesecake?!? It was like tapas. Stephanie is not a huge fan of small plates!

Score time!

Food: 2 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 2 stars

Value: 3 stars

Part of me really wants this little place to succeed. It definitely has potential. But it’s not there yet.

{ 1 comment }

La Dolce Via!

by Stephanie on June 12, 2010

in American, Cake, Dessert, Lunch

If there’s one thing I love, it’s desserts. Nothing makes me happier than a rich dessert after a satisfying meal (or before a meal, if you roll that way!).

Anyway, it was a nice summer day and I was craving something sweet. Me and my boyfriend decided to make the trek over to La Dolce Via. It’s located in the Forest Park Southeast area of St. Louis, MO.

We walked in and looked around a bit. The guy that was working there was SO nice. He greeted us immediately, and took the time to explain every single dessert that they had (and they have a LOT!), which was a nice touch.

Everything looked SO good. They make every single dessert on site, which is pretty awesome if you ask me.

I decided to go with the Torta di Tara: Chocolate buttermilk sponges layered with amaretto and chocolate mousse, frosted with a cinnamon-amaretto buttercream. MMMM! It was so decadent, dense, and rich! I loved loved LOVED the buttercream icing. The hint of cinnamon at the end was subtle, but delicious.

I savored every bite!

I will definitely come back, because I want more dessert! And I’d like to try their lunch/dinner menu.

They also have a wide array of coffee drinks. And free wi-fi! You can’t beat that!

Score time!

Food: 4 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 4 stars

Yum yum in my tum!

{ 2 comments }

Milagro Modern Mexican

by Stephanie on May 27, 2010

in Cake, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Mexican

So ever since Milagro Modern Mexican (in Webster Groves, MO) opened a few weeks ago, I’ve been DYING to go. After all, it’s not too far from where I live! I could WALK there, for crying out loud! I was finally able to drag my boyfriend there tonight. Well, he came along pretty willingly. No dragging was necessary. :)

For those who haven’t been to Webster Groves, it’s a very cute little area. It’s very nice, but sort of a wasteland when it comes to really good restaurants. Until now, of course! Milagro didn’t disappoint at all. Let me tell you why…

First of all, the atmosphere was super nice! It was spacious and inviting. There was a definitely a Mexican theme, but it wasn’t in your face or overly kitschy. It was subtle.

We started out with the obligatory chips and dip. These were wonderful. The chips were nice, warm, thick, and crunchy, and the salsa was delicious! It had a bit of a kick to it. Yum!

Oh, and of course since I was at a Mexican restaurant, I had to have a margarita! This one was super yummy and refreshing!

For our appetizer, we went with the Tostadas de Pato. The menu described it as ‘pulled duck in blood orange habanero sauce piled high on crisp corn tortillas with black bean puree, lime cabbage, and a side of tomatillo avocado salsa’. Mmm mmm MMM! It was VERY good. It had a kick to it, but it was followed by a smoky sweetness that I loved. The duck was tender and juicy. It was perfection.

For the entree, I had the Enchiladas Verdes de Puerco: Pork Enchiladas. The menu described it as ‘slow roasted pork rolled in corn tortillas with jack cheese and baked in a spicy tomatillo sauce, topped with pickled onion and queso fresco’. It was good, but the tomatillo sauce was a little bit overpowering. Once I scraped most of it off, it was decent and very flavorful.

The entree came with the rice and beans; I had the charro beans (pinto beans simmered with chorizo, bacon, tomato, and chiles) and mexican rice (traditional mexican rice cooked in tomato broth). Both sides were tasty.

I should have been stuffed after all of that food (and believe me, I was!), but I can’t resist a good dessert! We ordered a chocolate crepe stuffed with rum-soaked plantains and topped with whipped cream and caramel sauce. It was BEAUTIFUL. Just amazing. It was like nothing I’ve ever had before!

Of course I had to have an after dinner martini. A chocolate espresso martini, to be exact! I’m usually not a HUGE fan of chocolate martinis, but this one hit the spot.

The service at Milagro was great. Very attentive servers, but not overbearing. The owner even came over and chatted with us for a bit! Nice touch.

Let’s see some scores…

Food: 5 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 5 stars

I can’t wait to come back to Milagro! It’s so close to home that it just wouldn’t make sense NOT to come back. And the food was amazing. One of my favorite Mexican places in St. Louis for sure!

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Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse

by Stephanie on May 9, 2010

in American, Bread Pudding, Cake, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Steakhouse

So my last post about KFC was sort of lame, right? I know, I know…but I’m making up for previous transgressions by presenting you with my experience at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse. Oh, it was EPIC.

My mom treated my sister and I to a dinner at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse the night before mother’s day (what’s wrong with this picture? Shouldn’t it have been the other way around? Oops!). I was super super pumped, especially after looking at their online menu. I studied it and knew what I was going to order weeks in advance! :)

Anyway, Jeff Ruby’s. It’s in the River City Casino in South County, St. Louis.

First of all, the place was absolutely beautiful. The ambiance was amazing: the lighting was dim and romantic, and there were chandeliers everywhere! My heart was racing in anticipation.

I’m not going to waste any more time. Let’s get on to the food! Are you ready for lots of pictures?

We flipped through the wine menu first and settled on a dessert wine: Moscato. Dessert wine with dinner? Sounds like a great way to start the night if you ask me! I’m not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, so I’m not going to pretend to be. All I know is that I like sweet bubbly wines, and this one hit the spot!

guess who drank most of the bottle? *hiccup*

On to the food. We’ll start with appetizers. My mom wanted us to try a little bit of everything, so we ordered quite a few appetizers. We started with the HUGE tiger shrimp cocktail:

This picture doesn’t adequately show just how HUGE these shrimp were. They were gigantic! And the flavor was amazing. Definitely a nice start to the meal.

Oh, but we didn’t stop there. Next on the appetizer list? Pan roasted mussels. They were accompanied with a white wine, applewood smoked bacon,  taragon and lemon sauce. MMM. These were divine. The mussels had a nice, light taste. Not too bogged down with spices. Clean…just the way I like it.

I ate a few mussels before I took this picture! Oops!

Next I wanted to try an oyster on the half shell. I’ve never tried raw oysters before. What the heck…might as well try it now!

I topped it with some cocktail sauce and horseradish before I slurped it down. Not bad! I don’t know if I’d do this again, though. Not a huge fan of the texture of oysters, even though the flavor was crisp, clean, and amazing.

We also had bread. I believe it was Jewish Rye. Not too shabby. The butter was the star of the show for me! There was regular butter (BORING!), and then there was mushroom and truffle butter. Now THAT’S what I’m talking about! It was yummy. I could eat that butter with a spoon. YUM.

look at that butter! Delish. Plain butter on the right, HEAVENLY mushroom and truffle butter on the left.

We noticed that they had sushi on the menu, and as a self-proclaimed sushi snob, I knew we had to try it. We went with the Dragon roll. I don’t remember exactly what was on it, but there was eel involved. And cucumber. And I think there was some crab in there somewhere. It was not bad at all! Quite delicious, actually. It gets the sushi stamp of approval from me!

Can you believe we still had room for our entrée after all of those appetizers? Well, we did. I went with the steak and lobster. 11 ounces of cold water lobster tail paired with 9 ounces of dry aged filet mignon? YES PLEASE! I had my steak topped with crab meat and béarnaise sauce, just because I was feeling a little fancy. :)

you can't have lobster without butter sauce!

The food was AMAZING. The pictures just don’t do it justice. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and it was amazingly tender. It melted in my mouth. The crab and bearnaise sauce were decadent and rich. The lobster was tender and so so SO juicy! I promise you that I will have dreams about this meal. It was cooked to perfection.

Of course I can’t hog the spotlight; my mom and sister’s entrees were fabulous as well:

Mom ordered the U.S.D.A. Prime Dry Aged New York Strip...14 ounces of meaty perfection!

my sister also ordered the steak and lobster. She topped her steak with peppercorn shrimp scampi.

Everything at Jeff Ruby’s is a la carte, so of course we had to order some sides to go with our meal.

We had baked macaroni and cheese:

baked macaroni and cheese

Potatoes Anna:

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Creamed Spinach:

creamed spinach

And grilled bacon (because who DOESN’T love bacon?!?!) :

grilled bacon!

Whew! So how was everything? The baked macaroni and cheese was tasty, although I admit that it looked better than it tasted. The Potatoes Anna were delicious! Think fried potatoes, minus all of the grease that weighs you down. They were delicious, and seasoned with the perfect amount of salt and spices.

The creamed spinach was, well…creamed spinach. Didn’t knock my socks off, but it was decent.

My favorite side by far was the BACON!! Who would have thought, right? It was delicious applewood smoked bacon, and it was thick, thick, THICK! Oh, it was perfection. Chewy, flavorful, salty, spicy…it had it all.

So after stuffing my face with appetizers, entrees, and sides, how in the world did I find room for dessert? Well, my friends…Stephanie ALWAYS makes room for dessert.

I went with the flourless chocolate torte. It was topped with sliced almonds and accompanied with house-made cherry sorbet.

Twas muy delicioso! It was rich and decadent (I’ve been using that phrase a lot throughout this review, haven’t I?) The raspberry sauce that was smeared on the plate was sweet and tart at the same time. The cherry sorbet was SO good, and went perfectly with this cake. It was just delightful. Perfect way to end the meal!

Or did I really end the meal there? Can I tell you a secret? I also had a piece of gooey butter cake and some amaretto ice cream to go with it. I’m so sad I didn’t take a picture, because this was the BEST gooey butter cake I’ve had IN. MY. LIFE. It was freaking fantastic!

So thus ends the journey of a thousand plates. Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers. I’m munching on a piece of bacon right now. Nomnomnom. So good.

Service was very good. Our waiter was very attentive and friendly. No complaints there!

Ready for some scores?

Food: 5 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 4 stars

Jeff Ruby’s almost received a perfect score from me. However, one could have easily purchased an iPhone for what our meal cost us. However, good food is worth the money, so I’m giving it 4 stars for value anyway!

I can only hope to be so lucky to return to Jeff Ruby’s again someday. THANKS TO MY MOM FOR TREATING ME TO AN AMAZING MEAL!!

I will have sweet dreams tonight. And then I’ll be hitting the gym HARD tomorrow. Oy vey.

{ 11 comments }

Bittersweet Bakery

March 6, 2010

Bittersweet Bakery. Ahhh. It is located in the lovely Benton Park neighborhood in St. Louis, MO, which is a rapidly changing, growing, and soon to be AMAZING neighborhood. Hell, some might say it’s amazing already! It is definitely unique. And filled with little gems like this place. Before I even get to the food, let’s [...]

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