downtown

Blood and Sand…

by Stephanie on April 20, 2012

I’m grinning ear to ear as I’m writing this review, because I’m so excited to share this experience with you. I haven’t been this giddy over a restaurant in quite some time, and if you know anything about my blog (and my sometimes harsh reviews!), you know that it takes a lot to impress me. Sure, I’ve been to plenty of restaurants that I enjoyed and gave kudos to, but when it comes to restaurants that really, truly knock my socks off? I can name those on one hand.

You guys.

YOU GUYS.

This is one of those restaurants that completely knocked my socks off.

The name of this restaurant? Well, it’s in the title of this blog post.

Blood & Sand.

This members-only establishment has been the source of a lot of buzz around St. Louis. A. Lot. Of. Buzz.

I will admit that when Blood & Sand opened in September of 2011, I was in no rush to try it. But it wasn’t because I thought the food would be terrible – my thoughts were quite the opposite – it was because I didn’t like the idea of a members only establishment. You mean…I have to pay for the privilege to walk through the doors of this place? I wasn’t digging the idea. At all.

However, I began to hear stories of foodies who visited Blood & Sand and loved it. I read nothing but positive reviews on Yelp, Twitter, and Facebook. And finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to visit this place. HAD to.

Luckily, I have friends in high places Winking smile

My friend Browning (top right) was nice enough to invite myself (and a few friends!) as his guests at Blood & Sand. From left to right: Me (duh!), Stephen, Mallory, Browning, and Christine. Tracey (not pictured) was also in attendance and took this shot of all of us. Notice my extremely goofy grin? This girl was excited!

One thing I noticed (and loved) about Blood & Sand was the atmosphere of the place. It was so beautiful! The attention to detail was top-notch; every single aspect of the restaurant seemed to be perfectly thought out and well designed.

Can I move in? Pretty please?

Enough of my drooling. Let’s talk about food!

I wanted to start out with a cocktail. TJ Vytlacil, part owner of B&S, is also an expert mixologist, and has received quite a bit of attention for his creations.

Perhaps the most talked about of his libations is the Love Burns cocktail. This drink contains aged rum, lemon juice, raw simple (I’m assuming this is raw simple syrup?), barolo chinato (a smooth wine infused with roots, herbs, and spices) , grapefruit bitters, and rose champagne. Fancy!

Oh wow. This drink certainly packed a punch! One and done, baby. Love does burn! I really enjoyed it.

Next we ordered a few small plates to share.

First up? Deviled Farm Eggs.

I’m going to be honest. While the presentation was beautiful, these weren’t my favorite. They were pretty bland; my grandma’s are so much better! Sorry, chefs. Maybe if you’re nice, she’ll tell you her secret to deviled egg perfection Winking smile

We also had an order of truffled tater tots:

Be still, my beating heart. I’m going to need a moment of silence for these tots.

Do me a favor right now. Imagine what tater tots taste like. Think of every tater tot that has crossed your lips in your life.

Now forget that. Forget everything you think you know about tots. Because these are like nothing you’ve ever tasted in your life.

How can I describe these? They were perfectly crisp on the outside and unbelievably creamy in the middle. I have no idea how they did that! B&S could have given me a bowl filled with nothing but these tots and I would have been perfectly okay with that. Wow.

Well, now that I’ve spent way more time talking about tater tots than any normal person should, we can move on.

Christine ordered this lovely soup:

It was a butternut squash and apple soup. Deliciously creamy, and a little sweet, thanks to the apples.

Browning ordered a dish with roasted wild mushrooms, cauliflower beignets, and white anchovy:

I had a bite of this as well, and it was delicious! I adore mushrooms. The cauliflower beignets were unique and tasty!

As for myself, I went with the Pig in a Blanket.

This creative twist on the popular childhood treat (did anyone else eat pigs in a blanket as a kid? I did!) consisted of a spicy herb sausage wrapped in a kim chi pancake. It was surrounded by a sweet sesame sauce.

I loved this. The sausage was juicy, flavorful, and had a spicy kick that was fantastic. The kim chi pancake tasted pretty mild, which was perfect – I wouldn’t want anything to detract from the flavor of that sausage! The sesame sauce brought everything together wonderfully. I couldn’t ask for more.

Next up? Dessert! I ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding:

It was garnished with candied ginger and surrounded by sticky caramel sauce.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this, to be honest. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had some really tasty sticky toffee puddings, and this wasn’t one of them. It was too dry and cake-like for my tastes.

However, someone else at the table ordered chocolate mousse:

And all of a sudden, all was right with the world. This decadent mousse was served with a shortbread cookie. The taste of chocolate was so prominent, and the mousse itself was ridiculously creamy. I adored this dessert, and wish I would have ordered it myself!

Service at Blood & Sand was spectacular. Our waiter took the time to explain just about everything on the menu to us, and he answered any questions that we had (and we had a lot!). It’s been a long time since I’ve received such detailed and thorough service. It was so refreshing!

So…would I come back to Blood & Sand? Hah. What a silly question! Of course I would. I highly recommend B&S – if you ever receive the opportunity to attend as a guest (or buy a membership yourself!), take it. You won’t be sorry.

Now will someone come and wipe this goofy grin off of my face? I can’t stop smiling. Smile

See you next week!

{ 7 comments }

Three Sixty

by Stephanie on March 23, 2012

in American, Dinner

Good morning to you! Quick question: do you normally read this in the morning, afternoon, or evening? I suppose I just assume that most people read this blog in the morning. Who wouldn’t want to start their Friday morning with delicious food?

A few weeks ago, I had dinner and drinks with a friend at Three Sixty, located on the roof of the Hilton Hotel in downtown St. Louis.

I absolutely love rooftop bars and restaurants. There are quite a few in St. Louis, but it’s rare that I pay any of these restaurants a visit (that will definitely have to change!). So this trip was a super special treat.

The elevator ride to the top was swift, and before we knew it, we were at the top. The restaurant itself is pretty swank (by my definition, anyway!):

Once we were seated at our table, we were treated to this view:

This picture doesn’t even begin to do it justice. We were up so high! There’s an open air area where you can walk around and get a true 360 degree view of St. Louis. However, when we visited, it was much too cold to do that. We decided to stay inside where it was nice and toasty.

I took a quick glance at the drink menu. The ‘Shaken’ drinks really caught my eye.

One Amnesiac, please!

This drink contained Avion Silver tequila, Grand Marnier, and Persian limes. I took a sip and almost fell over. This drink was strong. While I definitely enjoy an alcoholic beverage from time to time, this was much too strong for me. I took a few sips and passed it onto my friend, who happily finished the rest.

As for my friend’s drink, she went with The Black Swan:

Van Gogh espresso vodka, godiva dark chocolate, and frangelico made up this creamy drink. It was good; it was chocolatey without being sickeningly sweet.

On to the food! We weren’t terribly hungry, so we just ordered a few small plates to share. First up? Salmon on House Made Chips.

Smoked salmon, chipotle cream cheese, and capers topped some of the most delicious house made chips I’ve ever tasted. They were the size of pringles, but were much sturdier. The saltiness of the chip paired well with the smoked salmon, and the capers added a nice flavor as well. These were a little pricey at $12 (and only four chips?!), so I’m not sure I’d order these again.

Next up, we went with a few sliders. Three Sixty has a mix and match option, where you can choose any combination of 3 sliders for $14. Turns out that Three Sixty only offers three different kinds of sliders, so that made our choice pretty simple. One of each, please!

From back to front: Smoked Pork Belly, Crab Cake Meatball, and Short Rib.

We’ll start with the pork belly slider.

It was topped with a little bit of lettuce and tomato, and was also a tiny sliver of Asian pear hidden in there. If you’re a fan of pork belly and its melt-in-your-mouth, almost gelatinous texture, you’ll enjoy this slider. I thought it was fantastic; my friend wasn’t a huge fan.

Next up? The crab cake meatball slider.

It was topped with pomodoro (tomato) sauce, basil, parmesan, and provolone cheese. This slider was just so-so, in my opinion. Nothing about it really stood out to me; the flavor of basil was completely lost on me. It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t anything that blew my mind.

Finally, there was the short rib slider. I couldn’t get a good closeup picture of it (dim lighting in restaurants is my enemy, and I refuse to use flash!), so I’ll describe it as best as I can. It was topped with arugula and horseradish aioli. This was probably my least favorite slider out of the bunch. I love horseradish, so I was excited that it was featured in this slider. However, the flavor of it wasn’t detectable at all. I suppose that’s the downside of ordering sliders; everything is so miniature that it’s impossible to pick up on certain components.

Service at 360 was pretty good. Our waitress was friendly and attentive.

So would I recommend Three Sixty? Yes and No. I wasn’t blown away by the food we ordered, and it was very expensive for what was offered. Don’t get me wrong – I will gladly pay a premium for top-notch food – but this wasn’t worth it, in my opinion.

I do recommend 360 for drinks, however! Come on a warm St. Louis day, sit outside on the open air balcony, and sip yummy cocktails while enjoying the fabulous view of downtown.

See you next week!

{ 5 comments }

PW Pizza!

by Stephanie on February 24, 2012

in American, Dinner, Lunch, Pizza

Good morning and happy Friday! I hope your week is going well. Food. Let’s talk about it. Smile

I went to PW Pizza a while ago with a friend. This new-ish pizza joint is owned by the same people behind the lovely Vin de Set (review coming soon, I promise!). As delicious as Vin de Set is, I knew that PW Pizza would be just as tasty.

We started with some Spinach & Artichoke Dip:

It was served with warm and chewy pita bread.

Oh my. You guys…this was the best spinach dip I’ve ever tasted. I’m not even kidding! It was served piping hot; it was literally bubbling! I’m drooling right now. Sorry…

Anyway, paired with the yummy pita bread, this was an amazing start to the meal.

Next up? Pizza, of course! PW has a number of specialty pizzas, but I felt like creating my own, so I did!

I picked my crust (honey whole wheat), sauce (BBQ sauce for me!), cheese (mozzarella, please!), and toppings. On one half of the pizza I ordered pulled pork; on the other half I went with bacon and green pepper. Oh yeah, babe!

Amazing. The crust was soft and a little sweet. And the BBQ sauce was the perfect complement to both sides of my pizza. Thanks to the filling Spinach and Artichoke dip, I could only manage to down one slice, but that just meant one thing: lots of leftovers! Aren’t pizza leftovers the greatest?

Service at PW was fantastic. Our waitress was bubbly and super friendly. Prices were reasonable as well.

I can’t recommend PW Pizza enough. Let me know if you decide to visit! You can always tweet me the details. Winking smile

See ya next week!

{ 8 comments }

The Stadium

by Stephanie on February 3, 2012

in American, Dinner, Lunch, Pubs

Good morning and happy Friday! I hope your week is going well. As for me? Well, I’m having the best week ever. My 27th birthday was yesterday! I can’t believe I’m 27. Crazy!

Oh, and since the focus of my blog is food, I must show you this picture. Every year for my birthday, my mom buys a bunch of snacks for me.

Is this crazy or what? My mom definitely knows the way into my heart! Health blogger I am not. Thanks, mom!

Speaking of my awesome mom, she took me and my sister to The Stadium a few weeks ago. This sports bar is in the Lumiere Place Casino in downtown St. Louis.

It’s a pretty sweet place. I couldn’t stop snapping pictures!

In true sports bar fashion, there were TVs everywhere.

It was pretty empty when we arrived, so we could sit wherever we wanted. I chose the table with the iPad, naturally.

Fancy!

We checked out the menu a bit. The Stadium has all of the typical bar food you’d expect. Wings, toasted ravioli, french fries. The whole nine.

However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from dining out with my mom, it’s that the menu is useless. We just ordered a bit of everything that sounded tasty.

We started with smothered tater tots.

These babies were topped with ooey gooey cheese, tomatoes, bacon, and scallions. Yum. While I enjoyed the bites that were covered in cheese, the plain tater tots were pretty…well…plain. I definitely could have used more cheese!

Speaking of cheese, we had a pretzel with cheese next.

This soft pretzel was served with cheese as well as a dijon mustard. I liked the cheese, but I loved the mustard. It had a tangy kick that I was a big fan of.

Next up? Onion rings.

I’m not a fan of onion rings, so I didn’t try these. But my mom and sister loved them!

While mom and sis munched on onion rings, I conquered these:

Garlic and parmesan fries. I really liked these fries. They were piping hot, crispy, and super flavorful. I tried not to eat too many fries, because this was next:

Chicken strips.

With more fries. Steak fries.

I loved the chicken strips. The steak fries? Not so much. They were okay, but I’m a fan of skinnier fries, to be honest.

As if we hadn’t sampled enough appetizers, my mom wanted to order The Tailgater:

If you’re going to visit The Stadium, I recommend this sampler platter. It comes with warm pita, spinach and artichoke dip, ribs, jalapeno poppers, and chicken wings. I loved it all! And as you can see, it’s definitely enough food to split between a good number of people.

While we let the appetizers settle, my sister and I ordered a few beer flights:

From left to right: Blue Moon, New Belgium 1554, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, and Fuller’s London Porter.

From left to right: Guinness, Six Row IPA, Goose Island Matilda, and Paulander Heffe.

My sister and I sipped each one. My favorite? Matilda. It was smooth with a sweet finish that I loved. Since I’m no beer expert, that’s about as much detail that I can give you. Trust me – it was good!

My sister also ordered one of these:

A beer float! This particular beer float contained Belgian Peach Schnapps, vanilla ice cream, and Chimay Tripel Trappist. On first sip, I wasn’t a fan. Beer and ice cream? Meh. But after the ice cream melted into the beer, it was more tolerable. I don’t know if I could drink an entire float, though.

Now on to the entrees!

I ordered the Buffalo Chicken salad: crispy fried chicken strips, lettuce, tomatoes, roasted corn, and smoked bacon.

It came with your choice of ranch or blue cheese dressing, but I decided that this salad was flavorful enough without dressing. I really enjoyed it!

My sister ordered the chicken breast with a side of baked beans and potato salad.

I had a bite of her chicken, and it was flavorful and moist. The potato salad was unmemorable, but the baked beans? Amazing!

My mom had the grilled ham and cheese sandwich:

Cheddar, American, and Pepperjack cheese. Honey Baked Ham. Texas Toast. Oh yeah. I took a huge bite and fell in love.

All of that food, and we still wanted dessert? You better believe it.

We started with carrot cake.

I’m normally not a fan of carrot cake, because I don’t like raisins and nuts in my cake. But this carrot cake didn’t have either nuts or raisins, so naturally I was a big fan. There are few things better than rich cream cheese icing. Truth.

Next up? Apple pie.

Actually, it was more like an apple pie tart. It was served with vanilla ice cream. I had a bite and loved it! So good. I wish I could have fit more in my stomach, but I was holding out for the final dessert:

Fried cheesecake bites! These were just as awesome as they looked. Piping hot cheesecake and rich caramel sauce. Mmm!

Oof. Now how’s that for a dinner? Needless to say, we had tons of leftovers.

I enjoyed my meal at The Stadium. I would definitely come back here to sample other items on the menu. Oh, and then there’s this:

Ahem. This girl loves a good challenge…

See you next week! Winking smile

{ 5 comments }

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 4: Bridge Tap House!

by Stephanie on February 1, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch

Good morning! Is it February or is it April? Because the weather in St. Louis is warm warm warm! I’m absolutely loving it. Yesterday’s high was 64, and Monday’s high was 67. This spring-like weather is amazing…I hope it stays like this for a while! Smile

Oh, and tomorrow’s my 27th birthday. I’m excited.

Anyway, on to the food! This is week 4 of the Bread Pudding Challenge, and I went to one of my favorite places: Bridge Tap House and Wine Bar! Remember when I reviewed it before? It was mahhhvelous.

Although I enjoyed my savory dishes last time I visited Bridge (including bacon & gorgonzola bread pudding…oh my!), I was excited to try dessert.

Say hello to my new friend: Banana Espresso Bread Pudding. Can we take a moment to gawk at how darn pretty it is?

This bread pudding was pretty fantastic. The texture of the bread pudding was just how I like it: firm without being too hard. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s soggy bread pudding (or brick hard BP!).

Flavor-wise, it was perfect. The espresso flavor was pronounced, but it wasn’t overpowering. There was a banana-y finish at the end that I enjoyed. And the caramelized bananas on top? Amazing.

I liked the caramel sauce that was featured in this dessert, and while I love bread pudding that’s drowning in caramel sauce (I’m looking at you, Remy’s!), I appreciated that the banana and espresso flavors were allowed to hold center stage. The caramel was more of a supporting act in this dish, and I liked that.

Anyway, another fabulous bread pudding.

Oh! You’re probably wondering how I’ve ranked these bread puddings so far, so every week, I’ll update you with who’s first place in my mind. The orders may change as the weeks go by, and it will be interesting to compare what my number 1 is with Jess’s favorite. But here’s my list so far, from favorite to least favorite:

1. Remy’s

2. Bridge Tap House

3. Harvest

4. Café Eau

Remy’s is a solid favorite for me so far, but that could change! I guess we’ll see what next week brings. Smile

{ 6 comments }

Bailey’s Range

December 16, 2011

Good morning and happy Friday! I hope your December is going well and you’re staying nice and warm. Me? Well, I’m already sick of this weather. Is it spring yet? On to happier subjects. Let’s talk about food! I recently went to Bailey’s Range; this new-ish burger joint is owned by the same man behind [...]

Read the full article →

Mango-licious

November 11, 2011

Hola! Como estas? Who else took Spanish in high school? I took Spanish classes from 8th grade all the way through my senior year of college, and I’m still pretty terrible when it comes to the language. I’m pretty good at reading, but ask me to say something in Español, and I flounder. One day [...]

Read the full article →

Blogger Meetup at Bridge Tap House!

August 19, 2011

Hey-O! Happy Friday! I hope your week was fantastic as mine was! Who’s ready for the weekend?! Last week, I met up with Melissa, Charles, Sharon, Todd, Lisa, Jahnna, and Susan at Bridge Tap House in downtown St. Louis! It was the blogger meetup that Melissa and I had planned a few weeks back. I’ve [...]

Read the full article →

This Yelper Eats–Lola!

August 12, 2011

Good morning and happy Friday! A few weeks ago, Yelp St. Louis ran a Yelp Eats promotion. Many local restaurants offered many of their appetizers, entrees, and desserts at 50% off. Who loves a deal? This girl. So when some friends wanted to check out Lola during Yelp Eats week, I was all over it. [...]

Read the full article →

Alligator Cheesecake?!?

June 11, 2011

Did that title catch your attention? I hope so! I went to Broadway Oyster Bar recently with a friend. I had been before, but this was years ago, before my obsession with writing and taking pictures of food started. Naturally, I wanted to return to document my experience! Broadway Oyster Bar is a cute little [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Nov
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

downtown

Blood and Sand…

Three Sixty

PW Pizza!

The Stadium

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 4: Bridge Tap House!

Bailey’s Range

Mango-licious

Blogger Meetup at Bridge Tap House!

This Yelper Eats–Lola!

Alligator Cheesecake?!?

Categories

Stay Connected

Grab A Button

Search the Site

Recent Posts

Become a Fan!

downtown

Categories

Tags

Stay Connected

Grab A Button

Search the Site

Recent Posts

Become a Fan!