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

I have been eating well lately! And here's the proof:

This Bulgogi pork is another recipe I found from my favorite food blog- jocooks.com.  Seriously check it out if you haven't already.  I got her daily email with this recipe in it and instantly knew that I needed to try it.  Bulgogi is traditionally a Korean dish made of thinly sliced marinated beef and then grilled.  This recipe, however, uses similar marinating techniques, but with a pork tenderloin instead.  The best part of this was how easy it is to make.  Keep in mind however, that you do have to let your meat marinate for some time.  I have made this multiple times now and usually marinate the pork in the morning until it is time to cook it for dinner that night.  You can marinate it for less time, but that is just what works for me.  The marinade include a shredded pear, which brings a distinct delicious sweetness and red chili flakes, which brings the heat.  This is quite a spicy dish- so leave out the red chili flakes if you don't like spice.  I can't get over how good this was and am kind of craving it right now... :) Go check out the recipe here!

Now this next meal is my ULTIMATE go to meal.  My mother first taught me to make this when I was a young girl and I have been making it ever since.  I absolutely love chicken parmesan and it is a crazy good comfort food for me.  I especially love making it because I don't need a recipe.  I have made it enough to have it memorized.  I will still share my go to meal with you- it's very quick and easy! 

You will need: 

Chicken tenderloins (or thinly pounded breasts)

 an egg

Italian style bread crumbs

parmesan cheese (the shake kind)

olive oil

 tomato basil spaghetti sauce (whatever brand you like- I use the Aldi brand and love it)

 mozzarella cheese 

spaghetti

The amount needed of the above ingredients all depends on how many people you are feeding.  I typically do 2 tenderloins per person or one breast.  Cook the spaghetti according to the package and you can do as much or as little as you like.  Get two bowls.  Fill the first one with a beaten egg and the second one with equal parts of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.  For my husband and I (4 tenderloins), I would say use half a cup of each.  Mix it together.  Heat a pan on the oven with olive oil on medium high heat.  Dip the chicken in the egg and then coat it in the bread crumb mixture and then pan fry them.  Leave them on one side until theres only a strip of pink on the top and then flip for 2 or 3 minutes to finish off.  While still in the pan, pour the spaghetti sauce over the chicken breasts (for 4 tenderloins, I use about half of a regular sized bottle) and then top with mozzarella cheese.  Cover the pan for a few minutes until the sauce is warmed through and the cheese is melted.  Once the cheese is melted, removed from heat and put the chicken on top of a pile of spaghetti.  Then enjoy!

I threw a baby shower a few weekends ago and decided to do quiche for the main food.  I got this recipe for a ham and asparagus quich here. With quiche, however, you just need a basic recipe and then can go wild with what you put in it.  For the crusts, I just used pre-made pie crusts.  I have made my own crusts before and it was delicious.  This time around, however, I was more on a time crunch and went with the pre-made pie crusts. This particular recipe pictured is very good because it has cream cheese in it- which I had never used in a quiche before.  And it was very good! But use your imagination- if you don't have asparagus, use broccoli, or peppers or any veggie really.  And you can use bacon or sausage instead of ham.  Really just use what you think would be good!

I had these amazing barbeque nachos (not the ones I mentioned 2 posts ago, although those were also good) around Halloween of last year and I have been thinking of them ever since.  I finally decided to just go ahead and make my own! And I was very pleased with the result.  And nothing is easier than nachos, right? I used the crock pot to make my BBQ pork- which was simply a pork tenderloin cooked in barbeque sauce.  Then I topped the nachos with white cheddar cheese, the BBQ pork, baked beans (say what?! I had never thought to do this until the nachos I had around Halloween.  Game changer!), an extra drizzle of BBQ sauce, cilantro, and green onions.  Then you just bake until the cheese is melted.  Also here is a tasty little secret.  Double layer your nachos.  Seriously.  Chips, cheese, the goods, and then another layer of chips, cheese and the goods.  This will prevent you from eating all of the yummy stuff off of the top and then having naked chips left over.  We topped it with sour cream afterwards as well.  Other tasty additions could be tomatoes or avocado/guacamole.  They are sooo good. Hope you get to enjoy them soon, and if you do, let me know!

It's been awesome cooking and eating these creations! As always, I'd love to hear whenever you try something out or have a recipe in mind for me to try.  

Love,

Grace

I'm really enjoying writing this blog and posting my pictures to Instagram.  I hope you all are enjoying reading it.  Any and all feedback is welcome- I want to know how to make this blog better and something you all want to read!  I want to branch out to cover other topics like meal planning, kitchen tips, kitchen techniques, etc.  More on that later!

I first made the Sweet Fire Chipotle Chicken bowls a few months ago because my friend from church has an awesome food blog so I wanted to try out one of her recipes.  And this one was definitely a good pick.  The cilantro lime black bean rice is amazing to start out.  And then the Chicken is slightly spicy (but not too much) with broccoli to top it off.  The flavors are sweet and spicy- which is my favorite combination- due to the use of chipotles in adobo.  For those of you who don't know, you can buy a can of chipotles in adobo and then store it in your fridge in an air tight container for quite a long time.  Both the sauce and the chilies can be used in various recipes.  The recipe for this dinner can be found here. 

I'm usually very into meal planning.  In fact, I plan my meals out on a monthly basis.  Sometimes I look at what I'm supposed to make, however, and am just not feeling it.  I don't really remember what I was supposed to make one night, but I wasn't feeling it, and turned to my quick ham and pea bow tie pasta instead.  This is my "I don't feel like cooking" dish- even though it does require some cooking obviously.  But not much! You make a simple roux white sauce first.  I always make a big batch because my husband loves this and likes to have leftovers.  So for an entire box of bow tie pasta, I do 3 or 4 table spoons of butter melted with an equal amount of tablespoons of flour.  Once you mix those, you slowly whisk in milk a little at a time until the sauce is the thickness that you want it to be.  Once you get it there, add the seasoning that you want.  I do it differently every time, but it generally includes salt, pepper, garlic powder, minced onions and possibly dried basil or italian seasonings.  The key is to taste the sauce as you go so that you get it to be the taste that you want.  Boil the pasta and add the peas in for the last few minutes to get them heated up.  Then add the sauce to the peas and pasta with some diced ham (bacon or pancetta is also good!) and top with parmesan cheese.  You can also switch out the peas for asparagus, broccoli, or really anything you want.  Very simple and delicious. 

Ben and I are really into making pizzas and end up making them regularly.  And I am proud to announce that we have finally mastered the art of using a pizza stone after many attempts in the beginning.  The key is to have the stone be in the oven first so that it is hot when you put the dough on and to use a LOT of corn meal.  You can also use parchment paper.  The pizza crust recipe that I use can be found here.  I always double it because we always end up making two pizzas because we always invite people over when we are making pizzas.  And our two favorites to make are the Brussels sprout bacon pizza and the breakfast pizza.  Both are good and we can never decide which one we like best.  

The brussels sprouts (by the way I just learned that the correct term is brusselS sprouts, not brussel sprouts, like I thought all along. But you probably already knew that) pizza has a rosemary creamy white sauce and is topped with bacon and mozzarella cheese.  The official recipe can be found here.

I am proud to say that I invented the breakfast pizza.  Or at least I thought of this version on my own without looking at a recipe.  There are probably lots of similar recipes out there.  It has salsa for the sauce (we use a hot habanero salsa), and then is topped with bacon, hash browns (that were cooked in the bacon grease!!), and mozzarella cheese on top.  Then a fried egg goes on top of that! Drool.  Hash browns on a pizza you ask?! Yes. A thousand times yes. 

And here are some pizza making tips that I have learned along the way.  Preheat the oven to 400 with the pizza stone in it.  Put a generous amount of corn meal on your pizza peel and on your stone once you are ready to go.  Put the dough on the peel (that you have rolled out into the desired shape) and top with whatever toppings you would like- the possibilities are truly endless and bake for around 12-15 minutes.  I would check on it at 12 minutes and go from there.  The crust needs to be slightly browned and the cheese will be bubbly. Then to get the pizza off of the pizza stone, you can use your hand (with an oven mitt on of course) to kind of push it back onto the peel or use a very thin cutting board to slide it under and put it onto the peel.  

My final meal I will be discussing is curry.  I made this for a friend who just had a baby last week and she also happens to be vegan.  I make curry all the time and was happy to realize that it is a vegan friendly meal since it uses coconut milk and I just left the meat that I usually put in out.  The best part about curry is how easy and delicious it is.  I have every possible color of curry paste in my fridge with lots of coconut milk in my food storage so that curry is always an option. You an find curry paste at any international or asian grocery store.  Walmart and other normal grocery stores do have red or green curry paste but it is a tiny container and usually more expensive, just FYI.  For this particular curry, I used every vegetable imagineable (zucchini, broccoli, onion, asparagus, peppers, peas, mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes), but usually I either use whatever vegetables I have in my fridge or just choose 3 or 4.  I also usually put chicken in there, but you can do any meat you want really.  You start by pouring some olive oil in a pan along with some curry paste.  In order to feed my family (my husband and I since my baby doesn't eat curry usually) I end up using 2 chicken tenderloins and one can of coconut milk.  Which means that for the curry paste, I would use 2-3 tablespoons, depending on the color.  The more you put in, the spicier it is, but if you don't put enough in, it won't taste like curry.  The 2-3 tablespoons is the low end of curry that you should put in.  For this particular time, I used yellow curry, which is not very spicy.  So you cook your curry in the oil with your meat (if you chose to do a meat) until it is cooked almost all the way through and then add the onion and other vegetables that you chose to do.  Let them cook a little to kind of get soft and so they are coated in the curry and oil.  Add the coconut milk (unsweetened) and cover.  Bring it to a boil and then let simmer until the vegetables are the desired tenderness.  This will usually take around 10 minutes, unless potatoes are one of the vegetables you chose, then it usually takes a little longer.  Then you are done! Spoon over rice and enjoy.  I always add cashews in once it is done because it adds a delicious flavor and crunch.  Don't put them in until the end because they will get too soft and chewy if you boil them with everything else.  

Thanks for reading! Let me know about your kitchen adventures!

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

My next app was a mini caprese salad.  And these are sooooo easy.  All you do it take a toothpick and spear a chunk of mozzarella, a leaf of lettuce and a cherry tomato.  And voila you are done.  I also finished them off with a drizzle of balsamic glaze which added the perfect flavor.  And these are always a crowd favorite and they look pretty!

My last savory option was a simple cucumber sandwich that I learned from a friend a year or so ago.  The bread I used is just a french baguette, but you can use any bread or cracker that you want.  Then you take a small tub of whipped cream cheese and mix it with a dry packet of Italian dressing seasoning.  Spread that on the bread and then top with a slice of cucumber and a sprinkle of dill.  Easy, easy , easy.  And super delicious. This is another one of those "Oh but I don't like cucumbers" things.  I had multiple people tell me they don't like cucumbers and still ate 5 or 6 of these babies.  So try it! It's so good.  

For my first dessert option I decided to do mini strawberry and cream pavlovas.  I have been wanting to make these for quite a while and finally had the opportunity to make them.  I will say- they take quite a bit of time to make, but they were soooo worth it.  A pavlova is basically just a merengue type pastry.  Similar to the texture of a macaroon or a lucky charms marshmallow.  You can find the recipe for these here. You can also top them with whatever fruit you want.  I just chose strawberries because they were on sale and there are more of them in a container.  

I did make another dessert.  They were mini oreo cheesecakes.  And let's just say that I consider them a #pinterestfail.  I wouldn't say they were gross, but in my opinion they were not good and not blog worthy.  So I will spare you the recipe on that one because I was definitely not a fan and will not be making them again.  But hey you have to have your failures too, right?

So that was my adventure of doing "fancy hors d'hoeuvres" for a small event.  It's always fun to have an opportunity to make things you have been wanting to make for a while.  Hope you are having a happy Thursday! More restaurant recommendations are coming your way soon.  

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