Lookin’ Good at 23: Frazer’s Restaurant & Lounge

Frazer’s Restaurant & Lounge is one of those evergreen restaurants, places that just keep tootling along once the limelight has passed them by, kept busy and even expanding from an ever-increasing list of loyal customers.

They’ve grown from a tiny storefront and a change in name (formerly Frazer’s Traveling Brown Bag), taking over space both east and west of them, remaining casual and food-focused without being pretentious. There’s a patio as well as tables on the sidewalk, the latter providing a fine view of sunset lighting up the brewery (and in another five months, a view of A-B’s holiday lights—a busy time for the restaurant, of course). The bar is large and welcoming, a huge improvement from the holding pen it was in the early days, and a good selection of cocktails and wine. We’re hoping for t-shirts that say ASK ME ABOUT MY PISCO SOUR.

First courses? Old-timers will remember the endive and pear salad. It remains an amazingly good combination of textures and tastes, with bits of blue cheese, toasted pecans, a few slices of strawberry and just a dribble of balsamic vinegar. Despite the name, this is definitely not a fruit salad, or at least a fruity one, falling far more to the savory side, and waiting for the perfect glass of wine. Dates stuffed with chorizo and wrapped in bacon charm, pudgy guys arriving in a ladle of tomato sauce. I’m not sure why the tomato sauce, but at least it keeps one from picking them up and shoving an entire one into the mouth. The textures here, too, are great, a little chewy, a little soft, the sweet and the smoky and the salty, all punched up with a little heat. Good stuff.

There’s always a list of specials, some of which are on a chalkboard in the front dining room, always including two fish du jours and a chicken dish, plus other whims of the kitchen. Recently, one of the fish offered was skate wing. Skate is among the most delicate of the ocean fish, tender and sweet, quite un-fishy, if that’s a concern. Lightly floured and flash-fried, it wore a buttery lemon caper sauce and arrived with mashed potatoes studded with nuggets of feta cheese, and some grilled asparagus. The fish was perfectly cooked, its characteristic texture obvious, the sauce not overwhelmingly lemony but with a wedge alongside for those who wanted to crank it up some, and the potatoes a fine match.

Owner Frazer Cameron is a guy who likes to travel, and every time we see something on the menu like the sweet potato enchiladas, we like to think the inspiration may have come out of some sojourn. Stuffed with soft chunks of sweet potato and roasted red peppers, plus some arugula, they were the sort of vegetarian dish that keeps the palate busy enough not to miss meat. Alongside was cilantro rice, more flavorful than most versions bearing that name, and some excellent black beans, smoky with a little heat from, we suspect, some chipotle pepper.

Frazer’s has always had one of the better bread puddings in town, with chunks of dark and white chocolate in its moist depths, the whole anointed with a whiskey sauce. It’s served with a scoop of ice cream, and it’s worth investigating choices in this department, since the house has made its own ice cream and sorbets ever since the small-batch industrial ice cream freezers were affordable. Pina colada sorbet turned out to be the perfect match, since both pineapple and coconut work well with chocolate.

Pleasant and attentive service, with a single complaint: Within three minutes after I’d ordered, I overheard a different server at  a nearby table offering several more specials than I’d been told about.  It’s hard to believe that the kitchen suddenly decided to more than double the options available that quickly, but perhaps that’s what happened. But that was the only glitch—and the pisco sour was awfully good.

Frazer’s Restaurant & Lounge

1811 Pestalozzi

Benton Park

314-773-8646

frazersgoodeats.com

Mon–Thu: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Fri: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Sat: 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.