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The Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and Crab & Lobster Salad Tacos, from the Bar Top & Patio Menu at 801 Chophouse in Clayton.
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Sidewalk seating seven nights a week at Herbie's Vintage 72, at the corner of Euclid and McPherson Avenue in the CWE.
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Pickle spears à la minute. Really, is this too much to ask?
Hot Spot
Happy Hour at 801 Chophouse: We just discovered three affordable ways to check out the wildly popular (and expensive) 801 Chophouse. The recently introduced Happy Hour menu—served at the bar and on the patio from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday through Friday—features $1 oysters, $2 chilled jumbo shrimp (the best in town, in our opinion), roasted Colorado lamb lollipops for $9 each, half-price glasses of wine, and discounted draft beer and specialty cocktails. Then, 801’s regular Bar Top & Patio Menu kicks in, with more offerings and affordable—but higher—price points. For something more substantial, the restaurant offers a Sunday night three-course menu for $33, which is as cheap as dinner gets at 801 Chophouse (unless Uncle Deep Pockets is buying).137 Carondelet Plz, 314-875-9900, 801restaurantgroup.com.
Insider Tip
Herbie’s Amps it Up: We were just getting used to Herbie’s Vintage 72’s new 10-table sidewalk patio and the new Bistro menu (“Think Balthazar in New York,” says owner Aaron Teitelbaum). Then, today comes news that Herbie’s, in partnership with bicycle-delivery service The Food Pedaler, are launching Herbie's Box Lunch Company July 14, delivering box lunches for $9 to $12 as far east as Grand Avenue and as far west as the Loop. The Food Pedaler has just procured a mini-trailer for the new endeavor, capable of delivering 50 to 60 lunches at a time. 405 N. Euclid, 314-769-9595, herbies.com.
Micro Rant
Poorly Prepped Pickles: Why, oh why, do restaurants and burger joints pay so little attention to important details, like pickle spears? Once we lay eyes on a now-familiar, caved-in, prepped-two-days-ago, lousy excuse for a pickle spear garnish, we can’t help but wonder the vintage of the rest of the kitchen prep—like the age of our burger when it hit the grill. Chefs and kitchen managers have to know that customers zero in, then extrapolate on, such tell-tale signs. Little things like freshly prepped pickles (say that three times fast) keep our minds from wandering.
