Editor’s note: St. Louis has always been a brunch-y town. Lately, though, it seems the number of places offering it have expanded geometrically. And in a move that is more than logical, we’re starting to see it on Saturday as well as Sunday. In this ongoing series, Ann Lemons Pollack will be investigating brunch options in St. Louis—and an occasional breakfast joint for good measure.
Schlafly probably can’t honestly say “It was never just about the beer.” But they’ve seemingly always kept an eagle eye out to make sure good things to eat have been available to guests. Their Maplewood outpost, Schlafly Bottleworks, serves brunch along with their usual lunch menu, both on Saturday and Sunday. The word seems to be out – despite the size of this place, we’d certainly encourage reservations.
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Beer cocktails are being seen more and more, and Schlafly is stepping up to the plate with their hefemosa (above). The house hefeweizen is mixed with orange juice and just a touch of pineapple juice, the latter probably added to take the edge of the wheat beer’s bitterness. The pineapple wasn’t apparent in our glass, but the mix is great fun, especially if you’re not interested in gooey-sweet beverages at brunch. It’s a thoughtful addition to the whole concept of weekend daylight meals. We also tried some of their Noble Lager, a seasonal offering that’s light, dry and quite refreshing to the palate.
Both were a good match to the huevos rancheros. One of the more handsome versions out there, the Bottleworks’ take began with a large flour tortilla toasted and spread across a plate. Riding atop it are black beans, a little spicy, crumbled chorizo, nicely seasoned but not fiery, a red chile sauce (rather than the green on the menu), cheese, some salsa, eggs prepared at the wish of the diner – we went for over easy – and cilantro sour cream. The heat was nowhere near purgatorial, and in fact, there was at times a little sweetness in there, perhaps from the salsa. For huevos rancheros, it was surprisingly light.
The house hollandaise is a buttery one, not overpowering the crab cakes in the Oscar Benedict. The eggs are properly poached, the English muffins warm but not so toasted they don’t fall to the persuasion of a knife cutting them. The crab cakes certainly aren’t lump crab, but in a dish like this, that’s immaterial. The seasoning reminded me of New Orleans-style deviled crab, more forthright than many cakes, with a sure hand with black pepper. Making them truly Oscar-worthy were five huge stalks of asparagus, thick, lovingly grilled so they were still a little crunchy, wearing butter and a little coarse salt, darn near perfect in and of themselves. New potatoes are deepfried, decent-enough examples of the encroachment of the breakfast potato upon society, but not exciting.
The “from our oven” offering, which varies, was blueberry scones on this visit. What arrived were warm and freshly drizzle-iced but far softer than a scone, more like a big, soft, irregular cookie. They didn’t come with the promised butter and preserves, but they were certainly not needing any more sweetness.
Very good service, refills of coffee – which was fine – offered discreetly, a nice attention to the rhythm of the meal. We were able to eat outside, which is always quieter, unless there’s live music. If the weather cooperates, you should, too. And speaking of “should”, unless a sudden streak of Puritanism forbids it, do not miss the sticky toffee pudding (below), the Schlafly signature dessert, a wondrous spice cake with a brown-sugar sauce, served warm, with softly whipped cream. It’s one of the great dishes of our town, and worthy of a visit just to try it, no matter the occasion.
