By Stefanie Ellis
Photograph by Katherine Bish
Breweries, in my non–beer-drinking mind, have always seemed like the kinds of places that might confound the modern girl. I used to imagine smoky surroundings, excessive amounts of varnished wood and few or no creative menu offerings—oh, and there’s that little matter of beer. Would someone in the minority like me ever find anything to drink?
Much to my surprise, the Alandale Brewing Co. washed away my preconceived notions almost instantly. For starters, the décor is outstanding. Once a furniture warehouse in Kirkwood, it’s now home to two expansive dining areas, one café area, two private rooms and a banquet facility with Wi-Fi access. True, there’s plenty of varnished wood, but with that also comes a surprising amount of elegance and character.
I sat in the bar area, where the brewing facilities were visible through a window, and started with a martini and the Zink salad, both of which pleasantly surprised me. The salad was chock-full of tomatoes, onions, grilled chicken, kalamata olives, roasted mushrooms, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, spiced shrimp and sweet-and-spicy beef sticks. The idea was that everything but the kitchen “zink” was in the salad, and I’d say it’s an accurate title. Parts may have been a tad bland for my taste—there was no real spice on the spiced shrimp, for example—but it was still creative and filling.
The Garden of Eatin’ sandwich—Cheddar, black-olive hummus, eggplant, roasted peppers, onions, cucumbers, asparagus and portobello mushrooms on wheat bread—was just as hearty, though it had much less zing to it.
Other menu items that sounded plenty zingy included deviled eggs with wasabi and tobiko caviar; pasta with duck ragu, wild mushrooms and figs; and lamb pot pie with caramelized fennel and black olives on a rosemary-Parmesan biscuit.
Alandale is definitely worth a visit, if only to ogle the surroundings, try a few beers (or a martini) and support a neighborhood newcomer that may soon become an old favorite.
105 E. Jefferson, 314-966-2739, www.alandalebrewing.com. Hours: 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon–Wed, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Thu–Sat
