St. Louis Food and Drink News

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Are You Ready For Some Futbol?

The 2014 World Cup kicks off tomorrow (Thursday, June 12) at 3:00 p.m. STL time with host country Brazil facing Croatia.

Tucanos image

Tucanos Brazilian Grill in St. Charles and the St. Louis Ambush are hosting a watch party tomorrow from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The game will be shown on a large projection screen TV and several Ambush players will be on hand to meet and greet soccer fans.

Tucanos will offer an assortment of Brazilian appetizers at half-price, including coxinhas (click HERE for Wikipedia entry on coxinhas) and Brazilian nachos.

An assortment of non-alcoholic Brazilian drinks will be available and, of course, there will be beer!

Tucanos is located at 1520 South 5th Street in St. Charles, just off I-70.

Fifa

 

 

 

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FREE Beer???

cbc sign

Regulations prohibit Ryan and Brandon Nickelson (pictured below), owners of the new Craft Beer Cellar in Clayton, from saying that they are giving away free beer.

Ryan and Brandon

However, they will be giving away a free gift to their first 1,000 customers who make a purchase when they open to the public on Saturday, May 17, at 10:00 a.m. And, if those gifts are like the ones handed out to those who attended a preview event this week—and the rumor is they will be—each gift will include a six-pack of various beers.

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The store, located at 8113 Maryland Avenue in Clayton, offers a huge variety of craft beers. St. Louis beers—Schlafly, 4 Hands, Six Row, Urban Chestnut, etc.—are represented prominently. Among the other beers at the Craft Beer Cellar are these pictured below.

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A couple of brands you won’t find at the Craft Beer Cellar are Goose Island and Blue Moon. While Brandon and Ryan don’t mean any disrespect to those beers, they don’t fit the definition of “craft” beer that they go by. (In fact, you won’t find any A-B or MillerCoors beers in the store.)

But it’s not likely that you’ll walk out without finding a beer, or several, to take home. As mentioned, the choices are immense. And, along with Ryan and Brandon, their team is well-informed and enthusiastic about craft beer. If you ask for guidance or a recommendation, you’ll get it.

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If you, like my friend Cindy Collins of KLOU radio (pictured above), enjoy craft beer, you may want to check out the Craft Beer Cellar. And do it Saturday. You just might get some free beer!

Click HERE to visit their Facebook page.

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Kaldi’s Coffee Dinner at the Ritz

Many restaurants have spectacular wine dinners. Some offer intriguing beer dinners. We’ve even seen the occasional whiskey dinner recently. Now, here comes a Spring Coffee Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton on Saturday, May 17.

Ritz

The meal will feature Kaldi’s coffees in each course. Menu items include coffee-glazed pork belly, coffee-rubbed beef tenderloin, halibut sauced with coffee beurre blanc and coffee créme brulée. Click HERE for the complete menu.

Kaldi

Paired coffee cocktails and Urban Chestnut beers will accompany the meal.

Cost is $150/person plus tax and tip. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald House. For reservations, call the Ritz at 314-719-1433.

The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis is located at 100 Carondelet Plaza in Clayton.

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Even MORE BBQ for St. Louis

Restaurant owners Dave Bailey and Tom Schmidt engaged in a clever Twitter chat yesterday afternoon that revealed their respective new BBQ plans.

At 5:50 p.m. @BaileysinSTL tweeted to @FrancoSTL: “Hey, Tom, a little bird told me that you were opening a BBQ restaurant.”

bbq

In the next few minutes, beans were spilled via Twitter that Schmidt’s Nico (in the Loop next to the Chuck Berry statue) would be retooled into Salt + Smoke and would open in May.

Bailey shared word that his yet unnamed BBQ joint downtown at 1011 Olive would open next winter.

At 6:08 p.m. the P-D’s @ianfroeb noticed the chat and tweeted: “Dave Bailey and Tom Schmidt are either breaking news together or trolling all of us brilliantly.”

Congrats to both for using Twitter to bypass the local foodie media and take their news straight to the whole Twitterverse. Whether they plotted the exchange on their own or were guided by an unseen hand, it was nicely done.

Is there room for 2 more BBQ restaurants in town? I say yes. We may have enough Walgreen’s locations and a sufficient number of Starbucks stores to take care of our needs. But the saturation point for BBQ—while getting closer—is still a ways away, in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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RFT’s Iron Fork—Loved It!

I promised myself I would not overdo it at Iron Fork this year. But there was so much good food and drink—that promise was quickly broken.

Tom at Iron Fork

My favorites tastes were the Beef and Barley Soup from Iron Barley, Bread Pudding from Cyrano’s and the Lobster Risotto from Scape. (Above is a photo of Iron Barley’s Tom Coghill in action.)

Here are a few pics of some more good-looking (and good-tasting) items at last Thursday’s (3/20/14) event:

Pork loin Dressel'sThe pork loin from Dressel’s (shown above) was served with grits and chowchow. Tasty!

Elvis Waffle

The Elvis Waffle (above) from Melt was a crowd favorite.

Scallops CTFHCentral Table Food Hall brought delicious scallops (above).

Veal meatball HWKHome Wine Kitchen served up a veal meatball with a neat blueberry sauce.

Whisk cookiesWhisk Bakery offered up a Chocolate Chip Cookie with Bacon and a Popcorn Cookie. Both very good!

Thanks to everybody who shared your food and drinks at this year’s Iron Fork event! Y’all did good!

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Melting Pot Fundraiser for Autism

On Monday, April 28, The Melting Pot of Town and Country, is hosting a “fondue-raiser” for Missouri Families for Effective Autism Treatment (MO-FEAT).

For this benefit event, 100 percent of proceeds raised will go to MO-FEAT.

Karen Barnett is co-owner of the T & C Melting Pot and the parent of a child with autism.

The 4-course dinner will include a cheese fondue opener, a fresh salad, a “succulent entrée with fresh vegetables,” and a chocolate fondue dessert. Cost is $65/person and that includes your tip.

A cash bar will be available. Silent auction and raffle items will help raise more money.

First seating on 4/28 will be at 5:00 p.m. Make reservations by calling 636-207-6358. For more info, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

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Tasting Event Strategies

If you attend events like this week’s Iron Fork at Union Station or June’s Saucy Soiree at the Four Seasons or St. Louis magazine’s A-List party in July in the CWE, you need strategies.

What do you want to sample? I enjoy trying things that are new and unfamiliar. Tasting longtime favorites is enjoyable, but a unique offering from a newer purveyor is more likely to produce a lasting memory.

How much do you want to eat and drink? I try to avoid getting quickly stuffed. Bread and beer are filling. If you get, say, a piece of brisket on a bun, toss the bun and enjoy the meat. Should you pick up a food sample that is less than delightful, you don’t have to eat it all.

If you choose to booze… there will be wonderful beers available. But I try to limit beer consumption at tasting events because, for me, it is more filling than wine.

How do you know which of the longer lines are worth the wait? Ask people. Almost all attendees love to talk about the foods they’ve enjoyed most.

Is it okay to get seconds? Generally, yes, although I don’t recommend it—for two reasons: (1) Each restaurant has a finite supply of food. (2) When you’re waiting in line for another taste of something you liked, you’re missing out on trying something different.

How do you avoid being overwhelmed by it all? Take notes. A quick memo to yourself on your phone’s notes app can help you recall highlights. Taking pics of the best-looking offerings also helps aid your recall. Many participants will have business cards or menus for you to pick up.

Remember that while these are food and drink events, they are also people events. Offer compliments to the folks whose food and beverages make you happy. Take a moment to greet old friends you encounter as you rush to the next food station. Honor the preferences of the person(s) you’re attending with.

Should you run into the people who have organized your tasting event, be sure to offer thanks for all their efforts. It’s a big job!

For full details of Thursday night’s Iron Fork tasting event, click HERE.

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A Taste of Fiction

A Taste of Fiction is a fundraiser for St. Louis Public Library featuring pastry items from several St. Louis area chefs. The chefs have been asked to “interpret literary works in pastry.” Adult beverages will be served.

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The event on Friday night at St. Louis Public Library is SOLD OUT. But you can check out the creative creations on Saturday (3/8/14). You can also meet and greet Robbie Montgomery of Sweetie Pie’s on Saturday afternoon. Click HERE for details.

Among the many fine sponsors of the event are Hendrick’s Gin and Monkey Shoulder Whiskey. Here are a couple of cool cocktail recipes that were passed our way, FYI:

The King Kong
1oz.  Monkey Shoulder
1/2 oz.  Tuaca
1/4 oz. Orange Curacao
2 oz.  Orange Juice
garnish with fresh thyme sprig

The Lemony Snicket
2 oz. Hendricks
4 oz. Lemonade

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Big Footprint: BlackFinn’s Fatal Flaw?

When BlackFinn opened two years ago, the big story was not its food or drink or its décor, but its huge footprint: two large dining areas, two bar areas, event space and a patio. Its size may be the main reason it closed this week.

BlackFinn’s food was good, if a bit pricey. They carried a decent lineup of beers, enough to make me happy when I attended happy hours and parties there. The restaurant and its bigger bar area (with plenty of screens for sports viewing) looked great.

Was BlackFinn’s location a problem? My guess is probably not. It was at the north end of the Galleria, on Clayton Road, close to Brentwood Boulevard, just off I-170 and Highway 40. (Its sister restaurant Vida Cantina suffered a quick death, just months after opening. Its semi-obscure location, tucked away in a corner next to BlackFinn, was a likely factor in its demise.)

The Galleria may not be as hot a mall as it was in the 90’s, but it still draws large traffic. The Cheesecake Factory, which opened just over a decade ago, thrives in an arguably better spot on the mall campus.

We’ve seen several operators move into St. Louis in recent years with concepts that have had success in other markets. Many have been almost as ambitious as BlackFinn’s owners were. They have invested heavily in equipment and décor and, presumably, are paying high fees for their leases.

“Go big or go home” is a philosophy embraced by Tucano’s, prasino, Bricktops, Central Table Food Hall and McCormick and Schmick, among others.

But larger rooms have to be filled with a steady stream of diners. A slow night at a big place can be costly in terms of food, personnel and heating/cooling costs. Too many slow nights can be fatal.

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Lovely Rita?

I tasted beers flavored with peach, strawberry, chocolate, coffee and even banana (!) at this past weekend’s Centennial Beer Festival. A few had citrus tones. Some flavorings were more subtle than others.

Many of those beers can only be found in St. Louis at places like Randall’s, Lukas, Friar Tuck’s, the Wine and Cheese Place, Wolfbrau, etc. Two others whose flavors are not so subtle will be available soon in grocery store beer aisles.

Mang-o-Rita

Following in the path of Bud Light Lime’s successful Lime-A-Rita, Straw-Ber-Rita and Cran-Brrr-Rita, here come Mang-O-Rita and Raz-Ber-Rita.

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The Raz-Ber-Rita has a tart flavor. But the Mang-O-Rita is very sweet, almost reminiscent of a wine cooler. At 8% ABV, they have a stronger alcohol content than most beer drinks.

The Ritas are hugely popular in the FMB (flavored malt beverage) category, but their flavor profile is quite different from that of mainstream beers. I had my first Lime-A-Rita last season at Busch Stadium. While it has its own virtues and appeal, I wanted beer and Rita did not satisfy that particular thirst.

Bud Light Lime’s Mang-O-Rita and Raz-Ber-Rita go on sale in St. Louis on March 3.

(Congrats, by the way, to Jason Arnold and the folks at Moulin Events for another excellent Festival!)