My hotel this trip is located in the wonderful West End of St. Louis
about 10 minutes from downtown with a thriving dining/shopping area
right outside the door.
The two closest dining spots were yesterday's ventures and for lunch I
returned to CREPES:etc. (www.crepestl.com) at 52 Maryland Plaza and
loved my AHI TUNA CLUB with guacamole, aioli, tomato, crispy bacon and
more. A large CAFE au LAIT woke me up just before noon after the big
meal the night before as well.
I may even go back today for one of those yummy crepes! Keep your eyes
open.
For dinner I went to their next door fine dining spot, SCAPE (really
meant as LandSCAPE) (www.scapestl.com) at 48 Maryland Plaza facing the
pretty spurting fountain outside where many people enjoy the outdoors
as long as the weather cooperates.
On arrival in the over 95 heat, I was asked would I like to sit inside
or outside. Are they NUTS? While sunny, the heat index was close to
110! But I guess some folks love to melt. I sat down at the glossy
black lacquered table with a center of bronze that are found
throughout the carpeted room with wooden booths and chairs. The noise
level is not too high and comfort is part of the scene as I sat near
the window watching the fountain from INSIDE!
I ordered up 2 each of the featured raw bar oysters and they were both
dreamy:
those always wonderful KUMAMOTOS from the West Coast and the large
plumper, briny and tasty BLACKBERRY POINTs from Nova Scotia (I'll have
to find these when we head there later this summer!). The oysters come
with traditional cocktail sauce with a dollop of grated horseradish on
top (you know I never put this on fresh oysters, but do enjoy it on a
piece of bread) as well as two vinaigrette style sauces called ASIAN
Salsa and JALAPENO Salsa. They were both pretty mild and I liked
dipping my fork in these for a simple dribble to enhance each oyster.
The bread was crusty and fresh and there was also a large scone (odd
choice for dinner).
My salad was a THEIS FARMS Heirloom TOMATO with Fresh Basil, Goat
Ricotta, Hazelnut Vinaigrette, Hazelnuts and a puff pastry stick with
olives. While the vinaigrette was superb and the salad nice, the
tomatoes themselves don't come close to those we had from our own
garden last summer (Cherokee Purple) or for that matter any really
good farmer's market.
I asked for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and told the brand had been
changed (to one I don't care for as much) and opted for the
CASALFARNETTO FONTEVECCHIO VERDICCHIO 2006 which was fine.
My server Ellen steered me toward the DUCK CONFIT and she hit this
right on the button. Two legs and thighs with the crispiest/crunchiest
of skins were moist inside and truly superb with the light Mustardy
Sauce. Stewed Leeks and Fingerling Potatoes made this dish the hit
that it so often is not usually because the duck is dry). I marveled
at every bite.
Dessert was, for me, a disaster. I debated over the peach cobbler and
"Wimbledon" PAVLOVA and should have gone with the former. Ellen said
the meringue on the Pavlova was great and it came with Strawberries,
Cream and Nutella which sounded interesting. The order of ingredients
was wrong. Cream should have been first as this dish was piles and
gobs of way too much whipped cream, a disc of very hard and way to
sweet meringue, several strawberries and a slash of nutella for fun
flavor. The sweetness had me stop after 3 bites and the berries were
gone. To top this off the Cappuccino was small and had no froth...this
sad from a cafe/creperie sister that excels in their coffee drinks!
So while you will want to escape to SCAPE, be careful of the sugar
when you enter the dessert realm.
