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The Animal burger, lovingly described below.
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Dipping sauces for the Belgian fries are excellent.
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The Dam owner Michele Coen and Executive Chef Matt Galati
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Belgian fries, cooked to a marvelous crisp
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The Louie hot dog is a major meal.
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Tempura of the Day: zucchini with garlic mayo dipping sauce
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Water of the day, in blackberry-pear
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Dam owner Michele Coen shows off her form on the megaphone, useful during busy World Cup days.
You may get the feeling that on a menu like the one at the Dam, where truly, nothing is an afterthought, the selection of house-made dipping sauces for the fries may be the most impressive feature of all.
In the style of an authentic Belgian fry house, the Dam offers a stunning array of sauces for a glutton to explore.
We're talking, from left to right in the photo above, sweet chili mayo; roasted garlic mayo; spicy BBQ sauce; Sriracha mayo (aka Belgian dipping sauce); joppiesaus (mayo with curry, onion and spices); “special sauce” (a version of Thousand Island); the house Ranch (made with buttermilk, sour cream and Parmesan cheese); honey-curry mayo; and caper relish (like tartar sauce, with extra capers). Not pictured: cheese ale sauce.
None of them sucks. Nothing at the Dam sucks. Much of what is on the simple, high-calorie menu is jammed with rewarding flavor. That's because Executive Chef Matt Galati and owner Michele Coen have great taste and creativity. They must, because you don't have this kind of batting average by chance, and because though the Dam will be just one year old come next month, it already feels like a neighborhood cornerstone.
The sauces wouldn't mean diddly if the hand-cut fries weren't so good. Seriously, trying to stop eating them is harder than trying not to binge-watch on Netflix. Good luck with that.
They emerge from the fryer dark and extra-crispy, and are sprinkled with Kosher salt and pepper. They're sufficiently popular that “every employee is required to peel at least 15 potatoes a day,” said Coen, not joking at all.
The burger selection is topped by “the Animal,” which is a bit like Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell. One ferocious head is fiery roasted jalapenos and a sweet-hot BBQ sauce that’s also made with jalapenos. One is thick-cut oven-baked bacon. And one is the three hand-formed, hormone-free beef patties in a big ol' stack. (It also has American cheese and grilled onions between its buttered, toasted Companion Baking buns). The tastes that plow through are a triple threat: big heat, big sweet, and big meat.
Similarly, the Louie hot dog offers a little of everything. No. That was a lie. It offers a lot of everything. It's a deep-fried bacon-wrapped dog with shredded cheese, tomatoes, grilled onions and jalapenos. If you are innocent and kind, it will not give you heartburn. That only happens to the bad people.
One of the apps, “tempura of the day” offers vegetables that explode with juices when you bite through the light tempura batter. Galati might choose to fry zucchini, sugar snap peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, onions, radishes, carrots or peppers.
Other dishes include a sausage-of-the-day, fish and chips, and house-made pickles that repose on the counter in huge glass jars.
Sunday breakfasts include a bacon-cheeseburger omelet, a breakfast burrito, French toast and “the Cure All,” a meatless slinger consisting of Belgian fries, chili, two fried eggs, Sriracha mayo and shredded cheese.
Galati's mom Sharon Armstrong is frequently on premises baking desserts like the “Irish car bomb cupcake” and the Amsterdam Crunch Brownie. The latter is a gooey chocolate brownie made with (non-hallucinogenic) hemp seeds.
“H20 of the Day” is an oft-changing fruit juice/water blend that goes for a dollar a glass. Check out the rich magenta of the blackberry-pear fruit water. It's refreshing, with a real restraint in the sweet department; it’s not cloying. Previous incarnations have included watermelon-basil water, cucumber-mint water and a take on cider. And, in line with the joint's motto, “Slow Food Fast,” the produce comes from local farms.
Speaking of doing good, Coen has stocked the joint with cups, bags, flatware etc. that are compostable or recyclable. The Dam has a certification from St. Louis Earth Day’s Green Dining Alliance.
Another cool thing about the Dam is its symbiotic relationship with bar next door. The Amsterdam Tavern, from whence the Dam gets its name, supplies the booze for customers in both businesses. You can also order food at the Dam and they'll deliver it to you while you're drinking at the Amsterdam. You can also eat in the recently upgraded, shared biergarten out back.
The Amsterdam is popular with soccer fans, and during the recent World Cup hullaballoo, Coen had to resort to a megaphone to tell drinkers in the packed pub that their food was ready next door.
“Come get your Dam order!” she says she would yell.
The Dam
3173 Morgan Ford Rd.
314-771-3173
Mon–Wed: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
Thu: 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
Sun: 11 a.m.—8 p.m.
