Florissant

Pearl Café Spicy Challenge, Part Two!

by Stephanie on September 30, 2011

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Thai

Hello, and happy Friday! I’m ready ready ready for the weekend!

So…remember when I did the Pearl Café Spicy Challenge the first time? I attempted level 25, and there was a lot of sweat (and maybe a few tears), but I conquered it!

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Well, I know that I said I would never try to attempt level 50, but…I love a good challenge.

And apparently, so do these guys:

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Yep, I organized another Unofficial Yelp event at Pearl Café! I knew I wasn’t the only crazy spice-head out there! Smile

Just like before, a waiver had to be signed, and the rules were reiterated: 45 minute time limit, no sharing, and only water or beer could be consumed.

For level 50, I decided to try a different dish: The Coconut Noodles.

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This dish consisted of rice noodles with eggs, tofu, bean sprouts, green onions, cilantro, and coconut.

The dish itself, just like every other dish I’ve had at Pearl Café, was amazing. The flavors just couldn’t be beat.

However, level 50 was hard. Ridiculously hard. My mouth was on fire after just one bite! And look at all of the food on my plate! I wasn’t sure if my stomach could handle the spice and the volume of food.

After about 30 minutes of struggling with this dish, I threw in the towel.

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Booo! As far as the others in the group? We had a few successes, but a few other failures. I spent the rest of the evening trying desperately to cool my mouth down, which is why this is the last picture of this post. It was hot!

However, I’m not a quitter. Or maybe I’m just crazy. Either way, I will be back!

Pearl Café Spicy Challenge, you have not seen the last of me! I will be back to attempt level 50 again!

See ya next week with a non-spicy post Winking smile

{ 2 comments }

Because I’m CRAZY, that’s why!

by Stephanie on June 16, 2011

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Thai

So a few days ago, I did something crazy. Big surprise there, right? I mean, you’re talking about a girl who’s eaten fermented herring, beef tongue, and chicken feet!

My latest crazy adventure brought me here:

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Pearl Café! You might remember my previous review of Pearl Café, where I practically cried tears of joy over my delicious meal. Pearl Café is, hands down, my favorite Thai place in St. Louis.

Anyway, I returned to Pearl Café a few days ago to participate in their…

 

SPICY CHALLENGE!

What is the spicy challenge, you ask? Well, it’s a heat-oriented challenge (I’m sure you’ve figured that much out!) that customers can participate in. Normally, the spice level in Pearl Café’s dishes are counted in the single digits (1,2,3, etc.) However, for the spicy challenge, you start at level 25 and work your way up in increments of 25 until you hit level 100.

As soon as I heard about the spicy challenge, I knew I had to try it. And since no one wants to do something like this alone, I thought I’d invite a few of my friends from Yelp!

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A few were in for the challenge with me, and a few were just along to cheer us on!

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I don’t care what anyone says; Yelpers are awesome!

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Oh yeah. Winking smile

Once we were all seated, the waitress came over to explain the rules of the challenge.

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The rules?

- The only drinks allowed were water and beer.

- We had 45 minutes to finish everything on our plate.

- No sharing food! We had to eat every morsel ourselves.

We also had to sign a waiver.

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This is serious business, folks! Needless to say, the waiver made me super nervous about the challenge. Would it really be that bad?

We ordered our food and waited. I went with the Spicy Thai Fried Rice with Chicken.

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Looks pretty harmless, right? I took a big whiff; the spices burned my nose! Here goes nothing! The timer started and I dug in.

The first few bites weren’t bad at all. Don’t get me wrong; it was hot, but it was totally manageable. “I can totally do this!”, I thought.

The the wave of heat kicked in. Oh wow. This is spicy. Super spicy. My eyes were watering. I was SWEATING. And I wasn’t the only one!

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We were all in serious pain. I was starting to regret attempting the challenge in the first place, and this was only level 25! I can’t even imagine what 50, 75, or 100 would feel like!

The minutes crept by. With 15 minutes to spare and a quarter of my food left to go, I started getting full. Really full. And let me tell you; feeling full and dealing with a mouth that’s on fire is no fun! But I had come so far, and I wasn’t going to give up!

So…did I finish? Did I complete level 25?

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You betcha.

And so did Browning!

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And Becca!

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Yay!

This was a fun event, even though it was quite painful. It felt good to complete the challenge, but I’m 98% sure I’m not going to attempt level 50. Level 25 was hard enough!

Aimee, the Yelp St. Louis community manager, was nice enough to give me a special award for organizing the event:

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Yelp’s Spice & Bravery Award. Haha…I love it!

A Yelp award and the knowledge that I completed level 25? No need to go any further; I got what I came for!

So tell me: What’s the craziest food-related thing you’ve ever done? Would you attempt the spicy challenge?

{ 10 comments }

I think I’m in love.

by Stephanie on February 9, 2011

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Thai

I went to Pearl Café a few weeks ago with a coworker. I had visited once before (sans camera) and I was thoroughly impressed. So I knew I had to come back. Plus, I wanted to introduce this place to as many people as possible! Yes, it’s that good.

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It was lunchtime, so my coworker went with the Yellow Curry lunch special. I came with steamed rice, the soup of the day (I believe it was egg drop soup!), a fried spring roll, and a thai butterfly. He also ordered an order of spring rolls! It was so much food, I couldn’t fit it all into one shot!

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Yeah. All that food for one person. He said it was all good!

I went with the spicy tofu: tofu, tomatoes, green beans, green onions, and cilantro with brown sauce.

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It was served with steamed rice.

All together now!

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This. Was. Delicious. The tofu was tender and flavorful, the green beans were crunchy and light, and the brown sauce was so good I wanted to bathe in it. Too bad I had to go back to work after this; I might have poured it all over me otherwise!

This dish was good to the very last drop. So good that I cleaned my plate and wished for more, even though I was stuffed! Now that’s the sign of a good meal.

Service at Pearl Café was really attentive. Almost too attentive; the moment we sat down, the waitress immediately came over and asked if we knew what we wanted to order! Woah, mama!

The prices were extremely reasonable. My food was only 8 bucks. Not bad for a huge plate of food!

Score time, score time…

Food: 5 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 5 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 5 stars

 

Five stars across the board! Pearl Café is super close to my job, so I’ll definitely be back. However, I would drive long distances to come here; it was that good. Dare I say this is the best Thai in St. Louis? Yeah, I said it. I think I’m in love!

{ 6 comments }

Dancin’ to the beat of my own drum!

by Stephanie on May 31, 2010

in Dinner, Lunch, West African

I’ve been dying to try Tam Tam African restaurant for ages now. It’s in North County, St. Louis…which happens to be pretty close to where I work! Score. It’s nestled in a pretty nondescript strip mall.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by the friendliest restaurant owner I’ve come across in quite some time! It was pretty awesome, if you ask me. He seated me and handed me a menu. I took some time to look over it, as well as check out the scenery. There was nothing fancy here; it was very simply decorated, and I’m fine with that!

I thought this mural was pretty cool!

I ordered a ginger juice to start out.

I’m not gonna lie — this was really intense! The ginger flavor was DEFINITELY there. This is not for the faint of heart! Somehow, even though it was super intense, it was still refreshing. YUM!

The super friendly waitress then brought me out some chips and salsa, West African style. I cannot describe in words how good this chips were, so I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves!

The salsa was also unique and tasty. It had a spiciness to it, but there was also a touch of sweetness. It was incredible paired with the chips.

I’m a HUGE fan of fried plantains. One of my good friends from college was from Nigeria, and her family had the BEST fried plantains I’ve had in my life! I’ve tried fried plantains at many restaurants around St. Louis, and nothing ever compared to the real thing. Until now! Tam Tam did it RIGHT. These were TO DIE FOR!

These plantains were good all by themselves, but I think a sweet dipping sauce (honey based) would have kicked this up notches unknown to mankind! Oh well.

Okay…time for the main course! Everything sounded good on the menu, but I decided to venture out and try something I’ve never had before — goat!

The menu described the goat entree as “Tender goat meat slowly grilled and spiced the African way, served
with your choice of couscous, fries, or plantain.” Ummm…yes please! I already had plantains, and fries are BORING, so I went with the couscous.

After lots of anticipation, my meal finally came out. Feast your eyes on THIS, my friends!

And the vegetable couscous…

So everything LOOKED tasty, but I’m really sad to report that the goat didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I don’t know if goat is always this way or if I just got a bad batch, but it was VERY fatty. I could only salvage a few morsels to pop into my mouth! Saaaad panda.

The couscous was good, though! Very flavorful with yummy tender veggies spread throughout. A party in my mouth for sure!

Score time!

Food: 3 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 3 stars

Service: 5 stars

Value: 5 stars

Overall, I still had an enjoyable meal. And I’m not giving up on Tam Tam — I will surely be back! Next time I’ll just skip the goat.

{ 2 comments }

Hendel’s Market Cafe

by Stephanie on April 6, 2010

in American, Bread Pudding, Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch

So I started a new job recently. Instead of working downtown (where good eateries are abundant!), I’m now working in St. Louis county, which is a  food wasteland of sorts. Lots of chain restaurants, and…not much else.

Or at least that’s what I thought before I visited Hendel’s! Located in Old Florissant, it’s a cute little blast from the past.

It’s very old fashioned and cozy. Lots of indoor (and outdoor!) seating as well, which is always a plus.

Now it’s time for the food! I had the spinach salad — Fresh spinach, mushrooms, red onions, smoked bacon and chopped egg with hot honey bacon dressing. Mmmm, it was delicious! The dressing was pretty fantastic as well. And the salad was pretty large for a lunch portion. Definitely enough to fill me up.

I was going to skip dessert at first, but then the waitress told me that they have homemade bread pudding. BREAD PUDDING?!?! And it’s homemade?!? Yes, please!

It was absolutely delicious. Warm, gooey, and flavorful. I didn’t even mind that there were raisins in it. The whipped cream on top was sweet and fantastic. And the piece that was brought out to me was HUGE! Totally one of my top 5 bread pudding experiences.

My only complaint? Our waitress could have been a lot friendlier. She was pleasant, but she looked and acted like she secretly hated her job. Don’t rain on my parade, woman!

Despite that small complaint, I’ll be back.

Overall Scores?

Food: 4 stars (out of five)

Ambiance: 4 stars

Service: 2 stars

Value: 3 stars

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