Taste With Grace

Ok first of all, I need to make an announcement.  We are moving! Those who know me personally already know this.  I absolutely hate to leave St. Louis- especially all of the food of St. Louis :) But the hubs is graduating from medical school and we are headed to a small town in Pennsylvania called Danville.  We will be there for at least a year, not sure after that.  So I guess I need to eat all of the St. Louis goodness I can before I leave.  And then I can become a north east foodie :) 

With that being said- for our "congrats on the match" dinner, we went to Katie's Pizza and Pasta located on Manchester.  I have been wanting to go here for a while now and we finally had the opportunity do it.  We got a few apps, some pastas and some pizzas and shared everything.  And EVERYTHING was absolutely delicious.  I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but it is actually quite dark in there and we went at night, so we only managed to snap a quick pic of one of the appetizers before the sun set.  Pictured below is the artichoke toasted ravioli.  I'm a huge fan of toasted raviolis in general, but having artichoke on the inside was incredible, especially with the pesto on top.  I didn't want it to end, but unfortunately all good things must.  We also tried the burrata with seasonal figs and prosciutto.  Figs and prosciutto are a match made in heaven, so this dish was definitely a good choice.  The pear salad was our next choice which included red pear, ricotta, dried fig, walnuts, swiss chard, honey and a balsamic vinaigrette.  The pears were perfectly crisp and well balanced with the acid of the vinaigrette and the sweetness of the honey.  Yum!  For our pizza choices, we got the Fig and Squash (can you tell I like figs yet?) withe roasted butternut squash, figs, pancetta, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, sage, balsamic and fresh arugula.  You can't go wrong with this pizza.  Sage and Squash=perfection.  Goat cheese, ummmm yes. And the fresh mozzarella makes a huge difference as well as the fresh arugula on top.  I was wanting the lick the plate.  We also had the wood roasted chicken pizza with roasted garlic, chicken, dandelion greens, caramelized shallots, goat cheese and gorgonzola.  The sweetness of the caramelized shallots with the garlic and herbs on the chicken was such a good pairing.  This pizza was absolutely fantastic.  

Overall I can't say enough about how great Katie's was.  The only thing I will warn you about is that you need to have a reservation if you don't want to wait forever! But like I always say, if you have to wait a while, that means it's goooood.  And this was :)

I had a friend come in town and I loved the opportunity to once again eat my way through St. Louis.  Out of town guests are always good for that, right? We headed down town to eat at Bailey's range.  I'm a sucker for a good burger.  My choice for this time was the longhorn, which was an aged sirloin patty topped with salsa, guacamole, queso, and chipotle mayo.  The meat was perfectly seasoned and the mayo added the right amount of kick.  We also got some fries to share and they were so good- especially with the cheddar dipping sauce! All of their dipping sauces were great, but the cheddar was my personal favorite.  

Of course I have to take all out of towners to Ted Drewes, and this was no exception.  My go to flavor at Ted's is the oreo banana concrete.  I have gotten the same flavor every time (with the occasional, later regretted, exception) since I was a little girl.  I have had other flavors from tasting friend's, and they have been very good, but there's just something about the oreo banana that I can't veer away from.  

My husband and I tried out a new Ice cream place by Lafayette square called Clementine's naughty and nice ice creamery.  They offer booze infused (naughty) flavors as well as more family friendly ones (nice).  They are the only micro creamery in St. Louis and offer a wide variety of unique flavors like bacon jam + black pepper, cardamom and gooey butter cake.  We tried the nutella, gooey butter cake and salted caramel crack.  We actually tried more than that... but those 3 were our final decision.  The ice cream was perfectly creamy and very high quality and the flavors were delicious.  My personal favorite was the gooey butter cake.  I'm excited to see what new flavors they will have for the summer!

On our way to the botanical gardens, we hit up World's Fair Donuts because why not? After sampling multiple, my favorite was just the original glazed.  I'm a purist when it comes to donuts.  And this was absolutely delicious.  Very light and airy and perfectly glazed.  So good!

We leave at the end of May, so I'm getting in all of the St. Louis goodness while I still can! It's all happening way too fast!

Love,

Grace

First things first- I went to Memphis! I had a lovely time with an old friend and we got to eat some delicious food.  She is a fellow foodie so it was perfect.  Of course we had to get barbeque in Tennessee so we headed over to Central BBQ.  I had been here before on a previous trip to Memphis and enjoyed it so was happy to go again.  Last time I got ribs (what I ALWAYS get at BBQ places) and they were divine- I would definitely recommend them.  This time around I decided to branch out and get the BBQ Nachos.  Also a very good choice.  We got a side of mac and cheese for the babes and some potato salad which were both very yummy.  I would highly recommend this BBQ place and will definitely go again next time I'm in Memphis.  

We also went to the famous Arcade Restaurant for a delicious breakfast.  And the thing to get there is the sweet potato pancakes.  They were sooooo good.  Both my friend and I got them and both give them two thumbs up.  So I guess four thumbs up? As you know, I love breakfast food and always enjoy an opportunity to go out for breakfast. 

Now back to St. Louis.  We went to Steve's hot dogs- the Tower Grove location the other night because first of all, it is on our block, secondly, it has outdoor seating and the weather has been ahhhhmazing, and thirdly we have been here before and love it.  So I was happy to go back and feature it on my blog and instagram.  I have tried multiple things there and all have been good.  I will say though, that this hot dog that I got this time is probably the best one I've had yet.  I got the Imo's sausage dog (you can get whatever kind of dog you want, but ummmm yes please to Imo's sausage!) With a white alfredo rigatoni on top with bacon crumbles and parmesan cheese.   Holy cow was it good! And soooo bad for me.  They have lots of great choices- including the Bacon Bacon Jamaican which my husband got and I have had before.  Delicious.  They also have macaroni and cheese bowls which are delicious.  Good eats and a good price too!

I absolutely love asian food and am always on the hunt for delicious Vietnamese food.  I got a recommendation to try Bahn Mi So 1- the home of the best spring rolls in St. Louis and it was really good! I got the crispy pork spring rolls and thoroughly enjoyed them.  We also split a bahn mi pork sandwich and a chicken curry dish.  Unfortunately my pictures of them did not turn out, but they were very very good! The best part was that it was so affordable! The bahn mi sandwich was only $3.50.  Yes please! 

Now my next recommendation has been my favorite place I've eaten at recently.  But as I've said before, Italian sandwiches are like my thing.  I went to Gioia's deli where they are famous for their hot salami.  First of all- the service was excellent.  We walked in and the staff gave us recommendations as well as a sample of their famous salami (yum!). Gioia's is located on the hill.  I ended up getting the Italian Trio sandwich which was TO DIE FOR.  Love at first bite.  The meats were mortadella, Genova and the hot salami served on garlic cheese bread and garnished with lettuce, tomato, onion, pepperocinis, mayo, oil and vinegar and provel cheese.  As a true St. Louisan, I had to get the provel cheese :) And it was all delicious.  I'm already wanting to go back.  My husband got the porknado which was hot salami, bacon and ham on garlic bread.  Also delicious- especially with the sriracha mayo and jalepenos on top.  

I met up with a girlfriend for lunch the other day at Russel's on Macklind.  I had heard this place was really good and wanted to give it a try.  I got the chicken pot pie soup and the grilled chicken and smoked gouda toasted sandwich.  Both good choices.  The chicken pot pie soup was my favorite especially with the biscuits dunked in.  The sandwich had caramelized onions on it and garlic mayo which made it very tasty.  

We also indulged a little and got dessert there.  My friend got the luxurious chocolate cake which tasted as good as it looks and I went for the classic gooey butter cake- also a good choice.  We were both pleased with our experience at Russell's!

Let me know if you have recommendations for restaurants! I love trying new places and visiting old favorites. :)

Love,

Grace

OK first of all I cannot get over this weather in St. Louis right now.  Here we are in February and the past few days have been sunshine and in the 70s. Is this real life? I have decided that heaven is in the mid 70s.  It really is the perfect temperature.  Not too hot and not too cold.  Anyway. On to the real reason you are reading this blog- food.  

I've been cooking some new recipes this week as well as some old favorites.  One of the new ones I enjoyed was the cajun chicken flatbread recipe from the food blog Tastes Better from Scratch.  You can find the recipe here. Aside from this being very tasty, I really appreciated that it was such a quick meal! It was done in no time.  As I've said before, I do most of my shopping at Aldi.  Aldi sells these naan breads that I love to make pizzas on because they are the perfect size for a personal one.  (Or for me to eat 2/3 of one and my husband to eat 1 and 1/3) So I just used those instead of one large flat bread.  The sauce was a cajun spiced aioli.  For those of you that don't know what an aioli is, think similar to mayonnaise.  In fact, this recipe uses mayonnaise for the base of the sauce.  It is then topped with mozzarella cheese, cajun spiced chicken, mini sweet peppers, onion, avocado, and cilantro.  For the chicken you just season with salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning and pan fry until done.  The recipe calls for you to grill it, but I was lazy.  Quick tip for cooking meat: Only flip once! I leave the chicken on one side in the pan until it is almost done and then flip it for a few more minutes to cook out the last bit of pink on the other side.  The flipping once is true of all meats FYI.  That way you don't lose the juices by cutting into it to know if it's ready and what not.  

I also went to Crushed Red this week for dinner.  It's my husband's favorite place to go.  And it has a lot of healthy options because they have really yummy salads.  They make the salads right in front of you and use a mezzaluna knife to chop it all up.  That way all of the bites have an even amount of ingredients in it.  If you don't know what a mezzaluna knife is, you can google it :) I got the farmer's market salad, which has granny smith apples, goat cheese (like I told you, if it has goat cheese, I'm going to order it), craisins, turkey, and sunflower seeds in it.  All with a honey mustard dressing.  Another favorite salad of mine there is the chipotle BBQ chicken salad.  Also delicious.  We also shared a pizza- the gorgonzola chicken.  White sauce, cheese, gorgonzola, chicken, spinach, onion and tomato.  Delicious.  It's a nice casual restaurant.  But not too casual.  So a perfect lunch spot.  They have two locations- we went to the one in Kirkwood. 

I also did homemade ribs this week with sweet potatoes.  I have made these ribs a few times now and it is so easy and they are always tender.  Oddly enough, I found this "make ribs in your oven" recipe and method on wikihow.  If you have never checked out that site, you should.  If you don't know how to do something, that site has the answer.  I have learned multiple things from there.  You can find the rib article that I used here.  I used the dry rub method, but the article shows you different ways to do it.  The best part is how simple it is.  You dry rub the ribs, wrap them in foil and then let them cook in your oven at 250 for 2.5-3 hours.  Perfect.  Then you top with your favorite BBQ sauce.  (Or not, my husband claims to be a purist and doesn't use sauce)  I used Sweet Baby Ray's sweet and spicy.  It's the perfect sauce to me because prior to finding this, I would find a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce and mix them.  Sweet Baby Ray did it for me this time.  For the sweet potatoes, I simply boiled and mashed them and then added a little milk, butter, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and a dash of hot sauce for a kick.  Yum.  The best thing to put in them is a dash of chipotles in adobo sauce, if you have it.  Or putting cream cheese in them is also good.  Or sour cream.  I'm a huge fan of savory sweet potatoes, and I think they go perfectly with BBQ.  You can also do oven baked sweet potato fries if you are feeling adventurous.  I have done this before and they are yummy!

I decided to go out to breakfast on Saturday morning with some girlfriends since my husband was working.  I absolutely love breakfast food and I very very rarely go out to breakfast.  So this was definitely a treat.  We decided to go to a St. Louis favorite- Uncle Bill's Pancake and Dinner House.  And everything was so good.  Just classic breakfast food- nothing fancy.  But that's just what you need sometimes, right? I just got the bacon and eggs plate, which came with hash browns and a stack of pancakes.  I had my little babe with me and he decided the pancakes were for him and ate more than half of them.  But I did get to eat some of them and they were delicious.  Hash browns are pretty much the reason I go out for breakfast and these were cooked perfectly- crispy, but not too crispy.  And the over easy eggs and bacon were great too! I definitely recommend Uncle Bill's if you are a breakfast food lover like myself.  

Last night we had my mom over for dinner since my dad left on a business trip.  We decided to make our go to meal lately- thai red curry meatballs.  I tried this recipe for the first time last summer and have made it once to twice per month since then.  It's that good.  And my husband is always requesting it.  And I'm happy to oblige because I love it too.  It's red curry meat balls (I use ground turkey, even though the recipe calls for ground chicken) in a coconut red curry peanut sauce over brown jasmine rice.  They are sooooo good.  You can find the recipe here. And you won't be sorry.  They have a kick to them, but they aren't too spicy, in my opinion.  Something to note- I have made these multiple times, as stated before and it is realllllly important to use fresh ground meat.  I tried making them a few times with frozen meat and it really did make a huge difference! So go for the fresh meat, if possible.  

That has been my eating experience the past few days/week.  I hope you are enjoying the blog as much as I am enjoying writing it.  I started a cooking club this past month and our second meeting is this week.  So I'm excited to share some fun cooking club stuff with you soon!

Love,

Grace

St. Louis has a lot of great food to offer.  I have lived here most of my life and honestly love the food scene here.  There are always new things to try and old favorites to regularly go to.  Because I'm a local, I often get asked for recommendations on places to eat.  So I figured having recommendations on this blog would be a good way to share my favorites - old and new- and to be able to reference whenever I'm having trouble of thinking of anything.  

So first things first.  I love Italian subs.  I have a few favorites that I like from around town, but my all time favorite, at least for now, is the Hill Boy from Adriana's on the hill.  It's located on Shaw just west of Kingshighway.  It's a tiny little shop that always has a line out the door.  But as I always say- if there's a line, that means it's food worth waiting for.  Adriana herself is always at the cash register (or at least has been every time I have gone) and is friendly and chatty with everyone that enters.  A lot of the sandwiches are even named after her grandchildren.  They do have a Grace- but I haven't tried it yet! My husband and I always get a sandwich and the pasta special and then split them both.  A sandwich is definitely plenty for two people- the sandwich pictured is half.  The pasta sauce is out of this world good.  My favorite red sauce ever.  The Hill Boy has lots of yummy Italian meats, pepperocinis, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and their special sauce/dressing.  Yum.  

For our Valentine's dinner, we went out to Dressel's Public House.  I had never been here before.  Our friends that we went with recommended it, and boy am I glad that they did.  It's a pub atmosphere with tasty food.  We started our meal with the poutine.  It was french fries with a delicious gravy, cheese curds (surprisingly tasty), green onions and pork belly on top.  The pork belly was top notch and probably my favorite part.  I made the mistake of not getting a picture!  For my main course I got the lamb burger, as recommended by our waiter.  It has goat cheese (which is what sold me on ordering it), an apricot chutney and house made bread and butter pickles.  All served with house made chips.  And it was so good! All of the flavors combined were perfect and I would definitely go back and order it again.  

We ended our evening (after a fun time at Casa Loma ballroom) at Ices Plain and Fancy. It is located in the Shaw neighborhood on the corner of 39th and Shenandoah. They make ice cream using liquid nitrogen right in front of you.  Not only is it cool, but it tastes amazing.  It's one of our favorite go to spots- and it definitely helps that it is very close to our house. :) I have been here quite a few times and have gotten a variety of flavors.  I have yet to have one that disappoints.  My husband's favorite is the dulce de leche salted caramel custard.  I do agree that is is delicious, but I like to try new things.  This time it was their temporary flavor "Campfire Smores." It was a toasted marshmallow ice cream with marshmallows also mixed in. Then it was topped with hot fudge, graham crackers, and hershey bar chunks.  They then put a smoked dome on top to give it a smoky campfire flavor.  Not only was it a cool effect to pull of the dome and watch the smoke fly away, but it also added the perfect flavor.  I highly recommend it.  But it won't be there forever, so be quick! If you happen to read this too late- I also highly recommend the nutella flavor- which is on their regular flavors board.  

Last night I was by the loop in U City visiting a friend and decided to finally go and taste Mission Taco since I'm hardly ever in that area.  I had heard from multiple people that this was a good place, so I wanted to try it.  And it did not disappoint.  I ordered two different kinds of tacos.  The first one was the roasted duck.  It was a chile roasted duck, crisp pork belly carnitas, and topped with an avocado serrano sauce.  My pork belly experience at Dressels inspired me to try this one.  And it was very very tasty.  The second taco was the carne asada taco with wood-fire grilled flank steak, baby arugula, queso fresco, and the same avocado serrano sauce.  The sauce was delicious and definitely had a kick to it.  I was a big fan of both and couldn't possibly choose.  The street corn off the cob was also good.  The tacos were definitely the highlight for me though. 

Then for lunch today I went to Lona's 'Lil Eats located on California Ave in the fox park neighborhood.  I went to Lona's for the first time about a week ago (before I started this blog) after hearing rave review after rave review.  And after taking one bite, I'm ready to add another rave review.  Good enough that I needed to go back a week later to take my dad along.  They are the home of the giant rice paper wrap.  You can either build your own or pick one that they have on the menu.  I decided to create my own.  It was filled with grilled chicken, greens, jasmine rice and topped with a thai peanut sauce.  They have lots of tasty sauces to choose from.  I'm also a huge fan of the Lona-Q sauce, which is what my husband got.  Each order comes with a side and I got the peanut ginger lime slaw salad, which was yummmmmmy! I cannot say enough good about Lona's.  I mean I think the fact that I went twice in one week says enough.  

Those are my foodie finds/old favs for this post. Let me know if you have any St. Louis recommendations! Email me at tastewithgrace@gmail.com

Love,

Grace