Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
From Bait in the CWE, scallops, glazed carrots, white wine poached pear, spiced popcorn, and parsnip purée
2020—rarely have four numbers spoken more than this unholy quartet of cardinals. For restaurants, in particular, this year has taken its toll.
The chiming tinkle of fine glassware, the glurg-glurg of that first pour of Montrachet, the “How are we enjoying everything this evening?” All of it is just a memory now.
So at a time when we’ve seen way too many Styrofoam clamshells, we find some comfort in reflecting back on our favorite dining moments, often punctuated by the seasons in St. Louis.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Lobster roll and what we remember as the world's greatest french fries.
This spring, when it was just warm enough to pull off our sports coat and the air was as fresh as laundered cotton, we strolled down Lindell Boulevard to dine at Bait. The impressive Victorian-era mansion has been transformed into a space that's truly graceful. It's not stuffy; there are no awkward, contrived attempts at hipness. The interior is simply comfortable and classy, with the rooms used to best effect to create intimate dining spaces. Like the atmosphere, the fare is quality, with lots of imaginatively presented seafood, including our meal of pasta swirled with scallops, crab, and prawn in squid ink.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
More recently, we motored down Kingshighway—way down. So far down, we were thinking we’d just bag our dinner plans at Novella Wine Bar and go on the couple of extra miles we figured would put us in New Orleans. It was good we didn’t; Novella is a jewel of a little place specializing in Balkan foods and wines. We ate an embarrassing number of bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Gorgonzola. Nearly as memorable, though, was the thunderstorm that broke just as we reached the restaurant. Lightning detonated directly overhead, so close that the thunder cracked at the same time. We raced inside and ate while listening to the roar of the storm, the rain hammering down. Ever since, when a thunderstorm starts brewing, we start craving a glass of Grasevina Daruvar.
Photo by Ann Lemons Pollack
Falafel sandwich, from American Falafel.
This summer, at a time when the humidity was thick enough to steam the wrinkles from your clothes and the concrete sidewalks along Delmar were just a few degrees from melting, we ducked into American Falafel. It was an oasis inside. There wasn’t much décor or atmosphere to speak of—just a big room serving beautiful dishes: shredded chicken spiced with Jordanian sumac and wrapped in pita; a fattoush salad glistening with olive oil and bright with tomatoes; a falafel "sandwich" that more closely resembled a burrito, stuffed with moist, cumin-fragrant falafel balls. The new restaurant serves some of the most delightful Middle Eastern fare in town, but it all tasted particularly great—and refreshing—on that July evening.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
At Little Fox, a bone-in pork chop, Milanese-style
On an overcast September day at dusk, we made our way toward Little Fox along Highway 40. Germany can keep their Autobahn; we’ll take that view, with graceful swoops, glimpses of handsome neighborhoods, and trees on both sides. As the clouds in the west broke and rays ignited the surrounding trees, the color of the sky was even more spectacular against the dark purple clouds in the east. It was the epitome of a Midwest autumn. Its memory flavored the incredible tomahawk pork Milanese at the acclaimed Fox Park restaurant and everything else that evening.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
It’s tough to top dinner at Yellowbelly, especially when you order a whole branzino, with roasty golden skin and stuffed with basil, coriander, and ginger, as well as a side of fries rendered to perfect crispness in beef fat. And that’s after you’ve sipped a chilly glass of Foursquare Détente rum. It's hard to beat, but it got even better when we bundled up and left the Central West End restaurant one winter night as the season's first snowflakes began to fall, white and fat and silent. Lovely.
Photo by Ed Aller
On another evening, just a block west from Yellowbelly, another memorable dining experience awaited at The Tenderloin Room, which embodies elegance. When you just want to feel unapologetically classy, the best cure is to dress up, go to The Chase Park Plaza, and stroll through the lobby and into the classic steakhouse. The experience personifies St. Louis history and timeless style.
We look forward to the restaurant reopening and creating more dining memories in 2021.
