Monday, November 26, 2012

I have been a bad little blogger

I have been a bad little blogger.  I feel I need to redeem myself by writing about all of the fabulous little gems I have found over the last few months. 

First is Adriana's www.adrianasonthehill.com Adriana's is a little sandwich shop on the hill.  It has very minimal hours (10:30 AM-3 PM M-SAT) and from what I can tell is ALWAYS crowded.  That being said, it is crowded for a reason.   They have fantastic sandwiches, fresh salads with homemade dressing and what looks to be pretty great pizza, pasta, soup, etc.  The thing I like most, is you can get almost of all of their sandwiches as a half and that, coupled with a small side salad (spend the $1.75 and upgrade your side salad to the Adriana's salad), makes for a pretty delightful lunch.  I also fancy myself a bit of a meatball connoisseur. Adrian's meatball sandwich is perfect (although it could be a little hotter temp wise sometimes).  The bread is chewy and of course Italian.  The meatballs seem to be mix of pork and beef-maybe a smidge of veal.  The meatballs aren't really in ball, more like a oval, which makes them easier to eat in the sandwich and are slathered in just the right amount of homemade red sauce.  They are then covered in provel and mozzarella.  Really a super meatball sandwich.  I wouldn't rate it number one, but it is definitely top five in STL. 

Second is Franco  http://eatatfranco.com/  Franco is an odd little place.  Odd because of its location.  If you are at the front of the farmers market (I consider the front the part on broadway), Franco is down the alley on the north side.  It is in the kind of location where you second guess parking your car on the street.  I took the chance and was pleased.  This was a great experience for two main reasons. 
1.  The food was great.  Their fare is considered french and there are number of french inspired items on the menu (escargot, cassoulet, etc).  I had an appetizer of sweet breads (they are my weakness).  They were lightly fried and placed on a bed of puff pastry and root veggies.  It was a really great twist on what normally is just a pile of sweet breads on a plate (I am fine with this too).  For my main I had the mussels and frites.  The frites were hot and pefectly salty.  The mussels were great although served with a tomato sauce, vs the typically white wine garlic, which I would have preferred.
2.  The bartender/manager were very attentive and by attentive I mean gave me free drinks.  One of the many benefits to dining alone as a woman is often times, you end up with free things.  Free appetizer, a surprise amuse bouche, but my favorite is always the free drinks.  Not only did I get a free glass of wine but also a free appertif called Dumante Verdenoce, which is a Italian, Pistachio liquor.  It smells like maraschino cherries, is viscous and quite nice.  I obtained this freebie by simply asking what it was (a good ploy). Overall it was a great experience.  The space is beautiful-think industrial comfy, if that is such a thing.  A great place to take a date. 

Third is the new Local Harvest Cafe Downtown http://localharvestcafe.com/downtown/  I have been looking for a good breakfast place for a while.  Breakfast is my fav meal and STL seems to be lacking in good breakfast places (although I am proud of the number of brunches popping up as of late).  The Local Harvest downtown is at 9th & Locus and is in a re-purposed post office.  They did a great job in keeping the vintage details and so the space is beautiful.  The menu is really interesting.  The thing I like about Local Harvest is that they have a number of options for both carnivores, vegetarians and vegans.  Although I clearly love my meat, I love trying vegan and veggie food, especially when I know it will be good.  The coffee was good and hot.  They had three special boozy breakfast cocktails, including a Bloody Mary made with gin.   I opted for a the "Huevos Montulenos fresh corn cakes, two sunny side up eggs, beans, chili sauce, pico de gallo, house made queso fresco, fried banana, and flour tortillas."  They had me at fried banana. It was fresh, filling and flavorful. 

I will try to be more diligent in my blogging moving forward.  My next blog will highlight my recent trip to Chicago and all of the delightful finds.