St. Louis Food and Drink News

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New Favorite

The ChoriHuevo Torta at Mission Taco Joint in the Loop is something you might want to try. It’s not a menu item I would’ve normally opted for, but I wanted something different when I lunched at MTJ last week.

Torta

It’s made with chorizo sausage, fried egg, jalapeños, cheese, black beans and “garlic lime mayo.” Happily, all those ingredients are served on a roll that complements rather than dominates.

“It’s the closest thing we have to a breakfast item,” said the bartender. (He was my server as we ate at the bar). It’s a very filling sandwich. I ate half and brought the other half to my wife who also liked it.

My son had the Three Little Piggies Burrito (pork shoulder, pork belly carnitas and chorizo queso are the main ingredients) which he loved.

Mission Taco Joint is located at 6235 Delmar, a block or so west of Skinker.

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Going Mobile

A Facebook friend posted a pic last week of a local Breadco with promotional signage glued to every table. As many commenters pointed out, it did look a bit tacky.

That afternoon, I went to my neighborhood Breadco and learned the reason they did it. St. Louis Bread Company (AKA Panera) really wants you to know about their new mobile ordering app. They have signage all over the store and, in case you don’t get the message, on your table as well.

“Mobile is the biggest shift in QSR [quick serve restaurants] since the drive thru,” says Taco Bell’s Jeff Jenkins. He was quoted in an article last week from Nation’s Restaurant News. Click HERE to read the article which details the 2014 mobile ordering plans of many fast food chains.

Breadco App

Breadco is testing mobile ordering in St. Louis as well as a few other markets. The mobile app is, so far, only available for iPhone. You can also order from your computer at THIS site.

The app lets you order and pay for your soup, salad, sandwich, etc., then waltz into your Breadco, grab your order from the “Rapid Pick-Up Shelf” and split.

The biggest advantage, I think, is avoiding long lines. I’ve seen lines out the door of the Breadco in my neighborhood in the early morning and at lunchtime. Also, this method should help insure more accurate fulfillment of your order, especially if you have any non-standard requests.

My biggest concern would be ordering a bowl of soup or a panini early in the morning for pickup at 12:15 and have it be lukewarm because it was packaged for pickup at 11:45.

If you are a Breadco customer, download the app to your iPhone (Android coming soon, I’m sure) and give it a shot. There may be glitches as they work to make the process work smoothly. Be understanding.

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St. Louis is America’s 2nd Most Romantic City

This designation comes from OpenTable.com, the online restaurant reservation site.

V-day heart

Their criteria: the percentage of restaurants rated “romantic” according to OpenTable diner reviews, the percentage of tables seated for two and the percentage of people who dined out for Valentine’s Day last year.

Here’s their list:

1. San Antonio, Texas
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Providence, Rhode Island
4. Atlantic City, New Jersey
5. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
6. Salt Lake City, Utah
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Houston, Texas
9. Brooklyn, New York
10. Louisville, Kentucky
11. Austin, Texas
12. Ann Arbor, Michigan
13. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
14. Nashville, Tennessee
15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
16. Boston, Massachusetts
17. Raleigh, North Carolina
18. Santa Monica, California
19. Portland, Oregon
20. Baltimore, Maryland
21. Kansas City, Missouri
22. Indianapolis, Indiana
23. Miami, Florida
24. Los Angeles, California
25. Phoenix, Arizona

St. Louis ranks high on a few negative lists (which will not be enumerated here), so it’s kind of nice to see our city ranked high on a good list! Thanks, OpenTable.com!

i1035 FW1.1

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Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant

Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant is new in West County at Town and Country Crossing. That’s the center on Clayton Road, just west of 141, that has Whole Foods.

CH entrance

Yes, it’s a winery. No, they don’t make wine in West County, but they sell it. In fact, the first thing you see when you walk in is their wine store.

CH Store

The wines Cooper’s Hawk sells in the store are made at their winery in suburban Chicago. (Grapes are sourced from all over.) But, first let’s go inside the restaurant.

CH Dining AreaDecor is modern, with wood, stone and lots of earth tones. It’s bright in the daytime, thanks to windows all around. I like the way they use the wine bottles as part of their room divider.

photo-238Cooper’s Hawk has a beautiful bar (shown below) which offers a decent selection of beer and cocktails, as well as wine.

photo-239

I enjoyed a glass of Lux Meritage Red from their wine menu.

Wine glass

From the Beef and Pork portion of the dining menu, I had the New York Strip (shown below) with Betty’s Potatoes and mixed veggies. (Sorry, but I cut off a bite of the steak before I snapped the pic. Hungry!)

CH steak

Cooper’s Hawk also has a Winemaker’s Barrel Reserve red wine that skips the bottle and goes straight from the barrel (shown below) to your glass.

CH barrel

As you leave, you pass through the store again. If you enjoyed the bottle of wine you had with lunch or dinner, you can buy a bottle or three of that very wine to take home with you—at a lower price than you paid in the restaurant.

Cooper’s Hawk in Town and County is, by my count, their 13th winery/restaurant. It’s a clever concept, in a beautiful space. And it adds to the ever growing list of better restaurants in the county. Click HERE to go to the Cooper’s Hawk website.

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5 Star Burgers Now Open in Kirkwood

My wife and I checked out the Garden Glow at Missouri Botanical Garden Thursday night—we loved it, by the way—and afterward decided to stop at one of the casual spots in Kirkwood. We drove by the new 5 Star Burgers location and, to our surprise, there were people inside, eating! So, we stopped and went in.

5 star room

After being seated, we chatted with proud owner Steve Gontram (pictured below). He told us that final inspections had just been completed that morning. Thursday night was practice night, the shakedown cruise for the staff before official opening day on Friday, December 20.

Steve Gontram

Our food and service were perfect. My wife had a salad and I had the 5 Star Burger, shown below. (Pic shot with bite taken so you can see that it was cooked medium, as ordered.) We shared a basket of sweet potato fries.

My burger

The bar poured me a tasty Civil Life Brown and appeared to be making first night visitors happy. They have a good selection of local craft beers.

5 Star bar

And for Slinger fans, this month is a good time to visit. See below.

Slinger

5 Star Burgers in Kirkwood is in the old Culpepper’s location at 312 South Kirkwood Road. Now open and ready to rock! (5 Star Burgers also has a location in Clayton, which opened last year, at 8125 Maryland.)

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Beer—It’s What’s for Dinner!

stlcbw-300x238

St. Louis Craft Beer Week runs Saturday, July 27 through Sunday, August 4.

Special beer dinners and other events are happening all over the area.

Click HERE for a complete listing.

PW beer 6-13

PW Pizza at 2017 Chouteau is presenting monthly Beer Dinners on the last Wednesday of each month. The July 31 dinner with Crown Valley Brewing is sold out. The next PW Pizza Beer Dinner will be August 28 with Blue Moon. Call 314-621-1996 for information.

basso

Basso at the Cheshire (7036 Clayton Avenue) kicks off its “Brewers in the Basement” series TONIGHT (July 25) with Civil Life. On August 1, the featured craft brewer is Cathedral Square.

(We’ve been assured that the name is not a dig on a certain NL Central rival which currently resides in last place.)

Goose event

Goose Island is sponsoring a St. Louis magazine Table Talk beer dinner on Wednesday, August 21, at Scape in the CWE, featuring various Goose brews plus Stella Artois Cidre and Leffe Blonde. Chef Eric Kelly is providing the food pairings. Click HERE for info.

dos man

As The Most Interesting Man in the World says, “Stay thirsty, my friends!”

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Panorama at St. Louis Art Museum

I recently was invited to taste some of the food at Panorama, the new beautiful new dining area at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Panorama is located in the newly-opened east addition to the museum. Panorama has a huge picture window that looks to the north and offers great natural light during daytime hours.

The beef at Panorama is grass-fed from Rain Crow Ranch. The salmon is wild caught.

Thanks to the crew at Panorama and the Art Museum for great food and hospitality.

I interviewed Panorama’s chef Edward Farrow. Click on the link below to listen to our chat, which begins with a mention of his St. Louis connections:

Edward Farrow interview (5:54)

Here are pics of a few of the items sampled.

Pave of Quinoa and Avocado:

Pave

Skirt Steak:

Skirt steak

Salmon:

Salmon

Chocolate Cherry “Pot de Créme”:

Pot de Créme

Panorama’s hours are:

Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Sunday (brunch), 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Call 314-655-5490 for reservations.

Online at slam.org/dining.

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New Moon

The Moonrise Hotel in the Loop introed its New Moon Room at an event last week. Moon Pies and other space related snacks were offered:

snacks

And Joe Edwards showed up in his cool spacesuit:

Joe Edwards

The New Moon Room is an indoor/outdoor event space atop the hotel. When it’s not being used for events, it’ll offer food (small plates) and beverages in the evening. Sunday brunch is coming soon to the New Moon Room.

And, in case you’ve never been inside the hotel’s Buddy Ebsen suite, here’s some Jed Clampett artwork that adorns the walls therein: A man named Jed