Sunday, June 21, 2009

say bye to BURGER BAR (by Hubert Keller) in St. Louis

I wanted a fun lunch today since I was having a picnic before the opera in the evening, so I chose PAPPY's BBQ which when I called (I had been warned to do so) advised me that they were almost sold out. SO I headed downstairs from my gorgeous room here at the new FOUR SEASONS St. Louis to the LUMIERE PLACE CASINO attached and just on the river north of the arch.

There are some pretty impressive dining options in the Casino complex and I chose BURGER BAR Lumiere Place, sister to the BURGER BAR Las Vegas, created by French chef HUBERT KELLER of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. OK-OK these are gimmicks, but I had been told by the Four Seasons staff that Keller pops in almost every week or two and is indeed VERY INVOLVED.

The fun sleek place is loaded with booths with granite tables and a private tv or two in each booth. Of course, the servers can change the station, but they haven't a clue what CNN or such is on, let alone the US OPEN. I think the people that come here must be VERY FAT as I was at least a foot away from the granite table and the seats or table don't move. The noisy thump thump music was not impressive, but changed to VOLARE soon and back again. It was insane. At my rear booth I saw two guys thru the glass wall forming the perfectly made burgers and that was all; they seemed BORED. The bar in the front is 1/2 in the dining area and 1/2 in the casino with 3 flat screen TV's on both sides, but the casino folks have super-duper-1-arm bandit-style-gambling machines at each seat of the bar!

I perused the menu and could not decide between the YAKIMA VALLEY (Wash) Ridgefield Farm Beef Burger or the Black Angus. I went for the latter at $9.50 basic or so with only a roll (you can choose from 5 types--I got Sesame), pickle, tomato and lettuce. I chose not to take any toppings (each is ALA CARTE) and splurged for $2.50 for the Hubert Keller SHALLOT & RED WINE REDUCTION. Reduction is ISN'T. It is a thin sauce that works best like a "jus" you might French Dip a Roast Beef Sandwich into. It needed more body, but was tasty. The burger was VERY GOOD, but not at the level of say RAY's HELL BURGER in Arlington, VA which I reported on earlier this year and OBAMA made famous a month or so ago.

The burgers have many options up to the Kobe Beef with Foie Gras and Truffles for $50; no temptation here at all.

So hopefully next time in St. Louis, I'll have to get to Pappy's quicker as they only serve daily til they are sold out!