I’ve been itching to write this review for a while. I don’t know why I waited so long to get to this one, because — spoiler alert! — it’s good.
In fact, I’m so excited to write this review that I’m not even going to torture you with my inane ramblings that usually precede my reviews. You’re welcome. 🙂
So…The Tavern Kitchen & Bar. I’ve been wanting to try this place for quite some time, and even though I despise “best of” lists (and that’s a whole other post for another time), I saw this restaurant on Ian Froeb’s STL 100, and that was the tipping point. I had to try this place.
Naturally, I invited my favorite foodies to join me on this adventure.
Drew, Sara, Chung, Marjy, and Debby! They’ve been on the blog so many times they don’t even need an introduction, right? #foodiebesties
We arrived on a busy Friday night, and we couldn’t wait to get the food party started. But first things first – drinks! You know how I roll. 😉
I started with a Pinetini:
The lovely libation contained house infused pineapple vodka, malibu rum, and a splash of pineapple juice. Props to the bartender for this amazing drink. And props to our waitress for not laughing out loud when I somehow managed to completely butcher the name of this drink. Don’t laugh at me. I don’t want to talk about it. 🙂
Before we could jump in and order appetizers, this arrived to our table:
Why hello there, best bread I’ve ever had in my life! Nice to meet you.
Seriously, though…this bread was incredible. It was piping hot, soft, flavorful, buttery…it was manna from heaven. From heaven! We scarfed this down in two minutes, and our waitress quickly brought out some more. So. So. Good.
I honestly could have gone for a third round of this deliciousness, but it was time to order our meals. We looked through the huge menu. Everything sounded amazing. It was hard to choose what to order!
So much food. Not enough room in my stomach to eat it all. #firstworldproblems
No worries – we eventually figured it out. 😉
We all placed our orders, and before we knew it, food started rolling out! One thing of the many things I love about dining with friends? We all sample each other’s orders! True friendship, y’all. True friendship.
My friends ordered baby back ribs with an apricot-hoisin glaze:
A baby spinach salad with crimini mushrooms, chopped egg, red onion, gruyere, and warm bacon vinaigrette:
A JM Noodle Bowl with pork belly, beef short rib, one hour egg, pork consomme, and thai herbs:
A Taste of the Tavern sampler with ahi poke, blackened shrimp with jalapeno butter, lobster potstickers, and apricot-hoisin ribs:
Roasted brussels sprouts with apple & pancetta:
Truffle mushroom mac and cheese:
And this, which shall remain nameless, because I’m a forgetful food blogger, and I forgot what the heck it was:
It looks incredible, and that’s all that really matters, okay? 🙂
And as for me? I ordered Tavern Fries:
Bacon fried rice with an egg on top BECAUSE I’M SMART:
And quite possibly the most delicious thing to go into my belly in quite some time…a Char-Siu Pork Steak with pineapple habanero salsa.
I’m pretty sure pork steaks are a St. Louis thing. Other cities need to take note. This baby was GOOD. IN ALL CAPS. I can’t even describe how amazing it was. It was juicy, flavorful, massive – I mean, it took up the entire plate! – and I hate to repeat myself, but it was GOOD.
All of this food had me so worked up, that I needed an ice cold beer to calm myself down.
It worked. 😉
After all of that food, we were stuffed. But there’s no way we were leaving without ordering dessert.
We ordered the half baked cookie cake:
And a berry vernancier:
So so so so good! I feel like I’m gaining weight by just looking at these pictures.
All in all, The Tavern Kitchen and Bar was fantastic. The food was fabulous, the service was amazing, and while the food was a little pricey, it was worth every penny. I cannot wait to come back here. Who’s coming with me? 🙂
The Tavern Kitchen & Bar
2961 Dougherty Ferry Road
St. Louis, MO 63122
