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| Photographs by Katherine Bish | |
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Moxy Bistro
"Bistro" is more misused than anthropomorphism at a PETA conference. Used properly, it denotes an informal, cheap eating establishment. Only inverse snobbery labels a place with linen napkins a bistro. However, even if it is considerably more upscale than French versions, Moxy comes as close to the spirit of a true bistro as any local restaurant so designated. The interior is clean and minimalist--wooden floors, dark blue and black tables and chairs, seating for barely 50 and a cozy bar. The owner/chef here plays the same position next door at the justly acclaimed Chez Leon, with its more traditional fare. At Moxy, he riffs. But though selections are often inspired, they never become baroque or too complex, always staying comfortably within the range of true bistro food. A slab of meaty white halibut is simply sauteed and served with a Champagne-infused risotto and asparagus spears. Duck breast couldn't be less pretentious, pan-seared and still pink and juicy, presented with wild rice flecked with truffles in a syrupy grape reduction. Unique dishes such as the Champagne risotto, sage polenta and lobster potstickers make dining here fun, and the coconut-cream-and-Key-lime-curd Napoleon dessert is enormously seductive.Go for: The stozzapreti, "priest-choker" pasta, so named because a gluttonous prelate allegedly expired after a mountainous meal of it. Here the pasta is tossed with portobello and porcini mushrooms in an unctuous Madeira cream sauce.
4584 Laclede, 314-361-4848, moxybistro
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