79 West County Center
Des Peres
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314-984-8900
Lunch and dinner daily
Average Main Course: $16
Reservations: Not really necessary
Chef: Jeff Constance
Dress: Spend more time at Brooks Brothers than you do at GameStop? You’ll be fine.
Look, if you’re reading this magazine, you’ll be going to West County Center. Maybe not this week. But sometime. There’s even a book fair there this month, for those who aren’t exactly clotheshorses. And any shopping makes you hungry. And you’d rather return to that Turkish prison than visit a mall food court. So, a plan: Malls are always more fun after school’s out and filled with those high-spirited teensters. Why not go then, make an afternoon of it, and then have a post-shopping dinner at Hanley’s Grille & Tap?
Sliding gracefully into the space vacated by J.Buck’s, Hanley’s is well-designed, with tables and booths that afford space and privacy. The décor is in unobtrusive, quiet pastels, natural stone, and noise-softening carpet, best described as Macy’s Moderne. A bar is situated to be invisible to diners; it’s well-stocked and worth a visit for a drink while you take in a menu with more options on it than the M.A.C. store has shades of lipstick.
You can’t get sashimi. Or goat. Aside from that, Hanley Grille’s got your palate’s waterfront covered. Where to begin? Pasta offerings are all attractive. Lord knows you could use some. Those Calvin
Kleins are falling off your hips. Tuck into a deep plate of the Grille’s pasta carbonara. Our waiter recommended it; we weren’t disappointed. Fettuccine is tumbled with chunks of grilled chicken, fresh snow peas, and bacon crumbles in a subtle Parmesan sauce. It manages to be filling, every element working together, though not heavy or too rich. A just-spicy Creole sauce decorates linguine, grilled shrimp, blackened chicken, and roasted peppers. Or consider an unusual but worthwhile “chicken and dumplings” in which the latter are garlic-smacked
gnocchi knobs.
House specialties include three fish dishes. A thick hunk of salmon is delicious, cedar-planked and grilled; it’s done nothing to deserve the too-sweet, gloppy sauce that covers it. A slab of meaty walleye is a better choice, rolled in crushed pecans and served with maple syrup–glazed onions and mashed potatoes. The happily rich lobster ravioli makes an opulent side to a fillet of cod roasted and slathered with a chili sauce that has a mild kick. Other specialties include barbecued baby-back ribs, as well as a chicken breast wrapped saltimbocca-style around prosciutto and fontina cheese. Grilled meatloaf will satisfy your inner child, while the wild mushrooms and chipotle-spiked country gravy with it will please your outer culinarily cosmopolitan grown-up self.
Steaks, wet-aged on-site and thick-cut, are above average. Portions of rib-eyes, sirloins, and filets are generous and attractive, nicely marbled. What also elevates the beef here are the house’s fries, a salty, crispy, way-above-ordinary rendition that goes perfectly with any steak. We tried them with a 12-ounce New York strip that arrived as ordered—pink, juicy, crosshatched with grill tattoos, full of flavor.
Pizzas come from a stone oven. They arrive attired in, among other things, barbecue chicken, chicken fajita, and cheeseburger. There are those who think these suitable pizza accoutrements. There are also men who think they look good in socks with sandals. Blessedly, real toppings, like pepperoni and mushroom, are also available. Flatbreads are excellent here: The Margherita version—crunchy, crusty, unleavened bread layered with tomatoes and fresh slivers of basil—is more colorful than a Missoni blouse.
You can build your own burger, specifying cheese and other toppings, or you can enjoy one of the best items on the menu: an enormous, juicy burger, encrusted with peppercorns and topped generously with bacon rashers and pungent, delicious blue cheese.
Among several good starters, the bruschetta here is an unparalleled success. Crusty brown slices of bread are suffused with butter; slivers of dried tomato, black Kalamata olives, sweet red onion, and cubes of feta are tumbled into the center
of the platter so you can pile ’em on as you wish. Add an order of Monday’s soup special—the beer, bacon, and cheese soup—for a fine meal. Likewise, pair a salad of spinach, grilled salmon, wild mushrooms, bacon, and apples dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette with a pungent Gorgonzola-and-tomato bisque on Thursday, and it’s hard to find a better repast. Fried calamari here is quite good, though it needs the bland, generic tartar sauce alongside about as much as your new A-line coat needs those ridiculous studded boots your so-called friend tried to talk you into buying. A Caesar salad gets things right with a salty, aromatic dressing and garlicky croutons.
Desserts tend to the formidably sweet: s’mores cupcakes, Nutter Butter cheesecake, and something described as “fried brownie bites,” which threatens the boundaries of even our dessert debauchery.
The Tap part of the restaurant’s name is misleading. A promise of more beer choices has been made; during our early 2010 visit, only about half a dozen were actually on tap. There is a range of bottled domestics and microbrews, with names like Moose Drool and Mothership Wit, and a house ale. Any wine list that includes Toasted Head, Frog’s Leap, and Toad Hollow chardonnays is apt to be good. This one is. You pillaged that sale on Fiore neckties. Celebrate with an effervescent Riesling, the affordable Sommerau Castle that’s satisfying with many of the sandwiches and pastas here. Most people can’t properly match a burger with wine. Most, however, aren’t you, who scored 40 percent off that cashmere sweater. Not surprising you’re savvy enough to know that peppery, oaky Estancia Paso Robles cabernet goes with the blue cheese–dressed burger like a Judith Leiber minaudière goes with an Oscar de la Renta gown.
If most of West County Center’s stores had service as friendly and thoughtful as Hanley Grille, by the way, you’d shop there more often. But you’re there often enough. And since you are, try this new eatery. You won’t regret it. Too bad you can’t say the same thing about that denim jacket. We told you: They’re not in. They never were.
The Bottom Line: Despite the restaurant’s inability to spell “grill,” a wide selection of entertaining food, comfortable setting, and affordable prices make a visit worthwhile.
